It's morning and it’s raining. After months of planning, Lucia and I are leaving for nearly 3 weeks in Thailand. For Lucia, it’s a homecoming. For me, it’s a new adventure. Everything is packed and ready to go. Hopefully, I have not forgotten anything major. Got the post office to hold my mail and put the newspapers on vacation hold. Poco, the parrot, is having a great time at the vets.
Prime Shuttle is supposed to pick me up at 8:05 am. At 8:05, the driver calls from his cell phone asking about how to get to the house. I give him directions and about 8:20, he arrives. No rush because the plane does not leave until 11:40. There is plenty of time. There is a Hispanic man, obviously a businessman going to the airport too. He really didn't say much. He just talked a lot to several people on his cell phone. I will always remember the van driver as Crazy Abdul. He was of middle eastern descent and drove like a terrorist on a suicide mission. He nearly rear-ended a few cars on the way to LAX. Abdul told be that he used to live in uptown Whittier about 20 years ago when he attended Rio Hondo College. Funny, but he did not look or talk like the intellectual type. He must not have been since he ended up driving a cab. The ride was a real experience. A real white knuckle ride. Relax, I thought. This will prepare you for the driving in Thailand. But alas. in Thailand I never experienced anything comparable to the driving of Crazy Abdul.
In Thailand there is a certain ebb and flow to the vehicle traffic. It may seem strange at first. First they drive on the wrong side of the road and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car. I had read about drivers going down the center of the street. It sounded like they drove like Crazy Abdul or the drivers in Manila. But the roads and highways are rather narrow in Thailand and there is an essential ebb and flow that is necessary to facilitate traffic flow. The streets and highways are usually a single lane in each direction. Then there is a narrow, 5-foot wide, path on the side of the road that seems to be primarily intended for the motor bikes. There are zillions of motor bikes in Thailand. There are mostly young kids riding them, students and the like, with up to three people on the bike. There are very few old farts like me unless they are riding ‘shotgun’ on the back. In addition to the motor bikes, there are lots of trucks on the streets and highways. The trucks in Thailand never seem capable of going more than about 15 miles per hour. If you are going any distance and want to get there in a reasonable amount of time, you have constantly pass these slow moving trucks and other slow moving vehicles. That is where driving down the center of the road become so important. Unless there are motor bikes in the path on the side of the highway, the slow moving vehicles use the motor bike lane to drive on. Because that lane is so narrow, half of the vehicle extends in the vehicle lane. This leave half the lane free and if the slow moving traffic in the other direction does the same, the center of the highway is free so the faster traffic can pass the slow moving vehicles. This center lane is shared by traffic going in both directions and there is a certain rhythm and sense of timing that is necessary so everyone can keep moving. I suspect the fact that virtually all the cars in Thailand have a stick shift lead to this driving style. There is rarely any stop and go traffic in Thailand.
All this reminded me of driving around Paoli, Pennsylvania about 12 years ago. I spend a lot of time working there. The roads there are also very narrow and are usually one lane in each direction. When a stop light turned green, it was common to see drivers letting traffic attempting to make a left turn make their turn before the through traffic proceeded. It was apparently an unwritten rule but it sure facilitated traffic flow. Otherwise, a car at the light attempting to make a left turn could prevent all the cars behind it from getting through the intersection until the light turned red and the front car could make its turn.
Well enough about the traffic in Thailand and back to our trip. I got to the airport about 9:00 so I had plenty of time. Lucia was coming from her apartment but was not planning to get there until about 9:30. I found a place to sit with my bags. I saw a US customs window. I wanted to make sure that I would not get into trouble with US customs over all the camera equipment I was bringing with me. I had insured all the stuff and everything was identified. I had read that this would be good enough to show that it was all purchased in the US. I also had copies of some of the receipts. But I just wanted to double check.
It turned out that nobody questioned anything when we got back. Lucia brought back some goodies with her. She pretty well knows what you can bring back and what you can’t. I thinks she missed the sign that points to the USDA window where you are supposed to go when you brings food or agricultural products back into the US. She pointed out that she listed it on her customs form but the agent just said ‘we don’t care’ and waved us through. We could have carried some plants or food with some joy riding bug or insect that could have destroyed the entire California fruit crop and they didn't care! Yes they threaten you with a $250,000 fine if you try to sneak something you shouldn't into the country but that is peanuts in comparison to the billions of dollars in damage that a farang (Thai for foreigner) bug could cause.
Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself in telling the tale about our trip to Thailand. Two pages and we haven’t even boarded the plane yet.
