In Southeast Asia

I've made it to Southeast Asia! That was by far the longest I've ever flown - over 25 hours. The most memorable parts of the journey were sitting next to this Norwegian guy on the flight to Detroit who was the head of a few non-profits, a motivational speaker, and a life coach for CEO's, and having to sprint through the Tokyo airport after a 13 hour flight to make the connection to Bangkok. The Detroit-Tokyo flight had been delayed due to fueling issues, and then with air traffic getting approval from the Russian authorities for the the plane to travel through Russian airspace.

Probably the two most impressive things about Bangkok so far are the highways and the smiles. The highway from the airport to town was very impressive. I know if sounds weird to note that, but it looks brand new, is in great condition, and gives an image of affluence to the traveler just entering. I don't think I've ever seen a highway in such good repair. Then, the smiles here are contagious. They're these huge ear to ear grins. It's impossible not to smile back. I suppose that Thailand really is the land of 1000 smiles.

The Marriott that we're staying at is huge. It's a very-exclusive looking resort with high gates and armed security guards. The taxi was scanned with a metal detector when we came in. Inside it's awesome, and it's great being a platinum member (thanks to so many on-site trips for the past 2 years) as I get to take advantage of many of the amenities for free. One very interesting thing are the staff uniforms. Again, an odd thing to note, but the staff wears some pretty outlandish, ethnic-looking stuff like baggy capri-style pants with high black socks (the men) and tight shirts missing one of the shoulders and sleeves (women). I wonder if that's the norm for hotels here, or if Marriott does it to try to make the atmosphere look more exotic.

The humidity here is impressive. It feels like walking into a steam room when you walk outside, but you quickly get accustomed to it.

Today after sleeping in a bit, we headed out to get custom-tailored suits, which I've heard are a must if you pass through this part of the world. When we went in there, we were handed beers and started to look through catalogues to pick out suit styles we liked. We then picked out fabrics for suits and dress shirts, and they measured us every which way. It was probably 20-30 different measurements all along the body, and in places you wouldn't think of, like between the shoulder blades. We go back tonight for the first fitting - quite exciting. Now, that's the way to shop! Apparently, they'll keep our measurements on file so from now on, I can just call or Email the shop and they can ship me another suit.

It's a shame that we won't be able to see more of Bangkok right now. We fly out on a red-eye tomorrow to our next location. But, we'll be back here towards the end of my time in Southeast Asia.

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