Last blog of ambassador Kees Rade (31)

Dear compatriots,

By the time you read this I will have already left Bangkok. After three and a half years, our placement here has come to an end, where I had the honor and pleasure of representing the Netherlands in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

This last month was of course dominated by our departure. Highlights were the official visits associated with such a departure. First of all HM King Rama X, who together with HM the Queen received my wife and me for a farewell audience. Always a special event. Collected from the palace in a nice old Mercedes, and escorted by a motorcycle cop who had no trouble guiding us through the sparse traffic. At the beginning of our conversation I was able to present the King with a special gift: a painted elephant from the Elephant Parade, specially produced for this occasion. This NGO from Chiang Mai, founded by the Dutch, tries to generate income to care for injured or neglected elephants. They make elephants in different sizes, which are painted very delicately. They are sold all over the world, including at Schiphol. If you are in Chiang Mai I can highly recommend a visit to the Elephant Parade!

We had ordered an elephant with the old and new Bangkok on one side, and a mixture of old and new windmills in a Dutch landscape on the other. The end product was beautiful, and the royal couple took more than the usual interest in this gift.

In addition, farewell visits to Prime Minister Prayut and Minister of Foreign Affairs Don. The conversation with the former in particular provided a good picture of the breadth of our bilateral relations. From our cooperation in the water and agriculture sector, through the many climate-related activities that we organized as an embassy together with Thai counterparts, to a few individual bilateral files, these were interesting conversations in which PM Prayut in particular turned out to be well aware of what was going on in this area. moment between the two countries.

Of course, the Covid pandemic was also discussed. Against the background of ever-increasing contamination figures, it was good to hear that Prayut expects, based on data from his medical experts, that the situation should slowly improve in 4 to 6 weeks. The vaccination campaign was also discussed extensively. When asked, Prayut explicitly stated that foreigners living in Thailand should be treated equally as Thai citizens. In doing so, he confirmed the similar message that was communicated to all medical institutions in a letter from the Ministry of Health a few days ago. It seems that the repeated delivery of this message by the diplomatic community has had an effect. This probably does not mean that there will be no discrimination against foreigners anywhere. It is therefore advisable to take the aforementioned letter, which can also be found on the Facebook page of the embassy, ​​with you to the vaccination procedure. And other good news on the vaccination front is that our dynamic Chamber of Commerce NTCC has already managed to obtain fifty vaccines a few times, which could help a number of compatriots. In Bangkok, but traveling to get vaccinated is an accepted exception to come to Bangkok. We hope that this channel will continue to exist in the future! And in the meantime, I wish you all strength in getting through this difficult and uncertain time.

And yes, leaving a post is also a good time to look back. I will soon meet my brother and my sister again, and then the inevitable question will arise: what did you think of it? A short answer is of course not possible. Moreover, I also have to be careful not to let the picture be determined too much by Covid, after all, that is a temporary factor. I will certainly miss Bangkok, our beautiful compound, the impressive high-rise buildings, and the teeming daily life with the occasional delicious smells of Thai street food. But it is also a city where, in all the time I have been here, it has not been possible to make Wireless Road, on which the embassy is located, actually wireless, in other words to lay the electricity cables underground. Been announced for years, but it doesn't seem to work. And so there are some more plans that just don't come out of the paint. On the other hand, impressive projects such as the new station and Iconsiam are being completed. Perhaps this mixed image is what makes the city so fascinating.

During our stay we certainly got excited about traveling in Thailand. Extremely easy by car, and after a few hours drive from Bangkok also in beautiful nature. The national parks were our favorite destinations, but also just staying at the coast for a few days was always very relaxing.

Of course there is much more to say about politics, the economy, the food, the people, but there is not enough room for that. Let me end with a few words about the Dutch community. I have met many Dutch people, in different parts of the country, during company visits, consular office hours, at meetings organized by NVTs, and of course at the residence, during coffee mornings, lunches and receptions, and on the occasion of King's Day events. I have always experienced this contact as very pleasant. Many beautiful life stories, which you will not soon hear elsewhere. And that certainly also applies to the Dutch communities in Cambodia and Laos, which I was able to meet thanks to the efforts of our highly valued Honorary Consuls.
I also really enjoyed writing this blog. A bit of a one-sided conversation, but I hope I've been able to provide a little insight into what such a Dutch ambassador does every month.

And now Amsterdam! It will take some getting used to not being in a fixed work rhythm anymore. But as many of you also know from your own experience, it is also a time with completely new possibilities. I'm certainly looking forward to that, although if I walk past a Thai restaurant in 020, there will also be some melancholy again...

Regards,

Keith Rade