Thailand Trip

Morgan flew to Thailand for his GM project the week before Bremen Freimarkt. The same project is being rolled out in the ZF plant in Rayong, Thailand at the same time as the Brazil project (with start of production a few months later).

It was a quick trip mainly to meet the local team and investigate the differences between the Brazil and Thailand locations for the eventual equipment installation. Thailand is a wonderful place to visit with great weather, an amazing hotel and a completely new culture. The hotel was located in Pattaya which is a tourist destination so the joke in the department is that working on projects in Thailand is more vacation than work. From Google – Pattaya is a town on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast known for a wild nightlife scene that attracts international visitors, weekenders from Bangkok and expats. Unfortunately with such a quick trip only during the week it was not much of a vacation but hopefully a later trip can include a weekend.

Days were filled with lots of meetings and planning with the local team but nights were more relaxed with swimming in the hotel pool and enjoying the Thai food. The hotel was directly on the beach so it was nice to walk around and see the area. The first night I was able to catch the F1 race in one of the local bars where I learnt that there are quite a lot of lady-boy bartenders in Thailand. I would have never guessed that with their given appearance. My bartender mentioned that she moved in from Bangkok earlier that year and was a roomate to some of the other bartenders. She pointed out her roommate and openly told me that she just had the operation to become a true lady-boy and I really could not tell the difference from across the bar. I stupidly asked if she was also a lady-boy and she stated “nope – all real here”. Sort of makes you wonder what is what in Thailand. Glad I am married and do not have to worry about that sort of thing.

One of the coolest things in Thailand was seeing elephants walking along the road on the way to and from the ZF plant. Unfortunately I was never ready with the camera but maybe one day Katie and I can travel to Thailand and get to ride them.