The company is paying for all these so that we can have decent headshots for all the promotional materials that we will be having from hereon (i.e. conference brochures and backdrops). As I am part of the “ambassador” program (i.e. the face of the company especially in conferences), they are investing on the image of its ambassadors. So no more selfies for the headshots in our conference promo materials hahahaha!

Right after the shoot, I rushed to the Sathon business district for a meeting. I was 10 mins late because my Grab was late and it took the car forever to reach my hotel. Pffffft. Good thing the guy was nice.

I needed to finish an edit so I decided to have lunch in the same building.

Went immediately back to my hotel because I was so sleepy and I needed to wait for another time-sensitive story I must edit. I was already snoring before that story arrived in my inbox.

---

I was so pissed yesterday and I had to go out with colleagues to erase the bad taste that lingered.

I was supposed to interview a candidate for the Bangkok freelancer position but at the last minute my bosses told me I CANNOT HIRE A FREELANCER, even on a per-article basis, because I had no business case. Like Thailand is not an important market—that’s what they’re saying. I do not believe that and I have data to back me up. The only reason why they say there is no business case is because 1) subscribers already gave up on our Thailand coverage because we had crappy reporters in the past; 2) we haven’t had any reporter here for three years; 3) it doesn’t help that this market is very secretive and opaque and the military government compounded to it.

I didn’t have the temerity to cancel the appointment with the candidate. So I still met her but had to tell her that people in London do not understand that Singapore is not representative of the whole Southeast Asia and Southeast Asia is not Singapore. They think that you can cover everything in Singapore. That’s what my sources had been telling me the past two days—you cannot do business here in Thailand sitting in your office in Singapore. You have to be on the ground because everything in this market is hush-hush.

I like the candidate and told her that as much I want to keep her to myself, I must not waste a talent like her so I will be sharing her CV to my friends in competing news wires as they still have positions to fill in Southeast Asia.

I ranted to a fellow editor this afternoon about the narrow-mindedness of those sitting in London.

That’s how they view Asia. They think Asia is China + others. I wanted to scream at them and tell them that the world does not speak English.

Ok ok, I should let go of things I cannot control…

But at least I could give them a piece of my mind. If I get fired, so be it.

After a long session today, some of my colleagues and I went out for dinner at Madame Saranai for traditional Thai food and some beer.

Good food for less than THB 3k for 5 of us. Pitchers of beer.

And it was a good dinner for camaraderie as well.

We went back to the hotel because my Filipino colleague and I were daring each other if we can hostage the stage tonight at the hotel because he was told the band was Filipino as well 😂. When we got at the bar at Westin, I was disappointed to learn that the duo was Thai. Yesterday was the Filipino band. And the duo couldn’t play a song I requested, even if they’re already old.

So we told our colleagues that we should all go to karaoke in HK during our conferences in November. Bangkok may not be the best place for karaoke and hostaging stages. 😂

Good night, world!

---

Yep, another 90-min Thai massage. Because I can. Because I had been deprived of good massage for weeks as I had been busy with the move and I no longer have access to Zennya massage after relocating south. Because I deserve to be pampered and be relieved of my perpetual back pain.

I didn’t want to be a responsible adult for the entire week so I’m not exercising. I’m just here for the massage. 🤣

So yes, I’m drifting off…I’ll finish this later. Too sleepy.

---

One of the things that therapy and being introspective has done to me is to become self-aware. So during the mentorship session on Monday, I realized that I wasn’t really good at giving praises to people verbally. I do it indirectly by posting on LinkedIn about how great my team was, how good they are at scooping, etc. Then if someone else is praising one of my reporters, I would forward it to the reporter as a way of saying, you’re doing well. But somehow I couldn’t bring myself to say it directly to the reporter.

Because I grew up not being praised. Typical Asian household. It’s more of… they would directly criticise you but they would never praise. So I struggle with doing the same for the people I manage. But of course we all know praises from managers are important and I must learn to overcome my inhibition to compliment and praise.

So for me to say “I love you” verbally to someone is already a big deal. I still struggle with it when I want to say it to my kids. So for me to say I love you to someone with so much freedom and generosity and do it often, it’s already a very big deal. That meant the feeling was so overpowering that I had overcome that barrier that was put up in my childhood. Unfortunately, the one who received those I love yous didn’t deserve it.

So I must rectify it and instead I should shower my kids with I love yous and more praises. I should be more generous with my reporters when it comes to praises and compliments. They deserve it.

