Another Class Graduates

Posted on 17 March 2008 by christao408

Friday was the final day of school – or nearly the final day, depending on whom I asked – at Bangkhonthiinai. Wanting to take the opportunity to see the children before the end of the term, and a final chance to see the graduating sixth graders, I drove down to Samut Songkhram province with Kobfa, Ken and Markus.

Left: First and second grades, with one sixth grader on the right.

Our arrival was eagerly anticipated and we soon had all fifty students crowded into a single classroom, antsy to play bingo. We made the pretense of practicing English for a little while, but it was Friday afternoon and nobody had any patience for that. Ken and Markus arranged some games of bingo and “A calls B” while I assisted Kobfa in reviewing the English proficiency test the sixth graders had taken the previous week.

As with last year’s batch of sixth graders, the girls generally did pretty well and the boys were goofs. Sadly, just listening to the three boys it is clear that they’re smart and with some extra time and tutoring, they could perform much better.

I’m continuing my effort to get students involved in practicing their English or, for the younger ones, just staying in touch with a farang in the hopes it encourages their interest in studying English. When I left the school officially in September, I had distributed my address card and encouraged people to write. It wasn’t until I received only one postcard from a student that I realized that maybe they don’t have access to writing materials and stamps. They come from very poor families and I doubt that writing letters is a part of their everyday experience.

So this time I arrived with two-baht postcards, a nifty and inexpensive sheet of paper that is blank on both sides and preprinted with the postage. Considering that the postage is two baht, the cards themselves are essentially free. This is a really good deal and is designed with the exact same target audience in mind of which my students are members. I printed my return address on them and then distributed the postcards to students (above) with the explanation that they could use these to write to me and that I’d return all letters that I receive.

Below: Explaining what to do with the postcards.

Some people mistook that to mean that they should immediately fill out the cards. By the end of class I had to direct a few students to put the cards in the letter box.

One student sheepishly approached me after class and said he had already lost his postcard. I gave him another.

We’ll see how this works. I suspect I’ll receive a flurry of postcards this next week. Will they respond to my responses? I think I’ll send a blank card with each response I send, to prime the pump a bit.

Below: The Thai concept of grangjai – not wanting to obligate or impose on someone – in action as the teachers present Kobfa and I with a gift basked of fruit. Later, one of the sixth graders, co-president of the student body association – made a brief speech thanking us for our volunteering at the school.

The teachers, who are still without a school director, once again invited us to resume English teaching. Maybe when school starts again in June or July, we should make an effort to go there once a month. Weekly is no longer workable, but once a month – especially if we worked specifically with the upper classes – would have some good impact.

Hopefully the graduating sixth graders (above) will stay in touch. The girls have written a few emails, one more consistently than the others. She has the most potential of all of her peers and I’m confident she’ll go on to do great things.

The most fun was the lucky draw. I’ve been saving up various promotional tchotskies that Tawn receives from his clients – calendars, not pads, a backpack – and those were used for a raffle. This is really fun for the students and it was amazing because even pretty simple things were really a big deal for these children. The Thai belief in luck was noticeable as some children had their hands together at their heart as they prayed that their name would be called.

One third grader would call out his own name – “Anurak!” – at every draw just before the name was revealed.

We made sure to have enough items for everyone, and once we had pulled all the names we put them all back in to give away the final few big items.

Finally, an hour after school is normally supposed to end, the last items were given away, the goodbyes were said, and the students stood up and sang the “Goodbye, My Teacher” song, below. Very touching.

Saturday Errands

Posted on 16 March 2008 by christao408

Almost all of our Saturdays get consumed by errands. Along the way, there are always interesting things to see. At least, things to see that are interesting to me. So I’ll share them with you and assume you’ll be interested, too.

A sign of the times

Part of a series of advertisements for the Noble property development company, announcing their new “Noble Reveal” condo that will soon begin selling. The advertisements use the same pitch: “Help reduce global warming; use cars less. Noble Reveal, new condo located close to Ekkamai BTS station.”

Each of the advertisements features a similar photo: sea lions huddled on an ice floe, penguins huddled on an ice floe, polar bears huddled on an ice floe.

The environmental claim is, of course, a bit questionable. While the condo will be located very close to the Skytrain, it will also be at one of the most congested intersections in the city and will feature an ample car park. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that anything Noble will do during the construction will be environmentally friendly, from the materials from which the condos are constructed to the disposal of paints and other chemicals that are used.

