My saga begins....

Okay, my intention was to post on this blog every day, but that obviously ain't gonna happen.  Today is actually Day 2 of my trip, and I am currently sitting in my hotel room with the TV set on BBC World News.  Everywhere I go, Asia or South America, BBC is offered.  I don't why I'm talking about this seeing as this is a food and travel blog.

Before I begin I need to get this out of the way:  there are some pretty damn strange people who travel.  Excluding yours truly.  I took the Amtrak train to LA, as I am usually doing now, and there were a couple of wacky people.  The second I sit down, this elderly dude next to me immediately starts up the chat.  I am a friendly enough guy, I reciprocate.  After a while, I whip out my laptop to do some work and put in headphones.  The guy continues to talk to me.  Then I try to get some shut eye, even though I can never sleep on moving vehicles, and the old timer still is talking to me.  I wasn't asleep, mind you, but my eyes were clearly shut, which would generally indicate that someone is trying to sleep, and therefore probably doesn't want to talk.  Now, I can excuse the guy because he was very nice and he served on the USS Saratoga (that was one we talked about).

In spite of this gentleman's travel transgressions, the lady behind was the one who I truly wanted to slap.  Directly behind my seat was a mother and her toddler.  After a while, I noticed how she spoke to the poor kid.  "Lie down!" still echoes in my mind since that was once phase she repeated over and over.  After like the 12th time, you would think you try a different approach.  Oh, she did say "Go to sleep!" a lot.  Now if you'll kindly notice that I indeed added exclamation points to this lady's comments.  That's not for stylistic writing effect or any such nonsense, that's how she actually spoke.  She didn't yell it, per se; rather she said it in a tone that reminds me of a cop telling a perpetrator to stop resisting.  Now here's the worst part of this sidestory:  this mother listening to hip hop the whole trip.  No, not in her headphones, but on a freaking speaking speaker so half the train car could hear it.  Let me remind you that this was a night train, so pretty much everyone was asleep or trying to sleep after the lights when out.  I could even hear her music through my Bose headphones that blocks out sounds.

Now onto the final nominee for traveler of the year award.  On my first leg to Taiwan, I was doing my usual preparations to get situated.  Then I started hearing some clicking noises, and  I think WTF is that.  I sit down finally, ready to go, and I can see the guy in front of me clipping his nails.  I could literally see his clippings drop to the floor by the window.  C'mon TSA, I thought you didn't allow nail clippers.  Oh speaking of that, I have a tender story to tell.

So to sum up:
Talking to your seatmate:  acceptable
Talking to your seatmate while he/she is busy doing sleeping, like sleeping:  unacceptabe
Taking your kid on a trip:  acceptable
Taking your kid on a trip just to yell at him the whole trip and using hip hop to lull him to sleep:  unacceptable
Clipping your nails everywhere but  on a plane:  acceptable
Clipping your nails on a plane:  unacceptable

Real quick, as I just mentioned I have a rather touching story to tell about my experience at LAX.  After going through the scanner, I was told to stand there.  I waited for a few minutes with my items sitting on the conveyer belt and still no word.  Finally I was asked where my stuff was, and I told them.  One guy collects everything and another dude asks me to follow him.  I was taken into a room and told that they were going to conduct a pat-down.  If you never had to fortune of a full out TSA pat down, it's a little different than the ones when you go into clubs or other events.  The guy was kind of enough to tell me what was going down, but it still doesn't make the whole experience any more enjoyable.  Essentially, the guy wiped his hand across my crotchal region.  I have to hand it to him (no I didn't literally hand anything to him), he was quite gentle.  But he didn't buy me dinner first.

S

Have you ever found yourself up early in the morning and thought to yourself, "I feel like eating a bowl of goat meat soup chased by a sizzling platter of ribs?"  I arrived in LA at around 4:30 in the morning.  Neither my cousin or I felt like eating at Denny's, so we went to IHOP.  Despite being a so-called international house, they don't keep international hours.  My cousin suggested  a 24-hour Korean place, and said sure.  In the above photos you will see an assortment of kimchi, a spicy goat soup, and pork short ribs.  Although an unusual choice for your first meal of the day, the food was good. 

I would like to continue on with my adventures in Bangkok, but I have sitting here in my room for an half an hour, and I'm getting stir crazy and need to get out.  I'll be back soon.