Hi everyone! This is Lauly, sending greetings from humid and warm Bangkok where I am on a reporting trip.

I experienced one of the worst traffic jams I can recall on my way from the airport to the hotel on Tuesday. The trip was supposed to take around 40 minutes but ended up taking an hour and 45 minutes. There were several spells in the bumper-to-bumper traffic where we could only inch forward as I jealously watched motorcyclists zipping by us. I thought about how suppliers had warned me that the traffic situation would be a downside to developing Thailand’s tech manufacturing industry, as it would drag down the efficiency. That might be true.

At one point, I tried to think positively and enjoy watching the blossoming magnolia trees along the road. They reminded me of a small bouquet of chrysanthemums I bought a few days ago at a florist’s shop in Taipei, with beautiful peach and salmon-pink flowers.