From October 31 to November 12, three representatives from Williston Northampton School—Head of School Robert W. Hill III, Director of Alumni Relations Jeff Pilgrim, and Assistant Head of School for International Recruitment and Legacy Development Ann Pickrell—traveled to Asia to meet with parents, prospective students, and alumni. During their trip they visited Thailand, China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. The following is Mr. Pilgrim’s account of his visit, condensed and edited for space.

Friday, October 31

So the trip really started off with a bang! Flights were cancelled and then delayed “due to mechanical issues”. The flight was uneventful, although a little bumpy at the end. At the hotel, we get off the elevator only to discover that our rooms are as far away as possible at the other end of the hotel. Perfect!

Saturday, November 1

Flight was delayed an hour when they couldn’t get the door shut, but other than that, the flight was great.

Sunday, November 2

Got through Customs with no issues and to the hotel with 30 minutes to go before dinner with Alex Park ’81 and Mr. Lee. When I went down to the lobby I bumped into a friend of mine from Emma Willard who had taken over international recruitment when I left Emma. She was off to Thailand, then Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Alex and I went to a Korean barbeque restaurant owned by the golfer Grace Park, which I had been to before. Alex’s son Justin is working on rehabbing his knee and is hoping to play basketball this winter. For the Korean alumni, I gave Alex a Williston banner which he will bring to both the alumni event and the parent event. Given the jet lag, we called it a night early and I crashed.

Monday, November 3

This evening was the alumni event, which Alex Park put together. The dinner was at Chavit Cuisine, a brand new waterfront restaurant that is right across the Han River from Alex’s home. One of the things I love is seeing how alumni have matured since their time at Williston. Case in point: Ryan Kim ’06. Ryan followed in the footsteps of his sister Clare ’04. Clare was a hard worker and outstanding dancer. When she returned to Seoul she started up two beauty-related companies. After Williston, Ryan went to Purdue and, after working for a month or so as an intern for Alex Park, he is now working in investment banking. He has certainly grown up and was really fun to talk to. He stays in touch with Wookie Kim, who went to Purdue with him.

Heidi Kim ’97 was there. Heidi works for GEA Middle East, a company based out of Dubai. Heidi was only at Williston for her senior year, but loved her time there and keeps in touch with people like Keun Huh ’94. Also in attendance was Woo Sung “Kevin” Jung ’10. Kevin just finished his military service this past summer and is now back at school in Seoul. Kevin is a really friendly, outgoing guy who is well-connected with the other Korean alumni.

The final two members of the dinner were Ben Ko ’12 and TJ Kim ’13. Ben is 14 months into his military service. His stories of military training crack me up. TJ is the younger brother of DanBi Kim ’04 who I will hopefully see in Hong Kong. Towards the end of the evening, I had everyone pull out their phones and we walked them through downloading EverTrue and then Bob gave a quick talk about the Surface and the new Science Center project.

Tuesday, November 4

I had lunch with JuWon Park ’08 who was a former advisee of mine. JuWon was going to go to grad school in NYC for her masters in Art History this fall but decided to delay for another year so as to spend more time in Seoul. She is working as a consultant doing translations of her mother’s art history book into English. Mint and Bank Panupattanapong are coming to visit her from Thailand. JuWon keeps in touch with a number of other Williston alumni, including DanBi Kim ’08 and Amy Cha ’08.

The Seoul Korean Parents dinner was a nice affair (although I slept through my alarm beforehand). The event was hosted by Min Joo “MJ” Lee. We had a traditional Korean meal with soju (Korean fermented rice wine). MJ is a station manager for SBS (akin to our CBS or NBC). Prior to that, he was in the field doing reporting all over the world in hot spots like Iraq and Pakistan.

Wednesday, November 5

I had lunch with Ben ’01 and Howard ’99 Wang. Howard was trained as an architect at Syracuse. Three years ago, he founded his own firm (Desfa) and two years ago, Ben moved to Shanghai to work with him. They just moved into a new building about four months ago as their business is rapidly expanding. In addition to the design wing of the business, they just added a construction department. They are currently working on about 10 projects in Shanghai, Istanbul, Beijing and other places. They do both residential and commercial design. Both played basketball at Williston. I talked with Howard and Ben about maybe coming back to do a presentation on architecture during the 175th. If they have the time, both were interested.

After I got back to the hotel, I met up with Bob and Eric and we went to Yuyuan Gardens where we did a little shopping and ate some street food. The steamed pork dumplings were to die for! So good that Eric went back for a second helping! I couldn’t convince Bob to try the baby pigeon or the grilled squid though.

Thursday, November 6

Bob and I flew to Hanoi Vietnam in the early afternoon. We were surprised to be picked up by Rich Sherwood. Rich is the top educational consultant in all of Vietnam and has placed over 300 Vietnamese students into over 100 different boarding schools. Rich and his wife, Hoan, had Bob and I over to their new home for dinner, a gorgeous home overlooking one of the many manmade lakes in Hanoi.

