In transit, Bankok

So how does one describe the experience of the stopover? Is it one of those rites of passage that all those who travel to and from Australia must endure?
Paula describes Bankok Airport as souless. I prefer to think of it as a kind of Limbo before Hell – or perhaps Purgatory – starts in earnest.
So here we are, somewhat dehydrated, ready to take aspirin, valerian, water and whatever spirits are available in the plane, on the off-chance that we will sleep. So far, it’s been Brideshead, Hellboy II, a third of my le Carre novel and forty minutes of fitful doze.