It begins with a bang

Now Playing: "Communication Breakdown" by Led Zeppelin

I've been in Bangkok for about three hours now and it feels like I've been shot from a cannon. I landed around 7am feeling fuzzy but surprisingly awake after 24 hours of flying, navigating airports, and watching crappy airline movies. And now I'm in a hostel bar on Khao San Road drinking my first Chang Beer, people watching, and reflecting on the whirlwind that brought me here.

There have been several moments when this trip has felt more and more real. The first (and probably most emotionally significant) was when I closed my apartment door in Richmond behind me, knowing the key was in the hands of a subletter. The next was hugging my friend's mom (who had driven me to the airport) and walking into the airport alone.

The rest has been a blur. I remember being half-awake and trudging through the airport in Abu Dhabi, being bombarded with the scents of a thousand different perfumes and feeling like a minority as an American for the first time. I remember faces on the plane and half-eaten chickpea and curry dinners eaten at strange intervals as my biological clock struggled to catch up. And then I was here, bombarded with strange people speaking strange languages and everything moving a thousand different directions at once.

I studied the subtle differences on the cab ride to Khao San Road, the billboards, the pickup trucks and motorbikes packed with people, the street vendors peddling foods I can't wait to put in my mouth. I was dropped off in Khao San and approached by a chain-smoking tuk tuk driver who walked me over to the police station to give me a map and help me prepare for my trip to Chiang Mai in a few days. They tossed me into a tuk tuk headed for the Tourist Bureau and I was off once again, blaring through the streets of Bangkok in open air, all the sounds and smells and sights pouring over me as I sat back and let the ride take me.

I'm not going to remember writing this. I'm still in the static-filled, sleep-deprived fuzz of being in a place that's completely new. Future posts will be more coherent. But right now, I'm off to wander and see where these confusing streets take me.