Part 1 - Leaving Planet America for the 'Kok

If you’re smart, you take Thai Airways on your sojourn to the ‘Kok. Not American, not Delta or China Air, but Thai. Once aboard, even though the wheels of the plane are still firmly planted on Planet America, you start to become immersed in the Thai experience.

You stow your carry-on luggage and sit back in your seat on board the Jumbo. An attractive Thai girl brings you a hot towel. You can say Thai “girl” because unlike on American Airlines, she’s under a hundred years old. She’s in her early twenties, and she’s not gorgeous, but attractive. And pleasant. You start to notice things – the faint scents of jasmine and lemongrass. Other beautiful fragrances you’ll never put a name to. All of the “girls” working the flight are attractive, some more than others. They put their hands together palm-to-palm in front of their chest and give a slight bow to the passengers. This is called a wei, and it’s a sign of respect. You’ll be seeing a lot of that.

Everything seems different. You can’t still be sitting at LAX or O’Hare or SFO. Suddenly you’re in a different world – enveloped in an ancient culture that has remained unchanged for 2500 years. You sense something is different about these girls, these women. They’re proud like American women but unlike American women, they respect you. You can sense it even before you’ve spoken to any of them. You want more.

The plane is pushed back from the gate. Airborne, you leave Planet America, the most free, liberated, democratic country in the world, or so you’ve been told (sold?). But now suddenly you feel really free. You’re going to the ‘Kok, to Bangkok, where freedom for men was defined long, long before America was even a vague idea in the mind of John Adams or Ben Franklin.

You put your seat back. One of the pretty Thai girls takes your drink order. Order a Singha Thai beer. One can is as strong as an entire six-pack of Budweiser. It’s made from Thai jasmine rice and the waters of the Mekong Delta. Savor it. You’ll be getting very well acquainted with that new friend soon.

A couple of hours later, your pretty Thai hostess brings you Thai curried chicken and rice for dinner. Yeah, it’s airplane food, but it’s still better than any Thai food you ate in an American Thai restaurant. There are spices and flavors you’ve never known. The scent of it fills the airplane with a gentle, pleasant aroma. Every cell in your body is starting to react, and you’re still just in the airplane. You’re thousands of miles away from Thailand, yet you’re starting to absorb it like a new DNA being written into your cells. A man could get used to this lifestyle. Surely this is just good service from Thai Airways, the whole country couldn’t possibly be like this.

Just wait. You’ve only scratched the surface.