from 'mabuhay' to 'sawadee kha'

my first trip to Thailand was in March 1999 during the 4th Philippine Travel & Tourism Golf Classic (Asia-Pacific Series), when its organizers invited me to join the 60-member contingent of golfing executives from the Philippine travel and tourism industry...as part of my duties and responsibilities at Puerto Azul, i get to be sent on official missions to either represent the property, network with industry peers to hopefully get future business, or in most cases, to observe the competition, be it local or international...it was also a de-stressing trip away from my work environment (even for a couple of days) as the invitation came immediately after the rigorous and much more demanding arrangements for the Jimmy Carter Habitat for Humanity Project (6-month meetings with the US Secret Service people and Malacanang's Presidential Security Group notwithstanding, could you imagine how hellish it was DURING the actual 2-week event, particularly the day when 3 philippine presidents - estrada, ramos & aquino - all came and joined mr. carter in the housebuild activities...well this habitat experience require a separate entry as i don't want to digress again...)

the golf classic had 2 legs : 1st leg was held in 2 different golf courses in Pattaya; the 2nd leg in Bangkok, again at 2 different courses...it may have been some twist of fate that i was allowed to join the group even when the invitation came in at the very last minute, because for the 1st leg, we were billeted at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort - a resort complex with 4 hotels and a huge convention center...i've had the most fun during those first 3 days, and we had the opportunity to meet the GM when the resort gave us a welcoming cocktail party... i was also able to see the semblance between Pattaya and the coastal strip of Cavite...

arrival at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya, above

we spent the next 7 days in Bangkok for the 2nd leg, did lots of shopping, sightseeing, and officially met with Thailand-based media people in between the golf activities, for PR purposes...

dinner with travel magazine editors at the Sheraton Grand Hotel, Bangkok

that was March, a good 10-day respite before i plunged back to Puerto Azul and worked on finalizing even the most trivial details with golfing actor Richard Gomez and his group for the 7th Smart Gold-Goma Cup...a couple of weeks after that, we were doing the 4th Puerto Azul International Sports and Music Festival, and then a few more similarly strenuous events that practically drained me to the max...

before the ceremonial tee-off (left); behind the scenes and on a break with friends (right)

it was harrassing all the way through but i was nevertheless in good spirits the whole time...by November of the same year, i joined and started my first day of work at the 1,100-room Royal Cliff Beach Resort back in Thailand (that, my dear reader, was my twisted fate)...