Where to begin???

I landed at BKK around 6:30 am and it took about 45 minutes to walk through the terminal and get through customs. Even though I sprinted through IAD and barely made my flight, my bag made it and was sitting there in the baggage claim belt.
I went out through the terminal and found the shuttle service to the Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport hotel and about 10 minutes later I was checking in.

I found the office where Michael was working, and after chatting with him for a few minutes, we decided to go get breakfast at the hotel Buffet. The breakfast buffets in the hotels I have worked at in Asia have been spectacular. I never eat breakfast in the states, but over here, it is a treat not to be missed! I will try and get a picture later this week.

Our AV vendor Kenny Li was already here at the hotel and after breakfast, we met up and got the gear loaded in, and started to set up the Monitor meeting.
Kenny is such a pleasure to work with. He is such a professional, and totally gets it. Steve arrived around 12:30 and after he got cleaned up, we walked through the ballroom and the monitor room. Everything was golden, so we hopped in a cab and went out to explore.



Steve is only here for 2 days, so, we went right to MBK shopping center and started looking for stuff for his family.
The shopping center at MBK is really like nothing you see in America, and we were just amazed at the enormity of it all.




After we got tired of walking around MBK, which, we only saw about 10 percent of, we hopped in a Tuk Tuk, and the driver took off. After about 20 feet, he got flagged over by a local cop. The cop reached in and took the key out of the ignition, and Steve and I were wondering what was happening. We watched the Tuk Tuk driver pay off the cop and away we went, rocketing through the city risking life and limb but laughing all the way.




The driver dropped us off at the night market, and we got there a little early. So, we went across the street to the Happy Beer Garden, and sat right at the sidewalk, had a cold Singha beer and watched the madness go by in front of us.
Then we went into the night market and started bargaining for watches, Bags, Lighters, and Silk clothing. It was a lot of fun and we did pretty well.

Then it started a torrential downpour and we hot footed it back to the Happy Beer Garden to get out of the rain.



After a while, we went back into the market to do a little more shopping and then hopped back in a cab to get to the Hotel.
It took about 40 minutes in the rain to get back and I dozed off probably about 4 times.
Back at the hotel safe and sound, and asleep about 15 minutes later.

I woke up around 2:00 am and was awake for about an hour. I was able to fall back to sleep and then woke up at 6:00 am or so.
Steve and I had breakfast at the buffet again, and kicked off the monitor meeting..... oh yeah, we are actually here to do some work.
Now, we are setting up the general session room and hope to finish around 5 or so and jump back into the city for another evening of exploration.