Last night I had the full body Thai deep-tissue massage so this time I’m having the foot, neck, and shoulder for 90 mins for THB 500. Because I want to pamper myself after working so hard today.

It’s a full day of training sessions for bureau chiefs. The last session was particularly educational since I just finished writing one on the subject matter and I asked the resource person about several instances of what I can legally write about.

This particular scene flabbergasted one of our trainors from London. She was freaking out about the exposed power lines that were just hanging out along major roads. She remarked that they didn’t have that in Singapore and I said SG is an anomaly but for the rest of Southeast Asia, this scene is quite normal.

And the food, even my Chinese colleagues kept on remarking, “ooh spicy! Spicy! Spicy!” I said yeah, majority of the food in Thailand is spicy, but wait till you get to Jakarta, it’s pure chili. My APAC boss said Thai food in Bangkok is better than the peranakan food in Singapore.

After a three-hour dinner, my colleagues went to search for massage. It was quite late so it was a bit of work to find a massage place that can accomodate five women because everything was full.

So here I am, reflecting on life choices while having my sole poked by a stick. 😂

Yes, I was on the last call. The last person to be called before they shut the gate. But first, let me explain the situation.

I left home at 6:45 and arrived at ParkNFly at about 8 am. When I got there, I learned that they no longer accommodate those without reservation, starting December last year. At the back of my mind I knew something like this will happen that’s why I was very early. I prayed so hard that they still have slots at Terminal 2 carpark.

And God granted my prayers. Only a few were left.

Then it rained hard. I only had my tiny and light umbrella with me and my sneakers and socks were wet. I don’t want to have smelly feet inside the plane! 😭

Check-in was smooth, no issues whatsoever. Now here’s the hard part: there were so many delayed flights so pre-departure holding area in Terminal 2 was full. Good thing I was a little over 4 hrs early so I got a seat at the laptop area and was able to write almost two stories.

The problem was there were so many people that I couldn’t hear the PSA and couldn’t see Gate 7.

And I didn’t realize that the flight to Bangkok changed from Gate 7 to 6. They keep reshuffling gates due to delayed flights from Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and elsewhere. When I glanced at my wrist watch, I saw it was already 1:15 pm. Departure is at 1:30 pm!

Then they started calling my government name.

I quickly grabbed my laptop, chargers, and extension cord, jumped at the boarding gate, and stuffed my dangling electronics into my purse and laptop bag. Good thing people are still stuck at the tunnel because of people blocking the aisles as they shoved their heavy carry-on luggage into the overhead bins.

Whew! I AM NOT THE CAUSE OF DELAY!

That’s what I get for being too deep into writing that I totally shut off the commotion around me that I missed even the PSA. 😑

So this is why almost two stories. I was already wrapping up my second long article when I had to shut my laptop and dashed for the boarding gate.

I only changed a few pesos into THB, thinking that I can get by using my credit cards. Wrong. I’ll get back to that later.

I communicated with my Grab driver through photos so he would know who to look for…

And where to look…

I’m so tired. I just want to eat and have a massage.

A Filipino colleague based in HK arrived earlier and he messaged me that we could grab dinner at the mall across our hotel. Well, our hotel is surrounded by three malls so eating out is not a problem.

Prior to leaving Manila, I already asked him if he could check out massage places near our hotel. He did find some along the street perpendicular to Sukhumvit.

I had a Thai deep-tissue massage with Tiger balm. The masseuse was so good that she didn’t have to use so much force to remove the knots in my muscles. She just knew where it hurts and she just had the right amount of pressure. It was so lovely that I will have massages everyday.

Now you know why I need more cash. Massage places here are cash-basis only and e-wallets are for those with Thai phone numbers. Or Thai ID. Or everything is in Thai.

I think I will just spend on massages here and nothing else 😂

I cooked for 6 hours straight this morning and it was exhausting!

So I started the day by exposing myself to early morning sunlight for some Vitamin D. Made myself a cup of milk tea to wake me up.

I cooked for Sun, Mon, Tue, Thurs, and Fri for the girls. Wednesday will be meals at my mom’s place. The girls know how to cook rice using the rice cooker and how to heat the defrosted food in the microwave or oven toaster.

They can also eat out as I gave them their allowance for this week while I’m away.

After cooking, I had finally set up my piano. After a month 😂

Went out for a quick drive to refuel, air my tires, and buy some med that I need to bring with me to Bangkok. And I also want to see mountains.