Friday

Google meeting room.

I'm sick and stuck in my hotel room, so blog I will. OK, so where was I? Friday, right? I can barely remember it. According to the Itinerary, we went to Google. We took the BTS to get there. They had a pretty cool office, as you would expect. The floor we were on was more of a meeting space for clients; we didn't see the actual staff offices which were one floor below. The main room was a cafe/kitchen for employees, with nice views, some private booths for phone calls, a meeting room that looked exactly like a Bangkok SkyTrain Car, and a casual seating area with screens. We went into a larger meeting room for our presentation, where the screen saver showed the most common current Google Thailand search terms. Our presentation was good, but a little unfocused. One of the students asked a question about censorship. The presenter gave a very surface-level answer and made it very clear he wouldn't say any more on that topic. We would, of course, hate for one of our business hosts to end up in prison for something he said to us!

Central Embassy Open House space.

 We went for lunch on our own at Central Embassy Mall, a very upscale location. Angie, Brenda, and I went with Peter for Dim Sum at Hong Bao, and although it was early and I wasn't too hungry, we ate a lot. Every time we go to eat with Peter, he just orders a bunch of stuff and we gorge ourselves on it. After lunch we still had some free time, and we went to the top floor of the mall to look around a bit - it was a really cool bookstore, "Open House," as described in my "Getting to Bangkok" post. Angie and Brenda found some French pastries while I blogged.

Central Embassy Open House

After lunch we went to Yum! Brands, where we met specifically with the KFC people. There was a Thai woman who was head of Marketing, and an Indian Expat who spoke with us after she had to leave for another meeting. KFC was a great business, which started with a chicken tasting - as if we needed more food! KFC is the number one restaurant brand in Thailand, and has a stronger brand than companies in most other sectors. They have more than double the number of stores than McDonald's, which they do not even view as a competitor. The biggest competitors for out-of-home dining in Thailand are street food and convenience stores like 7/11. KFC opens a new store about every week, and we learned how they hire and train employees and prep for six months for each new store, so customers are guaranteed a quality experience. We learned that KFC does a lot of data analytics to understand their customer base, which includes families with children, working millennials, and students. They spend a lot of time focusing on the experience, offering free Wifi in stores which appeals to the Millennials and students. As one might expect in Thailand, they sell mostly hot and spicy chicken, and very little original recipe. The have an app for online ordering and delivery, and are working toward the delivery standard set by the pizza industry. We really learned a lot at KFC, and several students commented that although they weren't necessarily excited about visiting KFC they really enjoyed it.

Embroidered Muslim Skull Caps

We went back to the hotel for a short break before meeting to go to the nearby Bangkok Art and Culture Center for the art exhibit DISPLACED by IU Alumnus and textile artist Jakkai Siributr. The exhibit included three works: a set of prayer caps and military uniforms embroidered with children's drawings; a series of woven flags inspired by the Rohingya in Myanmar, and a large piece representing the horrible Tak Bai incident in which 78 Thai Muslims were suffocated in police custody in 2004, which marked the beginning of the violence in the south of Thailand. While the large work about Tak Bai was quite symolic and moving, the works were a little difficult to understand until Jakkai spoke and shared the stories behind the pieces. It was a wonderful cultural experience, and we were excited to learn that he will be visiting Bloomington in October, where some of his work will be on display at the Mathers Museum.

Memorial to the 78 suffocated Thai Muslims.

I would have enjoyed exploring the BACC more - it looked pretty interesting - but we were exhausted and they place seemed to  be closing down by this time in the evening. Angie, Brenda, and I walked back to the hotel through the MBK Center, and we decided to find some dinner there. I wasn't super hungry, but I figured I should eat something. We went to the food court, where my first choice food vendor was laready closed. We finally found some Middle Eastern food, so we got some kebab, hummus, and naan. I got a Chang beer to wash it down, and I wasn't impressed. As I said, we were exhausted, and I don't think we were thinking or communicating clearly. We ended up having what turned out to be a way-too-involved, confusing, and frustrating conversation about tipping. We finally resolved it about the time we finished eating, paid the cashiers for the meal, walked back to the hotel, and went to bed.