I left Zurich on Friday afternoon in week 41, and arrived in Bangkok on Saturday morning. I was there on a business trip, to represent my office at the IMF/World Bank annual meetings, but of course I had planned the trip so as to have some time to see a city which I had never visited before. I was going to spend the weekend with my friend Claire, IP attaché at the EU representation in Thailand (but she covers the whole ASEAN region), before meeting up with the rest of the delegation on Sunday evening and starting the serious work on Monday morning.
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Claire met me at the airport and we took a taxi to her spacious apartment. She had fallen and injured her foot the day before my arrival, so the sightseeing I would do during the weekend would be on my own. I started with a 2-hour private cruise on the river, a good way to see Bangkok in its various aspects. It is a big city, the size of New York, and a blend of modernity and tradition. Here, modernity:
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But even the modern tall buildings have a traditional element:
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Seeing houses like these on the river, one understands the devastation of the floods earlier in October:
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The river boats have very noisy and smelly engines, but they get the job done:
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The new Bangkok:
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After the 2-hour river cruise, I got off the boat and visited the beautiful Wat Pho temple. A couple of young women were doing a photo shoot, something that I was told is quite common and not necessarily tied to a wedding or other such event:
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I walked around a bit in the neighbourhood where Claire lives. We have some dodgy infrastructure here in Alicante, but these wires in Bangkok were truly impressive:
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Street food is a big feature of Thai life:
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More street food, albeit in an indoor market. A delicious snack for a price just under 1 Euro:
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In the evening, Claire, her son Victor and I went for dinner at a restaurant near her apartment:
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The appetisers were photogenic and delicious:
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On Sunday, the rest of the delegation from Alicante arrived, and together with the two colleagues based in Bangkok, we went out for dinner at a restaurant on the river:
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There was a great view of the hotels and shopping malls on the other shore:
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And at one point, some traditional Thai dancers came into the restaurant and performed for us:
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On Monday morning it was time to start the working part of our trip. The IMF annual meeting took place at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, named after the mother of the current king. This is the view from the centre, with a huge IMF meeting logo in the foreground:
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Inside the cavernous conference centre, there were thousands of people milling around and networking:
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Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF, giving a keynote speech. By the time I got there, the room where she spoke was full, so I was reduced to watching her speech on a big screen in the overflow room:
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There were people from all over the world:
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Tuesday was our big day. For the first time, intellectual property was on the agenda of an IMF annual meeting. We were hosting a roundtable on IP-backed financing. Before the event, I took this informal portrait of my colleague Isabel:
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My colleagues Antonio, Claire and Andrea talking to a Thai minister who was going to participate in the panel discussion:
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The panel on stage. From left to right, Malhar Nabar of the IMF, Kirida Bhaopichitr, Vice Minister for Commerce in the Thai government, Andrea di Carlo, Deputy Executive Director of my office (the European Union Intellectual Property Office), the moderator Sophie Sirtaine of the World Bank, Ambroise Fayolle of the European Investment Bank, and Nicolas Konialidis, Asia Director, International Valuation Standards Council:
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Tuesday evening I was on my own, since I had to join a meeting back in Alicante (obviously online) which started at 8 p.m. Bangkok time. I walked around a bit before and after. I continued to marvel at Bangkok traffic, especially the riding style of the myriad of small motorbikes:
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On Wednesday we had organised an all-day event on the margins of the IMF annual meetings. Rather than at the conference centre, the event was held in a conference room at the Renaissance hotel. Convenient for me, since this is where I was staying. The event went very well and was well attended, as is clear from this group photo taken just before the lunch break:
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Thursday was my last day in Bangkok. I attended some meetings in the morning, and then I had the rest of the day off, since my flight to Munich and then Alicante only departed at 11 p.m. I used the time to visit the Golden Mount, one of Bangkok’s most famous temples:
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I climbed to the top of the Golden Mount. The view from there shows the mixed nature of Bangkok, with temples and high-rise buildings:
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On the way down, I came across these two girls taking pictures of each other. I offered to take one of them together using their phone, but then they also posed for me:
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I made my way back to the hotel where the taxi for the airport was picking me up at 7 p.m. At Bangkok airport, once again a uniquely Thai decoration, illustrating an old legend, the Churning of the Milk Ocean:
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There is a plaque explaining the legend. Bangkok turned out to be one of the most fascinating places I have ever visited, and I intend to come back and explore Thailand also beyond the capital:
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The Lufthansa flight to Munich took off on schedule at 11 p.m. Eleven hours later, at 5 a.m. local time, we touched down in Munich. With my flight to Alicante only in mid-afternoon, I had decided that hanging around Munich Airport for 9 hours was not my idea of fun. So I waited for the left luggage office to open at 6 a.m., left my backpack (the suitcase was already checked through to Alicante) and went to the centre of Munich to walk around a bit. I know the city well, and have always enjoyed visiting. I took the metro to Marienplatz, the city’s main square, and walked through the neighbouring Viktualienmarkt, full of stalls and shops selling food of all kinds. There is also this shop selling traditional Bavarian clothes, now 200 years old:
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We love hams:
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Many of the shops and stands were still closed or just preparing to open, but as in most countries, bakeries open early. I stopped in this bakery on Viktualienmarkt to get some coffee and a pastry. The bread looked beautiful. Good bread is what I miss most of Danish and other Northern European foods:
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Another thing I miss in Alicante is the breadth of cultural offerings that are available in a real city like Munich:
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I walked towards Sankt-Jakobs-Platz, site of the main synagogue and the Jewish museum. Both were closed early in the morning, but I like the area. A woman on her way to work or shopping, with a companion:
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One of the most important types of delivery in Munich–beer for the day being delivered to a bar:
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The beer garden at Viktualienmarkt was deserted when I first walked by, but about an hour later, these two guys were enjoying their “breakfast”:
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I decided to visit St. Peter’s church. I had walked past it many times, but never gone inside. It was impressive and I liked the shafts of early morning sunshine:
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Next to the church is a tower called “Alter Peter”, (“old Peter”) which you can climb on a very narrow staircase. Climbing 15 floors is an effort, but the view from the top is worth it:
Afterwards, I walked back to Marienplatz and took the metro to the airport and flew home.
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On Saturday morning, well before dawn, I did my first walk with Mochi in a week. Some guys were fishing on the beach; I assume they were out this early in the hope that fish are more likely to bite while it is still dark:
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Autumn in Alicante is very pleasant, still warm enough to go to the beach but not oppressive like in July or August. However, we sometimes get rainy and windy days, and on Saturday night we got some strong rain, the effects of which were clearly visible on Sunday morning:
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But the cloudy and somewhat blustery (by Alicante standards) weather did not stop these beach volley players from engaging in some serious practice:
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A full Bangkok gallery can be seen here, and more photos from my walk in Munich are here.