Monday in Bangkok

Monday morning we began the educational portion of our International Field Study experience with a breakfast meeting at our hotel with the President of GM in South East Asia, Mr. Steve Carlisle. GM, outside of US, is the fastest growing brand. There many Thai government sponsored initiatives to reduce pollution, and as a result GM is fast developing cars with alternate fuel solutions. There was a really big GM display right near our hotel, with about 10 different model GM cars, expected to be in production by 2010. Steve talked about how fast the GM brand has taken off in South East Asia and about their plant in Thailand. Average age in the plant is 32 years old, and the automation level is much lower than in USA.

After the GM meeting, we met with a representative of the US Embassy, Mr. Nalin, at the hotel. He talked about the various ways the Embassy can help someone adjust to life and business in Thailand. The population of Thailand is 66 million people, with 6 million in Bangkok. The average per capita income is $4,500. Thailand's key industries are tourism, agriculture, automobile manufacturing and computer manufacturing. The top exports are rubber, rice, gems and jewelry. The unemployment rate is an amazingly low 1.5%.

After the US Embassy meeting we boarded our buses on the way to DP University. I could spell out the name, but nobody would be able to pronounce it anyway. ;-) The ride over was about an hour, and on the way you see many pictures of the King and Queen. As you're driving through the neighborhoods you see some that are very nice and brand new looking and then right next to those are old and dirty buildings. Apparently 20 years ago the tallest building in Bangkok was 4 stories, and now you see high rises and top class hotels everywhere. But right in front of the hotels are street vendors, selling just about anything you can imagine. Some parts of Bangkok remind me a lot of Manhattan, while others are a copy of Brooklyn NY. According to some of the Thai speakers we have had so far, the Thai's are not very innovative people, but are really good at copying things. Therefore you see a lot of similar looking infrastructure and a ton of various knock-off items, such as Rolex watches, Armani belts, etc. The streets and roads are modern looking with a wide variety and A LOT of vehicles, ranging from Honda Civic's to Lexus SUVs.

DPU is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, and currently has about 20,000 students total. There are approximately 1200 students in the graduate programs. They offer and MBA and have recently began a DBA program, which stands for Doctorate of Business Administration. They served us a traditional Thai lunch and them we met with some of their former graduates and entrepreneur's. We met a gentleman who works for a telecom company, and he talked to us about the way the telecom industry works in Thailand. Every company has to lay its own telephone lines!

We met a lady named Nicky, who used to work as an airline attendant, and now owns a software company that specializes in health services software. She has 40 employees and is one of the biggest health software companies in Thailand. She is also studying to receive her DBA from this university. The DBA program is a challenging one, with an intense focus on International Business. The instructors are all from over-seas and the program is very intensive. They have very strict requirements for completion, and currently have about a 40% drop-out rate.

After our DPU meeting we returned to the hotel and met as a group to de-brief our scavenger hunt lessons learned. It was very interesting to hear the different perspectives and the various proud moments experienced by the groups. Although we ended up not having time to see what everyone was able to find during their search, I think the overall objective was met. This concluded the educational portion of our day.

Last night I went out with some of the people in the executive class and we went to a Thai restaurant and then to the “Patpong” district, which is also known as the “Night Market”. This place is really crazy and indescribable. There are go-go bars and massage parlors on each side, and boutiques all in between. The merchants are selling lighters, t-shirts, luggage, fake watches, etc. They are easy to approach, but seem to have a slight problem with counting money. Either that or they must think we are dumb tourists. Every price that you get, you have to divide by 5 and begin from there. Having been in Bangkok for 3 days now, I was very worn out and returned around midnight to the hotel.

Sunday in Bangkok

Well it was another cultural day in Bangkok. We started off at 7.30 am, and after breakfast headed to the summer palace of King Rama IV with its mixture of Thai, Chinese and Gothic architecture. The palace is a well-preserved "museum", providing a glimpse into a time when Thailand was known as Siam. They were huge grounds with beautiful landscape, bushes cut out to resemble elephants, and of course another temple.

After this we headed to the ancient capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya. It is about 50 miles north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was a thriving Siamese kingdom from 1350 until 1767, when it was captured by the Burmese. Today, Ayutthaya is know for its spectacular ruins and temples. Many of its temples are still intact.

At this point, some of us were a bit worn out by all the temples we had been seeing for the last 2 days. So when we noticed the elephants walking around, we got really excited, at the possible opportunity to do something unique. At first the faculty was hesitant to allow us to ride the elephants and skip the visit to the temple. After some negotiation and the fact that we are executive MBA students, and generally considered adults, our desires won out. So about 8 of us rode elephants for about 30 minutes.

Very unique experience, however, it was not as comfortable as I thought it may be. There were 2 people on each one, and I constantly felt like the seat was going to tip over... However, all ended well and we were able to safely exit the elephants...

We then headed over to a boat, which we rode for about 3.5 hours and eventually reached Bangkok. Lunch was served on the boat, and I managed to spend most of the time on the top deck, observing all the water front property and enjoying an interesting conversation with another MBA student.

Sunday night I met my USA friends again, and we headed out to a local nightclub. It was just like back home, except at one point they put on a show where transvestites danced and sang on stage.

Saturday in Bangkok

Today was one of our cultural immersion days, and we truly were immersed! The day began with a buffet breakfast stocked with a few Western comforts such as bacon and omelets, but a few Thai specialties, such as Kiwi juice, dragon fruit, provided an interesting experience for all of us.

