Sà wàt dii kâ!

(I wrote all of this on my laptop before I had internet connection)

Monday, June 23, 2008 8:00am
After about 30 hours of traveling, two planes, three movies, one long car ride, and lots of Korean people, I have finally made it to Thailand!

As I write this, I am sitting on the balcony of my room overlooking (and listening to) the rolling waves of the Andaman Sea beyond the bungalows and palm trees of the resort. It's 8am, usually an hour I spend drooling on my pillow, but I just had to get up early...who could sleep in a place as beautiful and calming as this?

So it all started yesterday around 10:30am when dad and I left for Kennedy Airport. The drive there wasn't too bad...we only hit a little traffic and got there by about 12:15. I said goodbye to dad and headed into the airport. I flew Korean Air the entire way, so I checked in there, went through security, and then went to my gate. Kennedy Airport is huge!

I got to my gate and it was so nice to be greeted by all my groupmates. They had a flight from Raleigh-Durham Airport at 6am, so they all had been awake since about 3am (or some who just hadn't gone to sleep at all). They all looked exhausted already, but excited to see me. I did some yoga and stretching in a corner with a few of my friends, and then it was time to board the plane.

The first flight was about 14 and a half hours! I wasn't sitting next to anyone from my group, but they were all nearby. As soon as I stepped on the plane, I was absolutely amazed by how big it was. I knew it was going to be big, but TWO FLOORS? I think first class was upstairs. My part of the plane had three seats across, then an aisle, then four seats, then an aisle, and then another three seats. Each seat had a screen on the back so everyone had their own interactive in-flight entertainment system with movies, music, games, a map to follow the plane, etc. I don't know what I would have done without that thing!

I watched three movies on that flight: "Definitely, Maybe," "The Other Boleyn Girl," and "P.S. I Love You." Two romantic comedies in a short period of time was enough for me! I tried to sleep, but had trouble at first. I'd say that the first couple hours were okay, but it's around hour 7 when I got a little antsy and started thinking "how can I survive another 7 hours on this plane?" Eventually I was able to sleep, though.

Let me just say...Korean Air really takes care of you! The flight attendants had these adorable uniforms and they were so friendly. They came around a bunch of times with juice and water. They handed out headphones and a little pouch with socks, a lanyard, a sleep mask, and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste. The meals were huge and served in kind of nice dishes on trays. My first meal was bibinbap, a Korean dish that my sister's friend Esther has made for us a few times. When they said "bibinbap or chicken?" I was so excited that they had it!

One of the flight attendants brought over a little instruction sheet that told me how to mix it all together....it was deeeelicious. We got another meal and all sorts of snacks. They offered wine with every meal and beer was free of charge....compare that to the U.S. airlines that are planning to charge for juice and soda!

So we finally landed at Seoul Incheon Airport in Korea, lugged all of our carry-ons and camera equipment to the new gate, and then I went for a walk with some people. I immediately went to Smoothie King and then we all sat around and talked. One thing I noticed...couples in Korea purposely match each other. We saw SOOOO many couples walking around in matching or coordinated outfits. It was adorable, but we were all like "wtf? whyyyy?" I just kept thinking "what would Alex do if I told him I wanted to match at all times?" (I later found out that the matching couples were honeymooners...still weird).

I walked around a little more and then sat down to have a beer with some groupmates. It was two girls I didn't know too well, so it was good to sit and talk with them. Then one of our groupmates came to get us because we were boarding.

The second plane was EMPTY. I got a whole row of four seats to myself. There wasn't a personal entertainment system, so I just layed down across the seats and went to sleep. It was so nice to sleep! We got another big meal on the flight and lots of snacks and drinks. By the time I woke up, we were almost to Phuket. I read some articles on the 2004 tsunami, listened to some music, changed my clothes, and then we were there!

We had to go through customs, where I got my very first stamp in my passport :) ! Then we gathered all our luggage (mine was the second biggest suitcase out of everyone...woops), and headed outside where someone was waiting for us. We piled into 3 different vans and then drove about an hour to Khao Lak Resort.

We got to the resort and went into a little meeting room where they gave us hot tea and cold towels. Man, that cold towel felt good. They had already paired us up randomly for rooms, so I got placed with one of the girls I had sat at the bar with in Seoul. I didn't know her well before the trip, but we get along really well. In fact, she's waiting for me to go to breakfast right now, so I need to hurry this up.

We walked through the resort to our rooms, which are all in one beautiful building. Everything looks natural and blends in here. The resort is giant and right on the water's edge, so it's really just paradise. Selket (my roommate) and I dropped off our stuff, explored our room and everyone else's room, and then headed down to the sea with some other people.

WOW. It was about 3:15am local time and the sea was rolling. It was amazing to just put my feet into the cool water and feel the sand between my toes. All you could see for miles was the open water meeting with the dark clouds. I just stood with my feet in the water for a while, taking it all in. It made the past 30+ hours of travel fade away. Selket and I agreed that we felt like we were in a dream and bound to wake up at home as soon as we went to sleep.

We came back to the room, showered (we have 2 showers!), and went to bed around 4:30am. Now it's 8am, and I'm tired, but we need to get breakfast. We have to meet with the rest of the group at 10am for some sort of orientation to the area, the culture, etc.

Unfortunately, I don't have internet access yet...we need to buy a time card to log in. I'll figure that out later today.

There are tiny translucent lizards crawling around the walls of the balcony and our room...they're really cute.

It's warm and sticky, but not unbearable. Leaving my hair down is out of the question here! The scenery and friendly people make it all worthwhile, though.

Okay, time to go get some breakfast and then start orientation. I miss you all and wish you were here. I'll be sure to post some photos soon!

Monday, June 23, 2008 9:45am
Just got back from breakfast. The freshest fruit you can imagine, fried rice, eggs made to order, and the best orange juice I've ever tasted...all with the ocean in view, surrounding by giant palms and trees, and listening to the waves. What did I do to deserve this?