Date: 2 January 2002
Roppon Picha (Ae)

Friends,

Here are my opinions why I prefer a hotel for our reunion:

1. The Big Picture: First of all, I love Bodin. Bodin is an ideal place to reflect. However, in my mind I think it is too good for this event. Bodin is the place to reflect on the past. I want this to be an opportunity for us all to get to know everyone as they are "right now," in an adult-meeting atmosphere. Bodin atmosphere may make us want to walk around the school, think back to the past, and reflect with their old friends. When people get their food, find their little corners, and go eat in their little circles of old friends, that's not what the reunion is all about. We don't want people to drift away into separate groups. We want a neutral atmosphere where people can be open. We want one main room, and not the area where everyone gets scattered around.

Again, I love Bodin. But if I want to reflect on my time at Bodin, I would go there alone, or with a couple close friends, and not with 400 people.

2. Getting there and Parking: The hotel will probably be at the heart of Bangkok. It will be a Saturday evening, so there will be traffic. Well, there is always traffic in Bangkok. Holding the event at Bodin or Hotel would yield the same result: it will take you a while to get there. However, everyone will know this location in advance, and will have enough time to figure out how to get there. If we can drive, take a bus, or a skytrain to our offices at 9am in the morning everyday, there is no reason that the traffic would become a problem that night.

There will also be more parking spaces at the hotel than Bodin.

3. Prices: Hotel will probably be more expensive. The higher costs, of course, come with services. We enjoy the reunion and let the hotel staffs worry about the details.

I believe I could keep the price down. I'm not promising anything to you right now. But I have a reason to believe that the costs would be very reasonable and the experience will be worth every Baht you will spend.

4. Food: If held at Bodin, food arrangement may not be ideal. We would not want the food to run out after only half of us have eaten. Empty stomachs never lead to a happy evening.

On the other hand, hotel people do this professionally. They know what problems could come up and how to solve them. They will service us as best as they can, because they want to impress us. Holding the reunion at a hotel will assure us of a near hassle-free dinner, and letting us enjoy the real purpose of the reunion: meeting your friends.

Oh, one more thing about the dinner... most likely, there will be alcohols served.

5. Activities: The hotel can provide a nice sound system, a slide projector, a screen, and any other equipments we may need. We can decorate the room, tables, stage the way we want. There will be games, presentations, awards, live music, singing and maybe dancing. There will be a lot of tables, a lot of people walking around, there will be spills of drinks, food residue, papers on the floor, decorations on stage and walls, tables and chairs all over. In short, there will probably be a mess at the end.

Not many will want to stay late after the event to help clean up. Hold the reunion at a hotel and nobody would have to stay.