We arrived at DFW 2 hours prior to departure like good travelers to discover a line a mile long for check in. It took an hour and 15 minutes but I was very patient (shocking isn't it). Dessa made friends with the woman behind us in line. Turns out she had almost the same basic itinerary we have - DFW to Bangkok to Phuket and then wrapping up in Dubai (only missing Australia). Of course she wasn't spending 3.5 months on her trip.

Luck was on our side for the first flight (14+ hours to Dubai). We had the outside row of 3 seats to ourselves in an otherwise full flight. Twice the steward asked if we would mind if they put someone in the extra seat and we said very nicely we would rather they didn't and managed to keep the extra space. It made the long flight much better (mostly for Dessa who slept lying down in my lap across the whole row). Even with medicinal help I couldn't sleep for much more than an hour. Fortunately this Emirates Airbus 380 had an excellent in seat entertainment system with >100 movies.

After about 4 hours, we boarded the flight to Bangkok which was not as much fun. We were on a 777 with much smaller seats than the Airbus and with no spare seat it was quite cramped. Dessa again managed to sleep using me as part of her space. Being the good husband that I am I was fully supportive of this behavior (of course there was a part of me that knew a tired and cranky Dessa would not be the best travel companion ;-) ).

Arrival in Bangkok was painless starting with a landing so smooth the passengers applauded. The airport is very well laid and the lines moved pretty quickly making it easy to find our way through immigration, baggage claim, and customs. I'd done the research on getting a prepaid card so after getting some Thai Bhat out of the ATM, we picked up the DTAC Happy Tourist Sim (excellent marketing name don't you think). and then headed out for the taxi to the airport.
We suspect that we were overcharged for the taxi paying roughly double what we read it should cost, but at 3:00am and given the amount of luggage we had we didn't begrudge the roughy $20 fair for the 35 minute ride to the Hotel.

The Hotel that Dessa found for us is quite nice. Its a 1 bedroom suite with a great bathroom (deep tub and separate glass Shower stall). This is a critical criteria for Dessa and a surprisingly *******e to find given the number of hotel websites that don't include photos of the bathroom in their postings. The rest of the unti is quite nice as well with a comfy King bed, wood floors, kitchen, 2 flat Smasung LCD TV's, ... The only concern was that our 8th floor room is about 50' from a local elevated Highway. Wasn't an issue when we checked in at 4:00am with no traffic on the road but we were worried about potential noise when traffic picked up in the morning. We both slept through till about 3pm (medicinally assisted of course) and the traffic noise wasn't really a problem. All in all, quite happy with the selection for roughly $85 per night. Especially considering the location which is walking distance to lots of attraction and to the train system for farther destinations.

After our 10 hour nap, we went out for food (lunch and groceries). Dessa was very brave about stopping at a street stand for lunch. She enjoyed a large local beer which was much stronger than the light beer she is used to. She very adventurously ate Chicken and Cashsew stir fry with white rice and some fried shrimp (out of the dozen or so they brought). Including the Beer and a Coke the total bill for our quite tasty lunch was roughly $11.

At the grocery store we had fun comparing prices on US branded foods vs local competition. We bough some of each for meals over the next few days. We'll let you know of the local brands pass the consumption test.

After unpacking and a little resting in the room with various electronic distractions, we headed out for New Years eve at around 9:30pm. The big celebration at Central World mall was less than 2 miles away so we took the free Hotel Tuk Tuk to the main street (about 500 yds) and walked the rest of the way along with growing crowds. Up to 500k people were expected to converge at Central World. I'm not sure how many did come but it was a generally polite and passive crowd so it didn't feel to over whelming.

While walking down to Central World, Dessa led the way to eat at the street vendor stalls and to sample some additional local beers. (Chang is the current favorite). We bought fried chicken on a stick - good but not special. Corn nibblets in a cup which was better than the chicken and my favorite a rice dish that had been roasted in a bamboo shaft. It was more of a dessert dish as it was pretty sweet (I think they used Red Bean and Coconut milk).

Not including groceries we spent a total of about $25 for 2 meals for 2 people along with 2 Cokes and 3 beers.

The city had turned the roads to Central World into essentially pedestrian routes for the big New Years countdown. The streets were bicall closed to allow for all the people streaming to the square Exceptions were made for Tuk Tuk and Motorcycle taxis so that kept things interesting.. There were upscale shops, Christmas decorations, shrines and street vendors everywhere. The weather was beautiful! mid 70s with a soft breeze.

Everywhere you looked there were people taking selfies with their phones on extension poles. Dessa had to have one. She claims it was a good investment at $7.00. We settled on a spot with about 30 minutes to go. There was a giant ball being batted around, balloon releases and live music while we waited. The fireworks were good but short compared to US standards. It was lots of fun.

The crowd was massive but polite that is until after midnight when everyone wanted to leave. I'm bigger than the average Thai citizen but we moved with the crowd as there was
very little ability to maneuver. I could clearly understand how people
can die in a crowds like this if they fell or if the crowd panicked. Dessa hung on tight and walked on her tiptoes so she could try to see and to get out from under everyone's armpits for some fresh air. After about a mile of inching forward, the crowd started to disperse to different routes and the last half of our walk was a relatively pleasant evening stroll.

It's been an excellent first day and kick off to Bill and Dessa's Great Adventure.

We wish you all a Happy New Year!!! later today your time.
Bill and Dessa