The guy on the train ......

So hopping onto a commuter train in Bangkok at 8 in the morning on a work day you can imagine it might be a little crowded. I was sort of standing back for a minute to try to get a read on how the whole thing worked when a slight Asian gentleman approached me and asked me if I knew the way to a certain stop. He was Japanese and probably about 28 dragging a big silver case and he was drunk enough to fall over except that his luggage sort of provided some support like a giant wheeled crutch. So we hopped onto the train together and started to talk. He had just flown in from Tokyo about an hour earlier. The reason he was so drunk was that the flight attendants were so overwhelmed with emotion over recent events they just pumped him full of booze to ease the pain. At one point he lowered his head and paused. Partly from the booze but also overwrought from what he was obviously going through. " you know, it's a lot worse than there saying on the tv. A lot worse. The reason I'm here is because my company told us to evacuate." " my parents went to the southern part of the country and my firm sent me here for ... I don't know how long" it was heart breaking. For those of you that know me I am not usually an overly emotional guy but this was just about the hardest thing I have seen in a long time. Our conversation was'nt monumental in and of itself but the thought of thousands dead and a huge amount of people being rushed into a mas exodus sort of put a whammy on my brain. I have a lot of respect for the Japanese as a people and a culture. I am truly sorry for there misfortune. He realized that his stop had come up and he was about to miss his chance so he nodded and left before I could give him my information. I will probably never see him again and it is a shame. Even in the middle of the worst time in his life he was pleasant,conversational and ..... I don't know what else to say.