Travel-in

i'm writing this partly at the request of some friends to describe travels in Asia, partly as a non-academic outlet and partly to get myself back into writing. let's see how it goes...

13 May 2010, 715am. Bangkok International Airport

As soon as i stepped off the plane, the pressure changed. A burst of air hit me - the physical embodiment of a shift from liminality (plane) to situation (airport), precipitating an ecstatic grin. It's been like that the last few years when i travel abroad - it doesn't really hit me until it actually hits me; and it's always the air. Not so much a smell as a character, a tangible quality in intangible space.

Even on the way to the airport the journey remains an abstraction, however much i try to force that ethereal idea into concrete anticipation, if not experience. i leave in a hurry, in a flurry, in a confused mess of half-done errands, hasty goodbyes texted between the time i clear security and the time the plane doors close.

The 15+ hour flight from LA (itself a 5+ hour flight) left me jumbled. i spent most of the time watching movies, relishing in half-successful attempts at inducing sleep with complimentary Courvosier (VSOP, even!). But the last few days in Atlanta were so hectic and stressful that i'd effectively disjointed myself from the East Coast US experience of space-time anyhow - odd hours, hazy senses of what needs to be done and how - and that - it will get done. I left 5/11, arrived 5/13; from my perspective May 12th 2010 was like the 13th floor in a superstritious apartment building - present only as a conspicuous absence. But in light of the last few days in Atlanta, this wasn't nearly so jarring as it could have been. If anything, the experience lends force to the old childrens' song and the Yoga-Vishishta - life is but a dream; sometimes we're lucky and astute enough to notice that.