Year End Review 2008

This year has come and gone and now I’m looking back at what has to have been the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding year I have had.

From skiing on snow covered mountains in Norway to partying with friends back in Toronto at the Unicorn to swimming in the Gulf of Thailand, I’ve have seen a great deal this year and had the best time doing so. I completed my Masters and have begun an international career volunteering with the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok.

I began the year in the Spanish Canary Islands off the North West coast of Africa where I had travelled to for the 2007 Christmas holidays and spent a month there. Although I spent a lot of time on the beach and had a lot of fun during the night, I still (and will always maintain) that I also did a lot of school work while there.

At the end of January I made my way back to Norway which at the time felt like I was going home. Although the weather was cold and snowy after a month on the beach believe it or not you get to miss those types of things that, because of growing up in Canada, bring true feelings of what winter should feel like. After moving in to dorm life again I quickly joined the International Student Union and with encouragement from my brother (still owe him for that advice) ran for a spot on the board. Little did I know that I would end up Vice-President. Being on the board brought with it some challenges but also more importantly it gave me an instant social life which I enjoyed very much. Themed parties, club nights, ski trips, or even just playing poker there were a lot of good memories.

On the academic side of things, my peers and supervisor were the best. Spending time in our office working on our papers was actually some of the best times spent in Norway. Lots of coffee and lots of interesting conversations every week kept the dull of research at a minimum.
At the beginning June it came time for the dissertation. For nearly a week straight I was rehearsing my presentation. Cutting out bits, adding some and practicing it over and over until I could recite it word for word while listening to loud music and walking. In the end all went well. At the time my parents were in Trondheim and although I did not allow them to sit in on the defence, I still remember having to recite my part of the dissertation to my father afterwards then having to remember all the various questions and my responses to them. In hindsight it may have been better had I let them sit in. What a journey it was to receive my Masters. It is perhaps the thing I am still to this day most proud of.

Shortly thereafter I gave my biggest piece of luggage to my parents and head to London for just under a week. Although I had been to London before it was good to go back and see some of the sights again especially since shortly after my first trip there my camera was stolen while I was in Paris.

London was great and I had a good time but being so close to home and having been away for nearly a year I was anxious to get back and see my family and friends again.

Once back in Toronto my friends and I quickly got caught up and got back to doing a lot of the things we had before. The Unicorn became “our” bar, a kind of Cheers for us. When a friend of mine from Germany came to visit it was in fact the Unicorn which I took her to first.

During the day I worked at the TD Bank while I awaited the final decision of when and where I would be placed through CANADEM. Having looked into CANADEM before leaving Norway I had my hopes set high for possibly volunteering through them with the UN and this excitement kept growing until I finally found out where I would be going and what I would be doing. In the end it was with the UNDP in the Regional Centre in Bangkok working with Pro Poor Public-Private Partnerships.

So I packed up and left Canada again not knowing this time when I would be returning.
Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok. There is a lot to be said about Bangkok and Thailand in general. I’ve tried to write as much of it down as I can in this blog but I feel that it is perhaps impossible to really get a true representation of the experience. Perhaps I’m just not a good enough writer and my vocabulary is too basic but I like to think that perhaps some things need to be experienced and not read to fully understand it, even if were a Pulitzer prize winner author.

Although office life is interesting and lots of very important things are happening through this office it is not what I prefer to talk about. Instead it is the night time, after work, when all of us get together on the weekend enjoy some Thai food, or if bored of that Indian is always a top pick, then venture out to the discos and bars.

On weekends or holidays there are always a group of people going to one of the popular beach destinations. Hua Hin is good but my new favourite has to be Koh Samet where I just spend the Christmas holidays. The sand is like flour and the water is a clear turquoise blue.

I am ending this year off in a place where the food is good, the people are friendly, the scenery is out of this world, and the temperature is perfect.

What a year! This year like last I do not have my sights set on anywhere in particular perhaps Africa, who knows, certainly not me.

Now you will have to excuse me I have to prepare to celebrate bringing in the New Year.

Wishing everyone happiness and good health in the new year.

Andrew

Koh Samet

For the Christmas holiday I went to Koh Samet, a nearby island turned nature reserve. The beaches there were incredible the whitest, finest sand I think I’ve ever experienced.

