I made it!

Holy Heck!

Sitting on the sky train with Mike Jones I said "It's cool not to know what the f is going on." "You can say the F word here." "Really?" At this point he just looked at me. "Ohhh!" And I laughed.

But let's back it up a bit.

Tampa-Atlanta

I arrived at the airport at 4am, said good by to my dad, and had my bags thoroughly searched because I did not know the 311 rule. Do you? My first hop to Atlanta is a short one only 2 hrs. A wonderful stroke of luck puts me next to the only empty seat on the plane. Across from that seat is a really cute, witty young woman headed off to see her brother and take a cruise.

Atlanta-Tokyo

Off to a good start, I have nice neighbours, 2 older Japanese women and all things seem to be going well. But, when I wake from my first nap feeling great I am told that we are heading back to Atlanta... We also have a thick white cloud coming out from the wing... After we circle Atlanta for 3o min or so they tell us that they have been dumping jet fuel so we can land and we would only stay for an hour before leaving again for Tokyo. The very nice man that I talked to to arrange my new itinerary to Bangkok also gave me a $400 voucher towards my next ticket.

Tokyo

18 hours later I am at the wrong hotel with my new Thai friend, Chan, "like Jackie Chan". The Japanese are very kind people. The largest man there (they are also small people), told us in broken English to wait. He promptly arrived with a van to take us to our hotel. The Holiday Inn must be the cheapest hotel in Narita Tokyo, but standing next to a Holiday Inn in the states you would not belive that they were related! The free dinner was an aw sum 4 course meal served in a way that truly made me feel like a guest. My only complaint if you can call it that was that due to bad English. I could not get wireless Internet. They said they did not have it, but there were wi-fi hubs literally littering the hall ways and I could detect no less then 3 from in my room. They also said that the clock in my room was not an alarm. I managed to properly set it for 5:30 giving me an unsure accomplished feeling. I have always had the idea that electronics were so intuitive that not only are instructions unnecessary but so are markings and language, or I was deluded. I arranged a wake up call, just in case. Should I mention my free breakfast? Let me just say it was GREAT! New foods and all the leeches I could eat.

Tokyo-Bangkok

The Australians that I met on the way back to the airport were slightly envious that I had been switched to Singapore Air, apparently it is distinguished here in SE Asia. I soon found out why. The flight attendent on the other isle may have been the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She moved with the grace I find disturbingly lacking in most Americans and had a sad peaceful look about her that distinguished her from the fake smiles of the other flight attendants. Oh, and the service was exceptional.

Bangkok!

They messed up my visa upon arrival, that sucks, but I was so done with being at airports I did not bother trying to get it fixed. That will probably cost both time and money. Mai phen rai(it's all good). Exactly 48 hours after arriving at TPA I met Mike at BKK. Did I want to spend the night in Bangkok? HELL YEAH!!! After my $1 meal, checking into our $6 hotel, and wandering the streets being accosted by people selling tickets to the "ping pong show" I had my first real Thai massage! OMG! Then my second. Even better!

Now I in nang chang?

The small town where people stare because I am white.

It is nice I have met my first few locals. Three young boys were yelling at me from a corner market so I stoped to say hello and drank some beer with them. I felt very happy. Mike rode by and told me that they were the sketchiest people he has yet met in nang chang. I wish I had taken there picture :(

Thank you all for being my friends. I hope you are all well!