Today was our second full day in Bangkok and Arnav’s birthday.
We had a speaker in the morning named John Nielsen who basically just talked about his life experiences. He has worked a lot of different jobs in different countries with different companies so it was really neat to hear about his international perspective. I love meeting people who seem to just let their life carry them where they need to go and he was definitely one of those people. I liked his talk a lot and was really glad we got the chance to hear him speak.
After John Nielsen we had a pizza party for Arnav’s birthday and then chocolate cake. The pizza was from Domino’s but it was really different. The crust was like that of an Imo’s pizza and the cheese was so swirly on top it was difficult to see where it’d been cut. I wouldn’t have gotten Domino’s on my own in Thailand so it was interesting to get the chance to see how different it is. I remember that in Peru it was pretty much the same.
Next on the agenda was the United Nations. Bangkok is the headquarters for ESCAP, or Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. We got to see the conference room and then had speakers who lectured about what they do there, inequality (this one was econometrics heavy), and gender issues in the region. One thing that stood out to me from the inequality lecture was the speaker put up the same chart for different countries and said “economic inequality isn’t just something that happens, it’s a political choice” which I found really interesting. It was sort of an off-hand comment for him but it really impacted me. For the gender lecture, it was more about women’s issues which I found interesting as well because I thought it was going to be more LGBTQ+ focused. I enjoyed all the talks although I have to admit I’m skeptical of the UN. However, I am still glad we had the opportunity to go.
When we got back we changed out of our business casual and went to Arnav’s birthday dinner at La Monita (the little monkey) which is a Mexican restaurant near the hotel. I had a torta and it was pretty good.
Next we went to Lumphini Park to walk around after dinner. It was really pretty and there were a lot of cats and runners. It’s a nice green space in a very busy city so I really liked it.
After the park we headed out to some bars. Most notably we went to the bar where they filmed a part of Hangover 2. However the drinks were $30 so only one of us got a drink. It was a pretty view but I haven’t even seen the movie so I didn’t totally think it was worth it. Afterwards I pet a cat outside so that was fun. We went to another bar and had some drinks and that was a lot of fun.
Overall it was a very fun day. I didn’t totally love the United Nations but it was interesting and I learned a lot, and then I had fun in the evening.
Allison Around the World 