Getting there involved about a four hour bus ride followed by a half hour boat ride. Once on the island all visitors have to pay an entrance fee. For foreigners it is 200 Baht while for nationals it is only 40 Baht. The difference sounds a little surprising it is like that for a lot of things here in Thailand. Personally I don’t mind it that much although there is something to be said about the fact that such a policy would not go over at all in many other countries.
During the night time there was a lot to do. There were fire shows (very impressive) and you could also buy a fire balloon which was very interesting.


Most of the time during the day was spent just relaxing on the beach enjoying the sun and water.

I was a little worried about jellyfish even though I wasn’t told to look out for them at this particular beach. What I was even more worried about though (again over reacting) was malaria. I bought pills for it and took them religiously, even wore bug repellent. It seems to have worked, although I won’t know for sure until two weeks after coming back when I finish the last pill. I put on so much bug spray I don’t think a mosquito came within two meters of me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Andrew

Christmas is coming!!!

Things are becoming fairly slow these days. Although several projects are still on the go most of them (at least the ones in my ToR) are at the stage where I have to wait for other people to contribute. Still, there are small projects such as work on the SNAP web tool and taking meeting minutes for different meetings.

From the sounds of the office I think a number of staff have already gone on holiday which only adds to a feeling that slowness. Even outside the office as a few of my friends have left for holidays one this week and one next, there is little to do on the weekends. As for myself, I’ll probably head to either Hua Hin again (third time for me) or maybe try Ko Samet which is west of Bangkok. I won’t be leaving though until after Monday of next week after a very important meeting with Delger. He will be away for at least a month so we need to go over how I will manage things in his absence and what he would like me to have ready for him when he returns. I have a feeling that January will be slow. In large part it will be because the template for documenting the PPP practices in Nepal will hopefully be in their hands for them to work on over that time, and with Marcia leaving for Geneva there won’t be anyone around to give me small day to day task. Who knows though I could be wrong. There was mention of me managing the programme while Delger is away which is probably still the case. If that is what happens I will most certainly be busy although I’m not sure what managing it for at least a month will entail. Part of the reason why I’ve been working on SNAP for the past two weeks is to provide an internet presences so that people who are looking into starting a PPP have somewhere to go to. Who knows what will happen really. If things do turn out to be slow I’ll work on fine tuning my resume and perhaps start applying to various job postings.

I’ve taken some pictures of the lights that are now up all over town. Very nice to look at.

On a bit of the interesting side I have learnt that many programmes that deal with climate change are actually intended to reduce the impact of climate change when it happens. The Bali Declaration is worth reading and is based on a nearly 800 page report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Of the IPCC report I spoke with the team leader for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development and he mentioned to me that the part of most interest to me is AR4 which is interesting. It is easily found on google for those who would like to read parts of it. Below is the Bali Declaration which in itself is worth a quick read.

Bali Declaration

The 2007 IPCC report, compiled by several hundred climate scientists, has unequivocally concluded that our climate is warming rapidly, and that we are now at least 90% certain that this is mostly due to human activities. The amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years, and it is rising very quickly due to human activity. If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, floods and storms, our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction.

The next round of focused negotiations for a new global climate treaty (within the 1992 UNFCCC process) needs to begin in December 2007 and be completed by 2009. The prime goal of this new regime must be to limit global warming to no more than 2 ºC above the pre-industrial temperature, a limit that has already been formally adopted by the European Union and a number of other countries.

Based on current scientific understanding, this requires that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 50% below their 1990 levels by the year 2050. In the long run, greenhouse gas concentrations need to be stabilised at a level well below 450 ppm (parts per million; measured in CO2-equivalent concentration). In order to stay below 2 ºC, global emissions must peak and decline in the next 10 to 15 years, so there is no time to lose.
As scientists, we urge the negotiators to reach an agreement that takes these targets as a minimum requirement for a fair and effective global climate agreement.

For Christmas I will be heading to Koh Samet which supposedly has some of the best beaches in Thailand. Can’t wait.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Andrew

A Blog Without End

This will be the longest blog I’ll be posting so bare with me there is a lot of things happening and the posts are back logged as I am quite busy these days doing things instead of writing about them. Now that I have a four day weekend which I have devoted to myself I have the time to write down what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks or so (time is flying by) and what I will be doing for Christmas/New Years etc.

Going from most recent to oldest news.

