My Journey to Thailand

I was going through some photos I took during my trip from Toronto to Bangkok and realized that I never posted them. There are not too many, but they're pretty cool.

A flight leaves from Pearson International Airport with Toronto satellite city Mississauga in the background.

My actual time in the air was approximately 22 hours and took me from Toronto to Toyko and on to Bangkok. I spent much of the first flight watching movies and chatting with the people in the seat next to me; sleep was not one of the activities. Landing in Tokyo after such a long initial flight brought little comfort. Due to a mix-up in prep staff on the runway in Toronto, we were delayed by almost an hour. Those traveling on to Bangkok had to run to make the next flight. Staff at the airport tried desperately to corral the confused and panicked passengers, myself among them. I reached the gate with just enough time to buy some much needed sports drink (the appetizingly-named "Pocari Sweat") with leftover yen that I had kept since my first journey before shuffling onto the plane.

The flight path for the first half of my journey.

I had made attempts to watch a film on the flight to Bangkok, but exhaustion finally got the better of me and I spent most of the flight slumped in awkward unconsciousness. I stumbled out of the aircraft upon landing in Bangkok, half-awake. Memories flooded back on the taxi ride to my hotel and I was able to carry on a basic conversation with the driver. The end of the trip was punctuated by a face-plant into bed to achieve proper rest and recovery enough energy to start my internship in the morning.

A frozen northern landscape in the dark depths of winter.

During the journey on the first flight I passed so far north that, despite it being in the middle of the day, the sun was beneath the horizon. The landscape below was a vast, frozen landscape shrouded in darkness. It was somewhat unnerving to be suspended above such a harsh environment, but incredibly beautiful nonetheless. My previous journey to Thailand (if you go back enough in this blog) took a more southerly route across Alaska with a shining sun illuminating mountains reaching into the sky, a scene which seemed to match my optimism at the time. Having been thrashed by reality over the past few years my outlook was less bright this time around; the landscape below was equally fitting. The world of conservation, for its towering hopes and goals, is situated in an unforgiving environment that can easily swallow you whole.

Here's hoping the sun rises.