An Unexpected Trip

On November 2, I found out I would be going to Bangkok on November 4 to support a meeting as my colleagues from China were not able to attend. Needless to say, I was excited as I had never been to Thailand.

It was a bit of a journey and due to last minute booking my options were a bit limited. My route was Charleston to JFK to Paris to Bangkok…all-in-all my travel time was 27.5 hours.  Fortunately, I was able to fly business class so I was able to recline and sleep along the way. 

The arrival process at the Bangkok airport was swift and efficient. In less than an hour of my landing, I went through passport control, collected my luggage, cleared customs, was greeted by Bengy from local DMC (destination management company - these are companies that are area experts meeting planners partner with when hosting meetings) and in my car to the hotel. Having never been to Thailand and only knowing what I saw in TV or read, I was expecting the airport to be very crowded and sensory overload by all the activity but I was pleasantly surprised to find it just the opposite. 

It was about a 30 minute ride from the airport to the hotel. I felt like a kid bouncing from side to side in the car to see the sights along the way. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at the calmness of the roads. Having spent some time in other Asian countries, I was expecting lots of cars going very fast.  I had read that Thailand was intense yet peaceful and so far I was definitely experiencing the peaceful. 

I arrived at our hotel Shangri-La Bangkok where I was greeted by Jacky, Director of Sales (aka Jack of all Trades as we discovered over the week) and May, Director of Events. Before entering the hotel, there  is a mini-TSA like process and apparently your luggage you leave with the bellman goes through a scanner as my luggage had tags when delivered to my room. While Bangkok is safe, I think it is more of a deterrent and extra step to make guests feel safe. 

My room was large and spacious and had a great view (partial river view and partial downtown view). Like many countries in Asia, it is recommended you not drink the water so the hotel provides 6 bottles (more upon request) daily.  After unpacking and a shower (did I mention 24+ hours of travel), I met with a couple colleagues for lunch at the hotel’s main restaurant, Next2 Cafe. 

The glass bottles have a nifty top
that can be put back on to keep
the water fresh

I immediately knew I was going to love this hotel when I was greeted by a gelato wheel upon entering the restaurant!  A gelato wheel people that I later learned was available breakfast, lunch and dinner!!  The pic is one I got online as I was so stunned every time I walked in to take a pic. 

We spent the afternoon working and then had an early dinner back in the hotel restaurant. The restaurant has an incredible buffet with all the Asian cuisines as well as some western options. Sushi just like the gelato is available for all three meals so yet another reason to be in love with the restaurant. Breakfast is included with the room and is also served in this restaurant and also offers all Asian cuisines and English/American options. There are stations (and by stations I mean 8 feet long each) for Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, salads, carving, daily featured station, dessert  and of course the gelato.  Because those of us from the States only found out days before we were heading to Bangkok, we spent most of our time in the hotel as meal breaks needed to be quick. Fortunately, the Next2 Cafe had such a variety, we never got bored and as an added bonus, I was able to try a food I had never tried every meal. 

The best way to beat jet lag is to push through that first day and stay awake when you arrive and go to sleep at local bedtime. The hotel has a water taxi that takes you to a giant mall across the river so after dinner last night I headed over and checked it out. While waiting for the water taxi over, I was treated to a little fireworks.  It is clearly the happening spot on a Saturday night as it was crowded!  Thailand is known for great street foods and markets. The lower level of the mall brings the streets to you! On the way back, I discovered I had missed the last boat that will take me directly to the hotel so I had to get off at the city pier and make my way back. The hotel was about 5 blocks from the city pier and included some small alleys. I plugged in the address into Apple Maps and made my way and felt very safe even at 10PM. My pushing through strategy worked like a charm as I went to bed at 11:30PM and woke up at 7AM and never had jet lag the entire trip. 

 
 

Before the craziness of the meeting began, our client wanted to treat us to dinner. They are based in Mainland China and to give us a little flavor of China, we went to the fancy Chinese restaurant at the hotel (it reminded me of the Chinese restaurants we would go to when I was younger before buffets took over the scene). We learned in China if you have 10 people for dinner, you order 11 dishes so that’s what Ting did…plus a couple more as she wanted us to try all the dishes. Joey, Ting and McKenzie said what we had would be typical for Chinese New Year. We had so many things I’ve never heard of or tried and they were all delicious…though some a little spicy! The table spread is all the food AFTER the 10 of us had been eating for 2.5 hours!! They said for Chinese New Year it is a good sign if there is food left as it means you will have lots of wealth in the new year.

Peking Duck

One Week Old Pig

In China, you receive 2 sets of chopsticks.
One for taking food off the communal
plates and one for eating.  It is important
you not mix up the 2!

The meeting (you know the reason I'm actually here!) took place Monday through Thursday so there wasn’t much time for play. As with all events, planners try to bring some of the local flavor into the meeting. My colleague that was the planner unable to attended did a fabulous job of doing just that!  For the opening of the keynote, she had Thai drummers and dancers and for one of the happy hours there were more Thai dancers and of course we had lots of Thai food…including bringing street food vendors to our closing party. 

I needed to check on one of our meeting
rooms on the top floor and this 
was the view that greeted me!

November 8 was the Festival of Lanterns in Thailand.  The lanterns are called khom loi which means floating lanterns.  It is believed that by releasing these lanterns it releases negative energy and is a wish for good luck and good fortune in the coming year.  Because we were inside for our meeting, we could not see the lanterns but when I got to my room later that evening, I was treating to another firework show!

One day while the meetings were underway I was able to sneak away and head back over to Iconsiam to pick up a gift for our client from the Jim Thompson store.  Jim helped revive the Thai silk industry in the 50's and 60's.  His designs are unique and make beautiful fabrics for everything from clothing to accessories to upholstery....even the bag for your purchase is pretty.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water taxi and so nice to be outside of the hotel for a little bit.  Since Jim's store wasn't open when I got to the mall, I took advantage of the hour wait and wandered around the giant mall since I only tacked the ground floor on my first visit.

For the most part, it was like just about every other mall around the world...except if I had wanted to buy a Volvo, I could here!  This place is huge and had everything you could imagine...except hairdryers (the one at the hotel was like a whisper of air).  I popped in to one of the bathrooms and it so bright and colorful.

Before heading back to the hotel, I headed back to the lower level to grab a bite.  There were some monks holding a prayer service and since others were photographing, I presumed it wasn't considered rude.  For lunch, I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering but it looked interesting.  Turned out it was a giant cheese stick deep fried and then drizzled with more cheese and some kind of sauce.  While it may not have been healthy, it sure was good!  The healthy part came when I picked up some of the fresh squeezed orange juice (it was so good when I had it on my first visit, I couldn't resist).  I've never had rice ice cream so of course I had to give it a try...good flavor and consistency was somewhere between ice cream and ice milk.

Box Lunch Thai Style
Just a little different than typical
sandwich, chips & cookie in the US

With the meeting ending on Thursday and my flight not leaving until just after midnight on Friday, I was so excited to have Friday as a day to explore Bangkok.  My colleague was able to arrange a tour to see a few sights...check out my next post to see a little of what I was able to see.