Worst of all is the other message sent by the pictures: you’ll be huddled together in a small space that is getting ever smaller. What a terrible way to sell a condominium. The rooms are small! You’ll be cramped together! You’ll be competing for an ever-diminishing pool of resources!

Yeah, sign me up.

Le Tour Eiffel in Central

Central Department Stores is having a “Europe” promotion. Their flagship location, Central Chidlom, has models of various famous European sights: Big Ben in the east parking lot, Arc de Triomphe (two of them!) at the main entrances, and in the escalator atrium, a 30-meter tall model of Le Tour Eiffel.

This must have taken a good bit of time to build. The structure is metal and the sections are bolted together. As you ride up the escalator you can get a pretty good look at the construction and you have to give them credit for a job well done.

On the various levels there are mannequins displaying famous European designer wear. On the ground floor underneath the tower, there is a l’Occitaine display where the employees are wearing very pink outfits reminiscent of provincial French farmers, complete with straw hats.

Thankfully, there are no mimes.

Need a Nikon?

Down the street at Siam Paragon there was a large event promoting Nikon cameras. They had dozens of models on display, especially the SLR cameras and some really big lenses. There was something going on onstage, there were beautiful girls dressed in short shirts and tight tops, there were giveaways and music. And lots of nerdy men who seemed more interested in the big lenses than the scantily clad women.

You need this machine!

We met Tawn’s colleague Meiji at Starbucks Siam Center and visited for a half-hour. Afterwards, on our way out, we stopped to look at the espresso machine that they have for sale. The “Barista” model has received pretty good reviews from different sources and we’re in the market to replace our rather crappy drip coffee maker that we’ve had for two years. Not sure that we need an espresso machine in particular, but we like the idea of controlled portions and greater consistency in the quality of our morning coffee.

The root of the problem might actually lies in our coffee grinder. We have a Krups model, which is supposed to be a good one. But I find a lot of variation in the resulting grind which of course leads to variations in the strength of the coffee.

We try French press and run into the same problem, plus the added one of the coffee cooling off quickly in the glass container. Our drip coffee maker is really inconsistent and one of the plastic parts is irreparably broken. We have a stovetop Italian espresso maker but the base isn’t steel so it doesn’t work on our induction stovetop. Back in the US in my sister’s guest room closet I have a really nice drip coffee maker, but I don’t know if it is worth the effort to bring it over here. Plus, I’d have to use a converter like I do with my Kitchen Aid mixer.

So we’ve been exploring options. When we showed interest in the model at Starbucks, one of the employees rushed over and offered to demo the machine for us. What followed was a very thorough 20-minute demonstration in which he made a latte for us using the machine, then allowed us to practice using it, too. End result, two free lattes – after the ones we had already purchased and consumed. Jittery.

The machine is very easy to use and the construction looks solid. Only a few parts and the design does not have any of the “awkward” elements that machines sometimes have. The only problem is the price. That’s a lot of money to spend for a coffee maker. Cheaper than some of the others we’ve looked at but more expensive than some, too.

How much for our morning cup of coffee?

Skateboarding at Siam

Despite the popularity of Siam Paragon, Siam Square and Siam Center remain much more the focal point of the Khrungthep youth scene. Between the two Siam Center properties (Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center) there is a plaza that is often set up with concerts and other events.

On Saturday is was home to a skateboarding demo. A hundred or so youth were hanging out, watching. A dozen skateboarders went back and forth, none of them doing any particularly impressive tricks. A DJ played music and the breeze kept spectators comfortable.

Viva Siam.

Saturday evening we met up with Otto, who is in town from Singapore, for dinner. It was very nice to catch up with him as on his last visit here timing was rushed and we never did really get a chance to visit. Dinner was at the food court at MBK, which tries to mimic the choices available at the Central Food Loft, but to poor effect.

But it really is about the company, not the food, right?

Right?

Table incident leaves marble top shattered – planters in ruin

Posted on 13 March 2008 by christao408

After two years of being on Skype, I finally made contact with my grandfather. He’s had Skype on his Mac for nearly a year but for some reason he hadn’t been able to accept me as a contact. Of course, since I was never on my computer at the same time that I was sitting at his (when I was visiting) I hadn’t been able to trouble-shoot the problem.