A fellow CANADEM volunteer David was in Bangkok for a few days while travelling from Laos to Krabi province in Thailand. He stayed at my apartment and had some drinks talked about Canada, CANADEM, and the job search afterwards. I’ve helped him a little in that regard, talking to Marcia about what his next steps might be and providing some information on the Masters programme I was in.

The long weekend was really good. Very relaxing. The weekend started Thursday night with a dinner at Marcia’s followed by a Myua Thai boxing match. It was interesting to watch and as I entered the stadium I was told that if I could give them two weeks’ notice I can go for free with a group of friends. Supposedly they give this deal to all Westerners living in Bangkok.

I took my first boat ride through the city. It turns out there is a dock right near my apartment which means I can now go from my place to the centre of the city for 8 Baht instead of the 100-150 Baht I have been paying for taxi’s and tuk tuk’s.

Hua Hin

I went back to Hua Hin two weekends ago to visit my Aunt Tip who was there visiting family and friends. It was nice to get out of the big city of Bangkok, especially with the current political climate, and good to see my Aunt again.

Hua Hin is a great place to spend a weekend away from Bangkok. Only three hours away it is close enough to make the trip there pleasurable (just read a few chapters from a book, in my case “World Without End” by Ken Follett) but also far enough away to escape the hustle and bustle of Bangkok life on one of the very beautiful beaches.


While in Hua Hin my Aunt took me to see monkey mountain which is a Wat (temple) on the side of a large rocky outcropping where monkeys also live. We arrived somewhat late however so I only saw one monkey. Still very nice though.

I thought about heading back to Bangkok late on Sunday but the weather in the morning was cold with overcast skies so I stayed near the guesthouse. When the weather did finally warmed up and the clouds went away it was after lunch and by that time I just wanted to head back to Bangkok and relax at the apartment allowing myself sometime to prepare for this week.
As some of you may have already read the PAD were somewhat successful in dissolving the government. Somchai has left office and the PAD have allowed the airport to resume operations.

Thai Vineyards

On Saturday a few weeks ago I enjoyed a nice day trip into the country with some friends from work to tour vineyards about two hours north of Bangkok. We met at around 8:30 in the morning which was an early start for me on the weekend. The fact that I had stayed up late the night before did not help. After we met we jumped into the shuttle bus which we rented for the day at a very low price. It took nearly a full hour just to get outside of Bangkok which the size of still amazes me.

We arrived at our first stop which was very nice for the first vineyard I had ever seen. Although the fields were nice to see and the tour on how wine is made was interesting the wine itself was pretty bad. I don’t know much about wine but I know bad wine when I taste it. The wine had very little taste to it. This might be because of the low latitude in which the wine is grown or maybe something about the grapes used. Either way I didn’t actually buy any wine although a friend of mine, Johannes, bought two bottles. After the first vineyard we stopped at a Muslim restaurant for lunch while on our way to the second vineyard.

The second vineyard was almost identical to the first although considerable smaller. What little taste there was to the wine was not very good and I instead enjoyed a cup of coffee, one of the many I had that day just trying to wake up.

After the wine tasting and vineyard tours we stopped at a nice village a little further north that was designed to look like a Spanish community. It was interesting to see as I felt transported to Spain. The buildings had very nice architecture and the ice cream was supposedly very good, although I myself did not have any. This was how we ended the day. On the car ride home most of us slept while some of the lawyers stayed up talking about Dumping regulations or something along those lines. Apparently it is when a country exports products and sells them for less than they would in their own country. From what I heard it is a really big issue.

That’s all folks.


Andrew

Classic Power Struggle

As the recent political unrest in Bangkok has reached something of a boiling point I thought I would write a blog devoted sole on this subject so that those reading back home can get a quick summary of what is happening. The situation is a little complicated and what each side/person vows to do seems to change from time to time so when you read this things may have been resolved although I highly doubt that. The divide here is wide and deepening each day.

Major Players:

The PAD: Always wearing yellow the PAD is a political group (movement) that is essentially against Thaksin who they had a major role in overthrowing through a coup in 2006 (could be wrong on the exact year). Currently Thaksin’s brother-in-law Somchai is the PM and not surprisingly the PAD are against him as well in what they see as a Thaksin puppet government who essentially only support the interests of the Bangkok elite. The PAD is supported by businessmen, academics, the army, and some say the palace.

