Things I’ve enjoyed about my day in the Bangkok office:
1. My three-course lunch, at a proper sit-down restaurant with air conditioning, cost me about US$2. And based on my initial assessment of the place, I’m unlikely to get food poisoning.
2. I was the only man in an office full of women. Equal opportunity, my arse. I’m secretly curious as to what they’re doing with all the men, though.
3. Everyone smiles and laughs all day. I think this might secretly be some kind of inside joke about what they actually do with all the men, though.
4. On the emergency evacuation instructions, we are reminded that we should leave by the nearest exit and carry nothing larger than a briefcase. And that “teasing of colleagues during an emergency is strictly forbidden.”
5. There’s not enough parking at the office, so everyone double-parks in the parking garage and leaves their car in neutral. When you want to leave, you just push all the other cars out of the way. (Note for my French friends – you push the other car out of the way with your hands, not by ramming it with your car, a la francais!)
My hosts here have been incredibly friendly and helpful, and it’s been very easy to do business in Bangkok. Another reason Thailand remains one of my favourite places in the world.