Hello from Bangkok

Hello from Bangkok. I’m here for a one-day meeting with my boss and other colleagues from work. The trip, delayed by more than hour back home, took even longer because we had to skirt our way around the typhoon that is currently brewing on the South China Sea, after a short and relatively calm stint in the Philippines. I guess the trip was relatively calm, although quite a bit bumpy at times. As I said in my previous post, I don’t really like flying (particularly when I’m traveling by myself), and running into bumps along the way can make the experience even more disturbing. And yet, despite that, I continue to want to see other parts of the world (which, because of the Philippines’ archipelagic nature cannot be reached by land travel, in which I’m most comfy) and in fact am planning to visit KL with Ben soon.

So, on the agenda for tonight is dinner at a Lao restaurant. Never had Lao food before, although if it’s kind of like the Vietnamese food I’ve had at home, then I suppose I can deal with that. Unfortunately for me, I’m not at all adventurous when it comes to food. Filipino and Chinese dishes are fine with me, thanks. But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try. My bosses already know that I have trouble with really spicy food so I think they’ll order something I’m going to be able to consume.

By the way, we touched down at the new Bangkok Airport. I think it’s a bit further out than the old one, and I don’t think it’s really finished already, but what I’ve seen is quite nice. Sure makes me sorry for the sad state of the airport in Manila. Ay naku, I wonder if the Philippines will ever be able to catch up with our neighbors. Of the airports in SE Asia that I’ve been to (Manila, KL, Singapore, HK, and Bangkok), I’m sad to say that the one at home is the worst. And I don’t think the opening of the NAIA -3 terminal is going to help much. I think we need to build an airport away from Manila, like KL and Bangkok’s airports are actually far from the city center. They’ve constructed really nice roads to access them though. Traveling from the airport to the hotel this afternoon, I’m amazed at how much infra work have been done in Bangkok since the first time I came here in 1998. I’m sure when I visit KL I’m going to see improvements too…improvements that we can only dream for in the Philippines.

Still, I look forward to going home on Wednesday. I still have separation anxiety when it comes to Ben. I don’t like traveling and leaving him. At the airport at home, I already miss him, and now I miss him some more. I would love to be able to take him to various places too. Someday…

Here's hoping the trip back home will be much calmer than the trip this afternoon.