PM Somchai: PM of Thailand and brother-in-law of Thaksin. Has declared the protest at the airport undemocratic, illegal, and a terrorist act. Refuses to step down and dissolve the government. Was democratically elected, I believe, three times.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda: Supports PAD and at the beginning of this week asked for the government to be resolved and for the PAD to stop their protest at the airport. Clearly if the government was dissolved the PAD will have won and the authorities will be seen as giving into what has been called a terrorist act.

The Problem: The problem really in my mind is with the refusal of the army and police, but to a lesser extent, exercise their authority in upholding the law. Because the Army chief supports the PAD he initially refused to intervene to end the protest at the airport. This has put pressure on the PM who although has denied that he would replace the Army chief, fearing civil unrest and escalating the problem, may have to do so in order to resolve the protests which some economists are now stating that it will cost the country around 4 billion dollars from the tourist industry. The big story now is whether there will be a coup or not. There have in the past been a total of somewhere around 18 coups so it is not something unheard of. The PAD are calling on Anupong to create a coup which he has stated he would not do but since he also refuses to resolve the protest the PM may be pressured into replacing him at which point he may, in order to maintain power, go ahead with a coup.

In the News:

Capital increasingly tense as coup rumours spread: Published on November 28, 2008
Anupong said to have exchanged phone ultimatums with Somchai

Chamlong warns police of people's uprising if protesters forcefully dispersed
Chamlong Srimuang, a co-leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, Friday warned police that the people nationwide will rise up against the police and government if police use force to break up demonstrations.

ASTV bombarded with grenades, gunfire
Assailants fired two M79 grenades against the ASTV head office early Friday morning, apparently trying to blow off satellite transponder dishes on the roof. The assailants arriving on a long-tail boat also fired assault rifles at the back of the head office building for about five minutes before speeding off to the direction the Pin Klao bridge.

If you’d like to read more about it I recommend the English newspaper here in Thailand The Nation (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/)

A lot is going on but if you don’t wear yellow or red, avoid crowds and stay alert everyone is quite safe.

Andrew

Loy Krathong, Nightlife, and pictures of the office

Last week I went to a festival called Loy Krathong with a big group from various UN agencies. The festival involves sending little floating arrangements of flowers out onto the water. It was very nice and I took part. Unfortunatly I did not take my camera with me, although the quality of the night time photos is pretty poor but I may get some copies off friends who had theirs with them. Although the festival was very nice the highlight for me was eating a very large grasshopper from one of the vendors. I have eating bugs in the past but ones which were quite small. This however was about the size of my index finger. Tasty!

On Friday I enjoy a nice relaxing evening out with friends. That was a particularly busy week, much like this one. We began the night at an Indian restaurant Royal India and went to a bar afterwards for a few drinks. If anyone who is reading this is in the neighbourhood, I recommend Royal India. Best Indian food I have ever tasted.

Because I haven’t been taking my camera out with me, there are few photos of these nights but I will make an effort to change that from now on as pictures I think really add to these posts. In the meantime you can enjoy some photos of my office.

The pictures are in order of my walk to work through the building.

Next week my boss will be in Mongolia for a workshop which the president will make an address at, if I remember correctly. That’s exciting.

Hua Hin

On the weekend I went to Hua Hin which takes just over 3 hours to get to by bus. I had a good time although the sun wasn’t really shining for the first day I was able to relax and most importantly got away from the frantic environment in Bangkok.

To get there I planned on taking the 7pm bus which leaves from the Southern Bus Terminal. To get there on time I decided to leave my apartment at 6 and that would give me a full hour to get there. What I didn’t realize however was that very few taxis would take me there and absolutely no Tuk Tuk’s. Either they didn’t know where it was (although I had a map to show them it wasn’t a very good one), or they didn’t want to drive that far. The result was me in a panic trying desperately to get a ride from someone. In the end a motorcycle taxi dropped by and after consulting with passers-by who knew English, I hopped on the back strapped on my helmet and went for one crazy ride. The motorcycles really don’t obey the normal laws of the road such as stay in a lane and don’t use the shoulder, and only one vehicle to a lane. Although it was a little nerve racking cutting between cars to move to the front of the line at red lights I managed to get to the bus station on time because of this ability of motorcycles to pass through the traffic jams. I arrived five minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave.

The bus ride was uneventful as was most of the weekend. I did a lot of reading, spent some time at the beach even though it wasn’t very sunny, and at night I met some fellow farangs who were studying at an American university in Hua Hin.

