So it had been over nine years since I was last here. Not much has changed. Well, there might’ve been a couple of coups and a lot of political unrest… but the metro system still had neat elevated stations, it was still hot and humid AF, and there was still a ton of hustle and bustle everywhere.

At the airport, I had the option of taking a cheap taxi to the hotel, which would take about an hour, or take their incredibly cheap rail system to the hotel, in about 40-minutes. I figured out how to buy a MRT-card and was on my way!

So in my past job, I usually traveled to Tokyo, the Frankfurt area, or Zurich. I’d travel with a colleague in the procurement department, and we’d meet our customers at our suppliers for design review meetings.

In this new role, it seems I’ll be traveling mostly with the customer’s engineering account manager, and our lead industrial designer. The goals are different, but similar… and for this trip, my colleague that was handing this project off to me was also coming along, to train and mentor me.

The account manager has had the account for over a decade I believe, and his preference was to stay at the Grand Hyatt Erawan. He told me to book a room with access to the executive lounges, which is something we usually couldn’t do in my former role, but after this trip, it made sense. These meetings were gonna be intense.

Checking into the room was kinda ridiculous though. Instead of checking in at the lobby, your floor had its own lobby, and the team took care of you there. The room was pretty insane.

An insanely large welcome area. The floor to mirror definitely played tricks on me during the whole stay

So much marble and tile… pretty bougie.

All the plumbing fixtures felt fancy and expensive. I googled them and found that they were indeed fancy and expensive.

A better bathroom than the one I have at home… The shower was incredibly nice

Lots of space, and a nice working area

Decent views

So after we checked-in, we met at one of the conference rooms on the floor and game planned for the next two days. We met until it was dark. Half the team ate at the lounge, and my colleague and I went downstairs to one of the hotel restaurants to grab a quick bite before we passed out from jet lag.

The next morning, I woke up at like 4am, went to the gym, and eventually got ready for the day

The breakfast buffet at the lounge had congee, the best Chinese sausage I’ve had in years, red peanuts and ginger. IT MADE MY MORNING.

Also, this is a cruffin. They are amazing. I had multiple. I don’t know why Seattle bakeries haven’t figured this out.

So one of the things I love about Thailand, is that you get unexpected Hello Kitty everywhere. I’ve seen it on cop gear in Phuket, the tape measures that their engineers and crews use, have been Hello Kitty themed, and now this. So good.

The first day of meetings was productive. They served us meals from their flight catering dept 😀

After the meetings, we went back to the hotel, and held more working meetings with our team and teams back in Everett until realllly late. I think we all skipped dinner and only snacked at the lounge…

The next morning, I woke up at around the same time, went to the gym, and went to town in that breakfast buffet. The second day of meetings was also very productive, and we were able to get through our agenda efficiently. The customer took us to their on-site cafeteria/restaurant for a nice lunch, which created a nice break in the day.

Once back to the hotel we met again, to discuss what work we had to complete once we were back in Everett. The team went to bed, but I wanted dinner, so I went downstairs to another under-hotel-restaurant, ordered some food, ate it, went upstairs for a piece of tiramisu from the hotel bar, and went to bed.

The microbrew logo was pretty metal!

fried wonton things in a really good dipping sauce

Fish and coconut milk rice!

The next morning, the hotel breakfast had 油条 and fresh soy milk. I LOVE ASIA.

I ate a ton, and the team left the hotel to catch their flights back to Seattle. I stayed behind because I was staying in Bangkok for the weekend (on personal time).

But honestly, I was exhausted. The +15h time zone difference, the incredibly long work days, the not-the-best eating schedule from the past 3-days, and me just being older meant I wanted a relaxing weekend more than anything. Ahhh, the internal struggles of wanting to see/do things vs. taking care of yourself while on trips… good thing I’ve been here before.