After a very, very, very long flight (15 hrs to Hong Kong, another 3 to Bangkok), I arrived at Bangkok airport around midngiht Thursday local time. However, noone was there to greet me. So after some questions and walking around, I did find the hotel shuttle - who did not have my name - but convinced him I was a part of the hotel group. I was pleasantly surpirsed by the Pullman Hotel on arrival, but crashed around 2:30am for a 6:30am wake up call. Ugh! My biggest travel struggle is that I landed and my ears never popped back to normal. Dang congestion...so I'm still feeling bad.
Friday was delightful meeting the IBM Thailand team in Bangkok and learning about the city government and the expectations of our trip. We have a lot to do...with just 3 weeks here... to understand the issues of the city of Pattaya and recommend solutions. Friday afternoon many of us were jet lagged, so home around 3pm...and off to a drugstore for over the counter antibiotics. Yes, for $4.00 US dollars, I have amoxicillan and a decongestant. Incredible - may have to stock up before I come home. (Though it hasn't worked yet!) Then off to a great Thai dinner, with authentic personal dancer in our private dining room. I'll attach pictures when I figure that out.
Saturday was a briefing in Bankgok, then depart for the 2 hour bus ride to our final destination in Pattaya, Thailand. Our niche is to make recommendations to solve Traffic, Public Safety, and seaport Operations...to make the city of Pattaya "pay - tay'-ah" a world-class resort town on the Gulf of Thailand. (2 hrs south of Bangkok.) Very very nice gulf views and looks like a typical beach resort town with the road along the water having all the night life, restaurants, shops. . However..... the streets are a bit more "free". Although prostitution is illegal here, it is a foundation for their economy - almost half the economic spending. So the mission of traffic and safety have some significant implications.
The food is awesome. Hotel breakfast buffets have American to European to Thai food. Lunches and welcome dinners by Thai guests have been incredible. The team is starting to look forward to when we are just on our own to just walk around and eat casually. Sunday is a cooking class, a tour of the city offices, and some free time (beach, sun, pool, sun....). We start working heavy on Sun night preparing for our full day kickoff with the Thai government on Monday. I'm 12 hours ahead...so it is 4:30am for me now, woke up, and must try to get back to bed. "Sawatdee - ka" ( or hello, good bye, have a good day in Thai).
