Why so hot? I believe it was the hundreds of individual video panels on the back of each headrest. At first you might think, "Cool!, it's so nice to have an individual screen (and individual controls) so I can watch any movie (any movie on the airplane's media server that is) at any time, fast forward, rewind, abort, whatever." But when you multiply each hot-to-the-touch video panel's heat output by the hundreds of seats on board and a closed loop air circulation system, the result is something other than cool.
Once the 747 got to flying it cooled off nicely. The movies were pretty good ones though. Not the usual Adam Sandler, straight-to-DVD variety movie I've learned to expect on a domestic US carrier. Here there were recent box office hits, documentaries, international flicks and TV shows, They even had classics like Hitchcock thrillers and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Even with extraordinary legroom provided, I was so uncomfortable and sleepless that I watched the entire Pacific leg of the 747 flight to Seoul.
After the plane change in Korea, this time a 767, we endured six hours in an overheated cabin stripped down to my t-shirt and waking up in a sweat after mere moments of sleep at a time. No cooling off after take off on this beast. I think the longest sleep interval I had was 20 minutes -- twenty glorious minutes. The 767 had no ventilation controls and none of those little jets that blow recycled air in your face, which might have helped. Even leaning against the window, a nice cool window with -60 degrees F just inches away on the outside (thank you helpful video screens) at 30-thousand feet it was too fucking hot. I don't know how those hundreds of Koreans on board kept their winter jackets on. Just another reason to punch somebody, I guess.
Finally, we touched down in Bangkok and it's an hour before we actually get off the plane. Thank GOD we're finally free. I grab ALL SIX of our bags and we fly through customs which at 2 am involves a passport and visa check and then walking past the bag inspection area which was inactive.
Yay! No bag inspection and no fighting for queue position with 600 impatient Koreans who can't wait to get to their tour buses. Did I mention that the Koreans are not the same people in many respects that I first came to know back in 1979? Back then, everyone in Korea seemed to be dirt poor, pushing a bicycle or driving a crappy taxi and poised to hustle my American dollars via every angle imaginable.
Today, they're still hustling, but they've truly arrived in the 21st century. They've all got oversized smartphones that are almost the size of tablets and they dress like rock stars. I mean they look just like New York hipsters. Black is the dominant color choice and skinny slacks (usually jeans) with the finest shoes complete the look. No Chuck Taylor's here -- not expensive enough.
So we get to the meeting area of the terminal and discover that Dang's family isn't there to meet us as planned. It was something to do with confusion as to when the 30th of November becomes the 1st of December. I thought it was at midnight, but others disagree apparently.
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| We thought a fuze had popped, but the room lights shut themselves off after a few minutes unless you leave the room key in this pocket. I figured it out in pitch blackness that surprised us while I was in the shower. |
Actually, that was the best thing that could have happened. I don't think I could have endured a 6-hour ride in a deluxe VIP style van, no matter how nice, in the middle of the night. So we allowed a rather sketchy looking couple of greeters in the meeting area to steer us to a shuttle van that took us to a hotel about 5 minutes from the airport. The room was small but the bed sheets were clean and I would have slept anywhere as long as I could stretch out and be horizontal.
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| Dang's sisters and a dude friend of the family. |
First thing in the morning, I awoke and Dang had us hustled back to the airport to meet her family entourage who had finally arrived to greet us.
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