Twenty hours to Bangkok

Here's a little map, courtesy of Air Canada, that shows our route from Toronto to Tokyo. As you can see, we took the northerly route, out over James Bay, across the Arctic where the sky huskies took over and pulled the plane, skimming over Alaska into Russian air space and then down into Japan. Lots of ice and clouds — that's what we could see!




Oh, and a sunset...




It went fairly quickly, all things considered, and there were plenty of movies to keep us busy. Our bags went straight through once we hit Tokyo. We took a right coming off the plane, went through another security check, and suddenly we were in the very long corridors of Narita Airport.




We wandered about for a bit, stretching our legs. There was very little difference from your everyday mall. We did enjoy the karaoke toilets, however...

Of course, while in Japan, even if it is only the airport, we had to try out the pricey, but delicious sushi plate.




Our Bangkok flight was delayed slightly, but once on board, we had some more veggie asian fare (always good to make the special request, as you get your food first!) and then found it too much to keep our eyes open. Seven hours later, we were touching down at Suvi airport just outside of Bangkok.

Customs was a breeze. We collected our bags and met our driver from the hotel. We had to wait a few minutes for another party and then outside we went into our first blast of warm, humid air. "And this is 12:00 a.m.," I said to Jenn. "Wait until the sun is up..."

Our ride is a four seater pick-up. The parking lot at the airport is a metal zoo, even at this time in the morning. Finding his truck blocked in by another car, our driver puts his weight into the hood and rolls the offending vehicle out the way like it's a game of Rush Hour. No parking brakes here...

It's about 40 minutes to the hotel. Bangkok is surprisingly dark at night and there's not too much to see. My initial impressions are how westernized it seems and how there are English signs everywhere.

The hotel staff are waiting for us with a glass of fresh orange juice. We check in, choose our breakfast from the cut-outs on the orange bristol board poster and then head upstairs to our room.

I wonder if it will take us a while to fall asleep, being it is 1:00 p.m. back in Ontario. But, we are out as soon as our heads hit the pillow.