Bangkok: Getting There

I didn't post about this before but I was accepted into a training program that would be held in Bangkok. The training program was funded by the Robert Carr Civil Society Network Fund (RCNF). It would be a 5-day workshop conducted by the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) and it focuses on communications and social media. I applied for the program some time in July. A few weeks after that, I received an email from the Communications Officer of APCOM, inviting me for an interview.

A few days after the interview, I received an email congratulating me saying that I was accepted to the program. I was so happy, I almost lost my shit. I just couldn't believe it. Out of 150 applicants from all around Asia, I was one of the 15 people they chose. I was so happy that I was crying glitter and puking rainbows. 

The entire trip including accommodation would be paid for by APCOM through the RCNF, plus we would receive per diem. I had 3 weeks to get my affairs in order to ensure that I would be able to leave. This included having my mom send over my passport because I forgot to get it from her when we went to Hong Kong back in May and asking permission from my boss to be gone for an entire week. 

Everything went smoothly so I waited until it was time for me to leave. My flight to Bangkok was on September 8, Saturday, at 9:30 in the morning so I was at the airport by 6am. 

By 9:30 I was seated in the plane, all settled in but a bit nervous since this was my first international flight by myself. 

And we were off. I was fortunate enough to not only get a window seat but as it turned out, no one was seated beside me. I had the entire row to myself.

There were movies available to kill time since it was a 3-hour flight. I watched Monsters University.

Then they served the food. I'm not particularly fond of airplane food, but the food they served was not bad.

So there I was in the plane bored out of my mind. I looked out the window and then I saw that were almost there.

We landed safely.

So I did the usual stuff. Went through immigration, got my luggage then bought a local sim card. one of my very close friends from Baguio, Jetley, lives in Thailand. He offered to pick me up at the airport. I haven't seen Jet in over a year so I was very happy to see him.

This is Tom, someone he works with. She's really nice and very funny.

We took the train from the airport to my hotel. Jet works in a travel agency so he knew exactly where my hotel was. In the Philippines we call it the MRT. In Thailand, it's called the BTS.

How I wish we had these to avoid those long lines.

This is inside the BTS station. Our MRT stations suck big time.

I was so jealous that they have such nice trains and stations there. Our trains and stations in the Philippines look like garbage under 50 ft of crap.

We got off at Chong Nonsi station which was just beside the hotel where me and the other delegates would stay.

I'll write about the hotel in another post.

Ciao for now!