Last July the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport opened about 30 km east of Khrungthep.  The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority anticipates that the high-speed rail line from the city center to the airport will be open sometime in mid to late 2008.  No surprise there.

The train’s path pretty much parallels an existing rail line that runs along Petchaburi Road.  There will be a large inner-city terminal just a long block away from us, where Asoke and Petchaburi meet.  This should be equivalent to Hong Kong’s Airport Express station that allows people to check in for their flight right in the heart of Central.  They can even check their luggage there and it is transported securely to the airport and processed just as if they had actually checked in at the airport.  The airport line will connect with the subway at that station, and then will continue west to meet up with the Skytrain at Phayathai station, near Victory Monument.

The airport line will be an express train, promising 15 minutes from the city to the airport.  There will also be a local service operating along the same line, and the Soi Soonvijai station will be built very close to Tawn’s parents’ house, about a 3-minute drive or a 10-minute walk away.  Over the past six months as we’ve driven to and from the in-law’s house, we’ve seen piles being driven, pillars being poured, and other work being done.  But the area immediately around the Ekkamai Road flyover (which crosses the train tracks and a canal) hasn’t had any work done.

A few days ago Tawn reported that the construction had finally reached the flyover.  Knowing that the flyover will never look the same again, I wanted to get some pictures.  Before heading down to school on Wednesday morning I drove over to Ekkamai, parked on the shoulder in pre-sunrise traffic, and took some pictures.  They aren’t perfect, but at least they document the changes.

The construction process is fascinating.  There are about twelve individual hollow concrete sections between that are combined to form the viaduct between each pillar.  This enormous crane-like structure extends out from already-built section of the track and hoists new concrete sections into place.  How they are fastened together, I’m not sure, although I see that there is some re-bar that connects the sections.

Anyhow, it should be really nice for Tawn’s parents.  They live far enough off the main road that they shouldn’t be inconvenienced by the new station or any noise, but close enough to benefit from increased property value.

And of course, I’m just excited because I love civil infrastructure projects like this!  What an urban planning geek I am. 

I shave, nearly every day.  And that’s just my face.  On top of it, every two weeks or so I shave my head.  That’s a lot of shaving and the search for a quality shaving foam has been a tough one.  There was a Nivea shaving cream that I used to buy in Hong Kong, but the company no longer sells it in Asia, only in the Middle East.  I even emailed them to ask if I could buy a case of it directly from the company.  They did respond – points for them – but said that it was only available from retailers.

But last year while I was in Kansas City, I bought a cake of Williams Mug Shaving Soap.  Their slogan: “For a lasting lather.”  And I was super-impressed.  Not only with the quality of the lather and the fact it stays wet for a good length of time, but also with how long the cake of soap lasted.  I bought the soap at the end of last March and have been using the same cake – near daily – since then.  In the picture, you can see the remnants of the cake on the left.  Yes, it lasted a whole year!  And this from a cake of soap that is 2mm thick with a 6 mm diameter (0.8 x 2.4 inches). 

Better yet, the soap cost me only 79 cents!  Now, that’s real value.

How many times have you read in this blog that school is over for the year?  I think I’ve said it multiple times and yet it doesn’t quite seem to end.  This morning Tod and I drove down to Bangkhonthiinai.  Ajarn Yai told me that there would be no class today, which I took to mean that the teachers had an in-service day or something.  She told me last week that she was ordering some yellow polo shirts for me to bring to my family and they would be ready today for me to pick up.

NEWSFLASH: The ubiquitous yellow shirts celebrating His Majesty’s 60th Anniversary on the Throne are, literally, so last year.  This year we celebrate the King’s 80th birthday, so we have yellow shirts with an all-new, specially designed crest on them to commemorate the event.  Get yours now!

Tod and I arrived with the expectation that there would be no school, so also had the expectation that there would be no students.  But there was school and there were students.  Thankfully, though, there wasn’t any English language instruction since I hadn’t prepared a lesson!

Instead, the task of the day – literally, the sole task – was to take a group photo of the ten sixth graders and their teachers.  Ajarn Yai is one fussy person!  We took a whole series of pictures outside in the playground but upon inspection, Ajarn Yai pronounced them not acceptable.  So we took another series on the steps where I first posed for a picture with the students last July, when I stumbled across the school on a bicycle ride.  Those worked out a bit better.  See below.

