One day before my departure, there was news of five major shopping malls closed due to road closure because of the anti-government protest.
It's not new to hear of political unrest in Bangkok. I've encountered once a few years back when a bomb exploded in Silom area the very night I touched down.
Based on the news, the protest seemed quite serious with police firing rubber bullets and tear gases at protestors toppling barriers to occupy government's offices in a bid to cripple its operations.
Many countries have issued travel warnings and there were reports of loss of 300,000 tourist arrivals and low occupancy rates at Khao San Road, the mecca for backpackers.
But Bangkok is such a big city. If you do some research, you will find that the protest areas are quite far off from the main tourist belts. Anyway, to be on the safe side, I made alternative plans in case the places we wanted to visit are affected by the protest. I'm not gonna let the protest affect my plan.
Everything was fine for me during my trip. Into my seventh day of my trip, I saw the protest parading from the main road of Siam Paragon turning away at the cross junction at the MBK shopping center.
I quickly got up to the skytrain link bridge and watched the protestors went by.
It's almost like a carnival. The protestors are all wearing things in the colors of their flag - red, white and blue. There's the head-band with two ears in the shape of love, spectacle frame in shape of love, wrist band, landyard with whistle, tee-shirts.
They were all whistling, clapping, shouting commands in unison, cheering as their leaders spoke through the amplifiers. Free food and drinks were given out. There were people doing traffic control. Those watching from the bridge were cheering the protestors, whistling and waving to them. In fact, there were foreigners who looked very much like tourists spotted walking along with the protestors.
I was rather moved and touched to experience this. Everyone are so united with one common goal. They were all so enthusiastic and passionate about what they are fighting for.
What if your staff show the kind of team spirit, enthusiasm and passion displayed by these protestors?