We then took a small boat across the river and enjoyed a traditional Thai lunch. We were greeted by smiling Thai waiters (Thai people smile all the time) with trays of ice cold Singha Beer. I wonder if I can arrange to be greeted like this at home, daily! (probably not). Noodles, spicy chicken, hot and sour soup, and fish dishes were on the menu and the general consensus was it was delicious.

From there we went to the Grand Palace. We had to be sure we were all dressed respectively, no shorts, no bare shoulders to even enter. The detail of the Palace is indescribable... best to look at the blog video. The various buildings were built over different periods by the various kings of Thailand. It was here we saw the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha to the Thais. Its said that no matter their home, all Thais try to make it to this Buddha at one point in their lives.

Next we went to the reclining Buddha, which in contrast to the Emerald Buddha, was overwhelmingly large... Easily the length of half a football field.

During these travels we drove through Thai neighborhoods and had the opportunity to see things like small local markets and shops. There are a ton of small food stands, selling everything from grilled chicken, to fried worms (yes, worms), scorpions, and other things for which I have no way to describe. You have to see it to believe it! We observed average Thais moving about their daily lives, and the streets of Bangkok. One of the things you notice right away is the vast amount of pictures and paintings of His Majesty The King. The King is revered in Thailand and his birthday in December is a national holiday. He makes very few political decisions anymore and is mainly a symbolic figure at this point and is the Head of State.

From there we went to the weekend market, which is huge and sells many different things, ranging from live chickens, pets, household items, silk scarves, etc.. During our drive to the market we were given the task of a scavenger hunt. We broke into our teams hunting for various items including a duck bill or head, thai herbs, thai tea, thai poetry and thai candy, to name a few. We are all at various points in accomplishing the full list, but we're enjoying the journey. It took my team a while to find the head of chicken, but eventually we were successful. You can imagine how strange we must have seemed to the Thais asking where to find a chicken or duck head or bill...

We all have different stories and adventures in our pursuit of the scavenger hunt list. It challenged us to do what we may have not done, walk one block further in the market, try to explain to the non-English speaking butcher that you just need the head of the chicken, and figure our way back on public transportation. Something tells me this was the point ;)

We then ventured to the small shopping mall across the street, where our team decided to get a massage, as a team bonding exercise. We each got an hour long Thai massage for $250 Baht (which is like 8 dollars). The massage was fantastic, a perfect remedy after 23 hours of flying.

Our team settled on taking the Sky Tram back to the hotel, which was very nice. We were able to take the tram to within 1 mile of the hotel, at which point we decided to ride a “Tuk Tuk”. A tuk-tuk is 3 wheel motorcycle with a cabin. See picture or google Thailand tuk tuk to get a better idea. Given the Thais habit for a lot of traffic and crazy driving, this was an experience that I think we will all remember for a long time. We finished the night off with dinner at a local restaurant and some drinks at the bar. I managed to meet up with some friends of mine from the USA who happened to be in Bangkok at the same time, and after a few hours, finally went to sleep, at 4am. We are scheduled for more cultural immersion on Sunday, so stay tuned for more updates. Video of this day may come later, as it is becoming more and more time consuming to edit and produce for internet download.

Our adventures continue, we'll see what tomorrow brings. I miss everyone, especially my wife – Love you very much!

Thailand here we come

As I write this, I'm not exactly sure what time it is, as we've travelled across multiple time zones, and everyone in our group seems to have selected a different method of keeping track of time. Some have set their clocks ahead to the Asian time, and others have chosen to switch to West Coast time, while others have just maintained East Coast Time.

Well, we arrived at the airport in Baltimore (BWI) way too early, 5am to be exact, for a 7.45am flight. The travel agency screwed up the seat arrangements, as to be expected, but we all boarded the flight on time and departed on schedule.

We managed to find about an hour and a half in San Francisco to grab lunch. We are now in flight to Tokyo, and there are unsubstantiated rumors that our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is cancelled, due to typhoons. What's the worst that can happen, we spend a night in Tokyo. Oh NO!

The flights are long and the coping methods vary. Some are catching up on all the movies we've missed over the past two years of the program, some have medicated themselves (through sleep aids, liquor, or a combination of both) and some are just milling around the cabin socially, of which the stewards seem to actually be quite tolerant. Our first leg of the trip from BWI to San Fran was a five hour stint... child's play in consideration of the eleven hour flight we are now enduring. Next, we look forward to a five hour layover in Tokyo (if we do ever leave, that is) and then we head off to Bangkok, which is another seven hour flight. We'll see what happens with our flights... that may prove a whole new topic for our next blog entry.

It is now 4am, and we arrived at the hotel in Thailand a few hours ago. Its very hot, and raining. We have checked in, and are now in the rooms. Since all the bars and restaurants here close at 2am, we were only able to have a few beers at the hotel bar.

Tomorrow we are traveling to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple and the Chatuchak Market...Now we are going to try and go to sleep.

Till tomorrow,

From Asia with Love

The day is almost here

Well, its almost a day before we leave for Asia, and I am starting to get excited.

So many things to do, so little time left, before I have to leave for the airport at 4am....

I will try to blog from the airports during layovers...

Getting Ready for Bangkok

This blog will be, what I hope, is a day by day account of my journey to South Asia. We leave on August 21st and arrive in Bangkok Thailand early morning on the 23rd. That's right, almost 2 days of travel. Time difference is 12 hours ahead of East Coast Time.

I am traveling with the Loyola Executive MBA classes of 2009. This is our International Field Study experience.

We will spend 5 days in Bangkok Thailand and 3 days in Hong Kong China.

Stay tuned for live updates from Asia!!

Anyone needing to reach me, can do so at gkrupkin@gmail.com (keep in mind time difference, when expecting an immediate response)