That’s pretty much it. Currently even though it might be a little early to apply for a new job I will be sending in an application for DFID as a Private Sector Development Advisor. I think I meet a lot if not all of the requirements and there is no mention on how many years experience is needed so I’ll be giving it a shot. It would be nice to get it but if not I’m sure other opportunities will come up.

One more thing actually before I post this that I thought I should write about which just dawned on me is the immense disparity between people. For instance currently I am working on a Factsheet which describes a PPP that provides drinking water to people in Dhalko, Nepal. Those who use the service have to pay a small fee and travel perhaps a few blocks (not too far compared to some communities in Africa) to receive their drinking water. I on the other hand have to get out of my desk take about five steps to the right and presto, free ice cold drinking water. Just thought I would mention this. Food for thought I guess. Hard to really grasp the convenience we all have in developed countries.

Andrew

Sports Day! GO YELLOW!!!

Finally Sports Day came. After getting onto a bus and travelling for over an hour north of Bangkok I, along with forty other staff members, arrived at a resort called Rose Garden. It was an amazing place with vast property stretching at least a kilometre in every direction. The grass was cut to perfection and it was apparent that the gardens were tended to frequently.

The day began with outdoor sports such as relay races and tug-o-war (which my team won. GO YELLOW!). After a lunch break the activities were moved indoors until around 4:30 when the sports part of the day was over. There was still to come a dinner and Halloween party. Right after the activities ended and before dinner I spent some time on what I consider to be a cross between a Wat (temple) and a dock. It was very relaxing. We had a few drinks and I chatted a little about life in Bangkok with some of the senior staff and two interns (Julian and Beatriz) who work just behind and ahead of me at the office.

Once it was time to go to dinner we changed into our Halloween costumes (I just wore a t-shirt with a skeleton on it) and proceeded to an outdoor patio by the river. Quite a lot of the staff did not stay around for the dinner and Halloween party, mainly it was myself, a few senior staff, Thai staff, Julian, and Beatriz. All in all the party was pretty good. The waiters kept refilling our drinks, careful never to let our glasses be completely empty. In the end as we started to head back to Bangkok after the party at around 9 it started to pour. I have become used to heavy down pours though and knew that it would end in at the most an hour.

Sports day turned out to be a lot of fun. It was nice to get to see some other parts of Thailand than just Bangkok. I’m thinking about going to Hua Hin this weekend so if I end up going through with it, that should be another chance to see different parts of Thailand.

As for what is going on at the office, a whole lot. Currently I am revising PPPSD Fact Sheets for the Philippines and for Nepal, writing a concept note for the anti-corruption initiative, revising further the template for PPPSD project documentation, and researching/figuring out how to manage to create a anti-corruption program which includes/mirrors the ideas being implemented at the regional level but implement it at the local level. This is harder than it sounds. For instance, just finding out what strategy is being implemented at the regional level in tangible actions, e.g. public audits for projects, is difficult as most of the literature refers to building capacity in doing this or that or creating an environment which does so and so etc. etc. Currently to overcome this I’m talking with the author of a book I read on corruption in the infrastructure sector. His name is Prof. M. Sohail and he is one of a few people who I will be collaborating with on this project, and probably the only one outside of the UNDP, he is based at a university in the UK. Lots happening and it is all happening with political turmoil just outside the UN compound. Last Thursday there was a “small explosive” devices being thrown at people critically injuring them. Some people were shot and at least one person was killed. This all happened within a block from the UN’s front door. In fact one of the explosions, the one that occurred earliest in the morning happened literally at the front door. Everyone here though has gone through training and we know not to wear yellow or red and to avoid crowds. I haven’t felt seriously threatened at any point yet.

That is all for now. Stay posted lots coming up.

Getting used to the heat

So that Gala was on Saturday night and it was better than I expected. To begin with the venue was amazing. It was at a top hotel here in Bangkok and was held in their best ballroom. After several speeches were made dinner began. Dinner was a buffet with all kinds of food. Having not eaten western food in a little while, I found it to be very heavy and after an hour or so didn’t sit very well. It was delicious though. During and after dinner we were treated to cultural shows from dance routines to musical performances. It turned out to be a good night. I met a fellow Canadian and she has invited me to a kind of “get-together” held every last Thursday of the month for P2’s and P3’s. She said that even though I was a volunteer it wouldn’t matter. So that should be some fun and I’ll get the chance to expand my social circle.

