Salt Lake to Bangkok - the Adventure Begins!

We got here in one piece about 1AM Monday morning - having left Salt Lake Saturday morning. That's just weird.  Here's how it all went down...

Our flight was set to leave at 8:30 for Portland - then on to Tokyo and then Bangkok.  Right away the fun started when our Portland flight got canceled and we got put on a plane to Seattle.  The times to catch the Tokyo and Bangkok flights were okay, but they would only give us seating assignments for seats twenty rows apart.  You can imagine how well that set with me (I'll spare you the drama and just say it worked out).

We made it to Seattle, then boarded for Tokyo - a 10 hour flight.  Once there we had a short layover and then boarded for Bangkok.  The pilot came on and said (matter-of-factly) "Our flight time to Bangkok will be 6 hours" SIX HOURS???  AFTER JUST FLYING 12?? Had we comprehended that when we signed up??  Uh, no, clearly not. 

In retrospect, what we should have done and probably will do next time, is stay a day or two in Japan.  It would have been fun to see an additional country and it would have allowed us to rest a bit.  So, that's a good lesson learned.

We landed in Bangkok right on time (early, in fact) and boarded these airport buses that took us to the customs place at the airport.  In the picture if you look at the sign carefully you can see the Thai lettering.  There was lots of English, though, so we didn't have any problems (course it helps to just follow the crowds that know where they are going...See the pic to the right) 

We had arranged to be picked up by a taxi driver that is a member of the Church.  It turned out her husband is the one that came, but that was very fun in that he is one of the branch presidents in the area, so we talked church all the way to the hotel.  We will see them several times over the next two weeks, so we'll get pictures.

It was 1:30 AM or so by the time we got to the Marriott at The Empire Place.  We were greeted at the door and shown to a lovely one bedroom apartment/suite.  This morning I got up and found my way to the Fitness Center and passed this lovely pool on the rooftop of the hotel. 

I'll get some better ones and get them posted, but it gives you an idea.  We are in the middle of a huge city.  Our plan is to regroup today and get a fix on how to best proceed for the next few days.  Should be fun!!