First impressions Thailand: the ‘Land of Smiles’
11/05/2018
After 18 hours of travel without any sleep, you’re normally exhausted and are looking forward to your hotel room, but not if your destination is Thailand. My curiosity and excitement gave me more energy than 2 double espresso in the morning. Even if your mood should not be the best after such a long travel, it will not last for long since people, it doesn’t matter where you are looking to, reveal where the nickname ‘Land of Smiles’ originates from.
Why? Before realizing the impressive size of the international airport Bangkok, a very pleasant Thai, dressed in a colourful overall, asked me where I am heading to and if I would need some help. Apparently, I looked a little bit lost due to the overwhelming artworks and colourful constructions within the arrival hall. After at least 20 more smiling faces and a few seconds of orientation to find the fastest way to the airport hotel, I arrived in the lobby, got my room and dropped off my luggage.
It was 7pm, time for dinner and the first open air experiences in Bangkok. Everyone knows the fascinating YouTube clips about the colourful and busy streets which exactly mirrors my impressions but the merge of varieties of music and smell creates a unique atmosphere I have never experienced before. Hundreds of food stands located in the streets doing live cooking directly in front of you. More than tempting. After walking through one of the dozens night markets where you can get everything from trousers to fried crickets. We finally chose a small restaurant called Seafood and Beer, whatever you ordered, it was more delicious than any other Thai food tried in my home country Germany.
Since our next day’s schedule required us to go up early to visit the first company, we only did a short walk around the Silom area and my first impressions about a busy city where you only can find friendly smiling people wherever you are looking to, intensified.
Having arrived back in the hotel, I had some minutes to reflect, I realized that the first evening already has passed by within fractions of seconds and my expectations had been more than exceeded. What a great first evening in Bangkok with its lovely, diverse people.
I am looking forward to the coming days!
Written by Kai Wendt
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Using AI tools for your literature review
There are a proliferation of AI tools that can help you organise your life, work and study. This post focuses on academic or scholarly tools that have been developed to enhance the literature searching process, whether for independent research, an assignment or thesis. Bear in mind that these predominantly relate to finding journal/research papers, and not technical, business or trade sources such as standards, market research, industry reports or financial data. So ...
Finding successful past Cranfield theses
It’s always a good idea to look at examples of theses before you start work on your own. You may find them valuable for reading previous research, and for looking at structure, style and methodology. ...
On‑campus or off‑campus? How Cranfield students found their home away from home
Finding the right place to live is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make as you begin your student journey. Whether you’re looking for the convenience and community of living on-campus or the independence ...
Avoiding common referencing errors
As librarians, we get to see the full spectrum of reference lists in student work —from exemplary to … well, let’s just say, works still very much in progress! We are experts in spotting mistakes ...
Using your Mendeley library after you have left Cranfield
So you have spent the whole year (or more) lovingly collecting references around the topics that matter to you and now you have a large, personalised library in Mendeley Reference Manager containing all that information. ...
Referencing the use of generative AI in your work
We recognise that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has, and will increasingly, become a part of our everyday lives and that we need to adapt to it. Hopefully you will have already seen the guidance for staff ...