Bangkok and beyond
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2011
1
11
Trip End
Ongoing
Bangkok, Thailand
Sunday, June 26, 2011
First, and foremost, allow me to express my thanks and gratitude to all those that sent me birthday wishes yesterday. It is always nice to receive as such, even if I am not a 'birthday' type kind of guy. The day itself was pretty bland here in Bangkok. Spent much of it trying to tie up loose ends here in the city, and then attempted to go out for a nice birthday dinner and couple of beers solo. Trish departed a couple days back for Canada, and thus I am alone. The city itself was quiet, due to Parliamentary elections today, Sunday 26th. Absolutely no booze of any type was to be purchased in stores, bars, restaurants, etc yesterday. And while I am not a total boozer, it would have been nice to have a pint of the local Chang or Tiger beer with my curry, or to saddle up to a bar and settle in for an hour or so. Not the case, so I opted for an early night in the apartment. As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, it appears that it is in fact the end for the Southeast Asia experience for Trish, myself, and our time in Thailand. It has been an absolutely fascinating, and rewarding, time here in Thailand and surrounding countries of Laos and Cambodia. But it is high time to move on here in late June 2011.
You may recall that an initial reason for having headed to Bangkok, was due to Trish bringing her mother (3 years into Alzheimers and Dementia diagnosis) here for appropriate medical care back in February of this year. After nearly 5 months, it has been decided that the personal care here is no longer sufficient for her mother; to date it has been incredible, but now the time has come to consider alternatives and thus Canada is calling.
As well, stars seem to be aligned and a professional opportunity has presented itself to me in past weeks. A new project as funded by the US Agency for International Development has been awarded to a company in Washington DC, for implementation of a series of initiatives to build and increase the economic potential and prospects for the Government, and country, of Mongolia. It was decided that this was an opportunity of a lifetime, and one that I could not pass up. And thus I will be mobilizing to Mongolia effective today for the short term, but more importantly as of late July 2011 for the longer term (2 years or so). It is an exciting prospect, and one that should prove both challenging and rewarding. Thus, expect possible blog entries from Ulaanbaator and beyond as the future commences; there is even talk about potential creation of a separate blog site fully focused on Mongolia. Stranger things have certainly happened.
I wish everyone well, and hope that life continues to treat you well.
Over and out, from Bangkok and Southeast Asia.
Kyle