Work was slow for about a week. My supervisor did not assign any work for me while he is away on a field mission to Nepal. I took the opportunity to do some research into PPPs, managing corruption in the area of infrastructure development, and have also offered to help out with the Capacity Development team in general if they would like a hand with anything. When my supervisor returned I had one meeting with him, on Monday and then a meeting today with the head of Public-Private Partnerships for Service Delivery (PPPSD) who flew in from South Africa and my supervisor. At this point we are in a sense asking permission to go ahead with this anti-corruption aspect of PPPs.

This Friday will be the staff Sports Day with a Halloween party in the evening. Although there is a prize for the best costume, I won’t be putting much effort into winning it. I’ve decided just to wear a t-shirt I bought back in Toronto before leaving that has a skeleton on it. I think wearing this would give me a good balance. It shows that I’m in the festive mood but not so overboard that I can’t also enjoy the evening which often happens with costumes that are far too elaborate.

Outside of work I find that I am constantly inundated with information on this global economic crisis and so when I came across a paper, while doing some research into capacity development and global imbalances, which predicted this crises over two years ago in July of 2006, I was shocked. Read the following excerpt:

“Hence, this paper presents a second more ‘realistic’ scenario. In this case, a severe slowdown in the U.S. economy, precipitated by an abrupt decline in household spending, is assumed. Based on such a slowdown, the world macro model delineates the varying impacts on regions of the world and major countries. This scenario assumes, however, that there is no major change in policies in the United States or in the governing international policy regime.”

It seems that this present crisis was not entirely unexpected and furthermore, more importantly, those who did know about it did not choose to do anything to avoid it. In the same article of the last excerpt there is a recommendation on how to avoid it.

“The third scenario assumes a more optimistic, but teasible, scenario – which we call a ‘Coordinated Growth Scenario’. Its feasibility is based, however, on major policy changes, such as 1) movements towards correcting severe current account imbalances among countries that run either a large current account deficit or a large current account surplus 2) progress in the transition in developing countries from the production of primary commodities to manufactures, buttressed by increased South-South trade integration and 3) increased energy efficiency (which we regard as essential to any optimistic scenario). This scenario represents, we believe, a ‘win-win’ option for both developing and developed countries, including the United States.”

As I watched the news last night I witnessed an economist at Walmart explain with no apparent unease that these things happen and can be forecasted. So the question really is, and people are naturally starting to point fingers, if people knew that this was going to happen why was nothing done? When I think about this I wonder if perhaps the next generation will ask a similar question about global warming.

Lots Going On

On Friday night I hosted my first (of perhaps a few) parties. Essentially it was a house warming/welcoming party that started at my apartment and then carried on to Khoa San where we continued the festivities.

In preparing for the event I literally invited all of the junior staff that I met from my first day up to the day of the party. In total around twenty people must have been invited and of that 20, 12 showed up at my apartment and a further 4 or so met us at Silk Bar on Soi Khao San later in the night. I have to say it went well. I got to know some of the interns a little better and it has given me a base for what I am hoping to turn into a social network. Although I didn’t take any pictures of the night, I am experimenting with adding pictures to this blog so I’ve included one of Khao San which I took on a different night and one of an elephant handler and elephant which although was not on Khao San, may as well have been as they are not unheard of there. I myself have come across several elephants (making sure to feed them each time) this could be in large part because as of this moment I have yet to really go outside of the tourist areas. Not sure really how to escape these areas as the highlights are always the focal points of any major city and Bangkok is certainly no exception.




This Saturday I will be going to a World Language Day Gala. This should be a good networking opportunity (I hope to make the most of it) but beyond the networking one of the important aspects is that I’ll be able to wear my suit for the first time. I’m actually surprised at how exciting that alone will be. Nothing like a good suit I guess.


On the office front my direct boss has come and gone being in the office for only a day to meet with several colleagues and then head to Nepal for a week long symposium. From what I remember he will be away for two weeks in total and back (not sure for how long) at the beginning of November. Although I was given a clear task when first arriving, nothing was really provided this time around in the form of instructions for while he was away. At least not yet. He mentioned he would send me something to work on from Nepal but he also mentioned that he might be too busy to even do this. Not wanting to sit around and do nothing I have taken this opportunity to offer my assistance to other members of the broader capacity development team and to read up on 5Ps in general. I think it is never too early to start gathering research material for the publication.


