The first day

And thus, started our campaign to conquer Bangkok's gaming industry. We were warned of the dangers that may lie ahead. Nevertheless, we weren't too prepared when a lightning almost killed us, but I'll explain that later.

Let me introduce these mighty pioneers:

- Kari "Rokniel" Ahdan, the producer
  Our omniscient producer, all-knowing financier and the master of the sacred art of whipping. This 24 years old handsome (in Ron Jeremy-kind of way) British stallion is the primus motor of our adventure in the vast jungle of game development. He commitment to his work and team mates has actually made him solve team mates' sex lives if it effected on the current project!

- Petri "Pete" "Tuuhl" "Thuul" Ruuskanen, the designer
  Pedo-Pete as we call him, has the ultimate ability to write GDDs in just mere hours. Last time I checked, he wrote 40 pages in couple of hours (of course, beer is his fuel) :D His overwhelming knowledge on Dibidogs is undeniable and you can really see it.

- Ilari "Tebeer" "TeddyBeer" Lähteinen, the programmer
  This metal head started programming as a little child and is one of the most talented programmers I know. I don't know what to say about him... He's a quiet genius. (I actually think that he thinks in binary...)

And lastly
- Miikka "dubious" Rekiaro, the wannabe artist
  Well, what can I say? Of course the most handsome of the bunch!

And the story starts...

We landed in Bangkok in the morning, I guess sometime around 10 AM... The feeling was unbelievable when they opened the back door of the plane and the warm air mass hit us. From that point started the never ending sweating that hasn't stopped and will not stop until we get back to Finland. After we got out of the plane, I literally ran to the closest smoking area so I don't know what happened during that time. (Maybe one of the guys can fill in later.)

We were a bit confused where to go and what to do after getting our baggage back. Suddenly a sharp-dressed man shouted at us and offered a ride. We weren't sure should we trust this guy but he was convincing and we ordered a ride from the BKK airport to our apartment in Rangsit. We waited maybe 10 mins feeling a bit uneasy if we got actually scammed... But then a lady told us to follow her to the taxi. The car was a minivan with a nice leather interior. We took off and got a nice joyride through BKK in the car listening to Boney M on full volume and subwoofers kicking our asses with the bass! I have to admit, it was quite interesting ride. The taxi drove 140km/h and skipped lanes like nothing. It's a weird thing that we didn't see any accidents even though the scooters and bikes tried to squeeze through every possible gap between cars (but Kari said he saw a dog getting chopped into pieces by some cook...). After about an hour and about 5 calls to Mr. Nopawong, we finally managed to get to our apartment in one piece.

The apartment looked nice. Everything was in good shape. We even laughed how luxurious our life is in Thailand, I guess not many students have a place as nice as ours. :D After putting our baggage into our rooms, we went to eat some Thai food. On the way there, a lightning struck into a pole next to us! It was the loudest bang by a lightning I've ever heard and there were also sparks flying (let's hope this isn't an omen)... We ate at a Thai restaurant and it was good and cheap! My dish cost 40 baht (about 1 euro). I'm not so adventurous so I just ate a plateful of good old fried chicken and fried rice. Ilari ordered some kind of noodles that looked to me more like tentacles... :P After the lunch, we went to the university to see some of the facilities (for example motion capture studio and edit room...). After that, we headed back to our place.

In couple of hours, Mr. Nopawong gave us a ride to Futurepark. It's a shopping mall complex, a huge one to be accurate. There we used about 6000 baht to some basic stuff we could need for the first days in Thailand. And of course, we had to eat, so we went to a steak house called Sizzler and had a good dinner.

Now, a couple of hours later, I'm sitting on my bed, writing this blog (while everyone else is asleep). I should get up at 8.30 AM so that we'd get a tour at the university and the campus. And of course, we're throwing a party in the evening. Actually, we're not throwing it, but someone else is throwing it at our place! (I heard about this in the plane). So, I guess tomorrow will be a busy day. Now I'll have a little shut-eye and get back to you probably tomorrow. See ya and good night!

Soundtrack for the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxlCsVKkvY