web-goddess

I headed off earlier this week to Bangkok, Thailand to attend the first ever AWS APJ Community Summit. This event brought together 130 AWS Heroes, Community Builders, and User Group leaders for two days of learning, sharing, and networking.

It was about a 10 hour flight for me from Munich straight to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.

I found a couple of my coworkers in the airport – Rohini and Mark! We agreed to carpool to the hotel together.

Unbeknownst to us, we were about to hit rush hour traffic so it took us more than an hour to get to the hotel. I had a great first view of the city though.

The event was being held at the Anantara Siam Hotel Bangkok, and wow, it did not disappoint. Rohini and I were invited to sit down and have some tea while they checked us in.

My room was lovely! I felt very welcomed. 🙂

It felt odd to be taking a trip without the Snook! I sent him a selfie to show him I’d arrived safely.

I was pretty hungry, so I headed downstairs to have dinner with my colleague Ridhima.

To my delight, we ran into a crowd of AWS Community folks from Australia and New Zealand! A few of them were familiar faces to me, but others I was meeting for the first time. For most of them, this was the first overseas trip since Covid.

The next morning, I headed out on a city tour with the full contingent of Aussies and Kiwis. (Because of their long travel time, the Antipodeans all arrived a day early.) I’m sitting with my colleague Jason, who runs the Community Builders program.

Our first destination was the Grand Palace, the residence of the kings of Siam (and later Thailand) for hundreds of years. We parked some way away and then walked over with our local guide.

We entered the Palace complex, and it was already turning into a brutally hot day.

We walked past amazing murals showing scenes from Thai history and the Buddhist religion.

The Palace was very opulent and beautiful. I loved the colourful statues.

The Palace complex also contains Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The gold tower here is the Phra Si Rattana Chedi.

You might notice in the photos that several of us are wearing questionable skirts and trousers. This is because the Temple is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Thailand, and having bare legs is not allowed. I bought a sarong from a local seller to tie around my waist.

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha itself was amazingly beautiful. It’s covered in gold and colourful tiles and precious stones.

You have to take off your shoes to go inside, and no photos are allowed. A crowd of people were sitting on the floor, just having a moment of peaceful contemplation. Many people brought in lotus flowers as offerings. After a short visit, I went for a walk around the outside of the temple.

I ran into my colleague Belinda, who helped organise the tour for us! ❤️

Even the ceiling was elaborately decorated.

We had some time to walk around, so I just wandered on my own, taking photos of beautiful statues and peaceful corners of the Palace complex.

This is a statue of a kinnara, a mythological half human, half bird.

I was starting to feel a bit pink by this point…

…so it was time to break out the sun protection. Behind me is the Phra Thinang Boromphiman, where visiting Heads of State stay when they visit Bangkok.

From the Palace, we walked the short distance to the Chao Phraya River, where we caught a ferry across to the other side.

Me and Belinda again.

That river water did not look very inviting, despite the heat of the day.

Our destination was Wat Arun (“The Temple of Dawn”), one of Bangkok’s most well known landmarks.

The central tower (“prang”) is encrusted with porcelain.

I climbed up a couple levels and walked around, checking out the statues and decorations.

The final part of the tour was a long-tail boat ride along the river. We had to scramble out on the prow to get onboard!

I’m on a boat! And thankfully by this point the sun had gone behind the clouds.

Our guide took us down some of the canals off the river and pointed out landmarks along the way.

At one point, we stopped along the riverbank near a temple. Our guide had a surprise for us, he said. He pulled out a bag of bread rolls, and I thought for a minute he was going to hand out a snack. Then he chucked one of the rolls in the river, and the surface suddenly ERUPTED with giant catfish fighting over the bread. It was one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever seen.

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