A few last shots from Bangkok during the daylight. I had a room on the top floor of the hotel — seemed a shame to waste the view.
Bangkok skyline
Bangkok skyline, with the Chao Phraya river in the background
Posts Tagged ‘asia’
Asian hotels
Oct
26
I always enjoy staying in hotels in Asia. Great food, good service, and generally speaking, beautiful décor.
I sent my laundry out yesterday. Like the last time I was in Bangkok, it all came back individually shrink-wrapped, with neat little cardboard bowties attached to each of my shirts.
Hotel laundry, shrink-wrapped and complete with cardboard bowties
I have given up trying to be ecologically-friendly in Asia. There’s no way I can change an entire continent. They like their packaging, they like their plastic, they don’t recycle anything (at least, not that I can tell) – hey, that’s just part of life here.
I also managed to have some great room service. After God knows how many disappoint $25 hamburgers I’ve eaten in my travels across the US and Europe, having a tray of really delicious food sent up is a real treat.
Room service, Asian-style. Beats a soggy, greasy burger any day.
My virtual golf was not an overwhelming success. It’s tougher work than it looks, and my performance on the course suggests that I might want to reduce my handicap a little before they’ll let me onto the real Old Course.
I’m off to Calcutta this evening – and a new adventure begins!
Back in Bangkok…
Oct
25
Sunrise over Bangkok. I’ve got a great view from my hotel room on the 41st floor.
I’m back in Bangkok for the weekend, recharging my batteries after a long week in Manila and before a long week as I begin my cross-India journey.
The timing for my trip to Bangkok is pretty unfortunate. I’m missing the big celebration of Loy Krathong next weekend, which is supposed to be really beautiful. People light candles and send them down the Chaya Praya river, each one send with a wish and a prayer for the future. All the river boats are decorated in lights, and thousands of floating lanterns are launched across the countryside.
I’ve seen the floating lanterns before (in small numbers) and they’re really extraordinary to watch. I would love to have been here for the festival, but alas, it was not to be.
Still, I enjoy Bangkok. We went out for dinner last night at Ruen Mallika, my favourite Thai restaurant anywhere in the world (and in my mind, the best Thai food in Bangkok). They specialize in royal Thai cuisine – traditionally reserved for royalty because of the complexity of the preparation and the cost of the ingredients. Today, it’s available to schmucks like me as well — at a price, of course.
Otherwise, yesterday was a lazy day. We’re next door to a shopping mall, so I spent time browsing the English-language bookshop and bought myself a few books. I spent the afternoon lazing around the pool and trying to get a little sun.
Today, I’m off for 18 holes of virtual golf – they’ve got a virtual golf centre downtown where you can play all of the most famous courses in the world, in air conditioned comfort, without any of the hassle of walking between holes or searching in the woods for your ball. I think I’ll try to play the St Andrews Old Course, if only to say I have. Tiger Woods, eat your heart out.
After a round of golf, I’ve got a massage booked for the afternoon. I’ve spent the morning curled up in bed with the Sunday paper and a good cup of coffee. So a nice, relaxing Sunday.
First impressions of Manila
Oct
21
A local Jeepney
Anthony Bourdain was right. The Filipinos certainly know a thing or two
about how to cook a pig. We went out for a traditional Filipino meal last
night, and ate just about every part of the pig – ears, trotters, loin,
belly – all of it delicious. I’m not sure that it’s terribly healthy (and
judging from the size of most of the Filipinos I’ve come across, not
particularly low-calorie, either), but it certainly is tasty.
We’ve managed to avoid the flood waters – in fact, there isn’t any
evidence of flooding at all where we are. No, the big excitement here is
what happened in the shopping mall across the street.
We’re staying in Makati, which is the upscale business district in Manila.
Across the street is the Greenbelt mall, a collection of all the big
designer brands and jewelers. Sure enough, on Sunday night there was an
armed robbery of the Rolex shop. The thieves got away with 6m pesos worth
of watches, there was a shoot-out with the police, and one of the robbers
was killed. Needless to say, security here is pretty tight right now.
Our workshops are going well, and we’ve been given a warm welcome by the
team on the ground here. One thing that always surprises me is the pride
that people have in their country – no matter whether they come from
Manila, Bangkok, Calcutta, or Paris, there is a real desire to show off
their city and everything it has to offer. It’s no different here, with
our hosts proudly taking us to see the best of what Manila has to offer,
telling us stories of Filipino culture and traditions, and of course, lots
of food.
