Well, that was a fun 31 hours (revised and updated)

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Deleted; re-posted with spelling errors corrected, time zones fixed, and parentheses opened or closed as needed; updated. And, I hope, with a transit map.

1/29
9:25 PM
LAX
After various disruptions, I was very happy to see N before I left—I wasn't expecting to. She did need to drop me at the airport three hours before my flight, where both my checked and carry-on bags were inspected, swabbed, and rummaged through. I then discovered that (perhaps due to software incompatibility, perhaps to the finicky nature of iPods) my iPod was empty, where previously I had loaded 56 hours of audio books. Two hours were spent unfruitfully (but at least I was interested) in trying to figure out why the computer knew all the files on the iPod but couldn't play them, whereas the iPod merely insisted that it had no songs or books. This was initially very frustrating, since I have a house-to-hotel transit of 31 hours in this direction, and having been so thoroughly scrutinized, I didn't want to break security to look for a book in Eugene's tiny non-book store (the non-bookstore inside the perimeter had nothing interesting). Fortunately, I had a copy of Obama's The Audacity of Hope with me, so I started in on that. Also fortunately, my Portland to Los Angeles flight was shifted from Horizon (flying in which is like being on a flying riding mower) to Alaska, and I happen to know every place a book can be purchased in PDX terminals C and D. I had about 5 minutes to duck into the airport Powell's and grab a new copy of How to See Yourself as You Really Are by the Dalai Lama (Tibet or Nepal in my Books of the World Challenge) and a used copy of Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. If that's the only thing to go wrong on the trip, I'll be thrilled.

The flight to Los Angeles was fine. I took my morning prescriptions (including Malarone, an anti-malarial) since it was morning in Asia. I read about 200 pages of Obama, which was very interesting following the book I just finished, M. T. Anderson's second Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation: The Kingdom on the Waves. Though one is a young adult novel and one an essay by the president, both discuss slavery in the U.S. with an emphasis on the betrayal of the slaves by the country's founders. I like reading a book and then finding that the next book, chosen more or less at random, has overlapping themes, topics, or symbols. There isn't much I like more than pattern recognition.

I enjoyed the change to Los Angeles's warmish breeze from the cold, foggy thermal inversion in the area I just left. The printed tag for my luggage apparently is unreadable by man or scanning device; I am to speak to the gate representative “to make sure they load it.” This is why you should always travel in clothes you could wear professionally (which I am) with a change of undergarments in your carry-on (which I have).

The international terminal is under construction and pretty torn up. I'm sitting on the floor (by the electrical outlets) charging up my phone, then I may hunt for a more pleasant area to wait for my 12:05 AM flight to Hong Kong. There's a screaming child who may be ill in the next bank of seats, and absolutely nothing here at the very end of the terminal. I'd post this, but T-Mobile isn't working on this end of the terminal either, even though I get a 100%!s(MISSING)ignal.

1/31
4:50 AM (local time; it's 12:50 PM on 1/29 in Oregon)
Over Japan, due west of Mt. Fuji

The Cathay Pacific staff was very helpful and located my luggage about 20 minutes before boarding. I did wake up in the night thinking, “Maybe I should have double-bagged the Krazy Glue.” I have Krazy Glue for emergency wound care and certain kinds of quick repair, in case you're wondering. And “wake up” is a misstatement if it suggests a single event rather than 11 hours of dozing and waking. I will say that setting the Brandenburg Concertos to repeat on the seat audio system all night did at least made it possible to doze, whereas without that, and even with earplugs, the prolonged and repeated bouts of cries of distress from a little boy (with a probable developmental delay) across the aisle would have kept me up.

I had a nice conversation with the young man next to me, who is making this 15-hour flight today to see his ailing grandmother in Hong Kong, then returning to the U.S. on Monday. He is an International Studies major carrying a book on human rights violations (for a midterm on Wednesday). He was interested to hear about the kinds of jobs he might get at a multinational NGO. He is a big guy and I'm sure he's uncomfortable in his middle seat.

