A Journey to Thailand and Japan: Day One
May 16th, 2008My friends Siam and Meow went off to Bangkok to get married. A group of us decided to go to the ceremony and get a chance to see a part of the world we’d never been before. So, we bought the plane tickets and set off on our grand adventure!
THE BEGINNING
Jon and Neff pick me up at my house at 5 in the morning. We drive to the Austin airport and set off for DFW. One plane trip down! At DFW, we meet up with Alex and Tang, his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Tang shows up in a wheelchair. Apparently, she had ‘accidentally’ fallen down a flight of stairs and broken her ankle. We suspect Alex had something to do with this — his motives unknown. Anyway, we set off for Tokyo — Jon in Business Class, the rest of us in Coach. I ask Jon if he’s going to visit us during the flight. His response: “Why?”. It turns Jon ends up drinking several glasses of wine while enjoying a level of service us average folks could only dream of.
The flight is long — about 12 hours or so. We pass the time by watching movies, reading, playing DS, eating mediocre food, and dreaming of the time when the flight would actually be over. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Finally, we set down in Tokyo, just in time for us to enjoy a 6 hour layover at Narita airport. Well, that is, all of us except for Jon and Tang, who somehow have an earlier flight to Bangkok. We spend the time wandering around the airport looking at the crazy prices and crazy food. I drink some jasmine tea in a PET bottle. What’s a PET bottle? I don’t know, but it has its own trash receptacle.
After people-watching for a while at the airport, it’s decided that white people, particularly white women, are officially passe. Every time we see a white woman walk by, we say, “Move along. You’re blocking the view.” This amuses us to no end in our sleep-deprived state.
Once on board for Bangkok, the lack of sleep kicks in, and I’m out like a light. I miss all meals, but that’s fine with me. Once we land in Bangkok, the woman next to me (she was white…. move along) asks if I noticed when she hurdled me to go to the bathroom. I had no idea. We step off the plane, and are greeted by heat and humidity. Even though it’s 11 at night, it’s stifling. We get through Immigration, and are greeted by Siam. He’s holding up the Hook ‘em Horns sign. A welcome sight!
We drive to the hotel. It’s really nice. It’s got a bed. I pass out.