Flying to Chiang Mai

Add on to yesterday: Sonam said we trekked 30km total. If I did the math right though that means it was 16 or 17 miles. That seems incorrect to me. But maybe it is true. I don't know.
It felt like we hiked more than when Aimee and I went to picture rock and I think we did like 22 miles in 2 or 3 days. I'll have to try to google the distances between the cities.

May 19 8:58am Nepal time

Ha. Airports.

This morning I got up at 5:40am to make sure I was eating breakfast by 6am so I could leave by 6:30am. Its a good thing i didn't do more laundry because there was no AC or fan in the room so the clothes were still damp. the room was pretty humid which i didn't realize until i left. Sonam had called a taxi for me for the morning and he was going to come with it to see me off.
Luckily my breakfast was included in the price I paid for the hotel (but not the water... 50 rupees per bottle) because I was running short on rupees. I had 2,000 to tip Sonam (I had also paid for his dinner last night so total it was around $35 tip), 500 for the taxi to get to the airport, 50 for water, and 715 to spend on snacks in the airport for pretty much my food for the day. Good thing I got Oreos and Pringles. Very nutritious. I have some cliff bars still as well. But I don't have any Indian rupees for my layover there or any Thai money yet. I ended up with 65 rupees extra.
I said bye to Sonam and he wrapped a Buddhist something (I didn't catch what he said it was called) around my neck. He said it was for good luck and wished me a safe flight. I have written all my guides nice notes with my tips. There is no way I would survive without them haha. Well I would survive it just wouldn't be as great of an experience.
Driving to the airport took maybe 20 minutes. If the odometer was right we got to 50km per hr at one point. We went to the international terminal and actually it is a lot bigger than the domestic terminal. It's like a normal airport... Like a small airport. There were 2 terminals. I had no idea where to go half the time though and when to go.
I had to go through some type of security like 5 or 6 times. Frisking and security belts and bag checks. Am I really going to find something dangerous between now and 5 minutes ago when my bag was just checked and I was frisked? And through all of that I never needed to get rid of my water or take my shoes off or take liquids out. An American guy near me was commenting on that. He was in the peace corps in Uganda for 2 years and he is traveling home. He's worrying about adjusting back to a 40 hour a week job. Sonam had told me ahead of time I could bring water through so that was nice to know. I have 2 liters for the day and I know I can get water on the airplanes as well.
To get in to the airport I had to show my passport and ticket which I didn't have yet. Then bag security belt and frisking. Stickers that it was checked. Then get my ticket. My bag is 15.92 kilos and that doesn't include everything since i put some stuff in my carry on incase my bag was lost. Then stood there for a bit being totally clueless on where the gate was.
Realized I had to go up the escalator where i got stamps on my ticket and then I had to fill out a departure form. Then through immigration where I got a million more stamps on my passport and ticket. Then through security again, both frisking and bag check belt. More stamps on my bag tag and my ticket. Then into a room where they were saying when to board at what gate. Also confusing. Finally heard some English telling me what to do. Also asked an airport guy. "Wait wait, gate 3." My flight was called and I stood in line to get my stamps on my ticket. Sat in a gate for a minute, was herded through another point where I got frisked. Walked to the plane which was maybe 100 feet away and then went through and got more stamps on my bag tag and ticket, my bags were hand checked and I was frisked again. Then I got on the plane.
A man was sitting in my seat but luckily all I had to do was show him my ticket and he moved. Didn't have to get anyone else involved thank god. Lines, still don't exist. And even while boarding the aircraft a few people pushed past me in the aisle to get to their seat even though I was continuing further down the aisle as well. In the "lines" people get really close to you and touch you or your bag as well.
We're flying over a blanket of clouds right now. Goodbye Nepal! I have 3 flights to get to Thailand. Kathmandu to Delhi, Delhi to Bangkok, Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I am unsure at the moment if I need to get my bag and go through immigration in Bangkok or if I can do it in Chiang Mai. I also switch from Jet Airways to Bangkok Airways in Bangkok which makes me think I may need to get my bag and recheck it. I'll have to ask. I have a 2.5 hour layover in Bangkok.

10:10am Nepal time
Oh my. I forgot there is food on the airplane. Maybe I won't just need to eat Pringles and Oreos all day! There was cut up papaya, watermelon, and honeydew. Some vegetarian dal bhat with some pita with i think vegetables in the middle of it and a potato cake thing. And a roll with butter. I'm sick of bread haha. I miss fresh fruit and salad. I think that will be what I eat when I get back home. Or maybe to Australia. I'm assuming their water is okay there?

