I am almost there, but inside of the new BKK international airport is not really Asia, not at all, except the staff and less than half of the passengers. I am sitting in the almost empty waiting area of exit B1. The flight to Chiang Mai will leave in an hour and a half, and when I will step out of the airport there and breathe the expectedly warm air and smell the flowers and trees and food and all, and then I will have arrived in Asia. I will be picked up by the staff of the guest house that I booked through the internet for the first 2 nights, just to know where to go after arrival in the night.

I already waited for 3 hours in Copenhagen for the flight to Bangkok. That’s the compensation for the cheap fare ticket. The savings divided by the extra hours gives a good hourly pay, easily earned while eating and reading. The book I am reading is Melnitz, of Swiss author Lewinsky, a novel that I put aside after the first 20 or so pages some months ago. Helen also did not get any further than that. But deciding to take a book along in the last minute, what else could I take. And now I am 240 pages into it and wonder what will happen next. The writing style has not changed, it’s still simple story telling, however, I learn something about the Jewish community in Switzerland of 1870 to 1945, and it kills the time.

New for me was the service in the SAS flight. When the flight attendant brought me an additional tiny bottle of red wine, she brought a credit card device with her and said xyz Danish Kroner, the first was included in the meal, and this had to be paid. It helped me to stay sober. Breakfast was served in a paper bag, a little sandwich, an orange juice and yoghurt, plus tea or coffee incl. refill. What a difference to the snack in the Swiss flight from Zurich to Copenhagen.

More later, then about Asia.