Dear Glen; Thanks for all of this information. Do you know if there is an "off-season" for Bangkok ?
Regards Marshall On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 3:48 AM, Glen Zorn <[email protected]> wrote: > On 8/6/2011 3:00 AM, Fred Baker wrote: > > On Aug 5, 2011, at 12:46 AM, Glen Zorn wrote: > > > >> I note that there is an opening on the IETF meeting calendar for an > >> Asian meeting in 2013. Here is a suggestion: > >> > >> Meeting Facilities: > >> http://www.qsncc.com/venue-information/our-facilities.html > >> > >> There are 7 pages of "Official Hotels", starting at about $60/night. > >> > >> Official Hotels: http://www.qsncc.com/visitor/official-hotels.html > >> <gwz.vcf>_______________________________________________ > >> Ietf mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > > > > Thanks for the suggestion. > > > > I find your CC line highly confusing. I changed it. > > And I changed it back, to include the IETF. > > > > > I have a few standard questions. > > Most of which, I imagine, should be answered by the IAOC. > > Where I'm coming from is that, from my perspective, there should be > > someone for whom any meeting is "at home"; it can't help but be a jaunt > for many, but there should be a group of people that is actively posting > drafts, > > commenting on lists, and perhaps even chairing a working group for whom > it's not a jaunt. > > There is no place in the world that is "safe", but we don't need obvious > complications like periodic coups, human trafficking in front of the > hotel, and so on. > > I don't know how to interpret the term "human trafficking" here. Are > you suggesting that there are slave markets in front of the Sheraton > (you might be, depending upon where your "news" comes from)? I suspect, > though, that you are using it as a code word for prostitution. If so, > tell us: did you raise the same objection about Quebec City? > Maastricht? Prague? Seoul? Vancouver? Paris? In fact, prostitution > is legal in 3 of the last 4 cities in which we met and 2 out of the next > 3... > > There are various dietary issues based on health concerns and religious > matters. And oh yes, one of the issues is cost. > > > > Who from the IETF comes from there (Bangkok)? > > Me, for one. But for that matter, who from the IETF comes from Quebec > City? Maastricht? Prague? That hotbed of Internet innovation, Orlando? > > > > > In the photos, I saw no breakout rooms. I imagine they are built as > needed using folding dividers or etc. What can you tell me about those > facilities? > > Ask the folks at the Convention Center; they are quite nice, in my > experience, and helpful. > > > > > Cost is an issue, and costs often trade off. A long and expensive flight > to an expensive hotel > > that is separate from the conference facility and therefore doesn't help > us negotiate conference facility prices, > > and oh by the way is far from a limited set of food options, is > something of a worst case. Finding ways to mitigate those helps. > > You have suggested $60 rooms, which helps. Do any help with the price of > the conference center? How does catering fit? > > Again, these would seem to be questions that the meeting organizers > should ask of the venue managers; I am a member of neither of those groups. > > > The "food" section mentions a food court nearby: tell me about local > markets with fresh healthful food, which some will need specific access to, > > "Fresh" and "healthful" are loaded words which mean different things to > different people; for some if a vegetable isn't wrapped in three layers > of plastic it can't be "healthful"... > > markets or restaurants that cater to kosher and muslim dietary rules, etc? > > My understanding is that "kosher" has nearly as many meanings as there > are rabbis ;-); there are many halal restaurants nearby. > > > > > How is getting an airplane ticket? I went to Cisco Travel's web site with > a view to pricing a round trip ticket to Bangkok, > > Going to Cisco Travel was probably your first mistake ;-). > > determining whether the current unrest > > What "current unrest" would that be? > > affects travel advisories, and so on, and found that the vast majority > of itineraries available to me two weeks from now are sold out. > > Hmm. Popular destination, huh? > > The Hipmunk Agony Index (http://www.hipmunk.com/#!SBA_BKK,Aug20_Aug27) > suggests that one could do worse, but there are relatively few flights > that actually get me there. > > > > BTW, you'll note that, hat tip to folks who complain about long strings > of flights, > > this one for me is SBA->SFO->NRT->BKK, and NRT->BKK is not a jump of a > puddle. > > So, in other words (ignoring the SBA->??? hop which, unless SBA has > grown immensely since my last visit, will exist for just about any > destination outside the Southwestern US), it's one stop for you to > Bangkok. Admittedly the mileage isn't inconsiderable, but in what > universe does that qualify as a "long string of flights"? Bangkok is > one stop from every major airport in the US; there are quite a few > non-stop flights from Europe and, of course, Asia. BTW, THAI Airways > flies non-stop LAX->BKK... > > For me, more or less par for the course, but I guarantee that the folks > who plan meetings will be castigated for picking an out of the way place > if we go there. > > RE:"out of the way", see above. > > A worry: how many companies will choose to send less people as a way to > manage costs? > > A quick spot-check of current prices suggests that tickets to Bangkok > are about $300 more than to Paris at the moment. Is that going to break > the bank? > > > > > The site spoke of "WiFi Internet Areas". We would of course change that. > How well is the building set up to support that? > > What capacity is available to the backbone from there? Same question re > the $60 hotels of which you speak? > > The $60 hotel of which I spoke is the Amari Boulevard (hardly a dump); I > have no idea what their WiFi is like, but again that seems like a > question the organizers should ask the hotel. > > > Note that when the IETF shows up in common business hotels that have > pretty reasonable Internet access, we completely overload that service, > > and as a result we have taken to replacing it while we are there. How > will that fit? > > > > My daughter took her honeymoon in Phuket. > > Sorry to hear that; although the scenery around Phuket is amazing, it's > the last place I would go for a honeymoon (OK, so Las Vegas would be the > _last_ place, but nevertheless). Koh Samui or Krabi would have been far > preferable... > > Several stories related to that are strong advertisements for Thailand. > Some Really Are Not. Great subject in the presence of adult beverages. > > > > But just looking at the web site, it seems like a nice facility, and the > pictures are great. > > > > Apricot was held at the convention center a few years ago and it worked > out quite nicely, I think. In any case, the statement was made during > the administrative plenary that the IAOC was having trouble finding > venues in Asia w/o $300/night hotel price tags; this is a suggestion for > investigation. I suspect that similar results could be had in Kuala > Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila or Phnom Penh (though those _are_ out-of-the-way > ;-). I don't intend to do your job for you, but if you (IAOC) could > come up with a set of specific, detailed questions I would probably be > willing to drop by QSNCC and investigate. > > _______________________________________________ > Ietf mailing list > [email protected] > https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > >
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