This morning, though, for some unexplained reason he was on line and had somehow accepted me as a contact. Out of nowhere, my computer started ringing as he called me.

So that was nice. A little strange, though, as he doesn’t have an external headset so his voice sounded far away. Also, perhaps his volume was turned down and he couldn’t hear me, because in the web cam picture, it looked like he was leaning in close to his computer and he said he couldn’t hear me.

Kudos for his efforts at technology. Hopefully, we’ll get that all squared away and can chat more regularly.

Tragedy struck at Raintree Villa this week as our cute marble-top cafe table out on the balcony tumbled over, cracking the marble in two. A pair of innocent planters were brutally shattered, but truth be told, I didn’t like them all that much anyhow.

The cause is still under investigation but initial inspections point to metal fatigue. Chris Schultz, armchair expert, had long been critical of the design of the table. A metal bolt had previously been sheared off when too much torque was created as the table was moved with at least one leg still on the ground.

Right: detail of the break.

Investigators are following a lead that the table was damaged on initial delivery. The construction crew who was delivering the table broke the leg during delivery and placed it back on the truck. The table was then brought for repair but the nature of the damage and subsequent repair were never disclosed to the table’s owners.

Meanwhile, breakfasts, teas, and dinners on the balcony have been canceled until further notice.

Left: The remains of two bystanders.

Anyone with information about the incident are encouraged to contact Khun Tawn.

Martha Does Peanut Butter

Posted on 11 March 2008 by christao408

Thanks to all of you who commented about yesterday’s entry regarding Tawn and I getting married. I certainly appreciate the support, although more practically the opportunity to do this in Thailand will probably not come around anytime in the next few decades as there isn’t any real friction here to drive social change. We keep having coups, after all, so gay rights is somewhere further down the list.

When I moved here, our friend Kobfa advised me that my relationship with my in-laws would likely not change and that the way it is now is the way it is likely to remain. Considering how many people I know whose partners have to be totally closeted with their parents, I appreciate that Tawn can be honest with his parents even if I’m not welcomed into the family fold by my father-in-law. It could be worse.

Anyhow, changing topics for a moment…

Monday I made a recipe for a peanut butter tart that Tawn had printed from Martha Stewart’s website. This was originally meant to be his project, but somehow it didn’t get made so before the ingredients went to waste I went ahead and made it. Things like this happen sometimes…

First, I made a graham cracker crumb crust. Let me tell you, the familiar graham crackers of my childhood are not stocked at even the best international markets here. An online search showed that it is pretty easy to make your own graham crackers so I’ll do that next time. Eventually, I finally found “70% organic” graham crackers from Health Valley at Villa market and used them, even though they didn’t look or feel like the graham crackers I have known.

These different crackers posed a small chalenge. The measurements in Martha’s recipe were absurd: Ten 4 3/4-by-2 1/2 inch crackers, which must be the official, universal graham cracker size. These grapham crackers were different dimensions and were thicker than normal graham crackers, so the cracker crumb-to-butter ratio was off. Couldn’t the recipe editors just come up with a volume? Two cups of cracker crumbs, for example.

After dealing with the graham cracker crust debacle, I made a chocolate ganache. This is shaved or chopped good quality milk chocolate into which boiled cream is poured. After the chocolate melts, it is whisked together to combine, then whisked over an ice bath until it thickens but is still spreadable. The ganache is then spread into the crumb crust, forming a chocoalte base. Refrigerate to set.

The next step is to make the peanut butter filling. This is peanut butter, cream cheese, and sweetened condensed milk, whipped together. The recipe used a food processor but mine is in the US still so the trusty Kitchen Aid mixer was enlisted.

Next, 3/4 cup of cream is whipped to soft peaks.

Then the whipped cream is folded into the peanut butter mixture to make it lighter and fluffier.

Finally, the peanut butter-whipped cream mixture is spread over the chocolate base and the tart is allowed to set in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

Meanwhile, I prepared dinner for Tawn. Dischi volanti pasta with homemade pesto; steamed salt-and-pepper Tasmanian salmon for him, roast beef for me; steamed asparagus with butter and sea salt; a medley of corn, peppers, and peas; and a green salad. Feeling like we hadn’t had enough of a weekend, I opened a bottle of prosecco. Why not enjoy some sparkling wine on a Monday?

