Conference in Bangkok - 2 April 2008

We all got up early, had breakfast and were raring to go! After all, it is the first day and we all certainly had lots of energy. Most of us knew that the Nasional Science Museum (NSM), where the conference was held, was some distance away by I reckon we weren't prepared for the long drive! It took close to an hour, during which we lost quite a bit of momentum. Eventually, we arrived and thankfully there was coffee to help perk us up!

Of course, being the first day of the conference there was an opening ceremony.. nothing fancy, just the customary speeches. The pix below is of our CEO, who's also the President ASPAC, giving her address. With all the formalities out of the way, it was on to 2 keynote lectures before heading for lunch.. a yummy lunch.. one that we had to be very careful with for fear that we would be nodding of during the afternoon session!
Fred's presentation
Parellel sessions ran in the afternoon and, of course, I was with Fred all time as his presentation was due just before the tea break (marking the mid-way point of the afternoon session). Despite realising, horror of all horrors, that the wrong presentation was being projected, Fred recovered well and delivered his presentation with ease. I, on the other hand, was a bit of a train wreck at first but as he eased thru' the prez, I was fine too and eventually (after prompting from another colleague!) managed to take a few shots of Fred in action

After all the session were done, we managed to have a look-see around at the special exhibition called "Thai Traditional Technology". Pictured above is Fred getting an explanation about cotton and got to watch the lady spin the cotton into thread. There was also a tradional Thai 'band'..
We were later told to gather ouside they building for a group photo, during which I managed to get these shots of the unusual shape of the NSM building.

Again, you can't really see much in group photos but I was there somewhere in the back row.

After the shot, we all walked over to the nearby Information Technology Museum where we watched a specially staged presentation and later took a tour of the museum. Yes, by this time most of us "eat-around-the-clock-Malaysian" were already getting hungry.. Finally, it was DINNER time! As we entered into the dinner hall we were each presented with the customary Thai 'wrist garland', made of jasmines and orchids.

The MCs for the night were also NSM staff - talk about multi tasking! Dinner was finally served and it was worth the wait - it was yumminess!! Wwe were also entertained by a medley of traditional Thai dances as we ate..

NO.. it wasn't just about stuffing my face.. and YES, I did take these pix myself, thank you!
A big "Thank You" to the team from NSM who made sure we were all well taken care of! Dinner ended about 9.00pm and we all made a beeline for the buses already waiting to take us on our long journey back to the hotel. I'll tell you this much, after a long day and full bellies, practically the whole bus was nodding off! I was glad to be back at the hotel and desperately wanted a shower. Some of my colleagues still had the strength to go for a walk to the nearby mall. It was straight to bed for me, man!