11:25am Delhi time
15 minutes back again ha. The Delhi airport is ridiculously nice and super clean which I guess somewhat surprises me since Delhi was pretty disgusting. It's also HUGE! Like London or Chicago style. I walked forever to get to my gate and there are only 24 in this wing. My gate was 10. There are huge shopping areas with flashing lights and craziness haha.
When I got into India I went the transfers route and went through security right away. For some reason, being a girl, I just got to skip lines and go through security. Probably because everything is separated by sex so they have us frisked by females and there is only 1 female frisker haha.
They said something about my water and it took me a few seconds to understand. I could take it with me but I needed to drink a little bit of it in front of them before they would let me leave. That was fine with me ha.
I asked 2 airline workers about my transfer in Bangkok and they both said my bag would be automatically transferred for me so that's nice. We should be boarding soon... I think Thailand is an hour ahead of Nepal and an hour and 15 minutes ahead of India. We shall see though.
There have been a lot of children with English books. Their parents practice words with them and point to the picture like "fish" or "frog". I don't know why that surprises me but it caught me off guard at first.
After coming back into India, its crazy how different the Nepali and Indian accents are when they speak English. Very distinctly different.

2:05 Delhi time
I met a woman from Vietnam. She was in India for 6 days for business and travel. She was showing me her photos. We didn't talk for long because I ended up switching seats with her husband so they could sit together.
They came around with snacks. Moong Dal which is a traditional Indian snack. It's a grain I think but it kind of reminds me of the taste of peanuts. They're like Rice Krispy size though. I like them. I also got apple juice and it is really white and tastes like white grape juice at home kind of.

2:41pm Delhi time
Holy shit. Another meal haha. I couldn't eat it all. I had half a piece of naan, a little bit of rice with chicken, some yoghurt, a bean salad with olive oil dressing, and a little cake drenched in sweet stuff. And I was worried about not having food all day!

3:44pm Delhi time
Soooo grossssss!!!!! I have never been around so many people constantly making that weird clear my throat sniff hacking noise. It's gross. STOP!!!! The sound was all over the place in my hotel hall last night and this morning too. I want to rip my ears off!!!!

8:19pm Thai time
Had to ask Whitney to be able to figure it out because I have been in 3 time zones today, but Thailand is 11 hours ahead of Michigan.
The number of times I have thought "I'm going to die now" in the past 3 weeks has to be an all time record high. Olympic gold style or something. Today while we were landing I for sure thought the plane was going to go down. I've been on a lot of planes and I have never felt this before ha. I'm sure Heather is laughing. I thought the plane was running out of gas. If it was turbulence it was in a class of its own haha.
I got off the aircraft (dad the flight attendants had yellow jackets and black shirts and pants and the way they were cut it looked like they were from Star Trek) and found an information desk. An airport with free wifi! What!?! But the real reason I went there was to find out where I was going for my transfer. A free wifi password was an added bonus though :)
The first thing I noticed was that the Thai language must not use "r" because they can't say it haha. It was kinda funny. Its crazy how all the accents are so different but it makes sense too.
This may be dumb but I can't stop wondering how if we all evolved from apes (if you go the evolution path) we can all look so different and talk such different languages. Also silly, but is the skin color variations literally just because of the sun? And I keep trying to think up reasons why Asian people developed slantey eyes. Like how is that an evolutionary benefit that ended up winning? Maybe after my time in Southeast Asia I will figure out an answer. It's been a long day. Don't judge haha.
The signs that pointed to transfers to Chiang Mai kept saying 900m, 550m... WTF! How long is a meter! I feel like I walked forever. Longer than in Delhi that is for sure. It was a never ending path.
Also weird, it's like 8pm... It was 6ish when I got off the plane... And the airport is like abandoned and there aren't very many people around.
I went through to get my visa which took maybe a minute in total. Then I went through security. No line. But, they took my water. Boo! Now I have to figure out where to get more water so I can brush my teeth tonight. When people ask where I'm from and I say America they always ask, California? Ha... No. Every time. All 3 countries so far. Do Californians travel more than other state dwellers? I wonder if Alyssa and Matt will get the same question.
Then, I walked in and it was again an abandoned hallway. I didn't see where any of the departure information was written and ended up walking down a hall I didn't need to which was fine because I still had a lot of time. At this time, i also was so confused and lost that I walked onto the moving walk way going the wrong way. i very quickly realized that as I was promptly slid backward while I was trying to walk forward.
And again, traveling makes me annoyed with America. Like there's already important things to think about like where is clean food, is this clean water, how do I find a safe cab. I don't need to add stupid things like which side of the airport do i need to walk on and how many pounds in a kilo (I remember that one from Budapest flights though), how many miles in a meter, what is the formula for converting Celsius into fahrenheit again? I just don't really care at this point ha.
Then I saw an airport security personnel and asked her where to go. She pointed me in the correct direction. Behind a stair way that was blocked when you first enter the hallway and can't see unless you turn around from further down the hall, was another hallway and a screen with all the departures listed. Makes sense. I usually like to play hide and seek and where's Waldo with my airport gates and departure screens.
I walked for a while and ended up at the Bangkok airways lounge. I don't know why we haven't brought this concept to the US yet. I guess we have but only for ridiculously high paying customers? or maybe its just Europe... The lounge is super nice and as long as you have a boarding pass you can go in. They give you free Internet and there is a cafe and a lot of nice comfy chairs and your gate is right across the hallway so you don't even have to walk too far! Airport heaven.