Since I’ll be in the US next week, I thought it would be nice to mail my sixth graders congratulations cards from there.  I doubt any of them have ever received a letter from abroad.  Many of them have possibly never received a letter, period.  It took each student a good five minutes to write out their address and they wrote it in very formal Thai.  For example, before writing the address they wrote “Address House Number” before writing the address.  They wrote “Amphoe” before writing the name of the amphoe or district they live in.  They wrote “Zip Code” before the postal code.  Etcetera.

Here’s a more casual picture of just the students.  From left to right, back row first: Ploy, Sorasak, Gornuwat, Piyachat, Chairat.  Front row: Wanwisa B., Metta, Tamolwan, Wanwisa W., and Pagawan.

After all of the retakes, Tod and I decided to stay for lunch since Ajarn Yai insisted they had already prepared extra food for us.

Now, for real, school is over.  Tune in again in late May to see the new school year get started.  But of course, keep reading because there’s plenty more going on here in the meantime!

Taking a few days of holiday after her week working in Southeast Asia, Tawn and I volunteered to take Christine (see previous entry) to the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha, and Temple of Dawn.  We also invited our new friend Brian, who had not yet made the temple circuit, figuring rightly that he would round out the party nicely.

We met Christine at her hotel, the JW Marriott on Sukhumvit, with Brian arriving a few minutes before us.  From there a quick taxi took us to the pier at the Taksin Bridge.

For you history buffs, note that the Taksin Bridge is not named after the deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.  Instead, it is named after the King who was the sole member of the Thonburi Dynasty, which immediately preceeded the current Chakri Dynasty.  Taksin was king while the Kingdom of Siam had its capital across the river in Thonburi for about fifteen years between the sacking of Ayutthaya by the Burmese and the founding of Khrungthep.

By not starting our tour until after lunch, we took advantage of lighter crowds and increasing cloud cover and breezes.  It was still a warm day, but more pleasant than if we had been at the palace as soon as it opened.  Sadly, the main hall of the Grand Palace, the one in which the Emerald Buddha is housed, is undergoing exterior refurbishment, so it is covered in green siding which you can see in the picture above.  Thankfully, though, we could get inside and pay our respects.

Left: detail of the porcelain used on Wat Arun.  These are in fact broken plates.  Many of the temples were decorated using porcelain that was brought as ballast in trading ships from China, and this often included brick-and-concrete statues and “one-offs” and mistakes in plate and bowls production that these days would instead be sold at a discount outlet!

After also visiting the Recling Buddha at Wat Pho and then taking the 3-baht ferry across the Chao Phraya River to see Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, we arrived at The Deck.

This small restaurant across from Wat Arun provides spectacular views of the river and the temple as it is lit up against the sunset sky.  The food is both French style and Thai, and we mixed and matched to form an entire meal.  In this picture below, we have Brian on the left, myself, Tawn and then Christine.

The combination of personalities worked so well, and we enjoyed a liesurely dinner with conversation and a pair of bottles of sparkling French wine.  On the way back to home after dropping Christine and Brian off at their respective residences, I mentioned to Tawn that Christine reminds me of no one so much as Katherine Hepburn.  From her graceful, erect posture, to her no-nonsense trousers and confident demeanor, she could easily fill the role.

This actually makes for a nice follow up to the International Woman’s Day entry from a few days ago.  Because it is refreshing anytime we meet women who are not only successful in the business and academic worlds but are also very confident of their opinions and right to have a place in the world.  My observation over the years is that often times, men (by which I mean straight men; gay men love them) often feel very uncomfotable with these types of women, labelling them with epithets to hide their own insecurities and feelings of vulnerability.

So, yay, strong women!

On my drive out to school Wednesday, I witnessed a spectacular sunrise in my rear-view mirror.  As the large orange sun rose above the hazy blue horizon, I was reminded of the prints that were popular in the late 80s by artist Tetsuro Sawada, such as the one above.

