April 28, 2012 (sort of)
Usually, when I come to the end of a trip, even a wonderful mid-winter vacation in Hawaii, when it's time to go home, I'm ready. I think part of my attitude is that just knowing it's time makes me look ahead to the next step, anticipating the flights and drive home, and in my head I'm ready to be there, even if my body is still craving the sun. This trip, however, was different. I wasn't anticipating the return trip and wasn't ready to be home. On the one hand, I was tired and ready for a break from touring. On the other, I had thoroughly enjoyed my time in Bhutan and would have happily stayed to see more. For such a small country, there was lots to explore. After all, I hadn't gone on a trek into the mountains!
I was especially surprised that I hadn't experienced any homesickness since I hadn't had any contact with Thane or Rowan the entire two weeks. Although there was wireless in a couple of our hotels, I hadn't brought a computer or iPad. No Facebook, no e-mail, no phone calls, no texting. There were moments in Bangkok when I was lonely and wished I were traveling with someone, but it was never Thane I wanted there. He'd have hated the heat, the garbage and smells, the very foreigness of the place. (He would have enjoyed Bhutan more.) My first real twinge of homesickness and of missing my family was in the Paro airport.
After we'd checked in and figured out where we were supposed to go through security, I connected my Kindle to the internet to see if I could download Radio Shangri-la for the trip home. I decided not to, and instead opened up The Hunger Games. "You are 0% through the book at an undetermined location," the Kindle message said. "The furthest read is 97% on the device Rowan's iPod. Do you want to sync to the furthest read location?" Oh, my heart clenched a little. Rowan had read The Hunger Games while I'd been away. I didn't care that she'd read the book; this first bit of contact with her made me a bit teary. Now I was ready to go home.
Ellen and her Malaysian monk friends with the Drukair plane in which we flew to Bangkok.
Unfortunately, many flights and many, many hours lay between me and home. I figured out later that it was five flights and over three days of travel, including two Sundays. First there was the ~5 hour flight from Paro to Bangkok which included a fueling stop in Bangladesh because it takes so much fuel to get over the Himalayas. During the 3.5 hour layover in Bangkok (during which I had to acquire another Thai visa just to be able to check in for the rest of my trip), I indulged in a one hour foot and shoulder massage - heaven. Then came the 5-ish hour flight to Seoul, Korea - I arrived at 7:00 in the morning. My original plan had been to use my 11 hour layover to explore a bit of Seoul, but I was so tired and so cultured out that I just hung out in the airport, gawking at the high-end duty free stores. I have to admit, I even ate at Burger King, and it wasn't any worse than it is in America. At 6:00 p.m. I boarded the plane for an 11 hour flight to Seattle - two full meals + a snack = too much time on a plane! In Seattle I was finally able to call home and talk with Rowan for a few minutes. After another 3 hour layover, I boarded for the flight to Anchorage, and spent a night with Mom. Finally, at 8:00 the next morning, my last flight landed in Valdez. Thanks to the International Date Line, I left Seoul at 6:00 Sunday evening and landed in Anchorage at 6:45 Sunday evening. It took 41 hours to get from Paro to Anchorage. Good god! Thane said one time that a vacation should last one day for every hour of travel time round-trip. I'm not sure I could have taken three months in Asia!
I found as I was making a last entry in my journal that I kept thinking of all sorts of things that I'd forgotten to write down on the day they occurred. The same is certainly true of these blog posts. Here are a few random items: Rinzin called speed bumps "sleeping policemen;" we saw a small cobra one day while we were on the bus, but there were too many cars stopped for us to stop and take pictures; I saw a man traveling down the road doing one prostration after another (there's a word to describe this, but I can't think of it), wooden paddles on his hands to protect them; and sodas (Cokes) in Asia seem to have much more carbonation than in America. I'm sure more recollections will enter my consciousness. If they're particularly interesting, I'll share them with you.
Oh, yes, here's another one. I'd been reading The Wander Year by Mike McIntyre. Mike wrote that his wife had fallen in love with lassi in India. I stopped to get one last coffee in Seoul (and to spend the last of my Won - I just learned that's what South Korean money is called), and saw lassi on the menu. I ordered a coconut-flavored one, and thought I'd gone to heaven. It was a bit like a milkshake, but thinner. Wikipedia tells me it's made by blending yogurt with water and spices (for a spicy lassi), or blend yogurt, water, sugar and fruit juice for a sweet lassi (like the one I had). Yummy! I just found several recipes on-line, and will be adding this to my menu.
That's all f-f-f-folks! Thanks for coming along on this journey with me. I hope to have more once-in-a-lifetime trips to share with you soon!
