Notes from 15 hours in the future!
To fly to Thailand I had to brave the craziness that is LAX's International Terminal. I was starving when I got off the domestic flight, so I immediately proceed to the little Chili's To Go place. There's this whole empty section of single tables and a line is forming, and I start discussing this with a woman standing in line next to me. She mentions having a long night ahead of her, so that gets into the discussion of where-are-you-headed, etc. Turns out she was headed home to North Carolina, then she said, "But I am just coming back from Thailand." Apparently she had spent a month there with her brother and Thai sister in-law in roughly the same areas I will be visiting. We ended up sharing a table and having beers and a meal and talking about Thailand the whole time. As we talked it made me really excited because I haven't spent too much time dwelling on the specifics of what I'll be doing and seeing on a daily basis. It was a very successful hour or two of the single-serving friend phenomenon.
I was so dwelling on the pleasantness of that encounter, I was ill-prepared for the remainder of the LAX experience. I finish my meal, bought four packs of Wet Ones from the airport shop (my dinner companion had warned me of the lack of soap in public restrooms), then started following the signs to the International terminal. When the signs led me to a security checkpoint which led to outside, I asked an information guy who in addition to directing me to the terminal (yes, I had to go outside), he tells me that I don't have a boarding apss and need to get one from the Cathay Pacific counter. I enter the correct terminal, and it is probably the craziest thing I've ever seen. So many people, no clear direction on where to go. I search fruitlessly for a Cathay Pacific counter before thinking that the info guy was likely full of shit and started looking around for the security line. You'd think this would be easy, just look for the giant line of people right? Well there were giant lines everywhere, so I got in one which was apparently only for special people flying on Thai Airways but I eventually found the security checkpoint. I felt like I was in some sort of dystopian future world. The line is really darkly lit while there is all this light at the actual point where you go through, casting a film noir effect on the affair. Men keep barking "No shampoo! No water! No toothpaste! Remove all laptops!" in these scary authoritarian voices. And we're like these little rodents scurrying underneath them, removing our shoes and emptying our bags as quickly as possible because it's a total free-for-all and if you snooze you lose. Okay, I know I'm not describing anything that differs from any standard airport checkpoint you've been to in the last six months but you've got to trust me that this one had an extra burst of totalitarian awfulness that I'd never been exposed to before.
Oh yeah, and I had to go through security a total of three (3) times on this trip. Once at every stop on the flight. I thought that once you went through it the first time you were good for the rest of the way. Apparently not internationally.
On the flight from LAX to Hong Kong I slept for a good ten hours--it's amazing how an Ambien and a glass of red wine takes the edge off international travel. Cathay Pacific was nice, they give you a little bag with toothpaste, toothbrush, a pair of socks and a breathmint. There's a strap that you can attach to turn it into one of those pouches that paranoid people like to wear under their clothes when travelling. It's totally cute.
So when I arrived in Bangkok my body thought it was 3 AM or something ridiculous so I spent the day sort of sleepwalking. Here are some observations: Reading all these signs in a foreign script and then seeing an ad for KFC is disorienting. So is driving through the Thai countryside, past all these little shrine stores, while listening to Elvis. Even after studying I realize that I have mastery of "Hello", "Thank you", and "Excuse me", and that's like, it. My hair is hecka curly here too, I'd almost forgotten what I look like with curly hair.
I was so dwelling on the pleasantness of that encounter, I was ill-prepared for the remainder of the LAX experience. I finish my meal, bought four packs of Wet Ones from the airport shop (my dinner companion had warned me of the lack of soap in public restrooms), then started following the signs to the International terminal. When the signs led me to a security checkpoint which led to outside, I asked an information guy who in addition to directing me to the terminal (yes, I had to go outside), he tells me that I don't have a boarding apss and need to get one from the Cathay Pacific counter. I enter the correct terminal, and it is probably the craziest thing I've ever seen. So many people, no clear direction on where to go. I search fruitlessly for a Cathay Pacific counter before thinking that the info guy was likely full of shit and started looking around for the security line. You'd think this would be easy, just look for the giant line of people right? Well there were giant lines everywhere, so I got in one which was apparently only for special people flying on Thai Airways but I eventually found the security checkpoint. I felt like I was in some sort of dystopian future world. The line is really darkly lit while there is all this light at the actual point where you go through, casting a film noir effect on the affair. Men keep barking "No shampoo! No water! No toothpaste! Remove all laptops!" in these scary authoritarian voices. And we're like these little rodents scurrying underneath them, removing our shoes and emptying our bags as quickly as possible because it's a total free-for-all and if you snooze you lose. Okay, I know I'm not describing anything that differs from any standard airport checkpoint you've been to in the last six months but you've got to trust me that this one had an extra burst of totalitarian awfulness that I'd never been exposed to before.
Oh yeah, and I had to go through security a total of three (3) times on this trip. Once at every stop on the flight. I thought that once you went through it the first time you were good for the rest of the way. Apparently not internationally.
On the flight from LAX to Hong Kong I slept for a good ten hours--it's amazing how an Ambien and a glass of red wine takes the edge off international travel. Cathay Pacific was nice, they give you a little bag with toothpaste, toothbrush, a pair of socks and a breathmint. There's a strap that you can attach to turn it into one of those pouches that paranoid people like to wear under their clothes when travelling. It's totally cute.
So when I arrived in Bangkok my body thought it was 3 AM or something ridiculous so I spent the day sort of sleepwalking. Here are some observations: Reading all these signs in a foreign script and then seeing an ad for KFC is disorienting. So is driving through the Thai countryside, past all these little shrine stores, while listening to Elvis. Even after studying I realize that I have mastery of "Hello", "Thank you", and "Excuse me", and that's like, it. My hair is hecka curly here too, I'd almost forgotten what I look like with curly hair.