coneblog

Posted from the domestic terminal in Bankok Airport: The Reverend and I are still shaking off the jet lag from our Asia trip. You can put an IT guy on a plane and send him to Asia, but you can’t stop him from checking out how technology impacts every day life there. While it is fresh in my mind, I thought I’d record some of my impressions of Asia as it relates to Business Travel and the Technology Sector. I’ll start with the Internet.

The internet is easily available for a traveler in Asia. Every significant airport has internet kiosks or booths that are coin-operated, with pretty good connections. All had floppy drives for file transfer. I carry a Sony Micro Vault 128 meg USB flash drive, and in some cases I couldn’t connect it. I didn’t carry a laptop.

Thailand is pretty aggressive around internet access. Every Thai post office has card-operated internet terminals, meaning you can log in at even the dustiest little stop-overs. The chairs are comfortable, and the speed is pretty good, a bit less that my aDSL connection at home. Plus, many airline departure terminals have multiple free terminals with high-speed access. Who would have thought I could cruise the internet for free while awaiting the departure of Bangkok Air flight 157, the prop job from Bangkok to Koh Samui.

And speaking of Koh Samui – It’s a beautiful Thailand tropic isle, with palm trees, white sand beaches, warm waters, Thai cooking, and friendly people. Much of it is undergoing frenzied construction, however. The place to stay, especially with kids, is Laem Set Inn, a smaller, gracious older property set among the palm trees in the less developed south end.

It is a paradise – took me a good bit of surfing to pick it out on the Internet, but you can check out the large and informative website at http://www.laemset.com/frames.htm – almost as good as a visit. If you go, say Hi to Nat, the Manager, for us, get an air conditioned room (it’s hot), get massage daily at the spa, and don’t miss the snorkeling trip with the long-tail boats, the purple anemones, the giant clams, and three-spot angelfish.

If you are passing through Bangkok, book Suite 3004 in the Peninsula hotel: floor to ceiling wrap around windows 30 floors above the Chao Phraya river. You will need a week to figure out the power drapes and the sound system.

And a huge tip of the PM cap to my friend Bob C. for doing a guest blog fill-in on the last two posts. Bob is right on about measurement, and the need to talk about and use the eraser end of the PM pencil.