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Visual Studio Launch: Bangkok (pre-game edition)

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Sawatdee Khrup!

So I arrived in Thailand for Visual Studio Launch which will be in BecTero Hall here in Bangkok on Tuesday morning (tomorrow as I write this).  I hope to see all of our Thai developers there.  I spent the morning getting ready for a presentation and waiting for the torrential downpour to finally stop.  When it finally stopped, I went and checked out Pan Tip Plaza, the giant IT shopping complex and I wandered around the nearby shopping districts until I couldn't stand the heat anymore.  It is 93 degrees here... and this is the cold season! 

Anyways, let's talk food.  I had a great meal tonight at a place called Benjarong.  They specialize in Thai Royal Cuisine and so I had to check it out.  I got the set menu.  9 courses, $20, and more food than any one person could actually eat.  So anyways, the second course was this amazingly tasty Tom Yum Gung.   Really good stuff, with these giant cloves of garlic and what looked like little green beans floating in it.  I bite into the "green bean".  The world flashes white.  Extreme agony in my lips and tongue.  I am on fire.  I actually yelp.  It's actually a tiny green chili.  A tiny green chili... of DEATH!  No matter what you read in books, in situations like this if there is a glass of ice water in front of you, you are going to drink that glass of ice water.  And of course, the books will be right and this will make it worse.  And now you are really in trouble.

The wait staff notices my distress and (bless their hearts) bring me ice cream to ease my pain.  Remember that this is only course 2 of 9.  Lest any of you think I am some lightweight making a big deal out of nothing, I will tell you that my wife is Thai.  When we dine with my in-laws, my mother in law actually makes 5 different types of fish sauce for putting on each dish to control the spice level.  The pecking order is:

Mama Bear (my mother in law can eat fire.)
Papa Bear (fire with a splash of lime.)
Steve (hot enough to earn the respect of my mother in law)
Sister Bear (my wife, medium)
Brother Bear (my brother in law, a total wuss.)

Anyways, the ice cream did its job and thank god because there was some amazing dishes still to come although my lips are still in a little bit of pain.  For future reference, the chili was a Prik Kee Nuu Suan.  Beware!

I have to get back to working on these slides.  Hopefully I'll have some good customer stories tomorrow.  Come out and see us tomorrow at the launch event.  I've been practicing the little bit of Thai I've picked up from my family. :) (Aahaan thai phet khrup!)

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