Dear Friends and Family,

Well, here I am, safe & sound in Bangkok. Thailand. Southeast Asia. You know, I do believe that the reality of this adventure has finally begun to dawn on me!

Since tearfully departing from my family, I easily slipped through security, wandered around SeaTac in fruitless search of a wireless connection, and then boarded my plane. We were delayed by some cargo paperwork issues... but boarding afforded me a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier with every crag evident and Mt. St Helens (?) in the distance. From my last row window seat and once airborne, the crystalline day and the magnificence of Washington was apparent as we flew past Alki, above Bainbridge, on top of the almost-melted peaks of the Olympics and finally over the Straits of Juan de Fuca + Neah Bay. Marvelous! I then settled down to the 9.5 hour flight. Interestingly, I had already become a member of the minority as the plane was filled with Asians - understandably mostly Japanese; Northwest Air even had a Japanese translator to make announcements. My seat-mate was a friendly youngish Japanese girl who spent the entire flight flipping through movies and playing them rather loudly... she was good company and we didn't talk until the end of the flight - which was perfect. One thing I will say is that the term "seat cushion" on an airplane is a misnomer. The other thing I will say is that having those little television screens to choose individual movies and music are excellent - they do help time fly in a brainless manner. I alternatively watched the Pink Panther (farcical but enjoyable), ate dinner (beef only & I severly annoyed the hostess by asking if there was a vegetarian option), slept to the music of the new Pride & Prejudice, watched Failure to Launch (mediocre - only pay matinee prices!), ate breakfast (hostess hadn't yet forgiven me) and kept a sharp eye on the in-flight map which showed us where we going. We were skirting the Alaskan peninsula when I fell asleep so I missed Russia and the rest of our geographic path 'til we were over Japan.

The first visual indication that I had that we were approaching a different country was that the cars were driving on the left-side of the road. The Tokyo (Narita) airport must be fairly rural as I never glimpsed the Tokyo skyline but there were plenty of pretty green patches and houses evident as we approached through the mist. Because our plane was slightly delayed, the Northwest announcers kept saying things like "don't worry, Bangkok & Manila passengers, your connecting flights are assured" - they seemed so certain of this that I was pretty anxious re: making my next flight. So anxious, in fact, that I skipped the ladies room, fidgeted during the Japanese security check, and used the electronic sidewalks... but I made it to my next flight in plenty of time to enjoy the final boarding call and a long line. This time I had an aisle seat, the majority of the plane was Caucasian, and there were two interpreters – one Japanese and one Thai. This flight I alternately slept, ate dinner (lunch disappeared during the crossing of the International dateline), and watched Something New (best of 3 dumb movies I watched!). My quota of tolerably silly movies is already filled for the month! The flight was turbulent but not to the point that it made me sick and we landed pretty much on time in Bangkok. Customs was easy, as was acquiring my bags (although admittedly handling my bags wasn't without effort!), as was finding a friendly agent willing to provide me with a driver + ride + Toyota Camry with leather seats for 700 Baht. I'm hopoing that a telling sign re: navigation in Bangkok is that the street signs are both in Thai and English. Although it wasn't raining, the streets were dark and shiny and lightening flashed high in the clouds in the distance. I arrived at my pricier, nice hotel, The Davis (http://www.davisbangkok.net/mainwing.html) at around 1:00 am - earlier & with a lot less trouble than I anticipated.

Upon my arrival, I was relieved to discover both a porter and a receptionist. Sadly, the Davis was out of the Deluxe-style room that I had reserved so I got upgraded to a suite! And it is truly sweet. There is marble everywhere, I have a kitchenette, a sitting room, a 4-poster bed and tub practically big enough to swim in. Upon entry, the bellhop showed me how to place my room keycard in a slot by the door which activates the lights. A bit later, after I removed the key to place it in a safe place, the entire suite went dark and I had to grope my way back to the doorway and re-insert the keycard. I thought this a nice way to save electricity. Oddly, considering that I had done nothing but sleep & watch movies in the recent past, I was hungry so I decided to order a snack from room service. After all, here I was by myself in the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in - so why not call room service at 1:20 am? I flipped through the menu and ordered a spicy shrimp salad, picturing spice-encrusted shrimp on a bed of lettuce. 5 minutes later a waiter with a silver-domed plate appeared at my door and placed a delicious-looking salad on my dining room table. There were a few leaves of lettuce on the side but the shrimp was in a bed of slightly tough lemon grass and sliced red peppers with seeds - granting me a vivid reminder that the first definition of spicy is hot. But the flavor was Thai and delicious and I ate the prawns, attempted to eat some of the lemon grass by wrapping it in lettuce but in the end had to diminish my burning lips and mouth raiding the minibar and utilizing some Pringles chips! I then ran a bath - which took forever to fill, dumped the entire small bubble bath jar into water and relaxed in the tub. That helped me relax and consider sleeping so I dug out my quilt and subsided into sleep.

I slightly awoke several times but truly aroused myself at around 9. Without haste, I showered, got dressed in a sundress (remembering a friend's story of being underdressed at her first breakfast at nice hotel in Bangkok), and wandered downstairs for the buffet breakfast. As you all know, I almost always adore the opportunity to try new food but oddly this morning, I did not. There were long tables with fruit, salad fixings, domed odd-looking sausages, baked beans (American style), eggs, noodles, French toast, glass vats with different colored juices and servers for tea and coffee. Breakfast is over at 10 and they had indeed folded up by 10 - but I managed a decent if slightly odd breakfast. I then walked outside the hotel to be immediately blanked by a sheen from humidity - although it is not intolerably hot. I wandered a few blocks from the hotel, enjoyed a mocha at Starbucks for 100 Baht and wandered back to send the family an actual e-mail.

So far the predictions about the Thai people being very nice have been true. The traffic isn’t too bad in my little corner – although I’ve already been amazed by the daring of the motorbike riders sans helmets and a bit too intimidated to cross the street. Luckily from my suite, I have a direct view of the street so I can take notes on how to cross the street and I can see the Bangkok skyline – must learn the names of recognizable buildings. Today I plan to wallow in my suite, organize e-mails and blogs, figure out the currency & tipping situation (I obtained 100 Baht notes from the foreign exchange office & keep tipping with those - which is $2.61 dollars but I'm not sure if this is too much or too little), nap, explore a bit more and avail myself in the books & advertisements on tourist things to do, and take another bath. And I’m going to need to find myself a power converter or dozen or so electronic necessities – luckily, the Thai are quite happy to assist the naïve tourists to spend their Baht; I have about 20 maps of where to shop in Bangkok.

I'm really glad to be here but readily admit that I already miss you all.

Laura