Travel Journal:

my first trip out of the country - one more on traveling.........


one more on traveling......... 2007-02-06
 
we left koh phangan pretty early in the morning...... that night had consisted of walking around hadd rin and eating exceptional Indian food for the last time... the boat ride was very pleasant and i didn't get boat sick at all (which was relieving after the last one)... i still get a bit dizzy from the boat rides but nothing nearly as severe. we ended up in sura tani at the airport few hours later... we proceeded to eat some very bad food and then waited until our flight up to bangkok.. the airports in Thailand are very lax.... they wouldn't let me come on board with my pocket knife but allowed abe to get a book from a checked bag without verifying it was him....

when we arrived in bangkok i noticed that one of my bags had been looked through and all my yin (Japanese currency) had been stolen but not the American 5 dollars.... this was quite odd but i thought it was just amusing (glad i kept my cell phone and ipod separate)... we then proceeded to go to the "closest" guest house to the airport in bangkok..... it was very nice but much more than we wanted to pay for 5 hours of sleep... oh well it was nice anyways...

the plane flight started on JAL Airways which is the american airways partner..... i really recommend this airline to those of you traveling in Asia... this was the one mentioned in my first email.... they were just as attentive/amusing again.. it was a pleasant flight especially because it was only 4 hours instead of 7 as we were traveling with the jet stream.....

we had an hour layover in tokyo which consisted of us landing on one side of the airport, going to the other side, going through security, checking in as they were not able to give us boarding passes in bangkok, going back to the terminal from which we just came, and boarding 2 gates down from our landing gate.......... the next was unfortunately the american airlines flight and was also the longest of any of the flights...

its was very ironic welcoming back to the country....

before we got into the plane we came upon an odd sight.... there were several security guards, some toothpaste, shampoo bottles, lotion, hand soap and water bottles laying on the floor.... there was a guy arguing over the fact that he had to ditch several bottles of very expensive cosmetics and then it hit me, it was that fucking liquid ban....... we hadn't even left tokyo and the american parinoia already felt apparant.... abe and i quickly chugged and entire 1.5 liter bottle of water so that it didnt totally go to waste....... many of the flight attendants seemed annoyed they had to help you (almost all american attendants), the food was a total step down from the JAL food (which wasnt great but was edible), they gave you less liquids, and the movie/entertainment selection sucked as well.... it was nice to be welcomed back to my home country by a company that exemplifies the american business ethic "profits first, customer satisfaction/quality last" which unfortunately seems to be a trend...........

LAX was also very interesting...... when arriving in the states you have to go through customs in the airport you arrive in not the destination...... so we went through US customs, picked up our baggage, went through anther customs checkpoint, immediately rechecked our baggage, then were forced to leave the airports "secure" zone and then had to go back through regular security checkpoint (at this point 4 security checkpoints and customs altogether...). we then had to take another tram from the terminal to the one that our plane was leaving from.............. it was really annoying.....


this experience leaves me with this question:
why is it that americans are such an unhappy/suspiscious people?

the customs/security people in thailand were friendly and the american ones were all more or less rude/bitchy (same job essentially)....
that people slave in rice fields with a good attitude and we complain endlessly about working retail jobs that require very little effort (myself included in this)......
people are poor and still smile in thailand while we (as a culture) are unbelivably lucky and are ungrateful for it...
people in thailand (except bangkok) are very laid back, accepting people and we are uptight (paranoid even)/intolerant...

this is not to say that they thai people are all perfect or we are all bad. i have seen my fair share of things happen and have gotten ripped off in both places..... but overall as a society it has a different outlook on life..........

why is this? what's the difference? i dont get it.......... i could list things forever.... even writing this i begin to see that this entire email is part of the problem...... it's only focusing on the negative aspects of life.......... which i think ultimately no matter what caused this different outlook thats the difference..... so i will end this on a positive note.....





I am so absurdly lucky that i was able to go on this trip..... i am grateful that i live in a country that the exchange rate is so high that i can spend 3 weeks doing and eating what/when/where ever i feel like for $660 (not including plane ticket)..... this adventure opened my eyes further. there will be many more to come because i live in a rich, abundant nation that has so much power i can get a visa to anywhere with very little problem. there are many more to come because despite the discomfort of airplanes i can get to the other side of the planet in 26-28 hours............... i am amazingly lucky to have been born when/ where i am.............next time you get a bad latte or the foods not exactly how you ordered it remember this....... love to all
 
Map and Photos for my first trip out of the country
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Thailand Journal : my first trip out of the country - one more on traveling......... Travel Photos
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