The plane took off about an hour and 20 minutes late. We had about a two-hour layover in Tokyo but the delay really cut into that. However, the JAL people were wonderful. A stewardess came up to us and told us that they knew that we had a connecting flight and that they would give us more information when the plane got close to Tokyo. Then about 10 minutes before the plane was to land they told us and other passengers that had to rush to catch a connecting flight to go up to the first class section and take a seat there. So we got to spend all of 15 minutes in the first class section. Talk about roomy! It was like sitting in an easy chair at home. You could even lift your legs like in a Lazy Boy recliner. After they plan landed, we got off the plane from the first class exit. We rushed down the terminal trying to figure out where the boarding gate for our flight to Bangkok was. We followed the rest of the crowd and turned a corner. There in the middle of the corridor was a board on an easel with our names on it (along with a bunch of other passengers). There were several JAL employees there and they wanted to see our boarding passes for the flight to Bangkok. We did and they directed us down a corridor and told us that we needed to take a shuttle train to the next terminal. We hopped the shuttle train and got off. They rushed us through x-raying our carry on baggage. We got to boarding gate just fine and in plenty of time. Boy what service. I was really impressed. We would have probably spend all night looking for the right boarding gate if they hadn't directed us. Besides, most airlines would not have cared if we caught the connecting flight.
This experience brought back nightmares of a flight I took to get to Pennsylvania once. I flew to Phoenix and was supposed to catch a connecting flight to Philadelphia. However, a yellow light came on in the cockpit when they started to push the plane back. So they pushed the plane back into the terminal while they tried to determine what the problem was. After nearly an hour, the captain announced that they blew air on the sensor that caused the warning light to go on and the light went out. (I was certain that the compressed air actually destroyed the sensor so the light would go out.) Anyway the plane finally took off. But when I got to Phoenix, I discovered that the connecting flight to Philadelphia had already left a few minutes before. Not to worry, they said. Just hop this plane to Indianapolis and catch a connecting flight to Philadelphia from there. There were several passengers trying to get to Philadelphia. We all got on the flight to Indianapolis. We got to Indianapolis about 6:00 in the evening only to find out that the connecting flight to Philadelphia had already left. On top of that, there were no more flights to Philadelphia that night. (America West offered a flight to Newark NJ and said that I could then drive to Philadelphia but I declined). The airport was strangely quiet. Apparently, Indianapolis rolls up the sidewalks at 6:00 in the evening. The airline offered everyone a room at the Hilton just across the street and gave us a voucher for a room and breakfast. I lugged my bags over to the Hilton. There was a mob of people trying to check in. The Hilton staff was telling everyone that they were full. It looked like America West stranded hundreds of passengers in Indianapolis that night and gave them all vouchers to stay at the Hilton. The Hilton did the next best thing and provided shuttle vans to take the overflow to a Best Western not too far away. Nevertheless, a Best Western is not a Hilton. I checked in at the Best Western and lugged all my baggage to the room (I had a lot of work stuff - like heavy manuals – that I needed for my trip) only to discover that the key would not open the door to my room. So I lugged all my bags (and were they ever heavy) beck to the check-in counter. They got another key and I lugged my bags back to the room but they could not open the door either. So they finally gave me another room. Then I had to get up at some ungodly hour (like 5:00 am, which is about 3:00 am West Coast time) so I could catch a 6:30 flight to Philadelphia. Anyway, this is a tale that deserves to be in the travelers’ horror story hall of fame.
You can see why I was so thrilled about how JAL went out of their way to make sure we caught our connecting flight to Bangkok. When we got to the board with our name on it, they gave us a stick-on tag with a cartoon caricature of a chubby airplane with the gate number we needed to go to on it. I guess it was intended to make sure that any JAL employees could make sure we got there if we got lost somehow. I really wanted to keep the tag for my scrapbook but they asked for the tags as we boarded. Apparently, they know how many passengers they are expecting and they when they collect all the tags, they know that everyone has boarded. So we didn't get to keep the tags but I will never forget them. I wanted to put the tag next to my tripod permit from the US Capital police. It’s another long story but I was personally escorted to the Speaker of the House’s office. Its another long story that I would like to tell but this is my story of our trip to Thailand, remembers? (I hope you can remember but I seem to keep getting side tracked in telling my tale).
