Airports

My flights took me from Fukuoka --> Taipei --> Bangkok --> New Delhi. About 23 hours total.

The flight to Taipei on China Airlines was awesome... it was only a 2 hr flight but came complete with a meal and free alcoholic beverages... China is definitely going to take over the world. The airport in Taipei was eerily deserted when I landed but filled up when I got towards the international flights. They have art exhibits scattered throughout the aiport. High tech furniture, flowers, wood carvings, murals, paintings... I really want to visit Taiwan sometime.

Bangkok, also another place I need to go. Next trip? I had a 4 hour layover and there was enough food and things to keep me busy. Dairy Queen, pizza, fruit smoothies... all the things one could miss in Japan. I exchanged some of my money to Bhat... which has their president on every denomination.

I also had my first experience with an Indian here... pushy bastard who cut in front of me while I was waiting in line... hilariously, the girl taking my order shut him down with a hand that chopped the air, bruce lee style... then she turned and took my order while the indian guy had a dumbfounded look on his face.

On the way to my gate, attendants at the airport said my flight was leaving... I rushed to the gate to find I had another hour to wait...

Traveling lesson - Always where a watch.

Response:
Later in the trip, after India mentally exhausting us down to a nub, Hahn and I completely forgot about a day...I think it was a Thursday. I figured Hahn would bring a watch, and in fine style, he believed I would bring one. I have since acquired a watch.

A hint of things to come...

I guess you could say it wasn't such a good idea to stay up until 3 a.m. playing RE5 before packing. Sleep wasn't coming to me easily leading up to this trip, and I probably should have gone to bed at a decent hour since i had a 6:15 am train to catch.  No worries- I had a prepared for this;  I set 2 separate alarms just to make sure I woke up on time...

Beeeeeep! 6:03, fuck! I ran around my apartment, grabbed my stuff, and hopped on the bicycle towards the station. I peddled my ass off for 10 min and by the time I got there, I was in a full sweat and felt like throwing up... flashbacks of soccer practice in high school with 100 sprints.

I got to the station at 6:13, picked up my bike, and threw my it in the bike rack. Good thing the entrance to the train station is on the opposite side of the bike rack... More running. Panting and sweating like a fat person, I got to the service window while trying to explain that I'll buy a ticket on the train. The guy had his back towards me. 'Excuse me!' came out of my mouth 4 times in between breaths getting progressively louder each time. Who needs tickets?  I ran up to the platform to find an empty track. Jesus k rice... I'm gonna miss my flight.

I turned to go down the steps to check on the next train to find my wallet laying on the ground at the top of the steps. It must have fallen out while I was running up the steps... luck was on my side, in an ironic way. More strange happenings to come. The train I was supposed to ride was delayed due to a collision with a boar (code name for suicide... this is Japan, ya know). I bought a ticket to ride the local train to Kokura before changing to the Shinkansen. To make matters worse I got off the wrong stop... east Kokura instead of plain Kokura... luckily, there was a train that came exactly 2 minutes later.

Somehow, I made it to the airport about 10 min before check-in closed...

A trip a ironies had started