Thailand: The Red-Eye Preamble; First Day.

The preamble to my arrival in Thailand was a 24 hour marathon of either airports or the economy section of one of three jets it took me to get here. There was a certain amount of dread affixed to this notion of requiring three different jets to get to my destination because I know myself very well, and what I know with regard to jet travel is that I have fitful experiences bereft of any sort of restfulness.

Leaving behind the arid and oven-hot climate of the Middle East I arrive at the airport in Thailand, dim-witted from too many gates, too many negotiations with customer service, and no semblance of rest. I'm immediately struck by visions of Japan as I go through customs - they even have the cartoon customs mascots in Thailand just as they do in Japan at Narita International Airport. Taking my surroundings for face value and with little thought involved, I could provide close analog with my present surroundings and Japan entirely. Of course, it's not that simple, nothing ever is.

I emerge from the airport with a backpack slung over one shoulder. Inside I have enough clothes for four days, toiletries, a computer and a book. The lack of checked baggage and baggage claim has already made this gamble worth it, I think to myself, shouldering the other strap and walking to the Public Transport area of the parking lot. This is when I realize that despite my preparation with lodging, reading about the climate and surrounding areas, and reading about the culture, I did not study one word of Thai language. In what would turn out to be an on-going trend for the remainder of my first day in Thailand - I arrived in Thailand at 8 pm - I stumble through dialogue with the lady at the Public Transport booth. Luckily, this is not her first experience with a self-centered American who did not study any Thai language, and she hails a cab for me.

I slip into the back seat of the cab and clumsily utter the address of my apartment in Bangkok. I'm met by a blank stare from the rearview mirror and so I repeat the address, more finely this time, and with a change in intonation for certain syllables. Still nothing. I heave a sigh of resignation and hand the driver my directions. He nods quickly and tears out of his parking spot. Instinctively reacting to the jarring of the taxi, I reach for a seat belt and don't find one. Despite the chaos that would envelope me for the next seventy minutes of the taxi ride to my apartment, I enjoyed the experience for what it was. And what Thailand driving etiquette is, I can succinctly describe in this way: a matter of self-preservation, with no particular adherence to driving laws, should such things even exist here. There is no gradual braking, no blinkers, no gradual acceleration. Everything has a certain timing to it with regard to traffic, and that timing is frenetic.

On the other hand, I am surrounded by the ephemera of my Bangkok experience. There is a rush of lights, temples, and greenery, all of which were so starkly absent from my life in the Middle East. Acknowledging the ephemeral nature of past experience, I am attempting to nail it all down with the very words that I type. I may not be much for taking pictures, but I can write. And write, and write, and write. Or type. 

This entry is the first of many chronicling my experiences in Thailand, and I will do my very best not only to bring an accurate portrayal of this country to you, but also flesh out the experience entirely with some sort of meaning: lessons learned, mistakes made, or otherwise. 

The taxi driver and I quibble over the final expense of this ride. The meter says one amount, the driver says another. Finally, we agree on an amount in between and I receive my first lesson in Thai economics: everything can and will be negotiated. My apartment is on the seventh floor of a seven story building, which feels lucky to me for reasons I can't justify. The property manager, whom I shall call Steve, meets me at the complex entrance and shows me to my room. As I recall, Steve took great care to break everything down for me, but it was a fruitless endeavor - I was entirely too exhausted to adequately retain information. He gives me a quick crash course in common Thai phrases, zero of which I remember even after he has left me alone in my apartment. 

My apartment is small, simple, yet chic. The resounding theme is black and white, only interrupted with occasional orange furnishings. The bathroom includes a western toilet but with a hose and nozzle attached to the base of it, presumably to rinse off one's nether regions following the bathroom engagement. The shower is less a stall and more a random designated area on the bathroom wall to mount the shower head, plumbing and controls. In all of my worldliness - or lack thereof, since there is no sarcasm font - I have been in this apartment for three days and still cannot understand how to turn on the water heater, so I enjoy cold showers. And I truly do enjoy them.

Following the cold shower, I eat two hard boiled eggs and wash them down with a small box of green tea I purchased from the 7/11 within the apartment complex. Indeed, the complex has its own 7/11. I floss, I brush my teeth, and I flop onto the bed. The thought occurs to me that with so much in flux the past day and a half, I welcome the certainty of sleep. Though I will experience so many new things and have already, sleep is guaranteed. It seems that once my brain is done considering this, I immediately drift to sleep.

I wake up three hours later, wide-awake. I'm in Thailand.