category archive: Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

Please note that the articles are in chronological order. For all other categories, the latest article is at the top of the list. But due to the 'trip reporting' nature, the sort order has been reversed for the travel categories.

Going once, going twice…

Wednesday, 17 Aug 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

As I wrote last week, I’m considering what would be the best time(s) for me to visit Thailand in the run-up to my move and for how long. I’ve got approx. 40 vacation days (yeah, I know, we’ve got it good here) to spend before the ‘replacement period’ starts on Februari 1st. Initially, before having made the decision, I was planning on going back to Bangkok for six weeks, from November 1st till mid December. Having made the decision, I am now considering what would be the best thing for me to do when aiming for a Februari move. I’ve got September, October, November, December and Januari to go. So …

I have to be in Bangkok on November 19th for Arjan and Nuy’s wedding, thats a given. I’m also going back to Hong Kong during that same trip and other options are Singapore and Kuala Lumpur - also possibilities for me to move to. I think that although I was initially also planning to go to (Vietnam), I think Vietnam is a less likely target and so I’ll let that one go for now. This trip will be for fun, but also in preparation of my upcoming move (although right now I don’t exactly know how). If I go just once before I move in februari, it will be for 6 weeks somewhere in between October 15th till December 15th.

But I could offcourse also go twice. That would mean I cut my November trip back to ‘just’ a month. I’m currently not sure if there is a use for two tripsl, but I think it might be a good idea to go a couple of weeks before the move and make the necessary preparations. I would then go late January, for approx 2 weeks. Or should I save the €750 it will probably cost me to fly there? If I beg desperately, promise to be really quiet and come bearing gifts, Arjan and Nuy might be willing to put up with me for a few weeks in Februari while I get my own place and stuff.

Not sure yet. Thinking.

November 2005 trip schedule

Thursday, 29 Sep 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

A while back I was wondering if I should go for one or two trips in between that time and my move to Thailand in February of next year. I decided on one trip. In part because Arjan suggested I didn’t need a special visit to ‘set things up’ before my move (like find a place to live, etc.) and could just do that when I arrived. So I decided to book a ticket for a one month trip.

Schedule

26/10 - 12/11: Bangkok (17 nights)
12/11 - 17/11: Hong Kong (5 nights)
17/11 - 20/11: Bangkok (3 nights)
20/11 - 22/11: Kuala Lumpur (2 nights)
22/11 - 24/11: Singapore (2 nights)
24/11 - 25/11: Bangkok (1 night)

Objective

The trip is ofcourse planned in this month because of the wedding I am attending, Arjan and Nuy are getting married on November 19th. This is by far the most important reason to visit Bangkok. However, I will also take the opportunity to have a chat with the people at the dutch embassy, perhaps talk to some recruitment agencies and maybe attend some other business related events. The same applies to Hong Kong. The idea is that I also check out Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, so I’ve got a basic idea of what those cities are like. Ofcourse it’s not going to be all business, there will be more than plenty of playtime and I am pretty sure I will have another amazing trip!

In the air tonight

Wednesday, 26 Oct 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

Up in the air, about to enter Pakistani airspace to be exact, with a little over 4 hours of flying to go. A fully booked flight, but I managed to at least get an isle seat. Again with Eva Airways, again premium economy, again a very satisfied customer.

Anxious to land in Bangkok, I’m looking forward to seeing Arjan and Nuy again. And although winter is setting in in Bangkok too, temperatures there are high 20’s (C, 80’s F) which is a whole lot better than the chilly Amsterdam I left this morning. But what I’m looking forward to the most is looking at Bangkok with different eyes. When I was there in June I was looking at Bangkok through holiday eyes, I wonder how it will differ this time around. I’ll keep you posted on here about all developments.

Ofcourse I’m also visiting other places, and I’ll keep you posted on that as well.

Welcome back

Sunday, 30 Oct 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

After having spent the first couple of days in Bangkok, I moved to a hotel. I was staying with Arjan and Nuy at first, but their house is filling up today because of the upcoming wedding and so I moved to a hotel. For now, I’m staying in the D’MA hotel, which is an €0.80 taxiride away from the main nightlife area. I might (hope to) move to another hotel, but whatever - we’ll see.