And, finally, the dessert:

There was supposed to be another dallop of whipped cream on top but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of whipping cream just for two servings. All in all, the crumb crust wasn’t holding together sufficiently – not enough butter, I think. The flavor was good and the texture light enough. I’m a big peanut butter fan but even so, I found the tart to be pretty one-dimensional. Maybe if the chocolate was a darker chocolate instead of milk chocolate? Or maybe if a little cardamon or chili pepper was added?

Visit from Mother-in-Law

Posted on 10 March 2008 by christao408

Sunday afternoon my mother-in-law, Khun Nui, stopped by the house. For the longest time she had never been over here, then when Elle did the photo shoot she came over. Subsequent to that, she has been a frequent visitor, stopping by whenever her husband is away.

While Tawn’s father is largely operating in extended “don’t ask, don’t tell” mode, Tawn’s mother knows what’s going on and seems pretty happy to have me as a son-in-law. Although there are occasional moments when I think she’s holding out hope that Tawn will change his mind.

She made a comment the other day about another member of the their extended family having a wedding and how Tawn wasn’t getting married, to which I responded that we could go ahead and have a wedding for the family. She shot me a look that was one part “you’re crazy” and another part “what are you talking about?”

Two summers ago, Tawn and his parents went to Italy to visit the family for whom Khun Nui had worked as an au pair for two years before Tawn was born. Khun Nui has remained in touch with Joanna, the Italian mother, and her oldest two children whom Khun Nui helped raise.

The oldest of these children will be married this July and the plan is for Tawn to take his parents back to Italy to attend the wedding, possibly extending it into a two week trip to see more of Europe.

This is a very Thai thing: older parents do not go off on holiday without their children accompanying them. Much in the way that in years past farmers gave birth to many children in order to have a supply of labor on the farm, nowadays Thai parents have children in order to have a supply of tour leaders, travel agents, and porters when going on holiday.

While we canceled our Spring trip back to the US because of cost overruns on the condo remodel, Tawn’s father will pick up his costs for the Europe trip, so it shouldn’t be much of a burden. With a few weeks free, maybe I should scrape up a few baht and fly back to the US and enjoy some peaches, nectarines, and beefsteak tomatoes!

Elephant naps in Minburi

Posted on 9 March 2008 by christao408

When it comes to Sunday morning bicycle rides, the earlier I start, the better. Sunday, I was up at six and arrived at the ride site in Minburi just before seven. Already, the sun was above the horizon and the day was warming up. There were still some hints of the overnight coolness, though. Wish I had arrived even earlier.

This ride site is a stretch of expressway that was a built a few years ago as part of a larger project, but was never connected to the other portions. Other than a handful of local vehicles, the road is used in the mornings primarily by runners, joggers, and families out for a ride with their children. It also attracts cyclists, often several dozen of them, in their fancy spandex racing gear with their fancy aerodynamic helmets and their expensive road bikes.

I shouldn’t use what could sound like such a derisive tone. We’re all brothers and sisters in cycling. Compared to most of these cyclists, though, I’m decidedly down-market. My spandex is hidden under a pair of cargo shorts, my helmet is functional, not aerodynamic, and my bicycle is a clunky hybrid. There are no potholes or rough patches of pavement that I fear!

Anyhow, Sunday I was out there earlier than most of the other cyclists and had the road pretty much to myself. The first stretch is actually a narrow side road that connects the airport expressway’s frontage road to this new stretch of expressway. It is a country road with small khlongs on either side (shades of Sukhumvit fifty years ago), a few small manufacturing businesses, and the occasional restaurant. Locals are up yearly, fishing in the khlongs. A tractor is preparing a rice paddy for planting. Someone is picking a bunch of bananas from a roadside tree.

Along this narrow street that lies under the approach path to the new airport, two small housing estates are being built. Both look like they’ll be targeted at the entry level home owners what can afford maybe at most a half-million baht for two bedrooms and no land. I’ll take more pictures as the development continues. It fills my heart with a little sadness to see another rural area being developed, rice paddies traded for cookie cutter houses.

The stretch of expressway I ride is about four kilometers long and bridges two other khlongs. Both bridges are built up with earth like highway overpasses in the US, affording nice views of the surrounding countryside. Early morning along the khlong you see more of the fishing-cooking-harvesting activities as people rise with the sun and have families to feed and work to do.

