Aloha from Kaua’i

Posted on 30 March 2011 by christao408

Apologies as we interrupt the regularly scheduled blogging…

Aloha and greetings from Kaua’i, the Garden Isle. We’re ending our last full day here and have had a lot of fun experiences over the last four days. Many tales to tell and stories to share including a beautiful beach wedding, some tasty local grinds, and some gorgeous scenery. Our return itinerary will include an overnight stay in Honolulu as well as two nights in Hong Kong. Hopefully some additional good stories to share with you from those two stops.

Until then, please enjoy the remaining few days of pre-programmed blogs. Mahalo!

Terminal 21 Nears Completion

Posted on 29 March 2011 by christao408

In November 2009 I first wrote about the construction of a new mall at the northwest corner of Sukhumvit and Asoke roads called Terminal 21. I visited the subject again in February of this year as part of an entry about the profusion of malls being built along Sukhumvit Road. In the weeks since, I’ve stopped by the site, which is easily visible from the outbound platform of the Asoke BTS Skytrain station, to view the last steps of construction.

Since the mall is literally right next to both the Skytrain station (elevated) and the subway station, it should benefit from easy access. But, in a city with strong sunlight, heavy rain showers, and lots of traffic, the more convenient and enclosed you can make that connection, the better.

Because of that, one of the things I’ve been observing and thinking about is how the main entry area (shown above) will connect with the two rail stations. You can see the long concrete deck that will be the main entry area, wrapped in green construction netting. One entrance is on the left, outlined in red metal beams, and the other is at the right end where there is a bit of a canopy being constructed.

On the west end of the deck, I can easily see how a bridge might be built to connect to the Skytrain station, which has blue-covered stairs seen on the left of the picture. In this picture, taken a few weeks ago, I anticipated the potential bridge with orange lines.

Sure enough, by last week they were pouring the concrete reinforcements for the bridge and I imagine in another week or so they will be laying the beams for the bridge. This will lead directly to the entrance of the Skytrain station, which I fear is a bit small to deal with the amount of passengers that may be passing through the space.

The more uncertain question is what they will do with the other entrance to the mall. In the picture shown above, taken a few weeks ago, they were demolishing the sales office for the mall and I anticipated (in orange lines) that maybe a bridge would be built connecting to the escalators that descend to the subway. The escalators are in the building with the bright blue roof that has one red segment. While some re-jiggering of the wheelchair ramp in that area would be necessary, it seemed to be an easy way to get people directly to the subway, short of a tunnel leading into the station itself.

After they demolished the former sales office and finished off the edge of the entry deck, it is no more clear what they will be doing. Certainly it will be some sort of bridge, but how it connects to anything else remains a mystery. Complicating matters further, there is a narrow alley you see in the photo above. This space contains a small shrine that belongs to the Asoke fresh market, located in the building with the dingy white-washed wall. Any bridge connecting to the escalators to the subway would have to cross over this alley. I guess there is little to do but wait and see.

One other thing that caught my eye: there seems to be a “moat” built around the edge of the mall. The other day there was quite a bit of water flowing down it. Not sure if this is part of the drainage system and will be covered with grilles or what.

The other night while waiting for the train after my Thai lesson, I noticed they had the interior lights on for the first time. It may be a bit hard to tell, but the interior is largely finished. They are laying the tiles on the main floor and most of the shop entrances are decorated already. I think they will be open in the next few months.

Not that far away from Terminal 21 – in fact, just two subway stops north along Asoke/Ratchadapisek Road – There is another mall being built. This is Central Plaza Rama 9. There is an additional development that is supposed to happen behind it – a large four-tower condo complex. In fact, the developer was floating the idea of building a monorail that would go down Ratchadapisek Road (to the right in the picture above) and connect with the Airport Rail Link terminal at Makkasan.

The view above is looking east from atop Fortune Town IT Mall, with the Thailand Cultural Center off to the left and Rama IX road following the bridge on the right. Pardon the inexpert job done stitching three photos together to create this faux fisheye lens effect.

