February 10: "Ni Hao," "Selamat Pagi," "Sawasdee khrap," "Xin chow"

We left Atlanta on February 8, but the long hours of flying (23 hours so far) and the time zone changes result in it is now 9:11am on February 10 as we write this. We are in the transfer lounge for Singapore Airlines, awaiting our next flight to Taipei, Taiwan, also aboard Singapore Airlines. That flight will begin boarding at 10:55 and leave about 11:25am. Rashad and Esperanza are excited to see us and will be waiting at the Taipei airport when we arrive.

The title of this post are the four ways to say "hello" in the countries we will visit over the next 18 days. Ni Hao (nee how) is Mandarin Chinese, and it is spoken in both Singapore and Taiwan. Selamat pagi (suh-la-maht pah-gee) is Malay; a large number of Singaporeans speak Malay as their primary or secondary language. The "selamat" is a general greeting, and the "pagi" refers to the morning. Selamat petang would be the corresponding greeting for "good evening."

Sawasdee khrap (sah-wah-dee khrap) is a man saying good morning; sawasdee kah would be a woman giving greetings. These are polite ways of greeting in Thailand. And finally, in Vietnam, one would say "xin chow" (zin kow). And so, from the airport transfer lounge, where we wait comfortably for our final flight, we send greetings of the day: Ni hao, selemat pagi. sawasdee khrap or kah, and xin chow! They are also celebrating their Lunar New Year.

The flight from Atlanta to LA was fairly straightforward and nice. We sat in first class seats, side-by-side, in individual compartments that fully closed up. The seats could lay back, which was great. This was a first for us. The flight from LA to Singapore was wonderful! All I can say is that we are now officially spoiled travelers. Singapore Airlines was voted the best airlines in the world last year. We could definitely see why. Again we were in first class seats, only instead of being seated next to each other, we were seated one behind the other. Still, the seats stretched out down into a bed, and we both took advantage of that feature to get some sleep. Patrise was more successful than me, in that regard. Even in the upright position, each seat had plenty of leg space, room to place assorted items (laptop, phone, shoes, hats, books, and more.) The service was great and frequent, and so was the food and drink, The food quality would put many restaurants to shame. Yep, that good! Let's just say that if we have an opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines again, we would not hesitate to do so, and we would recommend the experience to everyone.

Needless to say the photos are fairly limited and a bit mundane, but here are several that I took on the plane, from the plane and in the airport transfer lounge. Not my best work by any stretch, but you'll get the sense of things. Also, here is the overall trip route map, for those who want some geographical perspective (smile).