Red Carpet rooms are one of the few perks of having sat scrunched in airplane seats for about 50K miles each year. A glass of wine and in Asia, free computer access. Americans all have their own machines but in Asia computers are widely shared. Passing the Gucci and Prada shops in the Airport the Japanese are buying product like it is their job. It is amazing what marketing has done to create this consumer consciousness across the globe. That indeed is what I have been doing for these last few decades. The news shops display tons of Asian news and magazines and in the one corner you see American magazines defined by 2 topics: Sex and money ( both sell) and of course celebrity. If I read a little more Mandarin or Japanese I could tell you what their dominant magazine themes are but I suspect that they parallel ours with their own celebrities.
The world keeps getting smaller and smaller through communications and commerce and the ties that bind in the international economy are intricately interwoven so that we really can't extricate ourselves from others. The market place which in the past was the closest large village is now a global marketplace and communications alert us to events that are happening globally. So many Americans really only focus in on a country if it touches their heart, their wallets, or their consciousness based on having been there, knowing someone who lives there or the US being involved in some international politic that has had so many headlines it can't be ignored like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anyway I am off to the heat of the hottest month pre monsoon in Thailand and Burma. Erik will meet me in Bangkok at The Wild Orchid a small guesthouse and we will go get our Burmese visas on Monday first thing when they open. I am hoping the mother and son combo does the trick for fast visa approval. Off to another uncomfortable airline seat from Hong Kong to Bangkok.
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