Around Singapore

Posted on 27 March 2011 by christao408

In the overnight border run I made to Singapore, I had errands to run and friends to see. There were some interesting sights along the way. One stop was at an IT mall, to check out some computer and camera component. There, I saw what appeared to be the largest gathering of Singapore’s next generation of geeks!

Hundreds of students on their laptops, with power strips running every which way. They were gathered for a competition of radio-controlled race cars. The next generation will definitely be very wired.

Also made a stop at About Books, an independent bookstore near Tiong Bahru. Great store with an interesting range of titles as well as many other odds and ends for purchase.

Among the interesting items for purchase were these old cameras. Beautiful, eh?

After dinner crowd: Nick, Chor Pharn, David, Otto, Edwin, Kelvin, and me.

One thing I’ve noticed over the past few years is that the transit system is actively trying to train Singaporeans to queue up before boarding the trains, letting passengers exit before trying to board. From what I’ve seen, there’s some success in these efforts.

In one friend’s flat, located in a government housing tract, there were public service announcements on the elevator doors warning elderly residents from those claiming to be fortune tellers.

“Beware strangers telling fortunes or chasing away bad luck. Measures: Be careful if someone approaches you to tell your fortune. Or to get rid of bad luck or evil spirits. He’s just out to cheat you. Ignore him and he’ll go away. Tell your elderly family members not to fall for such tricks.”

Food in Singapore

Posted on 26 March 2011 by christao408

The evening I was in Singapore a few weeks back, I met up with a group of friends to go to a Zhap Chai Peng place. “Zhap Chai Peng” means “mixed dishes with rice”, referring to pre-made dishes. It is colloquially known as “economy rice” because of its affordability. The one we went to is in the Tiong Bahru neighborhood.

The clean, well-lighted shop is open-air, with the attention focused on the row of more than two dozen prepared dishes.

The selection runs the gamut from curries to stir-fries, to stews. Meat dishes sit shoulder to shoulder with vegetarian ones. And the influences of Singapore’s many different cultures can be seen.

Bonus points if you can guess what this is. Answer at the end of the post.

Boiled peanuts with Chinese five spice

Goose braised with soy sauce

Stir-friend squash – very beautiful color

Otak – a steamed fish mousse with spices. The Thai counterpart to this is called hor mok and the mousse is steamed in little cups made of banana leaf and it is topped with some coconut cream.

Bitter gourd with garlic

Salted cabbage with pork belly

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes

As for the mystery dish? That’s fried SPAM. All in all, a tasty and inexpensive meal. Very similar to khao gaeng shops in Bangkok, about which I’ll be writing soon.

Air Mail Stamps Part 2

Posted on 25 March 2011 by christao408

In early February I shared 14 designs I had created for “air mail” stamps and stickers. Since I’m a fan of letter writing, I thought it would be fun to have some diversity in terms of how I indicate that my letters and postcards should travel first class air mail.

You were all very generous in providing your feedback and after taking your feedback to heart, I selected two designs to turn into rubber stamps and four designs to turn into stickers.

The marks of the rubber stamps (obviously)

And the stickers. The quality of the printing is pretty poor. They just used adhesive paper run through a color laser printer. But it is a good first batch and I’ll seek out a higher-quality printer in the future. Considering that I now have something like 400 stickers, that won’t be anytime soon!

Now, as to the topic of letter writing, just a reminder that April is National Card and Letter Writing Month. If you haven’t used this low tech way of staying in touch in a while, why not make it a point to sit down a write a few letters to friends and loved ones?

Rising Inequality – Why Don’t We Care?

Posted on 24 March 2011 by christao408

There’s an interesting “Room for Debate” series in the NY Times titled “Rising Wealth Inequality – Should we Care?“. The series was sparked by an intriguing survey by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely that found that Americans generally estimate that wealth distribution is far more equal than it actually is and, if given a choice, they would select an even more equitable distribution as being the ideal scenario. The graph below shows the results of the survey.

