Pizza at airport in Bangkok, waiting for the flight for Nepal

Ever had a pizza with corn on it?? We had some meal vouchers from the airline during our long wait and this is one meal I got with a voucher. Actually, the pizza was pretty good. Fresh pineapple is always good. When we arrived in Nepal we were dismayed to find the TSA lock from one of our bags missing. Not only missing but the metal tabs were also missing that the lock went through. We knew somebody had just somehow removed the whole thing. But for what, there were only clothes inside. We looked when we arrived and couldn't think of anything missing. Then, last night, dad remembered his knife. Dave H. had given him a nice knife that had belonged to his brother. He loved that knife, it was very useful. Gone. That's what those crummy people were after. It had to have happened during our long wait in Bangkok, they had seen it during the scanning check. My nice TSA lock is gone! As well as now we can't lock our bag at all as theres nothing to put a lock through. Locking bags is extremely important here in Nepal to keep sticky fingers out of it on a bus, which we'll do tomorrow.
One of the first things I saw yesterday, in the morning when we were out walking, looking for a place to eat breakfast. A group of young boys, about a half dozen of them, about age 10, just standing on the street, were huffing. It deadens the hunger pains. Very sad. There are lots of beggars here too. One mother with a young baby was obnoxious shoving an empty baby bottle in my face. These countries discourage people from giving to beggars in any form. Don't give money, don't give pens, candy or anything as it just encourages more begging. They say to give money to temples, to charities, to foundations, etc. In Thailand you often see lepers begging and it really frowned upon because there are government places for lepers. They are taken care of and they are given their medication. On the street they are not taking their medication like they should. It is really hard sometimes on the street to NOT give. I have been known to buy food for a hungry small child on the street but I don't give money. It is common in India for parents to purposly disable a child so people will find pity and give so even  buying food is probably not a good idea. Hard. Sara, you'd like to know that the dogs I have seen so far here seem well fed. I did see a really obese dog in Trat, Thailand. It was huge and I wondered why. Then I looked around and it was living right in front of a bakery! One smart dog.

Ladies room at the airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

As I read this sign in the ladies room at the airport in Bangkok, when we were leaving, it reminded me of some of the mysteries of life. Why, just why, would people be putting their stockings in the toilet? Statistically speaking, how many stockings in a year do they have to fish out of the toilets? Adult stockings? Mens stockings? Womens stockings? Childrens stockings? Hmmm.......When you are delayed eight hours at the airport there is a lot of time to look around and find interesting things! Finally our 2:30 flight left at 11p.m. Our best laid plans all gone up in smoke. We had actually arrived at the airport really early so we could ask for seats on the right side of the plane. With Nepal Airline it's impossible to ask for seats when purchasing tickets or online. Don't ask me why, third country airline is all I know. But we were early enough to each get a window seat so we could see Mt. Everest as we flew by. We've done this before and the view is spectacular. In the U.S. when you fly across country and go over the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains you fly high above and look down on the mountains. Here, when you fly to Nepal you are flying high but still when you look out your window you look UP at Mt. Everest. It is almost 40,000 feet tall. Very majestic. But of course when your flight is at night you don't see a thing. It was disappointing. Anyway, we are here and were going to get up early this morning and walk to Monkey Temple to see the prayers and singing but were so tired we overslept so will try to do that tomorrow.