The school year has come to an end here in Thailand.  Or, at least, it will in the next few weeks.  But as for English instruction at Bangkhonthiinai, the year has ended.  Next Wednesday is a teacher in-service day and the following week – truly, the last week of instruction – I’ll be in the United States.  So this week was the end.  I was teaching by myself as Tod was in India and Markus and Ken both had guests in town.  There wasn’t any formal farewell for the sixth graders, and I felt a little sad that I likely won’t be seeing them again.

Tuesday evening I baked twelve dozen cookies to bring to school: oatmeal raisin chocolate chip.  After lunch, each student received one cookie.  They proceeded to nibble at them very carefully and slowly, making a single cookie last for fifteen minutes.  I need to learn to appreciate my food so carefully!

Next week I will head out to the school to pick up a dozen polo shirts that Ajarn Yai has ordered for my family members who visited in December.  While there, I’ll get the addresses for the sixth graders and will send each a post card from the United States.  Who knows how often – if ever – they’ve received a postcard.

So until the end of May I have a break from teaching, although have plenty to fill the time: creating a complete curriculum for next year that integrates the activities that I do with the ones done by the Thai teachers during the rest of the week.

After school, Ajarn Yai, the other teachers and I went to a seafood restaurant for a bite to eat.  One of the dishes – gaang som baatsa (a whole deep fried fish served in a tamarind sauce soup with pak grachaet, a type of fern-like green that grows alongside khlongs, pictured left) – was very good and I mentioned that Tawn is a big fan of the dish.  Ajarn Yai asked whether Tawn would like some, gesturing to the nearly-finished dish.  Thinking she was suggesting that I bring the left-overs home for Tawn, I agreed.

What I didn’t realize is that she meant that she was going to place another order just for Tawn.  So I drove home with a large bag containing a whole deep fried fish, another bag with the soup, and a third with the vegetables.  As you can imagine, the car had quite the smell of tamarind and fried fish for the next few days.

This is what the Thais call grangjai – a type of obligation you have when someone else has done something for you.  So now I’m “grangjai’d” to Ajarn Yai, as is Tawn.  Which in turn was a result of Ajarn Yai’s perception that she is “grangjai’d” to me for the work I’ve done at the school.  It is a never-ending circle that binds us together.

Wednesday evening, Markus invited me to join him for dinner with a friend of his who was visiting from San Francisco.  It ended up being a group of about ten people, a whole interesting group of people who are all interconnected.  Some of them included:

• Vic, an expat San Franciscan who just moved to Khrungthep four months ago and lives… guess where?  About ten stories above Tawn and I, in the same building!
• Stuart, another expat who moved here about four years ago.  He and his partner live over on Ekkamai, in the neighborhood Tawn and I are considering.
• Brian, a Taiwanese expat who lives here with his Thai-Chinese partner, and lives over in the Lang Suan area.
• Todd, another expat from the US who is actually someone Tod, my co-teacher at Bangkhonthiinai, has met a few times and had mentioned to me.

So it seems that Markus has discovered yet another hidden pocket of expats.  The circle is ever-expanding!

Christine Emery, the sister of my primary internal customer, Eric, was in town on business later in the week and Eric had put us in touch.  Reading her bio, I was a little intimidated to meet her for dinner.  After all, she’s a PhD, the Vice President of Investment Policy for the US Government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation, an agency that promoted US private investment in developing countries.  Nonetheless, we met at her hotel on Thursday evening and went to the Banyan Tree Hotel for drinks at their rooftop bar.

We arrived right as the sun was setting, hovering over the horizon just above the surrounding buildings, reminiscent of yet another Sawada print.

After drinks, Christine suggested we just eat dinner at the adjacent restaurant.  I’ve never eaten at Vertigo before, but it is certainly a nice place to eat, both in terms of the view as well as the attentive service.  The food was good although it didn’t have much of a presence of Thai ingredients let along Thai food.  Among the main dishes, the king prawns were really the only local item. 

Tawn and I will be meeting Christine today to take her to the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and the Temple of Dawn.  This should prove to be a very pleasant afternoon.

There has been a long list of errands in preparation for our trip to the United States on the 16th.  Pretty much accomplished, the tasks have evaporated and there is really just one thing left to do: pack.  Thank goodness we still have ten days left to do that!

