Little and Hip: Nina + Bangkok

Back in February I traveled to Thailand to speak at the International Women's Leadership Conference. At the time there were riots and protests all over the place in demand of the government to step down, see this video on BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26236887. I was a bit unsure of whether to go or not, but after consulting with the SmartTraveller Australian website, I decided that the area I was staying in was safe enough, so off I went.

I always feels weird to leave Gregg and the girls at home. And due to the riots I felt very vulnerable without them, not to mention worried. In hindsight, it feels as if I narrowly missed out...first being trapped in the protests on arrival, secondly changing planes on my return in Kuala Lumpur - I hopped on a plane who safely arrived in Adelaide. At the same time MH 370 took off and just vanished! I feel lucky.

Anyhow, on arrival in Bangkok, I hopped into a taxi as tourists were discouraged from using the railway station (this was a red 'danger zone', meaning protest happening there). Dear lord - we were caught in the middle of protests, and a trip that was supposed to take 40 minutes, took over 4 hours! Cars, people, maze hanging low....pretty rattling, but I arrived at my hotel in the end.

Near the airport, caught in traffic, protester coming marching through... Cars were rocked, no windows broken thank god!

Lovely breakfast after a good night's sleep

Day one. Participants from all over the world, here from one of the concurrent sessions; Women in the UN

One of the dinners we went out to, is hard to forget...At the Cabbages & Condoms restaurant EVERYTHING is made out of condoms! As one of the most unique restaurants in Metropolitan Bangkok, the Cabbages and Condoms (C&C) Restaurant has attracted international attention because of raising money for a long running aids prevention project.

Supporting a good cause we headed there for dinner one night. Food was absolutely lovely - here are some highlights:

Yes, that's right - Santa and his reindeer are completely made of condoms!!!

Lampshades made out of condoms!

The woman to the left is ranked amongst the top 10 most powerful women in the UN. In charge of budgets of over $5 billion, capable of mobilizing resources and 100,000 + staff worldwide. Responsible for the coordination of thousands of peacekeepers in conflict zones throughout the world, and leading negotiations for the release of child soldiers in Uganda. Talk about power. It was an amazing experience to meet so many inspiring women!