Week 2: Thailand

This week I ventured over to Bangkok, Thailand for a client meeting that lasted the whole week. Like most client meetings, this one was less than thrilling. However, one notable thing was the last day we were on site, they all wore yellow. At first I thought it was some team building thing but it turns out they were celebrating the anniversary of the king’s coronation! Another fun fact I learned from this client is that Thailand tracks their years based on the birth of the Buddha, rather than Jesus. Thus, they are 543 years ahead of us (the current year is 2559).

Friday night Jill and I chose to take a river cruise and see some of the sights at night. Complete with an “international” buffet (they had French fries and ribs so the Americans were happy) and some traditional Thai dancing, it was a nice affair. We were able to see some of the major tourist attractions lit up at night-they even had timers on the lights to conserve electricity and only show the buildings when the boats were passing!

Saturday I decided to act the part of tourist as completely as I could and wandered off to the Grand Palace. They have a strict dress code, and despite the fact that my leggings covered my entire legs, I was required to rent a skirt from the facility. Let me tell you, if Bangkok is anything it’s HOT. The palace was pretty cool though: in Europe you don’t see ornate decorations the same as Thailand, probably because the weather would destroy them. There were outside mosaics and mirrors everywhere, and countless painted carvings that had either withstood the trials of time or were recently renovated. Once I had had enough of swimming through crowds of tourists, I went to the park across the street to sit and rest. In doing so, I was approached by multiple high school kids who wanted to know my favorite Thai foods and what I thought of the weather.

That afternoon I went for a classic Thai massage. Unlike a message in the United States, which tends to be a relaxing experience, this was an odd combination of yoga and pushing on various muscle groups. To end the session, I got my back cracked from both sides, and I can still feel soreness along my spine where the masseuse did her work. Wrapping up my night included a glass of wine on a rooftop bar, with a 360 degree view of the city. It was pretty spectacular, all things considered.

Finally, on Sunday I headed over to the market in the morning to get some good stuff cheap. The place in question is said to have over 15,000 stalls and I can honestly say I got lost in the inner maze of the place a few times. However, I did get some good-priced steals and then headed back to Shanghai, where I took the bullet train. (You can’t come from a family full of engineers and miss the bullet train!) So I am now back in China for the foreseeable future-or at least until my 60 days are up. Stay tuned for future adventures!