Cathay Pacific has snazzed up its planes since I last flew with them in November, 2006. Economy seats now have a larger, sturdier tray table (which makes a big difference since I often sleep with my arms braced on the table and my head against the seat ahead of me), multi-prong electrical outlets at every seat, a good audio/video system with lots of choices, and seats that recline by sliding the seat cushion forward rather than shifting the angle of the back, which means you don't suddenly have your laptop crushed when the person ahead of you reclines, and you don't lose your leg room if you don't want to. The back of the seat is contoured for at least a little lumbar support, and the headrest wings stay where you bend them. On the down side, the seat is sized to the hips, not the shoulders, making it difficult to negotiate arm territory with one's neighbor(s). There's no seat back pocket; instead there are functionally inaccessible magazine pockets behind your heels in the seat riser. They're already full of airline magazines, and I'd think they contribute greatly to the number of forgotten articles. This wouldn't be an issue except that, at least in the central bank of seats, only the middle seat has stowage under the row ahead. I'm in an aisle seat and have a space only tall enough for my purse, slid horizontally. Among other implications of this set-up: There's nowhere to put Mr. Obama's book, or your computer, or your apple, when the food tray arrives, nor can you leave your seat unless you or your neighbor can hold your things while you wriggle out through the 1.5 foot aperture between your seat and the row ahead of you.

Breakfast should be served in within the hour: Fresh seasonal fruit (I'm hoping for dragon fruit), yogurt, and either scrambled eggs rancheros or congee with chicken and black mushroom. I plan to waste today's carbohydrates on rice, because there's little I like more than congee or soup for breakfast. Except maybe pattern recognition.

I add later that it was excellent congee, with a little lemon zest grated on top.

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1/31
12:45 PM
Bangkok

I've arrived and am waiting for my room. More later, but I'll go ahead and post this. I can't get the map to work, so I'll try again later.

* * *
Now it's later.

I had dinner at a restaurant across from my hotel: Green curry chicken with pumpkin, one of my favorites. It was prepared with chicken and gourd with Thai basil, a nominal amount of carrot and bell pepper, lime leaves snipped from the restaurant garden, in a lightly spiced coconut broth. It was fantastic, and cost about $3. My Singha beer (served with a straw, so I drank it that way) cost about $2.60, whereas fresh coconut juice, served from a coconut, would run about $0.70.
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Travel tips as I think of them.

Hotel hygiene:

• Pack colorfast, low-wrinkle clothes that are hand washable and dry quickly.
  
• Wash them in the sink with shampoo, roll them in a towel and wring them gently, snap them a few times to decrease wrinkles and get some of the water out, and dry them flat on a towel or hung from hangers or clothesline. Rick Steves and other companies make a line that doesn't need clothespins. Steves's line has Velcro loops on the ends, which is very useful. I usually travel with a few plastic clothespins anyway, since some garments slither off any line and socks and underwear can be clipped to a wire hanger. Running a fan can speed the drying process.
  
• For clothes that are just wrinkled, bring little plastic spray bottle. Hang the clothes, mist them lightly, gently pull the wrinkles flat, and let them dry. You can also hang them in the bathroom while you shower, which at least helps with most wrinkles.
  
• If you're in a room like the one I have here in Bangkok, with a shower that's just a hand held nozzle in a bathroom with a drain in the floor, washing your clothes is even easier. Set up your clothesline or a bring a few hangers into the bathroom. Remove the toilet paper and towels if you're pretty certain you'll wind up spraying them accidentally. Take off your shoes, put on your shower flip flops (trust me: You want shower flip flops), remove your cell phone and anything other than clothes from your person, and spray water all over yourself. Then use shampoo to soap the clothes, taking off layers and throwing them in the sink as you go. When you have no clothes on, slosh the clothes around in the sink and let them soak. You may need to stop the sink with your own stopper. Agitate them a little with your hands, drain the sink, refill it for a rinse, and proceed as above.
  
• About the flip flops: It's much more sanitary to have a pair of plastic shoes that stay in your room and that you wear in the room and bathroom. You don't want to track whatever is on the street into your room, and you don't want to have your bare feet in contact with whatever other people have brought in.
  While we're on the subject of critters, check for bedbugs (in some situations, check before you pay or agree to pay). Untuck the sheet at the end of the bed and look at its underside (or the underside of the mattress pad) for little brown or red spots. Check the seam of the mattress, especially near the label. Even high-end places can have bedbugs, so make it a habit to check.
  
• Assume that any food you have that's not sealed will be an ant and roach magnet.
  
• Assume that any sealed bag of food left on the floor will be a sealed bag miraculously full of tiny ants next time you look at it.
  

Enough with the bugs?

• Lock your bag if there's anything you would be upset to have stolen, and lock your bag to a piece of furniture or another bag. It's easy to grab someone's suitcase an walk off with it undetected; it's much harder to pull this off with a suitcase locked to a chair.
  

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