Tag Archives: thailand

Hi folks – from sunny thunderous Thailand!

Been a while, I know – but I’ve been busy (as always). Of course I have – for it’s our partner-conference (both regional and global) season. We’ve already had Italy and Hungary; now it was Thailand’s turn…

After landing, we head on over to the venue, which turns out to be the same hotel where we put on another conference (SAS) late last year. Small world, and déjà vu, as they say…

But back to this year’s conference: it was the partner conference for the ~Middle Eastern and African regions, aka META (Middle East + Turkey + Africa). But enough already with definitions and demarcations! Let me simply tell you the conference was a 10/10!

• Guests: 135 (140 were planning to attend, but five didn’t get their visas in time; we’ll take this into account for the future)
• Countries represented: 24
• Partner companies represented: 65

But enough of stats already! Let me simply repeat that the conference was a 10/10 :)

Read on…

Hi all!

Central Bangkok river excursion – done.

Next up, as promised, it was back on land and a walk over to the Grand Palace and former royal residence. And royally grand, swish, sumptuous, splendid and magnificent it is too…

All righty. Walkies…

Read on…

Our business in Thailand duly completed, it was time for my traditional spot of micro-tourism. First things first – boat trip on the Chao Phraya river through the heart of Bangkok…

In a nutshell: beauty all around – plenty.

We pass our first “temple/palace” – a beaut – but, curiously and perplexingly, it turns out it’s nothing special – neither noteworthy nor Wiki-worthy. I couldn’t even find it on Google Maps! Rather – I could, but it’s not marked as this or that temple or palace; it’s just someone’s mansion, it seems! ->

Read on…

Korea ✅
Japan ✅
Singapore ✅
Thailand ⬜ – therefore, that’s where we’re headed next!…

My spring tour of Southeast Asia had entered its final stretch, after which would come a long-awaited few days of decompression back home before getting back into the thick of busy things: new contacts, contracts, projects, products, services and solutions – and all so as to make the world more secure, safer, better. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Rewind – to Bangkok!…

Thailand’s capital is a short two-hour flight from Singapore. Take-off, ascent, “the seatbelt sign has been switched off”, a brief pause, “the seatbelt sign has been switched on”, and a short while later you’re touching down. First up – checking into our hotel. And here’s the view from my window:

I hadn’t been here for a full 17 years! I’d been in Thailand in the interim – at conferences in Phuket for example, but not the capital. It was therefore tricky remembering what it was like here nearly two decades ago. Anyway, today – it’s like this:

Ah – some of it was coming back to me: yes, for example, on that tall, thin skyscraper just to the right of the center in the following pic, I remember distinctly… a Johnnie Walker whisky advert! Its text read “don’t drink and drive”! Let me guess – drink and walk, instead?!

As you can see, the city is densely built up. Something else is dense – and long – here: the traffic jams down below (.

Here’s a less salubrious district, just like in any other city:

And down there the streets are a hive of busy activity:

There was a hive of busy activity at our event too – especially up on the stage:

The following day – walkabout-tourism! But I’ll save that for tomorrow’s post. For now – photographic hors d’oeuvres…

The Chao Phraya river:

We took a nice long stroll around the grounds of the Grand Palace – the kings’ residence:

And a superb stroll it was too!

And several more nibbles pics:

To be continued!…

All the photos from Thailand are here.

Hi all, from Phuket, Thailand, where we’re having our fourth yearly regional Partner Conference.

It’s the wet season (rainy season / monsoon season) here. We were warned about it so it wasn’t like it was a surprise. But I’d never actually experienced it before somehow, and thought that it was just a time when it rains heavily on and off: I didn’t realize quite what I was in for…

More: Phuket Bucket …