One hour in Bangkok

We’re on our way from Heathrow to Bangkok, then on to Phuket to play this crazy gig. Kira flew over from Nashville last week for the rehearsals, and Steve put together a set of danceable but tasteful tunes. He tried to sneak some Hall & Oates in there, but we vetoed it.

I checked in early, and was told that we had a block of seats allocated together. I quickly asked for something with more leg room and got an exit seat. The staff on Thai Airlines are disconcertingly thoughtful, but understand no English. I was moved four times to more comfortable seats, each time further away from the band, whom I suspect were requesting the moves just to wind me up. I ended up right at the front of the plane (behind First, obviously).

Offered a drink, I asked if they were serving anything hot, but was met with a blank look. After repeating the question four times, the stewardess gave me a Coke. I think I hit some sort of timeout in the service manual - “If the customer still makes no sense after 20 seconds, smile and give them a Coke.” In the end I was quite glad to have a cold drink, because I promptly fell asleep and spilled it all over myself. A tea would have both scalded and stained. I’ve given everyone an email address to send photos and stuff to this blog, so hopefully we’ll get a nice little scrapbook going.

Next stop Phunket!

Tally ho!

— Ben W