Monday morning was reserved for the last-minute running around in Louisville to buy some religious goods and some underwear at Wal-Mart. Then I flew back to New York City and on Tuesday morning went to Houston and then Tokyo. From Tokyo it was a six-hour flight to Bangkok where I spent the night on some padded chairs, and then Thursday morning I had the first flight back to Phnom Penh.

When it was time to depart from Louisville, the rains started. Luckily I was already at the airport so I could just watch while the ground crew endured the raindrops.

From LaGuardia, I took the bus into mid-town Manhattan and stayed overnight at the Maryknoll House there. For these quick visits of 8 to 10 hours, I take one of the little rooms without much furniture or much space but with everything I need.

At 5:15 AM the next morning, I walked the two blocks to the airport bus and found that the underground street crews were already hard at work.

After a flight to Houston, it was on to Tokyo. I was flying United but there I switched from United aircraft to a B777 of Star Alliance partner ANA. And again departed in the rain for Bangkok.

I spent the night on some padded seats in Bangkok airport's B Concourse and then got the first flight out to Phnom Penh the next morning. There the transportation contrasted with that of the last 40 hours.