USA Trip: Day 1

This trip to the United States started a little differently.  I usually leave Phnom Penh at night time, but this time I went from Phnom Penh to Tokyo and then on to New York City–only two flights instead of the usual four, sometimes five.

I had a full day in Phnom Penh—the last day of the three-day Khmer New Year holiday–and I worked at home since our deaf office was closed.  Then after supper I headed for the airport in a tuk-tuk.  I was trying to use a new Pass App service utilizing Indian-made autorickshaws.  You can call them on a smartphone, much like the Uber procedure, but tonight when I called there were so few drivers out working at night because of the holiday that eventually I went out on the street and flagged down a regular tuk-tuk.

A display in the gate area of the Phnom Penh airport offers good backgrounds for commenting about various destinations.
The flight from Phnom Penh to Tokyo was on a new B787 which is noticeably quieter and has bigger windows than previous generations of aircraft. This is the welcome awaiting international arrivals at Narita Airport in Tokyo.
I was surprised to see in the airport a video relay booth for deaf people who want to make a telephone call using sign language. It is sponsored by the Nippon Foundation, a Japanese charitable group which has funded our Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme.