Bangkok (Round 1)

We started our Southeast Asia exploration in Bangkok, the capital and largest city of Thailand. Though we were excited for our long stay in Northern Thailand, we decided to take it easy and give ourselves a night or two of proper sleep in a comfy bed in Bangkok after our red-eye-and-a-half from Kenya. I’m SO glad we did. Our first day there we went to CentralWorld Mall, one of the largest in the world, and out of the blue, bumped into a dear friend I hadn’t seen in years. Yawei, who is from northern China and now lives in Shanghai, was a fellow university recruiter and one of my favorite traveling companions during my time at IU. We hadn’t seen each other since 2019, when COVID brought US-China recruitment to a freeze that’s only now starting to thaw. It was a unique thrill to see a familiar face so far from home and to journey, in a matter of seconds, through shock, confusion, and disbelief into delight. After the double-takes, hugs, “what-the???’s” and laughter, I introduced him to Chloe (whom he’d only heard tell of on social media), we briefly shared what we were up to (he was there for a tourism marketing conference), and immediately made plans to meet for a proper catch-up over dinner and drinks. We found a particularly spectacular spot for cocktails after dinner (see picture comments), for which his industry connections may or may not have scored us a sweet discount. 😇Read more