Hello Old Friend

Look who I found after 18 years! Yes, 18 years, my dears. We haven't seen each other since high school graduation (now, tic-tic-tap, calculate age, hahaha). 

Clockwise from left: Maris, Sharon, Rodith and me
Photo credits to Maris

It was a nice surprise to finally catch up with Rodith during the time that I attended the company's advisory event last August 3-5, 2015. The company held it last year in Penang, Malaysia (Hotel Equatorial) and this year in Bangkok (a good venue in Shangri-la)

With us in the catch-up dinner photo were Maris (my fellow manager) and Sharon (Rodith's co-teacher). Dinner was in a Thai restaurant in Central World. Instructions were specific to manage the spicy expectations (especially mine): one chili only ;) I was so entertained by Rodith's take on the local language as she explained our orders. She sounded authentically Thai! She said she was winging it but I highly doubt it.

After indulging us in our high-school reminiscing, Sharon had to call it an early night. The rest of us headed to the Red Sky rooftop bar for some mock-tails.  There were very few people when we got there (people started pouring in by 9:00 pm yet the place didn't seem crowded even then). Most of the servers were Filipinos (yeah, that familiar warm smile). Filipinos usually look much like Thais, that I think we blend in seamlessly.

It was relaxing up there in the rooftop bar. The 360-degree open-air view of the Bangkok skyline calmed me, and at the same time kept me in awe. Lucky us, we were blessed with good weather as it had been raining in the past days. It literally felt like being on top of the world, in a good carefree way (enter 'happy dance' music). We tried to identify the highways and buildings from our vantage point but failed miserably, lol. I hope I was able to take pictures (we do not belong to the capture-every-moment generation, lol) but we were too busy catching up and opining on each other's single-hood  (Maris, exempted since she's happily married):)

Afterwards, we opted to continue the night cap over Bailey's and mangosteen, at Rodith's place. Even with apologies that she had not tidied up, every pin seemed to be in its place. Nothing much had changed, huh; she's still as OC as ever. Peace! I am OC, too. 

It was already 1:00 am when we decided to hug "goodbye, see you soon" and reached our hotel about 30 minutes later. We had such a lovely time. Thank you for the hospitality! I'll see you soon, Rodith:)

How about you, dears? Have you caught up with an old friend whom you haven't seen in double-digit years?