Arrived in Bangkok about 10pm local time, after about 17 hrs of solid travelling. Pretty incredible. We stopped in Japan, actually deplaned and went through security, which was a bit lax compared to the US, and sat in the lobby for ~45 min or so while they refueled etc. The police wear these amazing uniforms, it's interesting. Bangkok is incredibly hot and humid, do probably to its being in a river delta close to the equator.

Over the plane ride that went for forever, during which the sun never set, which I'd like to say is crazy, I got to know a lot of the people on my trip. The trip to Nepal was also flying over with us and we only just split up this morning so they could fly to Kathmandu and we will be flying to New Delhi in the evening. The water apparently is undrinkable, though I haven't drank it, I used some to brush my teeth and haven't died yet. It's amazing to me to be in a place where the language to me is entirely unintelligable. No cognates, not even a single character looks familiar to any language I've seen or know. Our hotel is huge, 20 some floors though apparently without air conditioning. There are other minor inconveniences, like no washclothes, but really all of those were minor things that I didn't care about given a clean bed and a shower. Now that I've slept for a little while, which required some effort given I went to bed around 3pm EST, and had breakfast at the buffet where they had some interesting local dishes that I couldn't identify, along with more traditional eggs and french toast, a couple guys and I are venturing into the city for a couple hours. We don't have to be back until 4:30 in the afternoon so we are going to try to catch a marketplace perhaps or just wander around. I exchanged some money so I'm set with that. The air itself, aside from being visibly humid, is also very smelly. I don't know how else to describe it - it isn't fragrant, but it's not bad smelling either. It's just a confluence of I suppose so many different smells from what I'm used to in the states that it creates this distinctive smell. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced before. There is a lot more that I can't think of right now, and will write about more.

As far as the people on the trip, I've become fast friends with Ashley, whom I sat with for most of the trans-pacific flight and a few others that I can talk about in more detail later - among them Aby, Ally, Jason and Ryan.