Flying to SouthEast Asia

Just looking around, you might not notice that we are in a different country. We’re sitting in front of a Panasonic LCD television, waiting for our next flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. It’s a beautiful picture, but of course (most) all the characters are Japanese, and (most) all the spoken words are not English. The shops all have prices in yen rather than dollars and I have no idea what’s in some of the packages. I didn’t think to check to see what the yen is worth vs. the dollar so I can’t even tell if I’m getting a deal. So this is what it’s like to be off the North American continent!

We’re here for about another hour and a half, and it’s nice to be able to walk around when we want after the 11 ½ hour flight. Joyce doesn’t really agree, but Alan was surprised at how quickly the time passed. Don’t get me wrong, it was not a fast trip, but I expected to be absolutely stir crazy by the end. I took several naps, saw a couple of movies, ate several meals and snacks, and read a fair amount of a book. From Minneapolis to Tokyo we sat in the same row with a gentleman from Missouri who was taking a group to visit a house church near Beijing. Carter was a very pleasant guy, and certainly was interested in our experiences with Neighborhood Christian Chapel. The conversations went a long way toward shortening the trip as well.

In the airport at Tokyo, we met up with Alan’s cousin Sharon. She took a flight from Detroit, and without even planning, we all ended up on the same flight into Bangkok.

The six hour trip from Tokyo to Bangkok almost seemed like a walk in the park! I didn’t quite say “Are we here already.” The plane was probably the most modern we had ridden on to date. We each had our own video and game system, the lights were brighter and more focused, and there was a reasonable amount of space (or maybe we were just getting used to it).

Fred met us at the gate, part of his privileges in being an employee of the United Nations. That was most helpful, as we went through customs in a place where English wasn’t the first language and with a passport for the first time. We got to the car and crammed the 4 of us and our luggage in, in spite of the attempted help of a couple of luggage cart retrieval workers. Though it was after midnight, there was still a lot of traffic. It may have been because Fred said that several international flights arrive around midnight. We got to Fred and Jane’s apartment fairly quickly, and made our way to their lovely 14th floor space with our luggage. Jane had all the arrangements worked out with sleeping and bathroom space. The view is gorgeous from each of the 5 balconies. It will take some getting used to the heat, but there seems to be a pleasant breeze.

We finally went to bed around 3 am Bangkok time, and though it was really 3 pm the previous day back home, we were ready!