How did I get an invitation you ask? Well, it’s all about who you know! I ran into some Thais that I had met by introduction through other friends. They were quite impressed that in my short three weeks here, that I wound up getting invited to an event like ELLE Bangkok Fashion Week 2006.
Actually, I was the guest of a one Blue Satittammanoon, who works for Sony Thailand – Artist & Repertoire Executive. I’m not quite sure what he does exactly, but he’s a friend of a friend in Seattle and has lived in NY, SF and Vancouver. So he’s quite the international guy and quite well connected to all the hottest events in BKK. All of the shows took place at Central World Plaza, just one Sky Train stop from the one I usually use. Here are a couple pictures for your enjoyment:
View of Ratchaprasong Road from the Grand Hyatt Erawan, kitty-corner from Central World Plaza and home to one of the most revered Hindu shrines in all of BKK. I shall have to dedicate a separate entry to it another time.
A view of the plaza outside of Central World Plaza when it is not full of people and stages like it was tonight.
Anyway, there were models, producers, television and movie stars walking around all over the place! Funny enough, they look very much like normal people in real life…and much smaller in person too! If anything, I saw going to this event (aside from being a blast) as an exercise in networking and getting introduced to people who are part of the BKK hi-so (high society). I’m hoping that some of these younger individuals will lead to an introduction to their parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. who are the executives for some of Thailand’s leading companies.
BKK society is a network of relationships that can be navigated, but are monitored by various “gates” you have to gain access to. The only way to get through these gates is to be the guest of somebody who already has access. I imagine this is very similar to the business world back home, but it seems that Thais are really very willing to introduce you to just about anybody you ask to be introduced to. I’m just doing my best to meet as many people as I can so I can tell them what I’m doing in Thailand. They always ask me anyway, after the question I hear most often: “Where are you from?” I’m always quick to ask them all about what they do and what their background is. When I tell them I’m from the States, they always say oh! I lived in…and then they proceed to name a variety of cities in the US and oftentimes, which American University they attended. One pattern that I’m seeing in all the young, up and comings in BKK is that they’re all Western educated individuals and often times, of mixed heritage as well. One of Blue’s friends, Irene, is half-Swedish and half-Thai. She has lived in Stockholm for about as long as she’s lived in Thailand. So when I asked her where “home” is, she had a bit of a hard time deciding which one felt more like home. Although she did say that she didn’t want to be in Sweden at the moment.
After the show, there was an “After Party.” Those of you who know me best know that I’m not much of a drinker and I don’t smoke, so I was quite ready to leave after the show. However, to have done so would have been counterproductive to the whole point of going. The show was the objective, yes, but the important part is to see and be seen. Anyway, I could never understand how everyone can just hang around forever until tonight. After being offered a drink for the fifth time, I finally relented and said ok. My choices were a Heineken or blended Kahlua; neither of which sounded very good and the fact that I’m not really a big fan of beer made me accept the Heineken with a little bit of reservation. I could do this, I thought. Gulp. Yeah, that’s not so bad, I could probably learn to like beer, seeing as how food and alcohol seems to be the common denominator in all social gatherings I’ve been invited to so far.
And then the buzz hit. All of a sudden, my desire to leave was but a distant memory. Yes, I’m quite the lightweight – I wasn’t even half finished with my first bottle! Anyway, the point is that all of sudden, it hit me how everyone just sort of sits or stands around – they’re all buzzed! I came out pretty proud that I was able to finish my first bottle of beer but declined to join Blue and some of his friends when they decided they weren’t done partying yet (it was close to 1am) and were going to head off to Silom, so I bade them goodnight and headed home ~
No comments:
Post a Comment