Sawasdee

Got home to London the other day after spending an intense week in Thailand attending MSI´s Fnatic Camp in Pattaya and Bangkok.
I was suppose to have a couple of days off after spending the past weeks on the road but due to the player swap we were forced to do I had to go in the last minute, teaming up with GeT_RiGhT, Odyx and Kyochi.
Despite the hectic call to just jump on that 12 hours to BKK I really enjoyed my 9th visit in Thailand, we had some really exciting days there and met a lot of new people including the CoD4 players, Marcus and Conney whom I just met a few times before. The guys and I had a blast together with the bus load of Thai gamers coming in from Bangkok who each was assigned in one of the FnaticMSI player´s team in order to compete in CS1.6 and BB gun.
BB gun reminds a bit of paintball where you play in teams fighting for positions and a flags, the exceptions are the rifles which uses air pressure to shot small plastic bullets who get registered on your armor or helmet electronically. If you get hit, which hurts, a lamp in your helmet starts to flash and you are eliminated from the round. We played this physical game in day light and for me, not being used to the heat, this was very exhausting which you can see from the pictures in our galleries.
Nevertheless, this was pure joy and even how lame it may sound it does recall a bit of CS where you have to use both skill and aim in order to beat your opponent. Also I found myself trying to locate the radar in my helmet but soon realized I was in the real world, not on dust2 - i guess those things comes along after 10 years of gaming :)

After crowning the BB Gun champions, Team Marcus, we were sent back to our resort where spicy Thai food awaited. During the dinner we were informed that the next competition will be in CS1.6 in a 8vs8 format. Obviously the game title favoured me and Chris so it was no surprise that we ended up in the final which Team Patrik came out on top from beating Team Chris 11-3, GG GeT_RiGhT. After the final was over they put the CS1.6 and BB gun score together and somehow my team was awarded the gold medal of the MSI Fnatic Camp so I guess I better thank my fellow Thai gamers who executed my strategies perfectly!

Since it was our final day in Pattaya the guys and I decided to hit downtown to explore the nightlife of  the infamous "Walking Street", which is smacked of people,bars and nightclubs. After having a couple of well-deserved cold beers at a bar we tried out the dance floors as one of the many clubs there but soon realized this place turns nasty after midnight so we thought we better head home for some proper sleep before our next stop, Bangkok.

As I´ve mentioned in previous blogs I´m a big fan of Asian capitals such as Seoul, Taipei, Beijing, Singapore and of course Bangkok. It´s hard to explain this obsession but I think it has to be with the availability those cities offers with a 7-eleven at every corner and the possibility to just melt in and enjoy the vibrance a city such as Bangkok really has with its 9 million inhabitants.
This was my second trip to Bangkok after visiting here a couple of years ago with my parents so I wasn´t totally lost when it came to navigation and sights. We were lodged at one of the hundred and hundreds hotels Sukhumvit road, the main road of Bangkok, contains of. I´ve probably been to more than 100 hotels throughout my life but few hotel impress me as much as S31 Bangkok with it´s 2 floor suites and a pool with glass walls which made me feel like 12 again, something that the picture below proves.
Except attending numerous of interviews in BKK we still had the chance for some free time so on Sunday we stayed up late to be able to follow the clash between Spain and Holland, in the final of the WC. To be honest I´m not keen to see any of those team win but if I had to choose one it had to be Holland, which also had the biggest crowd at the place we went and see the game. I assume noone here is living under a rock so we can leave it and say I was disappointed and robbed in the 116th minute by Spain and Iniesta. Disappointed since I love penalty shoot-outs and robbed because me and Chris had a bet going on worth 30 dollars. Anyway, we had a blast watching the game together with Julian, Jeff, Suriya and Mercy from MSI - beers and soccer can really connect people coming from different backgrounds.
Due to the time difference the final ended at 4am local time and in order to celebrate(for the Spain fans) or to still the depression(if you had cheered for the Orange team) we decided to take this night further trying to locate a club, which was harder than we thought. Instead we ended up at McDonalds from where we went home sleeping, drunk on Chang beer and filled with American fast food just to realize it was already 6am.
The alarm clocked showed 9am when I woke up and it was time to get moving to the leading Gaming media in Thailand, Future Gaming. At FG I did a 15 minute long video interview while my fellow teammate enjoyed some rest after a too long night. When I was done we threw in a couple of fun games against the press people in CS1.6 and Cod4 but it was soon time to calls it quit because Marcus and Conney had to rush to the airport since they needed to get back home in time to attend a tournament in Zplit, Croatia. Good luck guys!

Me and Chris stayed another day where we attended a second interview for MTV Thailand and some additional fun games against local Thai Pointblank players. Me and Chris are notorious bad at aimmaps and the game was really tight but somehow, with the help of experience, we managed to beat the crazy Pointblankers and our respect as professional was untouched.
After spending a couple of hours at the hotel, packing up and getting some last minute tan, we said bye to the MSI people we had spent the weekend with and if it wasn´t obvious upon our departure then I have to once more express our biggest thanks to Julian,Jeff, Suriya and Mercy who all took great care of us, hope to see you again!
Also I want to say thanks to Chris, Marcus and Conney for a very special weekend in Thailand!

Thanks for reading and make sure that you welcome Gux back in the team!
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Patrik