I really enjoyed the flight to Tokyo. It was a big 747. Attached to the back of each seat in front of you is a 7 or 8 inch flat panel display. And in the armrests there is a wired remote control. From the remote control, you can individually select from a menu of about 6 movies that you can watch. In addition, there is a bunch of computer games you can play. Nothing too sophisticated. Just games like Solitaire and Free C Cell. But it is a good way to pass the time. Another great feature is a display showing where the airplane was. During the flight you can see the plane’s position on a map and the displays show the airplanes elevation and air speed. It’s kind of neat. They have two video cameras on the plane. One points to the ground and the other points straight ahead. So you can see what is under the plane and get a nice view of what the pilot sees from the cockpit. This feature was not really too useful on the flight to Japan because all you could see was water and some clouds below. Most of the time the ocean had hazy clouds so you couldn't even see the ocean. Much of the flight was at night so you couldn't see a thing. But the fun watching the cameras came when we returned to LA and the plane flew over land. You got a real vivid picture of the terrain below and we were able to watch the front camera as the plane came in for the landing. It was great watching the plan land that way. Even as the plane came to a stop and was ready to head for the terminal you could see planes ahead turning in front of ours ready to taxi down the runway so they could take off from a parallel runway. Anyway I spend my time playing Solitaire and I watched the new Charlie’s Angels movie. The movie was boring. I couldn't figure out why it did so well in the box office. I also saw the tail end of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that wasn't too bad.
I really enjoyed the food on Japan Airlines. It’s sort of Japanese. I remembered when I went to Japan in the early 1980’s, they served French wine and they did this time too. Lucia told me that all airlines serve French wine on all their international flights. It sure beats the American wine swill that is served on domestic flights in the US. I have a rule that I never drink any alcohol on a flight but I broke it because it was decent wine. Besides I hoped that a couple of small bottles would make me drowsy enough so I could get some sleep on the flight. It only partially worked. The other thing I really like on JAL flights is that they offer you this wonderful Japanese green tea. I took it every time they offered some. It tastes great and the liquid prevents dehydration. Twenty years ago, they only offered the green tea to the Japanese passengers and I had to ask so I could try it. I loved it and still drink it at home occasionally. This time they seemed to ask everyone if they wanted green tea.
Spending nearly 20 hours on a plane (actually two planes) is pure torture. After a while, you feel like you are packed like sardines in a can. The sardines don’t mind one bit because they’re dead. But we were not (dead that is) but probably wished we were by the time we landed in Bangkok. Actually, the flight from LA to Tokyo was not bad. I really didn't find the flight to Japan to be much of a problem when I went to Japan in the early 80’s either. However, the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was a real killer. Another 6 hours cooped up on an airplane. Lucia managed to sleep on this leg of the flight but I couldn't. Actually, I really didn't want to sleep because I wanted to be exhausted when we got into Bangkok. The flight was to land at about 11:00 in the evening Bangkok time, which is about 8:00 am LA time. I figured I would be so tired staying up all night that I would have no problem sleeping and it would help in getting adjusted to the jet lag. As soon as the plane took off I starting having stomach cramps. Actually, they were not stomach cramps but I experienced a lot of gas in my intestines. At times, it was quite painful. Great, I thought. I hadn't even gotten to Thailand and I already have a case of traveler’s diarrhea. Actually it was a mild case but it did make the flight very uncomfortable for me.
So after nearly 20 hours we finally land in Bangkok. It was about 11:00 p.m. local time. We had to still go through Thai customs. That took a while because there was at least on 747’s worth of people entering Thailand. I suspect that there were other planes arriving at the same time. So we waited in line until they could look over the entry/exit documents that we had to fill out on the plane and they could stamp our passports. After that we had to retrieve our luggage and find the driver from the Asia Airport Hotel where we were spending the night. We had reservations for a flight to Chiang Mai the next day, in the afternoon.
I will never forget the sights on the way to the hotel. Although it was past midnight there were still vendors selling things and groups of open air stalls serving food. Lucia said that many times the food stalls were grouped so that one group of stalls would sell northern Thai noodle dishes and another group would sell porridge (rice soup). In some ways, it reminded me of Las Vegas but it had none of the gaudiness or plastic robot people you see in Las Vegas. These were real people trying to make a meager living. Lucia told me that many of the restaurants stay open all night. What I saw had a certain peaceful warmth about it and it made me feel very comfortable about being in Thailand.
I think we got to the hotel around 1:00 in the morning and didn't get to bed until around 2:00 or 2:30. I think we both had a sense of relief. After months of planning, we were finally in Thailand and all our plans had become a reality. We did it! We left LA on February 13 and lost a whole day because of the date change. We didn't get into Bangkok until 11:00 p.m. on the 14th, which was Valentines Day. Since we didn't get to the hotel until after midnight, we really didn't have the opportunity to celebrate Valentines Day. I had gotten Lucia a card and Kimberly made a card to give Lucia. I also brought my Valentines Day gift for Lucia, which was a necklace with three, heart-shaped pendants – one ruby, one emerald, and one sapphire. It really looked good on her. We exchanged cards. Before falling asleep, we made love. Our sex live has been really neat but I sensed that we were emotionally much more connected than we had ever been before. I fell asleep knowing that this was going to be a wonderful adventure.