ECQ Retreat 2006 : Day 1

Gathered at the office at about 245pm. the chartered bus would fetch us to the airport at around 3pm. As usual, people dilly-dallied, and it was not before 315pm that we left for Changi. To check in at the airport as a group was really messy. The seats were pre-assigned rather than according to the sequence at which we checked in at the counter. In the end, many of us have to swap seats in order to get our preferred seat partner... :P

Waiting for boarding

Arrived at BKK International Airport at around 630 local time. But there was a lot of waiting time, e.g. gotta wait quite some time for those who required to apply for visa-on-arrival.

Waiting at BKK International Airport

And also waited for the bus to come after that. Travelled for some 20 minutes before reaching the hotel.

The hotel lobby

After reaching the hotel, Bangkok Palace Hotel, still needed some time to settle the room assignment. The local tour leader then offered to bring us to a place for seafood dinner, if we were interested. Many of the staff went. I couldn't go as I needed to go scouting with the rest of the ESC members for the venue for the group activity the next day.

Was only able to go recce at about 930pm, after checking in and settling down our stuff. Went to check out some of the places that we were unsure if they were still around, e.g. the KTV box at Big C. As the rest of the places we wanted to check out were outdoor, there weren't any time constraint. So we decided to go for dinner first.

ESC Members 2006

Had dinner along the stretch near Central World Plaza, the same place where I had dinner on the second night when I came BKK in March. But ordered from a different stall this time around. S and XY said the food this time is better, but i can't really remember the last one liao... :P...

Walked down to the Erawan Shrine after dinner to confirm that the 4 faced buddha is still around. It was vandalized in March and was only repaired and replaced in May. Then proceed to Siam area to confirm the location of Hard Rock Cafe.

Outside Hard Rock Cafe

By this time, the locations for the various checkpoint for the game the next day were more or less confirmed liao, so we headed back to our hotel on foot. We go back the same route that we came, then reached Pratunam area and decided to stop by the chicken rice stall opposite Pratunam Center for supper. Coincidentally, I had eaten at the same stall on the same night where I had dinner the other time (i.e. the second night of my last trip).

By the time we had our fills, shopped a bit at a convenient store nearby, and took 2 separate cabs back to the hotel, it was about 130am already. After taking a shower, we still gotta meet for a while to tie up some loose ends for the game the next day. Finally was able to concuss at near to 3am.