Land of Smiles

Last week, this time, I was lying in bed, all zonked out (but happy) from the walking and eating in BKK. Had a great time in BKK with Che, Mum, Nick Ker, Nicole & Gideon. Got 2 beautiful apartments at Ascott Bangkok Sathorn at a beautiful staff rate :-) The apartments were spacious and really comfortable. It could have been better if I had known much earlier that Healthland was right opposite the property. Then I needn't have waited to satisfy my massage crave - right till the very last night! Argh!

Che & I promised mum a holiday together for some time now. And since it was so difficult finding a date when all of us could make it, the promise was kinda "delayed". Well, better late than never, no?

Hello Bangkok / Rest Stop : Starbucks Siam Square

Nicole's camera tricks / The Penguins

It's such a joy to be with my Che & Nick ker. My brother-in-law is an angel - the only man I know who would walk and shop with a bunch of ladies, with no complains at all. Tripling up as guide, ATM and babysitter! Where to find!?


Guide, ATM, Babysitter - all rolled into one. Thanks Nick ker!

Things in BKK are definitely more expensive today. So my loot was tiny compared to Nicole's amazing (or so she thinks :-) finds. That gal can SHOP! Just goes to show age is really catching up - can't catch up with the young gals anymore. Gideon was really good especially after all the prepping before the trip that it was going to be HOT, TIRING and BORING. He stayed with mum at the shoe departments where mum took care of our shopping finds and he entertained himself with his PSP. Thankfully there was a balloon / magic show and a Kids' Arcade at Central World which kept Gideon pretty happy one afternoon. Plus more paper to add to his overspilling stationery collection at home :-(


Balloon man & the balloon that was more difficult to carry around town than our shopping bags


Central World Arcade / Very cute counterfeit Pringles and ice-cream note papers

It was great to see Rina again. As usual, being the Santa Rina she is, Gideon was spoiled with an advance birthday present plus a surprise Songkran gift of a water gun. Ah... Songkran... We found ourselves (by accident) right smack in the middle of the Songkran ritual when we headed for Silom on our last day. We got comfy inside Starbucks with a bird's eye view of the water madness going on out along Silom Road. The Thais do know how to have fun. It was great we got to see them in action. In fact, Rina, Gideon and I got "blessed" by a taxi driver who took out his little water gun and blessed us with little squirts of water IN the taxi. Couldn't run, could we?


Wet wet wet Rina & I at Provence where we had amazing Beef Kway Teow


Can't get enough of MK steamboat... yums!

Sure looking forward to our next family trip. Will be great if Alice che and the kids could join us next. Now I need another vacation from my vacation :-)

Etsy

Back from Bangkok at midnight and am so glad I took a day off today as well to "recuperate". Am refraining from logging in to my emails since I've cleared most from the blackberry. Hence, some web surfing... when I chanced upon this very very pretty site. They sell "all things handmade" and some ship to Singapore as well. The children's stuff are especially pretty... You can also become a member and sell your handmade stuff!

Check out these handmade aprons ...

AGC Part 2

AGC is finally over... after months of planning. The secretariat refers to the event as our ECA. Despite the tons of work landing on our desks daily, there's the endless amount of follow-ups to do for the big day. The Ascott Global Conference is an annual gathering of Ascott's senior management. This year's "lucky" host was KL. The secretariat comprised representatives from the various functions and yours truly was the "selected" one from Brand & Marketing. Horror stories of how previous years' secretariat suffered and toiled unfolded right till the very end of the conference.

Held from 17 - 19 March in KL, the AGC was more like an "anticipation-of-the-CEO's needs" event. I was overall in charge of the gala event, the finale to the entire conference (not forgetting my involvement in 2 task force topics which were presented during the conference). Long story short, the 2 1/2 day conference went well and the gala was a success. Highlights included the saga of our CEO's coach ride, the near-catastrophic group photoshoot and the embarassing cha-cha during the gala.

The entire planning brought me closer to some of my colleagues. We were a great team despite some strange characters within the group. The KL team was wonderful and I must say, I have lots of yuan with them. Ascott KL was my first overseas assignment after I joined TAG and the AGC brought me back to KL a couple more times. Tony, Shereen etc were fantastic - always rising to the occasion no matter how last minute some plans were.


Behind-the-scenes

As for me, I got to know some really good vendors in KL. Our event organiser was very good and the emcee I chose (with fingers crossed) didn't disappoint. CEO actually went to her personally to compliment her for being "wonderful with the crowd". I'm never comfortable with event organising. I'm so used to seeing and approving stuff before it goes to print, or materialises. With events, you don't see the end product until the event proper - and I don't like that feeling. From the conference backdrop design, to the selection of the emcee and entertainer, I was glad I made the right choices and they all didn't disappoint. Many of my colleagues said this was one of the best conferences and AGC gala; if not the BEST :-) Flattery or not, it surely made the secretariat feel really good that our efforts didn't go to waste.


Gloria the event org & Angie the emcee

After the first conference day, I returned to the apartment exhausted. I received an email from Mr Ong that evening. He sent me a really cute video with a note "thought this will cheer you up after a hard day". That was all I needed to forget all that stress... come to think of it, Mr Ong was there at all my "first conference" - RIL, Swissotel and now, Ascott!


The B&M(ers)

The gala evening came and it was really gratifying that the secretariat was given a standing ovation for a job well-done. Despite my embarrassing moment on stage when the secretariat Chairman pulled me onto stage to do a cha-cha! Argh... I have two left feet, I can't dance for nuts! OK, I guess that was additional entertainment that evening.


The Secretariat with the CEO & their standing ovation


Sabo Cha-cha



And for those who noticed, I wore my Tan Tan again (since it's a different crowd). I had brought a strapless number but figured I'd better go for the safer option since I was going to be running around quite a bit. So these pictures may seem a little familiar :-)

Until the next AGC...