The moment I stepped out of the taxi at Grand Hyatt Erawan, a gentleman approached me and greeted me, "Good morning, you must be XXX from XXX company. We have been expecting you. Your team has all arrived yesterday morning. How was your flight in? Please allow us to take you to your room so you may rest."
Bloody! How did he recognise me from the rest of the tourists arriving at the hotel's doorstep simultaneously? Did they have a mugshot of all my company's staff somewhere on their computers?
The gentleman then directed me to a lady at the reception counter, who immediately flashed me a smile and greeted me by name too! Sheesh! Their staff must have been drilled to recognise me. Either that, or some joker must have tattooed my name on my head while I was asleep on the plane.
This lady from the reception then led me to my room, and once inside, bade me to to take a seat at the writing desk. She served me with a glass of orange juice and warm towel while she prepared the check-in paperwork. Minutes later, she asked me to sign the documents and voila! My check-in is complete.
And I don't even have to stand around to wait at the reception!
Quality service aside, my room is also spacious and very comfy. The fittings and furnishings appear a little old, but comfort is not compromised. The Grand Hyatt Erawan has, afterall, been around for quite some time and of course things will age.
And they even appealed to the little girl inside me with a gift of cute stuffed elephants. Heh.
The Grand Hyatt Erawan is a huge place with an adjoining shopping gallery which hosts Club 21 and Coach, among other famous brands and a cosy restaurant called the Erawan Tearoom.
The Erawan Tearoom welcomes guests to enjoy a quiet tea session or hearty Thai meal within. It also sells very pretty porcelain and rattan kicthen ware and tea sets. So if you fancy what you have been eating off on your table, you could actually purchase the entire set.
I love the pretty jade plates modelled after a lotus leaf, but each don't come cheap at BHT $1180 (S$56).
Erawan Tearoom also sells a simple selection of local delicacies like dried mangoes, speciality jams and the absolutely addictive pork floss in crispy egg rolls.
On 22 October, I attended a private party at Amari Watergate for my Editor who was awarded Journalist of the Year by an Asia Pacific tourism association. There was an indulgent buffet of foie gras, Peking duck, suckling pig, seared cod fish, woodfired pizzas and rich pastas. I had three servings of foie gras, each the size of my palm! Oh, the gluttony!
I heard from one senior management staff from Amari Watergate that our party consumed 44kg of foie gras, 14 Peking ducks and eight suckling pigs. Whoa!
Then we spent the night at the party sipping champagne and talking with a client who is a notorious playboy, and he told us funny stories about his girlfriends from different country.
According to him, Japanese girls make the wildest partners. His Jap girl gave him a blowjob while being strung upside down from a rope tied to the ceiling. She twisted herself clockwise with the rope wound round her feet, and when she let go, she twisted back anti-clockwise. And she had her mouth tightly on him during this "screwdriver" stunt. So creative! But she freaked him out when she told him to shit on her face so that she could eat his faeces fresh.
He also observed that Vietnamese and Thai women make the most possessive partners.
Now, before you think I was away in Bangkok only for pleasure, I need to bring your attention to my true purpose there. There was a trade exhibition plus the energy-sapping Awards gala dinner that I had taken four months to prepare for.
The Award gala dinner took place on 25 October, the last day of the exhibition and that made me very jittery all week. Onsite preparations and rehearsals begun at 10.30am.
People, you had better believe in this saying: "What ever can go wrong, will go wrong."
The hotel confirmed provision of four screens across the sides of the ballroom to allow live feed of stage activities so that all 800 guests can see what's going on up front. When I was there in the morning, the hotel's staff said they have only two screens.
The hotel staff hid the fact that they were providing an alternative microphone model for the Australian act I had engaged as main entertainment for the night. This Aussie act was world-renowned and had strict requirements for their sound system. Geez, I got a splitting headache from their screechings when they found out that they were not provided the EXACT model of the Shure microphones and refused to rehearse and perform. I demanded that the hotel get the right microphones within one hour otherwise I would twist someone's cock off.
The stage backdrop showed an error in the title of the Guest of Honour. It should read "Minister for Tourism and Sports of Thailand" but the printing missed out "and Sports". I pointed out the error to the hotel's staff and requested for correction but they reassured me that the local press also address the Minister this way, so it is not an error. At 6pm, the Minister's deputy secretary arrived to check on security, spotted the mistake and demanded a correction.
Despite all that, I must praise the Thais for their patience and the hotel's team for trying their very best to accomodate all my demands.
One of their Directors, a kindly Frenchman, noticed how nervous I was and how I've been running around all evening and came up to sooth me. "Relax, Karen," he said. "Everything will fall in place in Thailand, although they may not fall in place on time." When the gala dinner concluded, he weaved through the crowd to get to me. He gave me a big hug and exclaimed, "You did a great job! See, I told you everything will turn out fine!"
Now, is that super sweet or what?
As a tradition, my Publisher threw a party to celebrate the end of the Awards, and it was one party I always look forward to. This time, it was also a farewell party for Whey.
We drank champagne, sang and danced all night. Yes, we shamelessly teased other patrons at the bar too. I was still sober when we headed back to Hyatt, although I was feeling a little queasy from too much bubblies. I was so confident that I would hold myself proper that night. Alas, it took one simple burp the moment I stepped into the elevator at Hyatt and threw up into my hands and on my Longchamp bag. Bah!
Okay, cam-whoring time!
I have to blur the face of the gentleman in the background cos, according to some sources, he is a political figure in Thailand and I doubt he would appreciate publicity in some crazy girl's blog. Heh.
Alrighty, so that's that for my trip to Bangkok.
1 blistering yaks:
Ar ar ar! Who's been living the high society life?? You girls partied in a flock while I danced ALONE in Adelaide.
Not fair...
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