One of the stranger sites I’ve seen was captured in the photo, below. Next to one of the bridges is an open field, quite a large one. In the field there was a baby elephant wandering around, grazing. I’ve never seen an elephant out here and it certainly isn’t native to Minburi. Many times, the mahouts who are the elephants’ caretakers bring them into the city because there is no work elsewhere. Even though it is illegal, they bring the elephants right into the tourist sections of town, selling people the opportunity to feed the elephants and pose for pictures.

Perhaps this is where the mahout and his elephant are living. I didn’t see any fences or restraints, but perhaps elephants aren’t prone to making a break for their freedom. As I passed the field each time, I looked at the elephant as she wandered about. Finally, she settled down for a nap in the tall grass. Can you spot her?

Speaking of development, if I had panned about thirty degrees to the right and taken another picture, you would see a forest of mid-rise condo projects, all about eight stories tall, built about one kilometer away. If I had to guess, there are probably about two thousand units, all of which have sprung up in the past three or four years.

Different things to different people

Posted on 9 March 2008 by christao408

In the musical The Boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman (playing Peter Allen), opens the show singing a song titled “The Lives of Me”.

“I come in many colors, assorted shapes and sizes,
can adapt to your demands.
And if you smile at someone then I’ll just become that one,
and throw in all the others for free.
All the lives of me.”

Sometimes I feel that way about my blog. This is probably a feeling common to many bloggers. You start out writing the blog for one reason or another and over time, as it attracts more readers, it is easy to start feeling like there are different blogs being written.

There’s the food blog, the travel blog, the Thai cultural blog, the gay long term relationship blog, the airline enthusiast blog, the random quotes from showtunes blog… you get the idea.

Just like the character of Peter Allen in the musical, I feel like if you enjoy one particular blog, my blog will become that one and throw in all the others for free.

The blog started out because I knew I would be moving to Thailand and wanted to create a means by which my family and friends could stay in touch with what’s happening in my life. Many of those “target audience” member do read regularly although I’m always a little amazed at friends who, when we trade emails, express how out of touch with me they feel. No reason to be out of touch… you can get a pretty exhaustive recap just by reading my blog.

Along the way, I’ve assembled a fascinating and rewarding collection of readers. Truly, some very interesting and thoughtful people whose acquaintance I’m very glad to have made. I just hope that you weren’t misled about what this blog was and feel subsequently disappointed that there aren’t enough entries about food, travel, Thai culture, airplanes, showtunes, or whatever it was that drew you to the blog in the first place.

Doing a PR Polish for Ble

Tawn recruited me on Friday morning to help our designer, Ble. In advance of a feature article on him in the Bangkok Post newspaper, Ble (pronounced “bun”), was sent a list of interview questions. When he showed Tawn his responses, Tawn shook his head and asked, tactfully, how he could be such a good designer and yet such a poor self-publicist.

I was called in to polish his responses so bicycled over to his store at noon on Friday. We had lunch at a cute little place on Sukhumvit 16 called Kuppa, a cozy place that reminds me of a restaurant I’d expect to find in the San Francisco Bay Area. More about it on a future visit but here’s a picture of their tasty cherry pie, left.

The lunch proved to be a very good opportunity to get to know Ble better. We’ve never spent any time, just the two of us. Tawn has known Ble for several years and we’ve socialized, but never had two hours of solo conversation. In the course of essentially re-interviewing him, I learned a lot about what drew him to design in the first place. I tried to polish the answers to convey certain themes. Here’s a selection:

How did you become involved in Modern Thai Living?
As a child, my interest in design was already evident. I would spend hours drawing; I was fascinated by textures and textiles, fabrics and furniture. My playtime was spent exploring the markets. It was there – especially at Chatuchak – that my love for Modern Thai Living was cultivated.
What are your extravagances?
When I’m abroad exploring for beautiful objects for my clients and my stores, I have only one extravagance: no matter how remote the town, no matter how hot or dusty the markets I’ve searched in, I must conclude my day with a satisfying meal at a cozy, comfortable restaurant.
What advice would you give visitors to Bangkok?
Beyond the famous tourist sights, beyond the temples and the nightlife, Bangkok is a city full of hidden treasures. Every local has a favorite restaurant, a favorite shop that is his or her “hidden gem”. Make every effort to meet as many locals as you can and as you get to know them, they’ll share these treasures with you.

