A day late and 400 Baht short

I think this is the most awkward flight I've had to date. I made my aisle mate wait as I scurried to separate items from the carry-on I'd so haphazardly packed; two hours into our flight I have spoken barely a sentence to him trying to describe the water bottle that had rolled to the elderly and easily discomforted couple behind us; and upon receiving my "special meal," which I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered, I went ahead and unknowingly started lunch before everyone else around me. Not to mention that I've been torturing my tiny tank and keep catching this guy--

Of course, at that moment, my aisle mate interjected to ask if I was writing in Japanese, and we continued an effortful conversation about phonetics, faux pas, and our purposes at UW. His name is Hiraku, a speech pathologist with an adorable son and wife, who had been at a three-month workshop through the Center on Human Development and Disability (CHDD). We were each trying very hard to understand one another, and I like to think our mutual respect for language helped.













Doodles help, too.

Having foolishly packed my literature in my checked luggage, I didn't have much besides crosswords and phrasebooks. I am perplexed by the absence of a news radio station. I'd been listening to PRI religiously for the past week, falling asleep to the stream, keeping Winamp open to restart it in the morning after it had timed out. They have Boy George, The Watchmen movie*, and wheat berries in vegetarian meals, but they can't fit a little Times or CNN in there?


One thing I really wanted to do in Tokyo was attend a sumo match. From research, however, I learnt that no matches were going to be held during my stay in the city except, by chance, during the three hours I would be at Narita Airport on my way to Bangkok. Some of you doubted me...













Haha!

There was a lot of turbulence coming into Bangkok, and it was the first time I'd seen lightning from a plane. An entire district lost power as we were flying over it, but their generator immediately kicked in, just like a cartoon: flip off - flip on. It was a bit of a hassle getting to my hostel, but with a few broken words I made it to Sukhumvit Soi 1 Guesthouse. Turns out I owed more than I'd brought with me, but the desk manager was really great and said, "Give her her money back, she can pay in the morning. She might want something to eat."

After an 18-hour ride, sleep was all I wanted. To bed, I said. Adventures in the morning.



* Nope, still haven't seen it.