DEPARTURE (Days 33 - 35)

DAY 33

We spent the day doing last minute shopping, packing, arranging for an airport taxi and having a final hotel meal.

At 5 pm, we loaded up into the taxi and headed out. We got inside just as all the lights and power went out in the airport. Eventually they came back on, but only half way.

It was about an hour and 45 minute flight to Bangkok. We arrived at the hotel, got some keys, opened up the rooms... but one room was filled with someone's else's stuff. We were given another room on a different floor, but it was the exact same thing! Finally the third time was a charm... but there was no hot water.

DAY 34

We did a bit of shopping and errands in the morning but noticed things were already being set up for Songkran (the Thai New Year), which officially begins tomorrow and lasts for three day. However, each year it keeps getting extended... starting earlier and lasting five days. Already many of the stores were already closed for the 5-day stretch.

The biggest part of the celebration is getting each other soaking wet. In the streets, kids stood near huge vats of water. A girl stood with a water gun on the ferry. People walked about with flour plastered in their hair and all over their faces. The sides of busses and cars were completely soaked wet from all the water being thrown.

Since I had no more clean clothes, I didn't want to risk getting drenched, so I headed back to the hotel. The staff was busy pouring bowls of scented water down each other's backs and patting flour on each other's faces. Apparently they had moved all my things to another room.

The taxi arrived at 7 pm to take me to the airport. The road was absolutely packed and it took almost seven minutes at the first light just to get onto the toll road. Each year, thousands are injured and many die during Songkran. They get drunk and then have a motorcycle accident on the wet streets... so lots of people leave the country to avoid it.

I had to wait over two hours to check in, then wait another two and a half hours at the gate.

DAY 35

The flight took off at 1:30 in the morning. 4.5 hours later, we were landing in Seoul, Korea. Unfortunately I had a 12 hour layover, so I entertained myself with writing, sleeping on the lounge chairs and watching Korean soap operas.

The flight to San Francisco was 9 hours and 40 minutes. I went through passport control, got my luggage, went through customs, rechecked my bags, walked to another terminal, and checked in for my flight to Colorado. Whew! It was a looooong trip!

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