Of course there will always be a uneven distribution of wealth, and that in and of itself is not a bad thing. Systems such as communism and socialism have proven to be an ineffective way of raising standards of living, whereas capitalism has done a pretty good job on the whole. But are the wealthiest 1% or 10% of our nation (or of any nation) actually contributing to their society in a manner proportionate with their wealth? Are they wealthy because they’re reaping the rewards of their hard work, or is it a matter of inheritance, loopholes, and offshore accounts?

It seems that the economic theory known as “trickle-down economics” – in which you give the wealthy more of their money through a lowering of taxes in the belief that they will spend more, thus fueling economic growth – has largely been proven to be bogus. The wealthy spend a proportionately smaller share of their income than do people further down the socioeconomic ladder. The rest goes into investments.

What most confuses me is why so many people who are middle class or lower, are against raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy. They seem to hold a belief that they may one day be in that top few percent and have to pay that “too high” a marginal tax rate, when in reality their only realistic chance of becoming a millionaire, let alone a billionaire, is to win the lottery. Heck, even Warren Buffet, one of the nation’s wealthiest men, says he needs to be paying a higher tax rate.

The debate series in the NY Times lays out the different perspectives, but I’m curious to hear yours:

Why don’t people seem to care about rising inequality? Is the rising inequality something we should be concerned about? Is that lack of caring about it also something we should be concerned about?

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Posted on 24 March 2011 by christao408

Tomorrow morning at 6:30, Tawn and I will depart Bangkok, en route to Kaua’i to attend my cousin’s wedding. Our routing is quite interesting, via Hong Kong, Guam, and Honolulu. More about that on my return.

Lest you worry about a break in the updates, I’m actually so far behind (too many things to write about and not enough days in the month) that I’ve queued up a week’s worth of entries. And, yes, more food porn is on the way!

Meanwhile, I’ll be gathering more material in the 50th State and, hopefully, meeting a Xangan who has been MIA for nearly a year.

Meanwhile, I leave you with Peter, Paul, and Mary’s lovely rendition of “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.

A Little Pre-Hawai’i Cooking

Posted on 23 March 2011 by christao408

The day I filmed the Almost No-Knead Bread video, I got some extra cooking done. It made sense to have just a little more home cooking before we head off to Kauai for my cousin’s wedding. The meal: Indian spice rub pork chops with raita (a yogurt sauce with cukes and tomatos) and Indian spice roasted potatoes. Dessert was Swedish brownies. And while I was at it, I whipped up a batch of meusli.

While the recipe was originally for chicken, I used pork chops in this Indian spice rub and raita combination from Joanne Choi’s Week of Menus blog. Being a mother with young children and still a foodie, she manages to balance creative, complex flavors with ease of preparation and wholesome ingredients. The only change I would make to the recipe is to add a little bit of brown sugar and a bit of salt. The rub could have used a touch of sweetness.

Tawn and I enjoy meusli for breakfast – although in truth I eat oatmeal most days – and I find it isn’t too difficult to roast a batch of meusli when I already have the oven heated for some other baking. Each batch is just a little different. Based on Alton Brown’s granola recipe from the Food Network, I cut back on the sugar and substitute a little orange juice instead. I sometimes substitute different types of nuts or seeds (flax, pumpkin, or sunflower) for the cashews and almonds in his recipe. And I add a bit of cinnamon or sometimes freshly-ground nutmeg while the meusli is still warm. After it has cooled, I add dried fruits. This one is a combination of cherries, dates, apricots, and raisins. Tasty and pretty healthy, too.

Now, you see why I had to bake some healthy meusli: to offset the caloric karma that came from these wonderfully sticky and chewy brownies. The recipe came my from friend Per’s mother. Since he’s from Sweden, I think I’m going to call these my Swedish brownies. Some brownies are too cake-like. These have an almost mochi-like chewiness (causing me to wonder what would happen if I added just a bit of rice flour to the recipe).

The big challenge was that the recipe was in metrics – and I don’t have any dry ingredient measuring cups marked in deciliters. Thankfully, the internet helped provide conversions and then I made note of the weight of the ingredients so I can measure by weight in the future.