Friday, November 7

I got to Rich’s office about 9:00 a.m. and did a series of five interviews (all boys) for the Admissions Office. While I was interviewing, Bob went to tour the Hanoi Hilton, the POW camp that has been turned into a museum in Hanoi. This is where John McClain was imprisoned. After I got done, Bob and I went down into the Old Quarter to do some shopping for his family and to experience crossing a Vietnamese road during the day. There are scooters, cars, and bicycles going every which way and you just have to make up your mind and go. Those who hesitate are run over! Once you get the hang of it, there is a ebb and flow to the traffic and a rhythm but it can be scary at first so Bob chose to hang by my far shoulder…so I’d get hit first! Take one for the team!

In the evening we had a parent dinner and Hoan Sherwood was also there to act as an interpreter for the parents. We had a nice surprise when Dat Le ’11 showed up unexpectedly. He is currently at Rochester Institute studying mechanical engineering. In addition to Dat, we had six other families attend, including Long Nguyen’s mother.

Following dinner, we went back to Rich’s home where he was entertaining reps from The George School and Governor’s Academy.

Saturday, November 10

Flew into Bangkok! Dang is it hot! Once we got settled, we had dinner with the Wanglee clan. Vuttichai ’65 arranged for a dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant and invited everyone. Thamnoon Wanglee ’58 could not make it as he was in Japan on business. In addition to Vuttichai, Suchart ’56, Chalant ’72 and Sabaitip ’70 were there as well as Khem Wanglee ‘94, Kaet Wanglee ‘98, Pun Wanglee ‘97 and Vuttiphol Wanglee ’95.

Sunday, November 9

I took Bob to the Bangkok Weekend Market, which is the largest outdoor market in the world with over 1,000 booths crammed into a very small space. Not the place to be if you are claustrophobic! Due to the crowds and the heat, we stayed about an hour (time enough to grab a few gifts for people) and then headed back to the hotel.

Bob and I had dinner with Whitney Foard Small ’79, trustee, and we tried “authentic Thai molecular food” restaurant. I thought the food was excellent. Whitney is very well-versed on Asian culture and current events and spent a lot of time talking with Bob about the political climate of Thailand. She speaks fluent Mandarin as well as Thai. Whitney is about to embark on a new project helping various companies with their branding and advertisement needs.

Monday, November 10

Whitney, Peter Higgins ’06 and Pow Kraisithsirin ’06 co-hosted a reception at the W Hotel in Bangkok, which featured a personal bartender to whip up their signature cocktail. We had several admission candidates and their families present. Vuttichai put in an appearance along with Khem, Kaet and Pun. Pow’s sisters Sarin ’93 and Siliwan “Pip” ’95 were also there as was Pint Pundarick ’06, Kan Sirirungsi ’04 and Wan Chantavilasvong ’07. Kan just started her own energy drink company and they have been marketing through Bangkok. Pint was a golfer on one of Ann Pickrell’s first golf teams. I was excited to see Chaiyapong “Pong” Vechamanamontein ’79 who was a teammate of mine on the 1979 Hall of Fame boys’ soccer team. He looked at me and said, “Wow you have really changed! I remember you as being so skinny and with long hair!” Tor Vajrabhaya ’81 was also there along with his wife, Deirdre. Our elder statesman was Charlie Benoit ’60 who is strongly considering coming back for his 55th Reunion this year. At the event, Bob spoke about the school for a bit, we thanked Vuttichai for his continued support and then we had everyone pull out their cell phones and download EverTrue. The event wrapped up at 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 11

The final stop on our whirlwind tour. We got to the hotel in Hong Kong only to find out our rooms were not available. I jokingly said, “That’s okay, we would be happy if you just upgraded us to suites!” and they did! There is a TV embedded in the mirror in the bathroom so you can take a hot bath and watch TV! I have to get that for home!

The dinner was held at a restaurant in Kowloon, so Bob and I walked over from our hotel. Miranda Chan and Kevin Law (Parents of Eason ’17) were the hosts. Bob sat at one table and I sat at the other and we actually ended up with a larger gathering than last year. We did ask all the alums to pull out their phones and download EverTrue.

Ronald Chan ’01 was there. Ronald works for the Hong Kong government. Scarlett Lai ’98 was there. Scarlett is an English teacher at a primary school in Kowloon. Scarlett came with Melissa Yuen ’98 who is still working for eBay. Roy Yung was also present. Roy’s sister, Vivian, is working at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Zoe Lai ’13 and Athena Yeung ’13 were our youngest alumni present. Both are going to university in Hong Kong and both were very excited to be there. Lillian Guth ’05 was there. She had attended our middle school as a day student from Northampton. Lillian is in Hong Kong getting her masters in translation with a focus on fashion. Michael Ahn ’86 also made an appearance at the last moment. The best surprise for me was the appearance of Didi Ng ’03. Didi (who goes by Dee now) and her sister Sanny ’02 were among two of my favorite interviewees. Didi just moved back to Hong Kong and works in finance. She was so excited to see some friends and to make connections with other alumni! Also in attendance were Rebecca Li (mother of Fiona Li ’15), the parents of Zachary Robbins, Debby Wong (mother of Anthony Leung), and John Chen and his wife (parents of Serena). Overall, it was a really good way to finish off the trip.

Wednesday, November 12

No issues on my end with my flights home but I gather Bob had a journey from hell between delayed flights, a low grade fever, lost luggage, and pulling an OJ Simpson and running through the Beijing airport desperately seeking directions from anyone who could speak English.