July 07, 2006
Bye Bye Bangkok
This is my last post, my last day of work, but not my last day in Bangkok, as I don't leave until Thursday, but I will most likely not be able to post again because I will be traveling up north.
My last week of work did not go as I had hoped because I got sick and was bedridden for a day. I learned an important lesson though: Mexican food in Thailand is a poor choice. I did manage to rally yesterday and have a very productive interview with Dr. Virachai, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and one of his collegues, Ms. Arjaree. I definitely got a good taste of the government's point of view, but it is hard to come to any sort of conclusions at this point because the two sides of the FTA issue are very divided. One side will say one thing, and the other will say the complete opposite. There is no middle ground it seems. I don't know what to believe, and honestly I'm not all that inclined to believe either of them, as issues like this never turn out to be as black and white as the two sides are trying to make them out to be. Good thing I have an entire semester to continue my research. Even though I didn't get to do as many interviews as I would have liked, I did make some good contacts that hopefully I will be able to use as my research continues in the fall. Thank goodness for email.
I am sad to go and I will miss all the friends I have made here, both Thai and American. Also, I must admit that this is my first foray into blogging, so I hope I did OK, and if not, I apologize. For anyone with more questions, I would be happy to talk about my experience here. And back to real life I go...
Posted by abbysmit at July 7, 2006 05:58 AM