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.