Back in Bangkok

Heading back to the USA via Bangkok today, really looking forward to a few days to clear my head before I hit American soil. I'm staying at my favorite guesthouse in Bangkok, the Sukhumvit On-Nut Guesthouse where they all speak
Isaan. It's fun to speak Lao with them and confuse the locals. hahaha

The airport was a bit of an adventure today, Lao airlines refused to let me on the plane, they wouldn't issue me a ticket because I didn't have 6 months validity left on passport. Actually, the manager made a point of ripping up the ticket in front of me, it's illegal for me to be in Thailand he said and Lao airlines can't help me break the law. He said I had to get the embassy to send my passport to Luang Prabang. Knowing that I already tried to get the embassy to send my passport to Vientiane, that wasn't going to happen.

I realized one of my coping mechanisms; I thought about the day my dad died and the ensuing weeks - today would be a million times easier than that day. I took a deep breath and started joking with the guy in my best Lao. We agreed that if I signed a paper saying I wouldn't hold the airlines responsible for my breaking the law and printed out my next ticket to Tokyo it would be OK to try. oiyoiyoi.

I was rewarded with an amazing sunrise over the Lao hills flooding with fog. Truly spectacular.