Hopefully that doesn’t sound too silly. What do you think? Hopefully the prose is a beautiful as his design work.

A House in the Country

Sukhumvit Road in modern times is very much a main artery in the City of Angels. It might be hard to imagine that not that many decades ago, the street was lined with two small khlongs and rows of trees. Well-heeled residents bought land along Sukhumvit and in the sois that branch off it in order to have country homes where they could escape on the weekends.

Of course, nowadays the idea of a home along Sukhumvit being a country home seems downright absurd. But amidst the condo developments, hotels, and shopping centers you can still find plenty of examples of the beautiful houses built in the distinctive styles of the 1950s and 1960s on gated compounds that feature generous gardens and a peaceful respite from the surrounding city.

Below are two photos of one of these houses. Facing Sukhumvit proper between sois 34 and 36, this house is a lovely example of 1960s tropical architecture. To the east of the building is a new condo complex that will tower some 30 stories above it, destroying whatever privacy the residents enjoyed. One day, eventually, the family or their heirs will finally cave in and sell the property to developers.

These days, the homes being built in the countryside are large developments, gated communities in which several hundred cookie-cutter homes are squeezed together on old rice paddies. No gardens of any appreciable size, no cross-ventilation, and a horrible commute into town. It is times like these when I wonder whether it is really appropriate to use the western definition of the word to measure Thailand’s “progress”, for this relentless suburbanization of the city hardly seems like progress. More like degeneration.

Bill’s Farewell for Now Party

One constant in your life if you’re an expat is the coming and going, the constant ebb and flow, of other expats. Francois left last week, gone home for two months to work. Russ will leave soon for a few weeks. Ken will be out of town quite a bit over the next two months, to say nothing of Markus, who is away more than he is here. Bill’s turn is next as he’ll be heading back to Florida on Tuesday for an indefinite length of time although with a desire to return just as soon as he can.

To celebrate his departure – or perhaps just to finish his collection of whisky – he threw a party on Saturday night. It was a collection of the usual suspects leading to the usual conversations and silliness. Right, Ken dances for Roka and Russ looks on.

Below, Tawn and Chai

Call me crazy, but if you throw a party beginning at 7:30 in the evening, wouldn’t the normal expectation be that you have at least a few real food items on the table? We ended up just with chips, dips, and other assorted junk food. Worse yet, Tawn and I contributed to it! We brought cupcakes. I know, I know… chicken satay would have been a much better contribution.

Yet, there was an ulterior motive. I’ll let you in on the conceit:

My elder niece turns five at the end of the month. For her birthday gift, I used Shutterfly to make a customized picture book telling the story of her trip to San Francisco last autumn with her uncles to attend a family wedding. It is 27 pages with pictures and a compelling story. On the final page, I wanted a funny picture of me and Tawn wishing her a happy birthday.

I settled on the idea of buying some cupcakes and staging a photo in which we ostensibly were presenting the cupcakes to my niece, but instead I’d be sneaking a bite of one while Tawn scolded me. We did a number of shots with Bill doing the picture-taking.

Wanting some nice cupcakes for our friends, we went to After You, a small shop in J Avenue on Thong Lor. After You has really cute packaging, right, and a very clever name.

You see, there is an upscale Japanese barbecue restaurant two doors down called Yuu and, like most Japanese restaurants, it doesn’t really offer much in the way of a dessert menu. I understand that in Japan, if you want dessert you go to a dessert shop afterwards. So after eating dinner at Yuu, if you want something sweet to finish the night you go to After You. Get it? Clever, huh?

Anyhow, here’s the picture we settled on.

Waiting for Fridays

Posted on 6 March 2008 by christao408

Much like some people are born in the wrong body, likewise some Thursdays are really meant to be Fridays. Sadly, there is no “day reassignment surgery” option. When we woke up Thursday morning, Tawn asked three times whether it was Friday. Sadly for him, the answer didn’t change.

But despite Thursday having to stay a Thursday all day long, it went pretty well.