9:39pm Thai time
Well, I might get sick. We will see. For dinner, which was served promptly when we were safe in the air, there was an orange drink that tastes like flat fanta, slices of chicken I think and 1 that had mushrooms in it as well. Not sure if that was cheese or what. Maybe something gross i don't want to know what it is. It was like bologna looking for the chicken slices though. There was also a roll which I put the slices of meat on. There was a little baby salad with raisins and cucumber and something that was kinda like an orange and I ate it. It was on a bed of lettuce which I didn't eat. I debated for a bit because its an airport so maybe its safe but I don't know why that would matter. Then there were 2 pieces of fruit. 1 tasted like some sort of melon and was very light orange in color. Another tasted like kiwi kind of but it was white with black seeds. There was also a dessert that was a cake with sliced almonds topping it and a strawberry sauce maybe. I wonder if every time I switch countries and therefore types of food, if I will have diarrhea in the beginning. I've been 2 for 2 so far I think? Ughh. There is a little cup of water too and I'm stealing it for the purpose of brushing my teeth tonight in case I can't find any other clean water source. The girls next to me didn't drink theirs and I'm so tempted to ask if I can have them haha. I'm not going to because it really just sounds ridiculous in real life. Having water though is like what I think about a lot. I'll end up getting 3 or 4 liters a day so I know I have some for the evening. Like ill get a bottle at breakfast and leave it in the room and usually lunch and dinner.
Anyway, then the flight was delayed a bit but were on our way now. The Bangkok airport is pretty nice too. Confusing. But the architecture was neat. There were lots of lights and windows and its a lot of petal shaped buildings put together to create one building.
Flying over Bangkok was nice too. It's like a real city. There are so many lights and you can see the city as far as the eye can follow unlike in Delhi and Kathmandu when you have large gaps of nothing or countryside. I wonder if well have load shading in Thailand.
Sleeping tonight will be amazing.

11:34pm Thai time
Being tired and trying to figure out the conversion rate blows. It took me a while and I even had a calculator. I couldn't figure out how much 100$ in Thai bhat would be. I managed to figure it out after I decided to just go to the ATM and withdraw money. It was a lot easier going from bhat to $ than $ to bhat. I withdrew 3,000 bhat which is around $115. If I don't use it all I'm coming back anyway. The ATM gave me three 1000 notes. I hoped to god people here actually carry change and it wouldn't be a problem for the cab ride.
Then I found a taxi stand at the airport and it was 120 bhat to go downtown. That's like $4 or $5. I think it's about 28 bhat to 1$. I waited for a few minutes and a driver tapped me on the shoulder and I got in the cab.
Ha. Uhm, what? It was like a real car... Nice, big, leather seats not covered with a welcome mat. There was AC. Where am I?!
Driving through the city the driver was pointing out different things to me. He was born in Chiang Mai. He Mostly pointed out night markets. It doesn't look like there are power outages here but we shall see. The streets are really clean too. The signs are above the shop they match and the buildings look like normal buildings. There are big signs and light up signs and it pretty much looks like a city. A normal city, not a developing country city. It was weird ha. Even the tuk tuks are larger and look nicer! I didn't hear honking but I'm assuming I will when there are more people on the road.
We pulled into the hotel and I felt like my jaw wanted to drop. It was super nice looking. Like dad style. I legit think he would stay here. And, it was only $50 a night which includes breakfast.
Tomorrow morning I need to be at the project office at 8am so I was asking the check in desk about it. They have no idea where it is. Like 4 different people. They told me to call in the morning. I hope that works and someone is in the office early enough.
My plan is to get up at 5am to shower and shave and have time to eat breakfast and figure out where I need to be and get tere before 8am. I'm not sure why they couldn't look up where it is? They also think its an elephant ride. I was like ha no it's a volunteer project.
They offered me some sort of green drink upon arrival and it was very tasty.
I am tired and want to sleep before I have to get up in 4.5 hours. Hopefully tomorrow won't be a cluster fuck.
P.s. the sheets are so nice! It's like I'm in the states again. Theres toilet paper and even tissues. And of course, right on time, I am starting my period. Just as I get to gear up for living in a "comfortable traditional hut" for a week... Whatever that means. I hope I have a mosquito net!