Your Flight Has Been Delayed 11 Hours

We left Nepal in high spirits. The country had rejuvenated us physically and mentally and we headed to the airport excited for the coming months of travel in SE Asia. We had three flights scheduled for the day. The first was from Kathmandu to Delhi, followed by a Delhi to Mumbai flight which landed at 1AM in time to connect to a 4AM flight to Bangkok. We were dealing with 3 different airlines so we had no false hope of all 3 flights and connections going off without a hitch. The first two flights went off as planned but as we entered the check-in queue at Mumbai we were told our flight was delayed until 3PM. I had previously spent the night in Mumbai airport, there are certainly worse places to be, but the thought of sleeping on a dirty floor after a long day of travel was not appealing.


We reached the front of the line, received the details of the delayed flight (pilot had fallen ill) and were pleasantly surprised to be told we were getting put up in Mumbai’s finest, the Intercontinental Hotel. Two hours later we had caught a shuttle and checked into the hotel. Silk sheets (no sleep sheets needed!), aircon, hot water, hair dryer, flat screen TVs...it was somewhat of a huge treat midway through our trip. The next morning we headed downstairs to our free breakfast. The variety of food was somewhat staggering, larger than I have ever seen at a hotel or restaurant. As we relished in our cereal and milk for the first time in 5 months, the headlines of the Jakarta bombings came across the TV. It was an eerie feeling: we were in the nicest hotel of our trip, in a city with a recent history of terrorism/bombings, eating breakfast in the lobby...very similar to the scenario they were describing on TV. You prepare yourself of pick-pockets, thieves and such but for the first time on our trip we were pondering the reality of safety issues of a different type.


We arrived to Bangkok the next day, met another American in the taxi queue at the airport and shared a ride to the infamous backpacker district of Koh San Road. Turns out he was from Chicago but living in DC. He was a tech consultant and had recently been laid off and during his few week stint in Thailand was now pondering whether he should hit up grad school or start a job search once back home. As at home, the current state of the economy is always a point of discussion during our travels.


We have enjoyed the past 4 days in Bangkok. Power outages and operating by candle light were a daily ritual in all of Nepal and many parts of India. Bangkok has brought us some comforts we have not experienced since the first weeks of the trip. There are 7-11s (fountain pop for Colleen and coffee for me), street vendors, cold beer, pharmacies, sidewalks, clean cheap accommodation, stoplights, and many fold more travelers than we have seen anywhere else on our trip. As of late we have been longing for our regular runs along Marina Green in SF that were a staple of our life for the past 5 years. That feeling of a good workout lead us to the nearest shopping mall in Bangkok where we each picked up a new pair of New Balances, workout shorts and a running tank top (Colleen assured me that it was OK to wear a tank top for exercise purposes). We have ran each of the last 3 mornings and have enjoyed the journey through the local neighborhoods although the heat here is a bit stifling. After the runs we hit up 7-11 for milk and cereal and a small part of the whole process actually feels a little bit like home.


Tomorrow mornings run will be early as we have a 7AM 12-hour bus ride to Cambodia and the next segment of the trip.