Thai Lessons

For me, Tuesday and Thursday mornings are Thai classes with my tutor, Khru Kitiya. We meet at Bitter Brown, a small coffee shop and restaurant near the Asoke BTS station. Things are quiet there in the morning and we’ve been meeting there for the better part of two years – so long that the staff monitors my learning progress – so we usually have a comfortable space in which to study free from distraction. Class ends around noon or shortly after, at whatever point that the din of the lunch crowd makes it difficult for me to hear the subtle final consonants of the Thai words.

For the past several months, I’ve been using a well-known Thai book from the mid-1950s, Lai Chiwit (Many Lives), as my textbook. Written by a former Prime Minister and prolific author, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj (1911-1995), the book is a collection of short stories that chronicle life in Thailand in that time. Written in elegant prose, the stories not only give me a window into the past – a past which heavily influences modern Thai culture – but also give me the pleasure of exploring the beauty of the Thai language.

Right, the cover of the 1996 English language version of the book, translated by Meredith Borthwick and published by Silkworm Books.

Thai really is a very elegant language in which to write, at once both graceful and playful. Needless to say, I’m having a tough time wading through it since the more formal and prosaic language which Khun Kukrit used is more elegant to the ear than it is clear to the farang! But Khru Kitiya is infinitely patient and while there are days (Thursday) where we manage to wade through only two paragraphs, there are many more days in which the progress is measured in pages, plural, rather than fractions of one.

Interesting trivia: Pictured left is Khun Kukrit, whose “M.R.” (Mom Ratchawong) designation indicates he was the son of a prince, was a technical advisor and played the role of the prime minister in the 1963 film, “The Ugly American” starring Marlon Brando.

Unpretty Dinner

When Tawn returned home from work he suggested that we eat somewhere nearby. There is a local seafood restaurant on Thong Lor between sois 5 and 7 called Niyom Gotchana and it is the most unassuming place you’d imagine.

The storefront is open air, floors and walls are finished in an antiseptic look of white tiles, and the lighting comes from dozens of “cool white” florescent tubes which give the place the sterile charm of a county examiner’s office.

Right: Easy Thai – can anyone guess what is said in the blue field of the sign? Actually, if you know the English word, you should be able to work out what all of the Thai characters represent like a code-buster would.

That said, the seafood is fresh, of good quality, and inexpensive. Out in front of the shop are two baskets covered with damp blankets, each containing live crabs. A few had slipped out of one or the other of their bindings but, lacking the right evolutionary tools, could not undo their other binding and climb to freedom. So they sat there snapping and awaiting their fate. Ending up as a plate of curry or salt and pepper crab really is a pretty noble fate, if you ask me.

I was pretty punchy, having spent all afternoon staring at the computer screen, so after ordering the food I sat there making conversation with Tawn and playing with my utensils. Tawn was kind of punchy, too.

The food at Niyom is tasty, but they just have no sense of presentation. Each dish that came out looked quite “blah”, not helped by the icy blue cast of the lights. Tawn’s expression above was the actual response to the flat look of the otherwise tasty stir-fry of tofu, bean sprouts and onion sprouts. The dish was fine; it just looked lackluster.

Even our tod man goong, the fried shrimp cakes that were very fresh, moist, and not at all oily, looked kind of ho-hum. Now, I’m not one to complain, because the prices were good and the food was tasty. But I was hoping to bring back inspiring pictures that would make your mouths water.

We opted for fish instead of crab for the simple reason that neither of us wanted to do the work of picking apart a crab. Instead, we smartly ordered crab fried rice, letting the kitchen do the work for us. The fish was tasty, steamed and then served with soy sauce, ginger, scallions, and peppers. But the fish’s mouth was, once again, not pretty.

I have no idea why we ordered so much food – maybe because we secretly still hoped it wasn’t Thursday evening but was in fact Friday. After eating our fill the staff boxed up the leftovers and we walked back home, made the bed, and fell asleep waiting for the real Friday to arrive.

I’m Drowning Here

Posted on 4 March 2008 by christao408

For some reason, I’ve been caught in a tidal wave of work with more and more projects lapping over my head. After a late call Monday night, another late call Tuesday night, I have a third late call tonight with a contingent from the sales organization that wants me to write training for one of their positions.

Yeah, yeah… I know the corporate refrain: “Everyone is in sales.” But I’m in operations and my customers in the operations group have four or five “critical”, “must do right now”, “top of the list” projects that are already overwhelming me. What I don’t need right now is the sales organization to trying to drag me down under the sea like Ursula the sea witch.

