July 1

28 hours NY—Bangkok
didn’t sleep, despite taking a sleeping pill
did learn some basic Lao, which I’ve used on my first day here
stops in LA, Tokyo
in LA, bill discovered he’d left his camera in JFK
he raced through LAX filing claims and trailing loose ends
found camera in his bag before boarding again
Tokyo airport has a store full of spectacular origami
Which rivals the origami tree at the Natural History Museum
Bankok airport hotel overnight
sleeping pill worked
sort of
nice swim in nice pool in AM
talked to some aussies and thought they were going to phuket for a wake
(oh, I’m sorry, I said)
but no
it was a week
well, of course
on the beach, with their family
one more flight
Bangkok to Vientiane
And check this out
NY→LA: many hours, no meal
Bangkok→Vientiane: 40 minutes, meal, fresh flower corsage on deplaning
Would have been the loveliest flight ever
Except we sat next to a junkie
Having DTs and twitching and nodding out
Happy, happy to get away from him
And arrive in the sleepy capital of Laos
Where we ate street food for lunch
And a delicious dinner in a lovely restaurant
And walked and marveled
I used most of my Lao phrases
And people laughed and smiled
I have no idea if I’m saying anything correctly
Since I learned it from a book
And haven’t gotten my ear around what I’m hearing yet
Sabaidee baw
One bad thing:
A vein in my lower leg became swollen and hard and painful in transit
Looking up DVT online
(when I can actually get a signal from my sweet hotel with a view of the Mekong and Thailand across the way)
and thinking I may die any moment
sabaidee
hello, goodbye
it’s been a great ride.
That ends my first installment.