Straight Out of Bangkok

March 2000 Revised Edition 

Welcome to my March edition!! ! 
 
 

Hello everyone......
 

Ok.... for those of you who have seen my original March 2000 edition, you're lucky. It's one of those rare moments in my life. I have decided to stay with Unilever. It's a long story, and quite an ordeal for me mentally, but I'm glad it's over.
 
 

it's hello again
 

and Sorry

Yes, I changed my mind although I don't like some details of the whole ordeal .   My apology to Coca Cola, very close call indeed. It's been a mind opening experience for me as well. To make the matter short, Unilever counter-offered with job opportunities that I'm more interested, and package that I could stay without being such a fool for passing up the outside opportunity. Also, apology to all my friends for any distress caused. So now I'm back to business as usual with Unilever. I just got back from a conference in Cha Am. It's good to be able to get away from the office. Next month, I will surely put up some photos from the trip.

==================== end of revised message ===================

Ok, now that I got that out.... what had happened recently.....

First, it's the annual Management Meeting at Kanchanaburi.  The land of the river Kwai with the famous bridge.  The bridge was smaller than I remember actually.   Didn't have time to take the picture which is a pity, really.  The meeting went well, although I personally think that the evening entertainment got too bland.    Unlike the old times when my batch of young managers organized it.   Another sign that I stayed with Unilever for too long, hee hee hee....
 

I went to Singapore again end of January,  you guys must be bored if I were to tell you about Singapore again.  I know I would be, ha ha ha.....    The meeting we had was arranged at the Shangri La hotel at the Sentosa island.  So, forget about sneak out and do some shoppings.   The weather was rainy, and cloudy, the beach looks artificial (don't quote me on this, but I have heard from somewhere that Singapore bought some sands from Indonesia and dumped it on the Sentosa island to make a nice beach area).    Nevertheless, I enjoyed the change of atmosphere and the food was good.

Early March, I  went to Jakarta for a meeting.   There is no direct flight from Bangkok anymore.   Every flight has to stop in Singapore which stretches the travel time from 4 hours to 6 hours.    With two hours flight to Singapore, transit and another 2 hours flight,  it's not long enough to finish a movie and it's not short enough to not getting bored on the plane.   The Asian financial crisis does affect me afterall.   Oh, but I bumped into my old high school friend, Joy.   We sat together for the flight to Singapore.   She is working for Duetsche bank and on her way to a meeting in Singapore.   I got some investment tips from her, ha ha ha....  making the flight much more enjoyable.

I didn't see much of Jakarta.  Meeting and working for the full two days.   But from the way to the airport, I got a good glimpse of the city.  It's similar to Bangkok, a vibrant growing city.   Long stretch of roads, tall buildings, cars, signs of economic recovery.    My colleagues took me out for dinner - a fine Spanish restaurant, the cost of living in Jakarta is lower  than in Bangkok.

The flight back to Bangkok is ok.  I met an ex Unilever friend at the Bangkok airport.  He's working in Vietnam for Pepsi (almost my rival indeed).

I would leave you guys with more pics from my files.....
 

Enjoy……..

Moo

Pete
 
 

  Downtown Bangkok, taken from my (soon to be former) office window