Last night I went to Central World plaza which is the largest shopping mall in South-East Asia. Not surprisingly it was massive! This mall has it all including a full scale cinema and grocery store. The immense size of this mall was ever the more apparent as when I went it was on a weekday evening and there was only a small number of people shopping at that time. After wandering around for a few hours just doing some window shopping and taking note of what was offered in case I need to buy something in the future, I went home. I had had my little adventure and it was time to hop back onto a tuk-tuk for the ride back. As I mentioned before riding on a tuk-tuk can be adventure in itself but I made it home safe and got ready for the following work day.

As for the weather it has been consistently hot but not unbearable. I have become acclimatized to the heat and sometimes prefer it to the cold air from an air conditioner. Although at first I thought I managed to miss the rainy season altogether, I have been proven wrong as of late with the witnessing of consecutive days consisting of heavy downpours in the late afternoon lasting for about half an hour to an hour. Although the rain only lasts for a short while the intensity of it is unbelievable. Only once before have I ever witnessed such a heavy rainfall in Canada, while here I have seen two in as many days.

That’s all the news I have to share for now. Stay posted.

Office Life

Since I really got the feel for how things will be when at work this week I’ve decided to devote this entry to my work.

Before even arriving I knew that my “boss” (I prefer the term supervisor) would be away for much of October on field missions. It was decided that I would meet with Delger the day before he left which just so happened to be the day right after I arrived. Things went well though and I was introduced to most of, if not all, the staff and was given a general overview of what my responsibilities would be over the long term and most importantly what they would be in the short term (i.e. for the two weeks while he is away). In short my responsibility was to first understand as much as possible about Pro-Poor Public Private Partnerships (5Ps) and then revise a template which will be used to document three successful 5Ps in Nepal. The overall goal is to find out what lessons were learned and what were the core principles and methods used that resulted in these initiatives being a success.

So that was the main task but there was a lot of other things going on that I became involved in. Shortly after getting into my second week I was asked to comment on a Power point presentation that was going to be delivered at a management board meeting. I guess they liked what I had to say because I was asked the following day to review, comment, and edit where need be for all of the presentations being delivered at a meeting of heads in Bratislava next week. Over this last week I must have re-formatted, edited, reviewed, revised at least a dozen presentations, and in the process learned a good deal about Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007s features. It has been a little bit of a trial by fire which personally I like. I find gets you moving without wasting time in the build up. You will know immediately whether you can cut it or not. Also keep in mind that the UN complex is under a phase 1 security alert due to the political unrest which is literally on the UN’s doorstep. What this means in real terms is that you may be asked to work from home (happened twice) or be sent home from work (happened once). The security system here is top notch though and I have at no point felt that I was in the least bit of danger at any time.

That’s it for now. I’m hosting tonight with was an open invitation for the young staff and interns. Since half of the tenants in my apartment building work for either for the UNDP or UNESCAP there is bound to be a few people coming. I’ll write about how the party went (and perhaps start posting pictures as well) next time.

Tuk-Tuk's, Q-Bar, and a little bit of culture shock

This week was an interesting one. On Tuesday I was sent home right after arriving at work because of protests in the area. The scene got really bad with one person dying and 400 being injured. I worked from home on Wednesday as well and was sent home early on Friday.

On the weekend I decided to do a little exploring and went to a bar highly recommended in my Lonely Planet Guide book, Q-Bar. To get there I took a Tuk-Tuk which is an experience in its own right.

Tuk-Tuk’s are fun to ride. Essentially they are a powerful golf cart but far less glamorous to ride. They all emit a lot of exhaust but if your on one you don’t really notice it, just a nice breeze as you zip down the busy roads, that is to say until you’re at a red light and stopped behind another tuk tuk. Then you might wish you were in a taxi.

Once I arrived at Q-Bar I found that I was too early to get a sense of what the crowd was like so I shortly left and went to a 7-11 (which are in surprising abundance here) and bought a few energy drinks to keep me awake. While I sat on the street corner and drank my red bulls (Thailand is after all the birth place of such drinks) I saw right in front of me a food stall specializing in fried bugs. These weren’t the small kinds either that you could swallow whole. No, these were grasshoppers the size of small mice. I will have to try them someday but that night I wasn’t really feeling it. I must say though that I finally felt a slight tinge of culture shock.

