verbingnouns

Travel Log Part 1

Journal Entry from Friday March 2, 5:15am Bangkok time

This is the day that will never end. Actually, it's several days that have made themselves into one big blur. I left Monroe about 9:30 am on Wednesday and I'm still traveling.
I was able to fit everything into one large bag and one very heavy backpack. Now, if only our luggage makes it to Chiang Mai with us, I'll say I've been pleased with the traveling, all things considered.
The International terminal at LAX is surprisingly humble and inefficient. Ceiling tiles were falling in, very little seating and generally dirty, plus they had to bus several hundred of us quite a ways to get to our jet. The jet itself is not so humble. We were like little kids at Disney World when we first boarded. First of all, the flight attendants have beautiful bright colored silk dresses. The interior of the plane is hot pink and purple. We were fortunate enough to get upgraded to "Premium Economy", which is SO much nicer and roomier than regular economy class.
I got lucky enough to be on a row by myself (the guy who was next me got upgraded). It's nice to be able to get up and down when I want to and still look out the window. There's not much to see, but I did see Tokyo. We're now past Taipei, but there's still a long way to go. I've only slep 4 or 5 hours. I need to sleep more, but my body doesn't want to. I'll try again soon, but I think it might be getting close to lunch time. It is 5:30 am, after all.
Despite the random eating times, the meals on this plane are hilarious. For dinner, I had stir-fry pork (very spicy) w/rice, a roll, fruit, potato salad with a slice of roast beef, and that crazy Thai coconut jello. This was served with wine and an eight-piece place setting of silverware (not plastic). They then came by offering coffee (which I had) and brandy (which I did not have). Breakfast was not tasty, but it was the same sort of production w/ all the silverware and such.
So far, this is a very surreal experience. I've been traveling for 31 hours and I can't really grasp the idea that I'm going to be in Thailand very soon for a long time.
I feel kind of out of control with no keys, no car, and all my proverbial eggs in one basket. In addition, I have no real idea of what we'll find when we land - where we're going or what we're doing. I'm so glad I'm with a group (and we seem like a good group, so far).
I'm starting to see sunlight out the window. We're getting close to Hong Kong.
What a day (or two or three).