Sadly, it's time to pack up my things and start the long journey home. Although United says my seats aren't "upgradeable," I'm hoping I can sweet-talk the ticket agent in letting my buy an upgrade. I need it.
Anyway, the final day here went well. I think the Internews folks enjoyed themselves, although some were no doubt overwhelmed with information. But, it's a great group who do great work and I'm going to miss them.
Before I pack up the laptop, I'll quickly run through this last day. This morning I again woke at 3 a.m. (refreshed and ready to roll!), so I got some work done. After breakfast (check the Flickr feed!), I took a long walk to do some shopping at the giant tech mall. It is filled with low-cost goodies, like Adobe CS 4 for $5. That's not a typo.
I thought about buying it, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I also almost bought a camera for my wife, and thought about a nice new lens for my DSLR, but I decided to keep my money. Who know what I'd be getting? And forget about returning anything.
Along the way to the mall, I got a slightly better sense of Bangkok and what a gigantic, sprawling city it is. It's also a complete mishmash of seemingly incongruent sights and sounds. The sidewalks are filled with entrepreneurs, from those selling street food, to shoe smiths, to seamstresses. Just behind them are gigantic malls, filled with things to buy — often Western brands. On the streets, brightly colored taxis pay no attention to whatever traffic laws might exist.
Once I was finished looking that knock-off IT goods, I risked life and limb by taking what amounts to a motorized rickshaw back to the hotel. I was already dripping with sweat and didn't need another 30-minute walk in the hot, humid, polluted air.
After lunch, it was time for the presentation. People seemed to be engaged and I had a fun time. We spent most of the time embedding YouTube videos into Google Maps, and then embedding those maps into a blog entry.
Then it was time for a relaxing supper cruise on the river that courses through Bangkok. The breeze and the company was welcome.
But now, it's time to go. Thanks, Bangkok.