We got our 12 bags checked and finally made it through customs and security. Next stop, California.

We’re off to the airport for our long trip back. The next update will probably come from the US once we land at LAX. Let’s hope that the trip back is not as problematic as the trip out here was!

Yesterday I did nothing. I woke up at 11:30 and ordered room service. After taking 2 hours to relax and eat, I went to the health club and worked out. Came back and took a shower, then went down to the pool for a few hours. Came back to the room and ordered room service again, took a little nap, and then spent the evening in the hotel lobby listening to live music and drinking Scotch. All in all, not a bad way to wrap up a trip.

Today is mostly packing and working out travel details. We don’t actually leave for the airport until around 3:30 pm since our flight doesn’t leave until 7:30pm. Our flight is about 18 hours to LA California, and we have a 5 hour layover in LA. We leave LA around midnight and have a 5 hour flight back to Chicago, arriving around 5:30am on Monday (Chicago time) if all goes well.

Had I known how awesome the view was going to be I would have brought a camera, but as it turned out all I had was my iPhone, which is no real camera. So, these few crappy photos are what I have (the exterior shot was taken a few days ago with my good camera). Once I get photos from everybody else (after the trip is complete) I’ll have some better ones for sure (and a few that I’m in as well).

It was the perfect evening to celebrate. As bad as these photos look, they actually look much better on Flickr.

Tomorrow morning I’m planning on getting up early (instead of sleeping late again) and going to the convention center to see the last few played on the big screen, as well as take some behind the scenes stills. I’m excited because most of the time I’m still editing and can’t make it to the convention center before the job is over.

I have to edit 6 videos total before the end of the week.

Click on the photo to see a much larger version of it.

I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up today and take a look out my window. What a beautiful view!

Today was a pretty lazy day overall. I woke up at noon, worked out in the health club, showered and went to “breakfast” around 2-3. Walked around the hotel to get the lay of the land here and then went to my room and setup the edit system. I did a little pre-editing to get a few templates ready so that I can knock out the 6 pieces efficiently since time is always of the essence on these jobs. Later I joined everybody at the pool and we had drinks and hung around the hot tub.

I have to say, this might be the most relaxing, and nicest place I’ve ever stayed while working. Being away from home for so many days is not easy, but being at such a nice hotel is such a great city helps make it just a little easier.

We’re staying at the beautiful Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Bangkok. We usually get to stay at pretty nice places, but this is exceptionally good.

The flight was pretty uneventful other then being slightly delayed. We had a nice transport from the airport. It’s not often that 5 people get a full sized 40 person bus for their own.

Break out the computers, it’s nerd time! A little free internet while waiting for our flight to board.

We’re at the airport and checked in (after another hassle over having “too many bags”). Our flight leaves in about an hour or so.

This photo is from a place I visited this afternoon. It was a city from around 1200 AD that was recently discovered and excavated.

While we are here to work, Carole and I don’t really start working until we get to Bangkok, which is late Saturday evening. So we spent the afternoon touring a small village and temple at the top of a mountain here. 

It was a 30 minute drive up the mountain on a narrow road most of the time, and lots of twists and turns. It was at times a little hard on the stomach, but around the time I started to feel sick we arrived. 

The village has a small group of people that make their money by creating clothing and other items that they sell to the tourist. Life up there is clearly very simple, and most notably low stress. People there (and everywhere so far) were very friendly and welcoming, and were more then happy to share details about their life with you. We had a tour guide that would translate for us and them. 

After spending about an hour in the village, we headed back down the mountain and part way down stopped at one of the more famous temples in the area (Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara). While we were then, both Carole and I received a “good luck” bracelet from the temple, and were blessed by a monk. The whole experience at the temple made me more interested in reading about Buddhism. I’ve always been curious, since it seems to be a religion that promotes peace and harmony. 

We got back to the hotel around 6, and I made the big mistake of taking a nap. That is, and 8 hour nap. So I woke up at 2am and was wide awake! We’ll see how far I make it through Friday now before I pass out again. I’m going to try to make it until at least 10pm this time. 

Anyway, there are a few photos here, and more on Flickr. 

We all went back to the airport this morning and within minutes were watching all 19 bags coming down the line. I never thought I would be so excited to see my deodorant.

Today Kalei (one of the producers) along with Dan and John (the two cameramen) are shooting a Lions service project, while Carole and I do some sight seeing. More later!

This will be brief, and I’ll post more photos and details later. But the short story is that although the universe almost seemed to conspire against us making this trip, we are finally here!

As I already indicated, our bags did not make it, and will not until sometime tomorrow. 19 checked bags are all still in LA, but that’s another story for later. I swear this trip would have made a great reality show episode. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race a few times. 

I have just enough time for a quick shower, and then we’re all heading out for some clothes shopping since nobody here has anything except the clothes they’ve been wearing for nearly 2 straight days. It goes without saying, we all smell pretty bad. 

More updates, photos, and a short movie clip from our welcoming part at the airport later tonight (we’re 12 hours ahead, so for you it will be the morning). 

The good news is we made it all the way here. The bad? None of our 19 checked bags did.

Hour 30. We’ve finally reached our destination city of chang mai Thailand. Off to the hotel!

I’m rich! Just converted $200 US to $6,300 Thai bat (pronounced baaht)! This time we have an hour to catch the next flight, so no sprinting through the airport this time. Thank goodness.

Taxing to the gate in Bangkok.