Hello from Bangkok

Well,I am here safe and sound (but my luggage? Well, that's another story). I am up sitting at my computer at 5:00 am local time following the Browns-Jets game on the Internet and watching the Pats-Steelers live on an English station. I guess I should be glad the Browns game is not on TV, since it would put me back to sleep, apparently.

Anyway, some notes/observations on the trip so far:

- Got some great news at LAX when I checked in for the "non-stop" flight to Bangkok; they told us we have a smaller plane than normal and the headwinds are up - so we will have to refuel in Japan. Add another 3 hours onto the 18 hour trip. Nice. (Well, at least I get to say I've been to Japan now.)

- Fill in the story: I helped a French man (about 22, 23 years old) find the Qantas terminal in LAX. We had to walk from the domestic terminals all the way over to the Tom Bradley Terminal Funhouse. He did not know a word of English, and he was on his way to Wellington, NZ.

After we parted, I then was puzzled by him. What's his story? Where is he from? He can't be from France, since....why would he fly from France to New Zealand through LA? My best guess is that he has been born and raised in Montreal his whole life, and this is his first trip away from the city. (What? You got anything better?)

- These long frlight are extremely disorienting. After we got on, had a meal, I fell asleep for 5 hours.....I woke up, my watch said 2:30 (???? am? pm? what time zone?) and the only thing I could think about was breakfast. Next thing I know, the beverage cart comes down the aisle....

"Wine? Red or White?"

What? No....no! It's time for hot chocolate, not wine!

- Went to get our luggage at the airport. Was next to an Asian woman - she got her suitcase off the rack and set it down next to me. I glanced at it.... wait a minute....I see something familiar on that bag. Is it? Could it be?

Yes - there is a tag on that suitcase from....the Monte Carlo casino in Las Vegas. Good for her.

- No luggage for me. The official word is that it didn't get on the plane in Los Angeles. I'm not sure if I believe that (although, what other explanation is possible???)

- A person from the plant took me out for a trip around the city - we went to the palaces, a couple of temples, yes that's fascinating, but.....
we went to a shopping mall near out hotel so I could get a shirt for the next day. We went into a department store - and the men's areas was crowded. We found a shirt, I tried it on....
and then went to check out; there were six people at the checkout desk that were ready to check people out! Let's see, two at the register, one to hand my purchase over to the register lady, and three to pack the single shirt into a bag.
I then look back in the department - most of those "people" who I thought were customers were store employees helping people! I swear, there were 12 people or so in the men's golf shirt area that were working. Just.... fascinating.

(Oh- by the way, on the way home in the taxi from the temples, the taxi driver stopped the car on this side street. He said something to my host in Thai, and then he got out of the car.

I looked at my host - "oh, not a problem. He just has to go pee."
I turn around and look outside the back window - yup, there he is, going against a tree on the side of the street.)

- Sensory overload: there is a shopping complex in the hotel here....I ask at the front desk if there is a place I can by a razor. She says yes - 5th floor is the grocery store.....

ok. I go up to the 5th floor. All I can say is .....wow.

Imagine - and I don't think you can - this site as you step off the elevator:
- to your left, a busy and large mall food court.
- straight ahead, you can see 4 or 5 restaurants that are laid out in a very similar manner to restaurants at the front of the Mirage casino (you know, no walls, restaurants separated by rails....)
- In addition, a Starbucks and HaagenDazs store thrown in
- and to your right, a full service grocery store.
- and, in the distance, past the restaurants, looks to be the electronics department of a major department store. TVs, computers.....

Wow. I still can't find words to describe it.
You can take your gold temples and your 400-year-old ruins....get me to a local mall and let me spend 4 hours there. That,to me, is truly fascinating - what modern culture really is made of in foreign lands.