The Life and Times of Jim! Paul!

Jim is Now in Bangkok?

Okay, just to begin...Stayed over Richard & Nataly's for the night, stayed up a little late, but not really that much later than what I usually do with those folks. Woke up REALLY early in the morning, about 5:00, believe it or not. This is something I would not have expected, hearing it from Richard...Nataly woke before Richard. I was under the impression that she is a late sleeper, but it seems that she wakes really early, gets him ready to go (lunch, prep for the day), then goes back to sleep before he is even out of bed. Who knew? ANYWAY...We got on the road wonderfully early at about 7:15 (Thanks for the breakfast, Nataly!). Richard drove me to the airport in his truck, Nataly took her car !LEGALLY! to school, and I got to the airport. Got through check-in, took about 15 minutes for the whole ceremony, then it's 2+ hours to burn before boarding the plane. Okay, so you can walk the whole of D/FW airport in about 45 minutes, so I took the Brand! New! People! Mover! around the place and had a wonderful time looking at the airplanes because it is the FIRST time you can see them now. It is okay, the stations have terrazzo floors like Love Field, it's pretty and quiet enough to sleep if you don't mind no carpet and no seating. Got lucky getting back to the gate, loading went peacefully (not like JFK in New York), and here I am about 33000 ft up, going 550 MPH over the west side of Oklahoma right now. Wait, just past Amarillo. Now right at Dalhart! 3 miles east! I really like the LCD screens on the back of the headrests, they have the flight information and it's really easy to read. Not having to peer around people's heads.
Okay, it is ALMOST perfect...you can have music, or you can have cartoons. I was hoping I could have classical music AND cartoons. The perfect combination. But no, either cartoons or music. That's okay...at least there ARE cartoons. One thing I CAN have, classical music with the in-flight map. That's okay.
AFTER the flying-- I sat next to a lady who was VERY talkative from DFW to Narita. Once she ran out of energy for a few minutes, it was okay...I won't say anything more about her, everybody has their bears to cross. The most amazing thing about the flight to Japan was the size of Alaska. Okay, 2 things... Alaska, and how I can be satisfied to watch a moving map for hours. First, Alaska. The trip was 40 billion miles. 38.8 billion of those miles were going along the coastline of Alaska. Really, it took HOURS to get past it! Yes, it was a long flight, and Alaska was a big part of the flight. It's almost tailor-made for people who want to navigate by watching landmarks. It lasts forever.
The other thing about the flight. The back of each seat has a LCD video screen, about 5 inches across, with a menu for video (2nd run movies), music, and the cartoon. I watched the PowerPuff Girls many times, also that new McCracken show about The Home for Imaginary Friends. It's okay...but if there were more than one show of each, it would have been much better. It is amazing to me how they feed you on flights...they give you the first snack, then when they are done giving out the snacks all around the plane, they the pick up the trash, then when they are done they give you a meal, then pick THAT up, give out drinks,...on and on and on...no wonder Americans are known to be fat. It was good landing at Narita, it was a very long flight.
Once at Narita, I just followed my nose to International Connection things, and found the gate nearly perfectly the first time. There, they don't really believe in air conditioning, but at least I could walk a bit. Hung around at the gate for a few minutes, took a gander at the ANA (All Nippon Airways) plane, done up in a Pokemon paint scheme. I am not kidding. I swear to God, it was Pokemon. WIERDEST thing I remember seeing.
At Narita, they have a group of duty free shops, and it looks a lot like a Moscow street market, but cleaner and quieter. Each store also had a lady outside watching the shop, and helping out if needed. Oh...Duty free...In DFW, a bottle of Johnny Walker Green is about $80, the blue about $130. In Tokyo Duty Free, the blue is 15000 yen. I have NO idea how much it is. But I might pick up a bottle once I get home again.
Once on the plane at Narita, there are all these Japanese people there...like a tourist convention or something! I have not seen so many non-European people around, ever. Also, Jat mentioned that Americans wear tennis shoes, everybody else wears nicer shoes. I think I agree. Also, Americans ARE fat. We were the biggest people in the bunch. We got on the 747 to Bangkok, and immediately, my legs cramp from the stillness. It was insane, I REALLY needed to run around or something. Ok...The first official thing they do on the plane is all the stewardesses (all women), once they seat you and get overhead shelves locked up, they all stand at attention and bow to you. As an American, this is the wierdest thing. It was to be outdone by the groundcrew...as the plane left the walkway to taxi, the groundcrew is waving goodbye to us, and as we get past them, they also bow to us, and to each other. It is just surreal. This is about the time I remembered I was still sitting, and my legs cramped up. The flight to Bangkok was uneventful (except for throbbing legs), and I really need to learn an Asian language enough to get the gist of the PA announcements. Even when they said the instructions in English, it was incomprehensible. Sorry folks, I just really don't understand. There is a drink on JAL airplanes, called "Sky Time," it is sweet, not carbonated, clear like lemon juice, and I have no idea what is in it. None at all. Also, I think the beef is not that good, but it was better than dirt. Speaking of these things, judging by the amount of food I got, I really think next time I fly anywhere, I am going vegetarian. Not because of some timing thing (they seem to give special meals first), but because it will be MUCH lighter than the normal meals, and I could really use the lighter meals. Okay, 6+ hours later, we land at Bangkok International, and here we are. One thing JAL planes have, is a forward and a downward pointing camera you can see on your video screen. This time, it was too cloudy to see anything anywhere, but on landing, they had the forward facing camera on the main screen, and it was too scary because I kept thinking they were going to swerve off toward the left (I was looking at the screen from the far right, at a sharp angle). Got to the aerodrome, sort of followed my nose (like at Sheremetyevo), and eventually got my checked in bag, through the passport check (yes, I am planning on leaving), and met Jat! I think meeting Jat was the high point of the flight. She was a joy to see.

posted by Jim @ 6/19/2005 11:33:00 PM