First Impressions

This morning, the bowls I purchased in the market were wrapped in a school child's corrected homework assignment. Yesterday, downtown, we navigated a five floor electronics mall with American music blaring and women dressed in chiffon hawking high definition television sets. We stopped to make merit at one of Bangkok's most famous shrines, where tourists watch from the cafe high above through the windows of the Hyatt Hotel. This is the Bangkok where I have landed. Later today, I will join Karyn, my colleague from TTAG, to have lunch with a international women's advocate from Washington, and perhaps stop by the demonstrations against the Prime Minister, which are expected to draw 200,000 (though perhaps less, for with the furor rising about the financial deals he made to bring wealth to his family, just yesterday, he agreed to call new elections.)

I am learning the Skytrain system, one of the only ways to cut through the choking traffic which everyone told me about, but which is truly indescribable. I'm tracing the water taxi routes from the trains to the places I want to go -- anything to stay out of the traffic. Yet, there are large American cars everywhere -- down tiny back alleyways, parked in the markets -- a symbol of an increasingly affluent (or debt ridden, depending on who you ask) middle class.

I am wandering the wonderful market down the block from my apartment, and trying to make informed decisions about what is safe to eat and what is not. There is food everywhere -- literally everywhere -- with vendors set up along every street and roadway. What costs 60 baht ($1.50) in the air-conditioned restaurant might cost 30 baht on the street -- and everyone, including Westerners seems to eat from almost everywhere. Karyn is educating me on her strategy -- foods boiled and kept on ice okay, foods out in the 100 degree heat without any refrigeration probably not.

And so I've spent my first two days in Bangkok -- a place which, on first impressions, I already love.

It's a Small World After All

I've not left New York yet, but already I've met all kinds of people willing to share their expertise to assist me in my assignment at Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group (TTAG). Everyone from casual acquaintances to people who I've known for many years have recommended people to contact. I am amazed at how many people have a connection to people who have lived or worked in Thailand or Southeast Asia. This week, an e-mail from a local harm reduction expert linked me to a man in Australia who has spent years setting up programs in Asia. A chance encounter with a friend at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement last spring has reaped wonderful connections to the AIDS Institute here in New York, and to resources to share with those overseas. (to say nothing of great restaurant recommendations!!) A leadership development training program for PLWHA I was researching at TTAG's request circled me back to people I've known for many years.

There are many things striking about this experience. The world is infinitely smaller, yes, but there's a certain irony that it's taken a volunteer assignment in Thailand for me to discover the resources in my professional network here in New York. A reflection of how busy we've all become? Or how comparmentalized? I've been out of HIV prevention work for nearly fifteen years, and while I've been lucky to have broad networks, they've been outside of the world of HIV prevention. That it's taken new relationships with people on the other side of the world to re-connect these ties is also, however, a reflection of the global ties that now exist to disseminate knowledge, and how powerful they have become. It's clear already that my experience in Thailand will build as many new relationships here at home, as it will overseas. Now that's a small world!!