After regaining my energy I went back to Q-Bar but it was still empty. I had arrived far too early. The hostess at the door said I should go and check out a bar which was across the street on the top floor of a hotel. Having nothing else to do and with a keen sense of adventure (and some new found energy) I went to the bar called Nest. It was a very nice place, nice décor etc. but a little pricey compared to local bars. As I lounged on an industrial sized hammock I was able to find some peace and tranquility in an otherwise frenzied environment that is Bangkok. Eventually after about an hour I ventured back to Q-Bar in hopes that things had picked up a little. And they did. To my dismay however it was fully of tourists with not a single Thai in sight. All in all I stayed there for just a quick drink and headed home.

The night time taxi rides are more expensive than the day time ones as none of them actually use their meters. Rides can cost more than three times what the same ride would run you during the day time, assuming you don’t feel like bartering with them which is a practice I have always hated and therefore, never been really good at. Not sure which came first.

The ride back from Q-bar was interesting. Reminded me of driving under the Gardner in Toronto although in Bangkok it is a train above your head and either side of you is fully developed with major shopping malls and mega-plex’s.

This week look’s a lot better, so far as actually being able to work at the office, and the weekend, I’m sure, will also prove to be another adventure somewhere in this big city I’m slowly calling home.

Getting Settled In

At long last I have arrived in Bangkok and settled into my new apartment situated on a small side street located near the UNDP office. As I go through the culture shock I am still experiencing both get lag and emense heat. Today in particular is a hot one up near 36 degrees but with a clear blue sky.

The plane ride here was something of an endurance test with a total of 28 hours of travel (21 in the air) on very little sleep to begin with. United Airlines though is a good company with each flight leaving on time and in some cases arriving early. A plus was that there was plenty of leg room, the inflight meals were pretty good for airline food standards, and the movies were watchable. On the plane from Tokyo to Bangkok I met a Thai living in America and travelling back to Bangkok to spend sometime with his family here. It was a good thing we met as he was fluent in Thai and made the transition from the airport to the apartment very easy in addition to the first two days. Once we arrived I checked into my apartment and he checked into a hotel near my place and then we went to a local bar for a few drinks which was good as it exposed me to a typical bar that locals would go to. Great beer and the karioke singers were also pretty good. The second night we met up we went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant then went to a club in the downtown area. He met up with his cousin also and a friend of his cousin who joined us after the meal and to the club. I finished the night by feeding an elephant, which was being guided down the street by its handler, some fruit.

My office building is incredible. To get into the building each person must pass through a metal detector then have their bags scanned under and x-ray machine. Once in the building though the facilities are top notch. There is a nice patio café on the ground floor which I think I will regularly go to for my breakfeast and there is also a nice patio on the 4th floor which will be where I eat lunch. On the floor where I will be working you can go to a lunch room order what you would like and then they will deliver it to your desk for you. This is a nice extra little feature which I believe a lot of the staff use as the work does not seem to let up ever and this allows the staff to continue to work while at the same time having a little snack or a full meal at their desk.
On Friday morning I met my boss who seems like a very nice man. Batdelgar Luuzan then showed me around the building, introduced me to the people working there, and then we discussed what I will be doing for the first two weeks while he is away on field missions. My first task is to become familiar with the template that we will use to gather information from the three PPP iniatives we intend to include in the final publication. I will be going over the template to understand, edit, and think through. One of the things that I will need to pick up, probably at MBK, is a cell phone as this will become a major means of communication with Batdelgar while he is away and also when he comes back.

After doing a little exploring today I am now off to grab a bite to eat. Still getting used to both the whole experience of eating here plus the exotic food.

Laa Kawn,

Andrew

The dream begins...

So it is now official. I will be starting a 6 month placement with the UNDP in Bangkok working with the office for Public-Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment (PPPUE). This is really a dream come true for myself. I have always wanted to work for the UN and to be able to volunteer for them is a big step in the right direction. I have my fingers crossed and my hopes set up in the heavens. They say that if you aim for the heavens you'll at least end up in the stars. So true.

I like to live my life dreaming and this blog will be a reflection of what I am going through not only professionally but also personally when I feel the need to share some of my thoughts about life in general. Coming from a very strong philosophical background I'm sure that a good percentages of my posts, perhaps half, may end up being my own observations about life, society, and humanity in general. In all instances I will ensure that they are positive and are in no way attacks on anyone or anything. They should never be seen as a reflection of the UN or CANADEM's views...merely my own meandering thoughts.