(Daniel)  As I walked across the terminal building in the new Savarnabhumi Bangkok Airport this morning, I reflected on all the amazing experiences gained on the Asia leg of the Expedition.  From April when I collected the Wolf from Port Klang, Malaysia, to a few weeks ago in the Wild Jungles  of Cambodia, one adventure after another has proven South East Asia to be a wonderful place filled with excitement and friendly decent people.

After 3 months here, It does feel like the time has come to move on to pastures new, but it will be with a heavy heart that I leave Thailand, not only for the country which I feel I understand better than my own, but also for the people that have once again endeared me to this part of the world.   One person in particular will hold a special place in my heart,  someone who has shown me a simpler happier side of life.  I will return for Nii, and I just hope that I am not too late when I do.

At the checkout desk, I got my first taste of Americas Nazi-like Homeland security.  My one-way ticket to the states set of alarms with the airline staff.  They questioned me about my onward journey, seeming unhappy with my explanations and pile of papers relating to the vehicle shipping.  In the end they decided to copy all of the paperwork relating to the vehicle, taking them away to an office where I was not allowed to follow.  A little frustrated at the implied accusation of wishing to illegally stay in the states, I insisted on drawing lines through each copy.  While I was doing this, the airline staff, displeased with my lack of co-operation, asked to see my Passport again.  A woman sat at a terminal entered some details from the passport into her machine, then returned the book to me.

Prior to boarding the Philippine Airlines plane,  all passengers were subjected to full body searches, our shoes as well as pocket contents, jackets and hand luggage were all scanned.  After all this, a second search was conducted at the gate itself.

The first leg of the flight took three hours, arriving in Manila, the Philippine capitol at around 6pm.  On arrival, transit passengers were shown through to the second floor, where we were searched and scanned including the shoes a third time before being shown through to the gates.  Inside, the gates themselves were marked with signs stating that “ANY PASSENGER BEHIND THIS LINE IS NOT TO HAVE CONTACT WITH ANY PERSON OUTSIDE THE LINE, VIOLATORS WILL BE SUBJECT TO A SECONDARY SEARCH.”   They really were taking the security thing seriously.  I cued up to be searched and scanned for the fourth time, then sat down to await boarding.  While I sat there, I looked through my passport, someone, presumably the lady at the Thai check in desk, had written in small letters, ‘IC’  in the comments section.  Whilst I looked at the letters pondering their meaning, my name was called to approach the airline staff.

A pang of fear crept into my thoughts, what did these letters mean?  I had been searched the same number of times as everyone else, but it hardly seemed as if everyone was getting the same treatment. Where  most people were given a cursory glance, I had my bag opened and rifled every time.  I tried to be courteous and civil, but was met with cold treatment.  Perhaps this IC was some kind of marker, flagging me up as a trouble maker.  The last thing I needed with so much travelling to go.  I got up and approached the desk, my heart now beating much too fast.

The staff asked me to provide an address in America, I explained that I did not have one to had, as I was meeting family at the airport who had arranged our stay.  This answer was not enough for them, I realised then what was happening.  America was giving these poor guys a worse time than they were giving me!  I managed to find one of the address’ in California from someone who had contacted me via the website and gave this.  I also took the time to explain that all this extra security procedures were more than a little stressful, and that explaining why they required extra detail from non residents would alleviate the fear of ending up in Guantanamo Bay!

At 10pm we boarded the plane.  Then flew for 11 hours, crossing the international dateline to arrive in LAX at 7pm, 3 hours earlier than I had left Manila!  As the plane approached the runway, I saw for the first time just how big a city like Los Angeles is.  The streets stretched on in grids as far as the eye could see.  Lights made a symmetrical copy of the most amazing nights sky.  Traffic surged in two directions packed into 12 lane highways.  Everything here was larger than life.  What would this place look like from the ground?  As we approached the runway, I saw that LAX too was a huge airport, dwarfing the impressive Savarnabhumi in Bangkok. 

Inside the terminal building, approaching Customs I felt more fear than in any other country to date.  The queues caused by the extended delay of each and every person being interviewed prior to arrival meant that I had to wait for forty minutes before handing my passport over.  When I eventually did this, the interview was short enough, I have been through enough checkpoints and immigration controls to last a lifetime, and am able to conduct myself in a relaxed and confident fashion.  But underneath, I was genuinely worried that I may be refused admission on the grounds of the recent Turkish, Pakistani, Iranian and Malaysian Visas I my passport. 

Fortunately I was allowed in with the minimum of hassle, but the Homeland security measures meant that my fingerprints, photo and retina scan were taken prior to entry.  I cannot describe how annoyed I felt about this invasion of my person, these measures would surely only be forced upon a criminal in England or another country.  I plan to contact the American Embassy on my return to England, and ask that they destroy the records.  As I walked away from the immigration desk, I already felt like I regretted coming to the states.  I pushed the thought from my mind, reminding myself of my main goal here in the States.  Having travelled through Europe the Middle East and Asia, I was arriving here on American soil with questions, about everything from the war to the environment.  I had to keep an open mind, after all all the questions pointed here, and I wanted answers.

As I walked out of the baggage claim, through the crowds of people I spotted my brothers Nick and Oliver, and Nick’s fiancé Amy.  They had arrived on a flight from England two hours earlier and had waited for my arrival in the airport.  It was a wonderful reunion, having not seen my brothers for seven months.  Afterwards, we found our way outside and took a cab to the Hotel which the boys had arranged online prior to their arrival.

As we passed huge trucks and cars filling the busy highways, the taxi driver explained that our Hotel was in Downtown, and that we should not venture outside at this time of night.  I wondered in amazement how it was possible that I had stayed in Cities such as Islamabad and Phnom Pehn, but it was here in Los Angeles that I was forced to stay inside for fear of the locals!      

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