Which makes me the Little Mermaid, I suppose.

Left: The sales organization. Right: Me

Tawn made it back Monday evening from Bali, where he said he didn’t have a very good time. It was a internal company conference with participants from across the Asia-Pacific-Australia region and Tawn returned with some interesting observations about colleagues from different cultures.

Despite his complaints of being overworked, Tawn’s colleagues from Japan and China showed him little sympathy when they explained that they were in the office until 10:00 most nights. Tawn is usually out the door by 6:30 or 7:00.

The Aussies lost points for being poorly dressed. They came to meetings in shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops, ditching the flip-flops and walking around the hotel conference room barefooted during the conference.

Interesting News: A flight search portal that rates “pain points”

From Air Transport World comes the news that Seattle-based InsideTrip, inc. will introduce this week a new online travel booking website that will add the quality of particular flights to the usual measuring sticks of price and time. Each flight will be assigned a “Trip Quality Rating” based on twelve criteria such as aircraft type, leg room, historical on-time performance, and historical load factors.

This strikes me as potentially revolutionary because in a highly commodotized industry, I’ve long asserted that people are willing to pay a little more if there is actually a difference in quality. The problem is, the average airline passenger has no way to effectively measure the quality difference. The method used by InsideTrip may well do it. We’ll see. Read the full news story here.

Okay, enough time spent writing a blog entry. I can hear the sound of the ocean, calling to me.

Bicycling Around Ekkamai

Posted on 2 March 2008 by christao408

Sunday morning I jumped back on my bicycle and went for a ride through the neighborhood. What interesting things there are to be seen!

I didn’t realize that I lived near a store that sells plastic models of food. Not only the ones you expect to see outside Japanese restaurants, but also ones for Chinese, Thai and Western cuisines.

What a perfect gift for someone for Christmas: a slice of cake that you can never eat!

Sadly, they were closed on Sunday morning so I couldn’t pop in for a visit. They would probably freak out if I started taking pictures inside the store, though. That seems to really be an issue at businesses here in Thailand.

I continued up Ekkamai Road, which is Sukhumvit Soi 63, and stopped at Ekkamai Soi 26 to take a picture I’ve long been meaning to take.

Someone, for reasons unknown, decided to post a street sign on the corner of the soi in the style of the signs that grace Parisian street corners. Interestingly, the person who made or ordered the sign decided to place Ekkamai Soi 26 in the 18th Arrondissement.

Perhaps there is a clue to be had from the fact that the 18th Arrondissement is Montmartre, the artsy residential district. Further exploration is called for but the fact that there is a frame shop below the sign might yield some answers.

My route continued north, crossing Khlong San Saeb, the primary east-west canal in the city and the only one that has any scheduled passenger boat service on it. You can actually take the canal taxis all the way into the old city, an efficient and inexpensive way to travel.

The khlong has pedestrian paths on either side and I have explored those before. In some parts of the khlong, nice houses back up to it. In other parts, the pedestrian paths cut through the shacks and shanties of some very poor families. Also, in the Thong Lor / Ekkamai area, there is a prominent Muslim community that lives near the khlong with one mosque near Thong Lor and another past Ekkamai. There are so many interesting communities here and you just don’t see them if you stay in a car.

Above: On Ekkamai flyover above Phetchaburi Road, there is an interesting Buddhist temple (gold pagoda on top) called Wat Ekkamai Pasi, literally, the “Ekkamai tax temple”. Next to it is the large Charn Issara 2 office building. Such a contrast! And in the cloverleaf formed by the ramps leading to the flyover, there is a small park that includes basketball, badminton, and football courts.

Beyond Phetchaburi Road is (below from left to right) the old State Railway line, the new Airport Express viaduct, and the maintenance facility for the Airport Express. To the left of the railway line is a small market and, with the red roof, the Khlongtan railway station. The track is currently used for commute rail services to the east as well as longer-distance trains that run to the Cambodian border and up to Northeast Thailand.

The maintenance facility is coming along nicely. If you look closely in the picture below you’ll see that the first piece of rolling stock has arrived.

How much longer until the Airport Express is running? Well, if you time your trip for late 2009, it should be running sometime around then. Meanwhile, if you arrive earlier, give me a call and I’ll come pick you up!

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

Monthly Archives: March 2008