Okay, enough food porn for one entry!

Response to Rep. Moran (R-KS)

Posted on 22 March 2011 by christao408

Trying to be an active participant in our American democracy, I subscribe to newsletter updates from my Senators and Congressional Representative. All three of them are very conservative, more so than I am on most issues, so their newsletters often provide an opportunity for me to write them with an opposing viewpoint.

I do have to give credit to Representative Jerry Moran, though, who has started posting video responses to questions from his constituents. At least he gives clear statements about his position on issues. Representative Moran recently posted the above video, ostensibly in response to a question from a constituent, “What do we need to do to get President Obama to let us drill for oil and natural gas here in the U.S.? It would certainly decrease our dependence on foreign oil.”

I shared my thoughts with Representative Moran through the following email:

Dear Representative Moran:
Just finished watching your video about drilling for oil. I appreciate you providing this kind of clarity on your positions; please continue doing so. Regarding your answer, though, I have two concerns as a constituent and pragmatic American:
First, you describe this as a “battle we must win” against the Environmental Protection Agency and the Obama administration. I disagree that it is a “battle”. The EPA continues to play an important role in protecting our fresh air, our clean water, and our natural environment. Perhaps you noticed the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year? Perhaps you have read the considerable scientific concern about fracking? Fossil fuels are dirty forms of energy and their extraction comes with costs to our environment. The EPA plays an important role in us considering the bigger-picture and longer-term costs, not just reacting to the price of gas at the pump.
My second concern is that you seem to be giving short shrift to non-fossil forms of energy. Sure, you mention them twice in your video but both mentions seem to be an afterthought. Any way you cut it, fossil fuels are a finite resource. We can’t drill, mine, or frack our way to national security and energy independence. We need to be encouraging more investment and research in renewable energies because that is ultimately going to be a necessity in the future. China is already surpassing us in green energy technologies. Surely you want the US to remain competitive?
More drilling off the coasts or up in Alaska, more digging up of the northern plains, more fracking of the rocks beneath Pennsylvania and Ohio – all of these are very short-term, costly, and dirty fixes to our problems. It is time for a smarter, longer-term, more sustainable approach to our energy needs.

I’m curious, what are your thoughts about the U.S. energy policy? What should we be doing differently in order to ensure energy security?

Food in Bangkok – Khao Mok Gai on Convent

Posted on 22 March 2011 by christao408

Flipping through Khun Chawadee’s book Bangkok’s Top 50 Street Food Stalls, I got an itching to try the Khao Mok Gai vendor on Soi Convent. Khao Mok Gai, which alludes to a mountain of rice burying chicken, is the Thai take on chicken biryani. Doubtlessly Indian in origin, the dish traces its more recent roots to the predominately Muslim south of Thailand. It is a dish that is simultaneously simple and complex, one that rarely fails to satisfy.

The vendor in question has long been a fixture on the sidewalk along Soi Convent, just off Silom Road. Just down from the Starbucks and in front of an Irish Pub, the khao mok gai vendor’s cart perches on the edge of the curb with a half-dozen folding tables and plastic stools set out beneath umbrellas.

The menu is rudimentary. The khao mok gai comes in three ways: regular for 30 baht (US$1), rice special (extra rice) for 35 baht, chicken special (extra chicken) for 45 baht, or double-double for 50 baht.

The dish is not fancy – a piece of chicken with a heaping pile of turmeric-stained rice. Fried shallots and cucumber slices garnish and a dish of sweet chili sauce is on the side. The rice is tasty and the chicken flavorful, though.

Don’t skip the soup, which comes on the side. Made with bits of chicken, herbs, and fried shallots, they serve this plain or spicy and its rich flavor hits the spot.

Like all street vendor places worth their salt, this cart gets very busy at lunchtime and they make their day’s wages or so. Don’t dilly-dally. Eat your food, pay your tab, and get moving!

For an alternate (and Xangan) version of biryani, check out this video I made about a visit to the kitchen of Dr. Zakiah back in 2009!

christao408

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

Monthly Archives: March 2011