Greetings From Tokyo

I just arrived in Tokyo and am awaiting the gruelling part of of this trip:  20 freeking hours of flight time!  I drew a VERY bad seat from BKK…I was located in the center section, center seat of the craft.  I had a stinky man to my right, and a man who required a lot of space to my left.  Major bummer.  I didn’t bother sleeping last night and was, for the second time in my life, able to fall asleep on an aircraft.  I slept for much of the five hour trip here. 

When I arrived, I discovered that all of the exit row seats were already filled as were the aisle seats.  Since I’m quite tall (Asians say – ‘You’re long’ instead of tall…haha), I am forever cramped in the tiny ass seats of the Asian airlines…even though this one was operated by good old American Airlines.  I inquired about upgrading to business class and received a very cheap offer and took it.  When I arrived in the Business Class Lounge, I was again reminded of how stingy the American airline companies are; instead of real and warm food, there were tiny ass sandwiches with contained some unknown substance.  There is nothing to drink other than cola, liquor, and water; not having a sweet tooth and already having consumed too much water, I elected for the only remaining choice.  I was actually suprised that the liquor wasn’t watered down with the intent of filling the pockets of the CEO from AA with more dinero.  When I read my travel itinerary, the portion regarding the leg of the trip from Dallas to DC read, "Meals available for purchase."  I’ll tell you – EVERY flight I have ever been on internationally ALWAYS serves a full on meal.  The trip from BKK to the island of Koh Samui is 55 minutes, and guess what:  YOU RECEIVE A MEAL!  The cool thing I discovered when leaving BKK is that I am able to claim ‘Diplomatic Status’!!  HAHAHA!!!  The lines were SOOOO damn long to clear customs, and no one was in the Diplomatic line.  I went to the desk, showed my government issued I.D. card, and was wisked through!  haha!!!

I had a very lovely evening last night with Jimlim.  We went to a place called The Dome.  It’s a lookout point on the top of a high-rise hotel in downtown BKK.  There was Jazz Standards playing, the wind was blowing, and it was quite romantic.  We spent my last two day in BKK together.  I fell asleep at her parents house yesterday afternoon, and her mother had great fun taking photos of me as I slept.  haha! 

I’m off…