7:30 AM Tuesday (Durham time). Singapore time: no idea

On Monday morning at 4:30am I left my apartment (on a Super Shuttle with a few other classmates to RDU airport) for a 13-day trip to Singapore, Hoi An (Vietnam), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), Bangkok (Thailand), Khon Kaen (Thailaind), back to Bangkok, and then back to the States. By my watch we’ve been in route for 28 hours now, but my internal clock has no idea what to think. We’ll arrive in an hour in Singapore at 11:00pm local time and probably be in bed by 1:00am. I’m hoping that with the help of Ambien I’ll be able to sleep 6-7 hours and my internal clock will then be readjusted. Wishful thinking.

Everything has gone smoothly so far. I slept sporadically (and poorly) for the first few hours of the 15-hour flight from Chicago O’Hare to Hong Kong, and then realized that without any sleep on this route, I’d be wiped out for days to come. So, I took enough Ambien to knock me out for a few hours, which did the trick. So I’d say that on the entire trip here I’ve gotten about 7 hours of sleep.

The woman next to me just passed out on my shoulder. Awesome.

My seat-neighbor from ORD-HK was an interesting guy. He’s Vietnamese, but has lived in Florida since 1978. His father was in the South Vietnamese navy, but was discriminated against by the N. Vietnamese integrated forces, so the dad emigrated by piloting a boat to Thailand, where the family was in a refugee camp for 6 months before lucking out and accepted into the States. The most interesting part of the conversation was when he talked about what he likes to do in Ho Chi Minh City when he returns – find nice girls. He warned me to only find nice girls at the bars instead of the street. I asked him if there was any chance that you could meet a girl in a bar in HCM who is not “working” and he said chances were quite slim. Apparently $20 can get you far, and $40 goes all night.

Update: the woman next to me woke up and got off my shoulder, then decided to return. Thank you.

Our stop in Hong Kong was brief – just enough time to have dinner with Dave and Chris. I had some bubble tea (a milk-like tea with tapioca that you suck through a straw) and a floating pork soup. What? I ordered the soup (which looked like a non-soup dish in the picture) and the waiter said (I quote) “are you sure you want that one?” I said yes, it says pork chop and egg with noodles. What came out was a bowl of broth with noodles and a floating fried egg and pork chop.

The scenery in HK is pretty dramatic – flying in felt like we were in a James Bond movie. I would have loved to stay in HK, but we’ve gotta get on to Singapore. Flying over any iconic city – especially at dusk – has to be one of the coolest things to experience.

Our professor, Bennet, is up in business class while the common folk are down below. A few of the stewardesses (I think I’m supposed to say “hostesses” or “attendants” but don’t want to) snapped at Matt when he tried to visit Bennet up in business class. 35 minutes to touchdown. Gotta sign off. Goal for tomorrow: take pictures. I only took a few today, but was reminded of how much I enjoy taking them. Even if I don’t know what I’m doing, I can luck into some pretty good pics.

I’m crossing my fingers that everyone made it on the plane. I took role after Chicago, but then left everyone to be adults and get themselves on the right planes.

Random thoughts:
I downloaded a bunch of podcasts to my iPhone before leaving:
Ricky Gervais podcast: hilarious
The Moth podcast: very good but it put me to sleep. Maybe another time
This American Life podcast: classic, but 1-hour is too long. I need 30 minutes.
KEXP Music that Matters podcast: an old fave of mine… great selection of northwestern-focused music. Not too pretentious.
NPR’s All Music Considered: I’ve never gotten into this podcast. I find it too inconsistent – singer/songwriter stuff one minute, classical the next. I’d prefer consistency.

Music – Playing Eddie Vedder’s Into the Wild soundtrack right now. One of my all-time favorites. I had this CD in my car disc changer for two straight years.

Reading. I did none of my pre-work today. The only reading I did was of a Singapore newspaper, and half an article about Zeng He (sp), the Chinese Admiral who led the famous 7 voyages in the 15th century. I’m fascinated by the aura of the Chinese’s regional power. I remember after I took the GMAT last year, I walked to the National Geographic museum to celebrate, and they had an exhibit on Zeng He. His ships dwarfed contemporary ships made in Europe – very dramatic.

Feeling good. Glad to be out of the US and doing something that I love – travel. Feeling anticipation (this trip) is a hell of a lot better than dread (constantly worrying about internships). It feels great to be with 35 good people on this trip.