Do you have a place where you have never quite managed to spend more than a couple of days?
In fairness to Thailand, I’ve yet to do justice to this remarkable country in even one trip! Without a doubt, food is fabulous, folks I’ve met terribly considerate and I’ve only had positive experiences. It is my fault I have yet to truly explore…
Bangkok romance
1st trip – Dec 2012 – New Years
Not your typical fun n frolic – this was a family reunion spending time in suburban Bangkok with my adopted desi family – three siblings, their respective partners, five kids, parents, two maids and a dog! It was also the momentus trip during which my partner and I took the plunge to skip all the normal dating relationship steps and plunge straight into “If we’re gonna make this work, just go for it full on!”
2nd trip – Feb 2013 – Company Work
Was my first trip where I came in as a ‘facilitator’ without all the direct Learning & Development responsibilities for the team too. As a result, I was there to accomplish a single job – conduct a full-day programme. So the trip was super short – One night to crash. One day to conduct the programme with some evening merriment. Next day a few hours with my adopted desi family before catching a flight home to Mumbai.
Bangkok Terminal 21 (Photo: Carissa Hickling)
3rd trip – June 2013 – Free-lance Work
Will always be memorable as my 1st international free-lance assignment! Yipee!! However I had time constraints so couldn’t extend either a day before or a day after so it was literally – now you see me, now you don’t! Also by that point, my friend and her kiddos had moved back to India and just couldn’t fit in the time to go across town crazy early in the morning before my flight to see her siblings. Sigh…
Tripy tripping through the airport
Subsequent trips really don’t count as only transited through the airport. Just enough to be a bit bitchy about the limited spots to plug in laptop / mobile, unreliable internet, ineffective air conditioning, etc. But not enough to be jaded loosing sight of the joy of exploring more.
And while I don’t have any immediate plans to hit Thailand again, the next time either I or my partner have a ‘business’ reason to go, will grab the other one and tag on some days purely for pleasure!
In the interim… it is time to relive a few memories and take you on a mini Thai tour with the limited activities covered.
Related posts:
Everyday Asia 
Bangkok I did not give enough time to!
I’m perversely grateful I’m not the only one! 😉 When were you last there?
Very recent. Three weeks ago!
Oh wow! Much more recent than me! Business or pleasure? And just Bangkok or did you get a chance to do a little more travel?
Pleasure. I had the chance to do Bangkok and Phuket for island hopping!
What fun!!
If you get a chance, explore Thailand. The place has so much to offer. Besides the beaches, I loved Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya. Oh, and the massages!! 🙂
I know! I know! Would love to… and plan to… however opportunistically will club with some kind of work or unavoidable pleasure activity. 🙂 All my travel is like that these days…
Nice! I just posted a vlog about Bangkok, Thailand too, it’d be great if you can check it out and drop a comment about your favourite place if you’ve been or want to go?
Just checked it out – and yes FOOD in Thailand is fabulous!
For me it is Beijing where we were only for a day and only saw the forbidden city and some outskirts of the city…
You must get back again and spend more time. Sez the woman who equally would love to get back to Beijing and spend more time there. Can you believe I didn’t get to the Forbidden City? You are clearly ahead of me there. 🙂
The two of you is such a handsome and beautiful couple Carissa. Thailand sounds like a lovely place but I’ll leave it up to you to visit it more and tell me all about it so I can go on a virtual trip. Much cheaper and I don’t have to go anywhere. LOL!