My super-hero status continues in the Philippines as it did in Bangkok –
like in Thailand, everyone here is convinced that I look like Tobey
McGuire (who played Spiderman in the movie). There are worse people to be
mistaken for.
We finish up here on Friday, then I’m flying to Bangkok for the weekend
for a few days off before heading to Calcutta on Monday night.
After a break, down to work…
Sep
23
A few of the participants at our Bangkok training
Facilitation at its best…
Look behind you!
Hard at work!
Well, the vacation’s over. After spending the weekend relaxing by the pool and recovering from jetlag, it’s time to get down to work with the team here in Thailand. Lots of material to cover and not enough time to cover it all means that we’re working long days.
I slept well the first night we arrived, but woke up yesterday at 3:45am. I finally gave up on getting back to sleep around 4:30am, and took the rest of the morning to put the final touches on my presentations before heading out to the first meeting.
When we broke for lunch, all of my Thai colleagues had a good laugh as I turned bright red – feeling bold, I had ordered adventurously from the Thai menu, and very quickly regretted it when I discovered I’d ordered the hottest thing on the menu. I soldiered on, aided by lots of water and lots of laughter.
We finally wrapped up at 5:30pm, and I snuck back to my room to catch a few minutes sleep before we headed out to dinner. I’d just fallen asleep when I was awoken by a knock on the door – the manager had worked out that it was my birthday based on the passport I handed over when I checked in, and had sent up a cake to celebrate – decorated with my full legal name and title (also copied from the passport, I guess!).
We headed out to dinner in the pouring rain, a big group meal organized by my hosts. This time I put local knowledge to work – I planted myself next to one of my Thai colleagues and let him order for me. Much safer.
More workshops for the rest of the week, then headed home on Friday. No more time for sightseeing, but not all is lost – I will be back in Bangkok in November for another set of meetings.
Sawadee! from Bangkok
Sep
21
I’ve been working in Paris too long. Time to return to the origins of this website and report something more exotic than my exploits in Clichy for a change. Time for a report from Thailand.
Two days and two massages into my latest trip to Bangkok, and I remember all the reasons I love Thailand. Great food, great service, friendly people, and warm weather.
I flew on Thai airlines from Zurich on Saturday afternoon. The flight was perfect. My colleague made the rookie mistake of ordering the western meal (filet mignon – always sounds great but ends up dry as boot leather when cooked in an airline oven) and looked on jealously as my pork curry came out – it tasted and smelled even better than it looked. After dinner, I settled in for some sleep, and managed to squeeze in eight hours of good sleep before being woken for breakfast about an hour before landing.
We arrived at 5:30am Sunday morning. Our driver was waiting and we were at the hotel about thirty minutes later. We dropped off our bags, took an hour to have some breakfast and grab a shower, then headed out to explore the city. We started with a little shopping, then had Japanese for lunch – and ordered so much food that they needed to bring a second table (Gina, if you’re reading this, you’ll recognize the situation from our Japanese meals in Singapore!). When the food is this cheap and this good, it’s hard to resist.
I passed the afternoon with a little snooze, a few hours by the pool, and a massage – just about the perfect way to pass an afternoon in Thailand in my book. Another of our colleagues arrived on the evening flight, and we all headed out to dinner at Ruen Mallika, a Thai place I’ve eaten in before and still one of the best that I’ve eaten in Thailand.
Despite asking the waitress to warn us if we over-ordered, we…you guessed it…over-ordered. Fish cakes, spring rolls, tom yum goom with prawns that were as big as lobsters, then red duck curry, more jumbo prawns in garlic, fried heart of palm, chili beef salad, fried morning glory, rice, noodles, and more. Moral of the story: never order when you’re hungry. I had taken charge of the ordering, but I had two willing assistants cheering me on from the sidelines… “Ohh, let’s have one of those, too!” Delicious fresh mango to finish it all off, and the ubiquitous Singha beer. (Apparently, it’s the formaldehyde that gives it the unique taste.)
It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it…
Today was a quiet day. Slept well overnight, had a late start, then a little more shopping, more pool, and more food. Took a few hours out of my afternoon to visit our office in Bangkok where I’ll be running workshops for the next few days, then off for another massage.
We’re just about to head out to the Seafood Market for dinner – you choose it, they kill it, they cook it, you eat it. My kinda dinner.
Not quite sure how I managed to land this job, but it’s not a bad way to make a living…
