Journey to Thailand - Day 1

For 70 million years, the continent of India has been shifting towards Asia. The collision of these two land masses has created the highest mountain chain in the world, the Himalayas. They are still growing higher and higher with each passing year. In the heart of these mountains, on the Tibet and Nepal borders, lies the sacred and sought after Mount Everest. Traveling to the east, the mountain chain slowly loses elevation traveling through Bhutan, Bangladesh, Eastern India, and Myanmar. At the eastern tail-end of this massive chain, in Southeast Asia, lies Thailand.

My first visit to Thailand, in 2002, was a life-altering experience on the opposite side of the planet. It was then I experienced a culture only before seen in mesmerizing television documentaries and in the National Geographic magazines, both of which valiently tried to capture the ancient culture. To experience the sights, tastes, smells and sounds of Thailand transports the seeker through remnants of an ancient Buddhist culture clinging to a golden past in the grip of hard-marching westernization.

As I left Thailand in 2002, my mind was quickly consumed with my inevitable return to the "land of smiles." Now, cruising over the Pacific Ocean, five years later, at an altitude slightly higher than the Himalayan peaks themselves, I begin my 27 hour journey back to the Buddhist stronghold.