Hot-desking it in Asia (written at the end of April)…

I have been here in Bangkok for 4 days this trip, and I hope it’s true that April is the hottest month of the year in this country. It’s been 38 C outside today, though it’s cooled off to a balmy 31 at 8 pm. I must admit though, ¾ of an hour at the pool outside on the roof at noon went down a treat.

So, now to the update. This is my second visit here this month, 4 days earlier, then a week at home and now 2 weeks here. I shall be back for 3 weeks in May then for ever-increasing periods till we move here full-time towards the end of the summer.

Bombardier has won the most recent three-rail signalling projects in Thailand, and I am to be the project manager for the next 2 years on that. The projects are part of what is called “Double Tracking”. The government has installed a second (and sometimes third) track around the country, and now the signalling has to be installed/upgraded. This is scheduled to be part of the upgrade to the Pan Asia railway over time.

Bombardier will help us keep the house in the UK under a maintenance contract, and we will have an apartment in central Bangkok. Local housing is reasonably priced so we should get a nice place for what we are allowed. We also get a trip home at company expense each year, as well as allowances to help us cope with having two residences and bills for everything.

We are taking until the summer to get moved because Trish has a busy social schedule arranged until then. It’s a shame I will only be there part-time for the visitors, but a man’s gotta do… etc. Meanwhile, we have just about got the house in the UK finished the way we want it, and the garden is now in desperate need of attention. Ah well.

Christina is in the UK at the moment (yeah, and I’m here in BKK). She is over for three weeks and is working for free on an internship at an advertising/design company near to us. This is part of the requirements from her degree course at York University. I will get home for the last week she is there, and we are planning a w/e in London for the May day holiday. I’m looking forward to that.

One last snippet on BKK – walking home from the pub last night, a guy went past riding an elephant down the road, and no it wasn’t pink.

Hot desking is no kidding by the way. My office is not ready yet so I am sharing (hot desk), and it sure is HOT.


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