From Dhaka to Bangkok ... and Back Again (Part 2)

The first few days in Bangkok were a bit of a blur, but quite fun. We arrived on a Wednesday evening just before a major holiday weekend, but hit the ground running on Thursday morning for extensive check-in procedures with the Embassy. The American diplomatic community in Bangkok – which includes the State Department, USAID and a slew of other agencies with southeast Asian headquarters here – numbers about 600 direct employees, not including families. Quite a change from the 75 or so in Dhaka! With a Embassy this large, this meant a whole new ballgame in terms of procedures and policies. We were whisked from office to office to have photos taken, fill out forms, choose furniture, etc. We were happy to know that a five-day weekend followed all of this bustle.

The next few days were spent walking around, wide-eyed at the amount of shopping, food and cultural activity on offer, and locating our new neighborhood (where our permanent apartment is) and Jennifer’s office. During all of this, we were doing our best to avoid being splashed with water and talcum powder, which is the traditional way to celebrate the Thai New Year, known as “Songkran.” The mood in the city was indeed festive and what was originally the splashing of a few drops of water on friends and family to signify the rebirth of a new year has now become license to pull out buckets and water cannons and soak any who cross your path. Pickup trucks loaded with young Thais armed with loud stereos and plenty of liquid ammo drove up and down the streets, joyfully blasting everyone in sight. It was a lot of fun!

We also decided that immediately upon arrival it was time to start making up for the last two years physical laziness! Our weekly ultimate frisbee game with friends and our daily walks with Bhago had become our only physical activity in Dhaka ... and we could feel it. Our temporary apartment was outfitted with a nice gym and we were a few minutes’ walk away from Bangkok’s biggest park. We really enjoyed the chance to get outside, wear shorts and t-shirts, and not be stared at during physical activity. Lumpini Park is an amazing site at 6:00am with hundreds of Thais and a few foreigners enjoying morning exercise – from jogging to tai chi, aerobics, calisthenics, and even ballroom dancing. Yes, they were dancing tango at 6:30 am! Coming from Dhaka, it was liberating to see people enjoying whatever activity they wanted outside in the open air.

After two weeks we were able to move in to our permanent apartment. It’s on the 18th floor of a high-rise apartment building in the middle of downtown. We live just off Sukhumvit, the busiest road in all of Bangkok. To one side of our building is “Little Pakistan,” featuring the Pakistani Embassy and all sorts of Middle Eastern restuarants; to the other is Sukhumvit Soi 11, one of the major entertainment locations for tourists in Bangkok, with nice restaurants, chic nightclubs, sleazy bars and cheap tailor shops galore. It’s a funky neighborhood, but we like it.

Our apartment is, thankfully, much smaller than the house we had in Bangladesh. We have spent most of our free time working on getting it set up the way we want it to be. One of our biggest mistakes in Dhaka was not concentrating on home stuff immediately, so we’re determined to have a nice place to spend the next three years! We’ve been painting, buying cushions and dishes, hanging pictures, and exploring the possibilities of what can be. Once we have a few more things taken care of, we’ll put up pictures here on the blog ... but we have a nice guest room all set up for you, so why not come see it for yourself?

However, life here isn’t all water fights and interior decorating. We have to work, too. Patrick works in an office building across the street from the U.S. Embassy. He has five colleagues in his section: two Americans, four Thais, and a Filipina. Patrick and the head of the office are the only men in the Regional Office of Procurement – and in fact, women make up the large majority of the Thai workforce at USAID. The current USAID Mission in Thailand opened in 2003, so most of the Thai staff are new to USAID and U.S. Government work in general. Everyone is remarkably friendly and happy – Thais believe that “sanuk,” or fun, is an essential part of anything one does in life, so they find sanuk in the office as often as possible.


Patrick brought the Nepal portfolio with him to Bangkok, and soon after his arrival took over duties for Vietnam, as well. When Patrick’s new boss left in late June to become the Deputy Mission Director in Bangladesh (!), Patrick gained East Timor, Burma, and Laos, plus regional disaster assistance work. He’s been back to Nepal twice since we arrived and is hoping to get to some of the other countries he covers soon.


Jennifer continues to work with the International Finance Corporation in Bangladesh as Communications Officer for the new Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF). As BICF begins operations and programs in earnest, Jennifer and her boss worked out a deal for a six-to-nine-month transition period to remain on board full-time, operating 50% remotely from Bangkok and 50% in Dhaka. Yes, that’s a lot of travel and the challenges of remote management when she’s not there have come to light. Still, it is a good job and the frequent travel to Dhaka is cushioned a little bit by friends and colleagues who are still there and generally happy to see her. She has seen Shanti and Rabin a few times to say hello, and even visited Bhago to receive lots of puppy kisses and ensure that he is happy and well, which he definitely seems to be.