Upon arrival a couple of days ago, Arjan and Nuy came to pick me up from the airport at the crack of dawn (well before, actually) just like they did last time. And like last time, we spent the first couple of hours catching up after which I took a short nap, we lounged around the house the entire afternoon and talked about a lot of stuff and went for dinner (sushi, like last time!) after that. A great first day.

The next couple of days were relatively easy going. We spent most of the time together, talking about their life, the upcoming wedding, my life, my move, etc. We’ve done a little shopping, had some good food, watched a couple of movies (watching a horror movie over breakfast was a first for me!) and basically chilled out. It’s great seeing my best friend again!

Dreaded letters

Thursday, 3 Nov 2005 | Journal

Every day after breakfast, I make my way to a Starbucks. I have a cappuccino (double, tall, dry, decaf), sit down and open my laptop. I then read my work and personal mail, reply when I need to and do some browsing. As I’m in between projects at work, there is not a whole lot of work email coming my way. The last few days however, I’ve noticed a slew of messages about the upcoming reorganisation.

Being so far away, this makes me feel insecure. I don’t know what is going on and although my boss will certainly contact me if there is something really urgent I need to know, I feel uninformed.

“Why are you worried, Rob?”, you may wonder.

Well, I’ve said before that this reorganisation is my vehicle to make my way east and settle in Asia. So what happens in the next couple of weeks/months is actually really important to me. When I left, things were not looking to good for me. Two things can happen … I get ‘restructured’ somewhere down the line, I hope this happens and I can also somehow make things happen in such a way that I can settle in Bangkok for the full 6 months of the replacement period.

The other option that I guess is unlikely, but could still happen is that upon arrival back at work I find a letter telling me I’m a replacement candidate as of December 1st. If that can be coupled with me not having to work in the office for the next 6 months, I’ve got a real problem on my hands. Because it means that right after returning from Bangkok, I have to kick into the highest gear possible and make the move (currently planned for June 2006) happen as quick as I can. It would put extreme pressure on the situation.

I guess there is nothing I can do, so I guess I’ll have to wait.

More, if anything

Saturday, 12 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

Yet again in the careful hands of Gigi, a stunning flight attendant of Dragon Airlines who back in June was responsible for one of the most pleasant wake-up nudges I’ve ever experienced, I am again en-route to Hong Kong. With another two hours of flying ahead of me, I figured now is the time to jot down some notes of the second leg of this trip.

After having been with Arjan and Nuy for 5 days, I moved to a hotel in downtown Bangkok. The hotel turned out to be alright, an average hotel with everything one could need in a reasonable location. No complaints. It has free wireless internet by the pool, which I hardly ever used because who in their right mind wants to be browsing the web in 32 degrees. Instead, I used Starbucks’ wireless networks to do my mailing and browsing. Anyway, 13 days and nights of fun in Bangkok are behind me.

So Rob, what have you been up to?

Nothing.

Brrr, it’s winter here too!

Sunday, 13 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

After I got myself a Hong Kong mobile phone number¹ this morning (I forgot to replace my Thai card with my Dutch card when leaving my bags in my Bangkok hotel; Thai card has no roaming and so I had no phone… we all know my phone is important to me!), I spoke to my brother for quite a while while I was walking around the Causeway Bay shopping area.

It was nice chatting with him. I hope we do so many, many more times once I do move to Asia - despite of the time difference and all. He also told me that winter has certainly set in over there in Holland. Before, the temperature was a reported 20C (68F). That is ofcourse very unusual for this time of year, so the correction to freezing in the night time now was to be expected I guess.

It’s cold here too. We’re in the same hemisphere, so it’s wintertime in Hong Kong as well. It drops to about 20-25C (70’s F)… in the night! During the day it peaks at about 30C/86F. In Bangkok, the nights are close to 30C/86F and the days see peaks of 35C/95F.

Sorry. I just felt like showing off! :-)

Stepstone to South China

Monday, 14 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

The last night in Hong Kong, just before midnight. I am sitting in a very nicely decorated apartment¹ in Discovery Bay, pretty much a perfect residential area. The airconditioning is gently humming in the background, the light is dimmed. I’m tapping away on my computer, have a glass of wine next to the keyboard and sometimes gaze up at a huge plasma tv. I would love to live like this. I totally feel at home!

“So, how was Hong Kong?”, you ask? Well, it turns out Hong Kong is probably not the right destination for me either. But I’ll get to that later.

