Random Ramblings

Chasing The Sun

February 1, 2010 at 10:00 AM (Travel Notes)

*This is part 1 of a series of excerpts from my journal documenting my recent trip to South East Asia

1/16/10
8:00am
MIA

It has been somewhat of a dramatic start to this journey.  I set my alarm for 5am since my ride to the airport would be arriving at 6am.  I had such a hard time falling asleep.  It felt like the night before the first day of school.  I woke up every 30 minutes checking the clock.  Then I must have hit REM sleep because the next thing I remember is a soft tap on my door.  I open my eyes and the clock says 5:45am!  Thankfully my sister Lani works early and was there to wake me up before she leaves to work.  I frantically jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes and brushed my teeth.  Thankfully everything was already packed and ready to go.

The ride to the airport was smooth right up until we are about 2 miles from the airport.  All we see is bright red brake lights and stand still traffic.  As we gradually inch forward and get closer to the main exit for the airport, we see that the exit is closed off and all the traffic is being diverted to the far left lane.  My foot is tapping quickly at this point but I’m calm and I’m praying.  After what seemed like an hour we finally pass the exit and providentially the next exit goes to the airport as well.

I finally reach the airport, grab my bags and head to the self-check in station.  On my first attempt, the system doesn’t find my flight.  I try my record locator number, my flight number and slide my credit card…nothing.  The computer can’t find my flight information!  Now a flash of panic grips me.  The assistant that walks up can’t help me either so she directs me to get into the line.  The note on the stations says that international flights must check in 60 minutes before the flight.  My flight is about 65 minutes away and every line is packed.  As I wait in line I begin freaking out just a bit since I don’t know how long it will take to get to the front and then I may have a possibility of having complications with my ticket.  As my head starts flooding with these thoughts, my dad calls.  He is calling to wish me a good flight but when I tell him the situation, he is able to assure me that everything will be fine and I calm down.  Finally I get through the line, they find my flight and I get my bag checked.  I quickly get through security and hop on the plane to LAX.

All that and I haven’t even taken off yet!!

1/17/10
5:00pm
NRT

During the flight to California, I picked up 3 hours.  Flying west, it feels like I’m chasing the sun.  All of the trip so far has been in the daylight.  Once we pass New Zealand and cross the international date line, I lost 12 hours.  However, I arrive in Toyko after about 17 hours of travel and it is still light outside.

I now realize that smell is the most acute of my five senses.  On the plane to LA, I caught a wiff of something strong that turned my stomach.  I’m not sure what it was but the next thing I know, I’m feeling nauseous.  I break into a cold sweat and I get that dizzy feeling like I might throw up.  This lasts for about 10 minutes and I’m debating whether I should get up and run to the bathroom.  Luckily, the flight attendant comes and brings a cup of water.  Shortly after that, the feeling goes away.

The 11 hour flight from LA to Tokyo was INTENSE.  Aside from the fact that I didn’t get up for the entire trip, I got stuck by this guy who didn’t smell all that pleasant.  It wasn’t persistent, but every once in awhile I’d get a full wiff and have to hold my breath.  I definitely don’t do well with foul smells.

It has been a long time since I’ve been confined to one space for so long.  It’s pretty tough, especially when you can’t get comfortable.  On both flights so far, I’ve been able to manage about one hour of sleep.

I love being in Japan.  The people are so beautiful.  I love hearing Japanese from every direction.  I’m getting flashbacks of the 3 years I lived in Okinawa.  I definitely want to come back here one day.  The only thing kinda freaking me out is all the people wearing masks on their face.  I feel like I’m going to catch SARS or something!

I’ll be boarding my flight to Bangkok soon.  Hopefully I’m not too jet lagged when I get to Burma tomorrow.

1/18/10
7:00 am
BKK

I was able to sleep for about 2 hours on the flight to Thailand.  I watched 500 Days of Summer for the 3rd time on the flight.  That movie gets better every time I see it.

I’m having such a good time just people watching.  From the Japanese, to Thai to all the other countries…they are just beautiful people.  I could completely see myself marrying an Asian woman!

The Bangkok airport is absolutely humongous.  It is really clean and all the people were very helpful in pointing me to where I needed to go.  I must have looked like I needed help with my eyes wide looking for signs directing me to where I needed to go.

Once I got through passport control and picked up my bags I walked through looking for Tim and Sherman.  I walked up and down for about 15 minutes and started to get nervous especially since I’ve never met either one of them!  Then I started looking at all the signs with people’s names on them and finally found one with my name.  They had the shuttle service from the hotel pick me up.

I arrived at the hotel and Sherman met me in the lobby as I walked in.  He has a big smile and is very friendly.

By the time I got to the room and showered, it was about 1am.  My wake up call was at 4:30am but I feel pretty good for about only 5 hours of sleep in the past 30+ hours or so.  Sherman and I have had good introductory conversation.  I have so many questions but I don’t want to overwhelm him!  We shared a surprisingly good cup of Black Canyon coffee before boarding.  It is about an hour to Burma!

Here it begins…