I've been awake since 6AM. Mike Mandili from the library systems office drove me to the Los Angeles Airport. I'm writing as I'm en route to Seattle, the first leg of my trip. My Northwest flight is on an Alaska Airline plane for reasons I don't understand. So far the flight is a little bumpy! From Seattle I will travel to Tokyo on another plane then switch to a flight to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok I get to sleep in a hotel then finally I'll travel into Phnom Penh via Thai Airways.

The L.A. to Seattle flight is only partially full. There's an empty seat between me and an elderly woman. A few minutes a go she asked me if I minded a plane flying over us. I told her I prefer that to it running into us!

There's a two year old in the seat behind me - of course. So far he's pretty well behaved. We just had lunch: ham sandwich, cookie and some grapes.

The plane landed in Seattle on time around 1PM. I had about an hour and a half to kill before taking off on flight 007 for Tokyo. The Tokyo flight is too crowded. There are kids everywhere! It will be a 10 hour flight to Tokyo. Then I still have another leg to Bangkok (6 hours). A Japanese teen named So is seated next to me. He's returning from a month's visit in Seattle with his brother who attends University of Washington. He's very pleasant. They served dinner around 5PM (L.A. time) It was pretty good: chicken, noodles, cold pasta, California rolls, carrot cake and cheese.

The flight to Tokyo is taking a northern route along the western coast of the U.S. and Canada, along Alaska's border. I imagine it will be like the trip to Taiwan in 1993.

Shortly I will be leaving for Phnom Penh via Thai Air. I arrived in Bangkok around 11:30PM. It was roughly 21 hours since I left LAX. All the flights were good and connections were on time. I was just incredibly worn out by the time I got to my hotel (T.K. Palace) in Bangkok. I met a Canadian-Thai at the Tokyo Airport and an American soldier who's on his way to Korea. Talking to them helped pass the time.

My Bangkok hotel is very nice. It's a Best Western. It's terribly humid here! I walked a short distance to a shopping mall - Big C - very western including a KFC. Time to leave for the airport again.

I'm now en route to Phnom Penh via Thai Air. While in the airport I talked with a

Cambodian guy named Kong Heng. He knew a little English. I also saw a man I recognized from Long Beach. Turned out he works for the Cambodian Ministry of Education. I met him at Song Tan's home in Cypress last April for the Cambodian New Year. He was surprised I knew him.

The man across the aisle from me is Italian. He is traveling on vacation throughout Southeast Asia. He's very pleasant. Fortunately the planes's not too crowded. I have a whole row of seats to myself. Lunch on the plane even included Wine! The landscape is beautiful as we fly over Thailand and Cambodia - lush green rolling hills everywhere. At least from up here it looks like a beautiful day! The stewardess just announced there's no picture taking in the Phnom Penh Airport. Go figure!