It was great seeing Andrea and Vincent again. I took Andrea and her mother to lunch while they were in Bangkok a couple of weeks ago, so it hadn’t been months, but still. I didn’t get to see a whole lot of them either, but they have lives and on top of that Vincent’s parents are visiting from France. Doesn’t matter, I can take care of myself no problem!

Chep Lap Kok

Tuesday, 15 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

Travelling to Hong Kong for the first time just earlier this year, I’ve never experienced sitting in an airplane flying in between skyscrapers and landing on the outdated and overcrowded former airport Kai Tak. Pilots used to require special training before they were allowed to land here. It must have been an awesome experience.

Today, I’m stuck at the new airport of Hong Kong, one of the busiest in the world. I made my way here very early today and so had several hours to kill. I’m about to board my flight back to Bangkok now, but took a good look at how this airport works before sitting down at gate 47.

And boy, does it work! I think it’s the best and most efficient airport I have been to. It’s built on a newly created part of Lantau island and is the largest covered area in the world, even the Boeing airplane factories are not as big. The process of arriving for departure, checking out, clearing customs is a brief and effortless 10 minutes. It’s so clear where you’re going, unlike for instance Paris CDG where one has absolutely no clue at all (Schiphol is fairly straighforward as well, but not as well organised). You then enter an area of very impressive and ritzy shops from all the big labels … that you pass because really, who can afford that stuff - especially at those airport premium prices!

The wedding

Sunday, 20 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

Yesterday, my best friend Arjan got married to a beautiful bride by the name of Nuy. It was an amazing day and the primary reason for this whole trip.

Due to unfortunate miscommunication, the bachelorparty did not happen the way it was supposed to. In part because of that, a couple of Dutch guys attending the wedding asked me to show them the Bangkok nightlife the night before the wedding, which led to me not being in bed before early morning. We had a great night out though!

Anyway, as a result it was hard to get up at 8am to attend the morning ceremony. But a good breakfast made me wake up and walk into the SC Park Hotel anxiously, to see the wedding. The morning started with Arjan and Nuy exchanging the rings. The rings are beautiful, both are the same but Nuy has a line of small diamonds set. The ring is actually two rings that are linked together by sort of a bridge. After the exchanging of the rings, the Buddhist part of the wedding starts - the main part of which is the praying by the monks. This goes on for quite a while, but is actually really intensse as you get into some sort of ‘trance’ (for lack of a better word) by their monotone voices. I would have liked it if I had known what they were doing, but I found out later that they were praying for the couple and blessing them. There were 9 of them, the number 9 in Buddhism represents ‘the next step’ (makes sense, doesn’t it?) and so is a very significant number. The monks are then presented with a lunch and afterwards ‘bless’ the couple with water. They are ‘paid’ with a small collection of necessities such as soap and toothpaste, not with money. The guests will then also enjoy a lunch, after which they are invited to the ‘water sprinkling ceremony’ - all guests poor some water on the hands of both Arjan and Nuy and wish them well. Because Arjan, Nuy and myself had previously had a discussion about what a relationship is supposed to do for you, I decided to base my wish for them on this. We had agreed that in a relationship you make eachother grow. Because this has been very much the case with them, I wished them continued growth together.

Over and out, let’s begin!

Friday, 25 Nov 2005 | Bangkok and Hong Kong, November 2005

A little over an hour of flying to go, this trip has come to an end. It was different from the previous. Although I did nothing but hang out and go out during my entire stay in Bangkok, it felt like I was living there already. I think this is due mostly to the fact that I was in a hotel and not staying with Arjan and Nuy. They are great hosts, don’t get me wrong. But if you have ‘your own place’, your attitude is just different.

If anything, this trip has only reassured me that I’ve made the right decision. The prospect of living in Asia, the prospect of not knowing what is going to happen, of a new adventure and of an entirely different life is really, really exciting.

And I feel so at home in Bangkok, that it feels only natural this is my first destination. Like I’ve said before, Thailand will most likely only be a temporary lay-over (for 6-12 months, I guess) until I find a job somewhere in the region. But nonetheless I can’t wait to discover more of it. I’ve spoken with a lot of people about living there as a farang, what kind of budget I’m looking at, etc. and feel well-prepared for a move.

Depending on what happens at work next week, I’ll move somewhere in the next 2-7 months. Most likely the latter, I think I’ll try to squeeze in another trip sometime in March. I don’t want to wait another 7 months before I’m there again!