Buying a house (or in this case, a condominium) is such a fascinating experience when you are a couple.  It really creates these incredible opportunities in which you confront any mis-communications.  It is as though you’re driving along, certain you’re both on the same page and heading in the same direction, when all of the sudden there’s a checkpoint staffed with armed guerillas.  These guerrillas may be anything from a conversation about the condo’s location, to the availability of assigned versus open parking, to the finding of a condo that meets 85% of your criteria in a sea of ones that meet only 10%.

The guerrillas demand: “Where are you going?”

And your partner and you speak simultaneously, giving two different answers!

“Wait a minute,” you say, incredulously, “I thought we were going there…” 

The guerrillas drag you out of the car, beat you up a bit, and send you through interrogation.  It is painful, but afterwards you think, with greater certainty, that you both are now on the same page and are looking for the same things.  Until the next checkpoint…

All melodramatics aside, the process has really helped me better understand Tawn’s values and priorities, as well as my own, because we find ourselves in situations where we’re working with the assumption that the other person knows what we’re thinking, instead of verbalizing it, and then have to talk through it.  And not just about superficial things like window treatments and whether we need a second bathroom in a two-bedroom condo.  We’re gaining a much better understanding – and an increasingly shared one, checkpoint-by-checkpoint, on things such as financial values; our individual vision of how the next five, ten, and twenty years will play out; and what hopes and fears we have.  

Where does that leave us?

We’ve searched the two major areas of the city in which we’re interested in living: the mid- to outer-Sukhumvit area, from Nana BTS station to On-Nut; and the Pahonyoltin area, from Saphan Kwai BTS station to Ratchatewi.  There is still some question about whether there are any good options along the subway line – so far it looks like most of those complexes are either quite old and shabby, or being sold on paper for a construction completion date that is one to three years hence.

Of that, we’ve found three places that in general meet our qualifications.  One is higher than the rest – the 85% place I referenced – and would probably be a good choice in the long term.  The problem is, the agent informs us that the seller has refused to negotiate with two other people who have made offers: she wants her asking price.  It is a fair price, but not an incredible one.  To top it off, we’re leaving to the US in ten days and I don’t want to start the process of negotiating, getting a loan, etc. and then be out of the country for the better part of two weeks while in the midst of the process.

So after the last checkpoint we agreed – well, I think we agreed – that we’ll wait until we return from the US and if that property is still on the market we will go ahead and take another look at it, bringing in someone with construction knowledge who can evaluate the property (they don’t do full disclosure here) and talk with us about ideas we have for remodeling.  If it all looks good – and if the property hasn’t been sold – we’ll make and offer.

If the property is gone, then we weren’t meant to have it and we’ll resume our searching.

Is that another checkpoint I see up ahead?

Tawn and I have two weddings in the United States this autumn.  My friend from high school, Ryan, is marrying his wonderful girlfriend Sabrina on the first of September.  Then on October 6th, my cousin Alexandra and her you-two-have-been-together-for-so-long-and-are-such-a-nice-couple-when-are-you-finally-going-to-get-married boyfriend Bill.  Two trips to the US in just over one month.  Yikes!  Nothing left for a down-payment.

I’ve been watching fares to the US for the Labor Day weekend and they have been pretty high – the best I had found on any airline in any routing was about 43,000 baht – US$1230 – with most of them up near 55,000 baht.  Then, while playing around with a combination of dates, I found a high season excursion fare on Asiana Airlines that on one particular combination of days was only 34,000 baht.  The day before or day after, the fare jumped back up.  So Saturday morning Tawn and I headed down to the Asiana office on Ploenchit Road and purchased the ticket.  The staff at the office is friendly and very helpful.  Here’s a picture of Asiana’s somewhat innovative seat assignment selection system: you have a large model airplane and just point at the part of the plane where you want to sit.

Just kidding of course.  But when doing seat assignments, she turned the monitor towards me so I could see the available seats map.  I selected a seat about a third back on the plane and she asked whether I wouldn’t prefer a seat in the front row of Economy?  That’s kind of surprising considering I had purchased a discount fare.  On many airlines, they would have only put me at the far back of the plane or in a middle seat.  So bonus points to Asiana for good service.

With the time zone difference, the Academy Awards started at something like 9:00 Monday morning but was thankfully rebroadcast Monday evening.  Tawn and I made a date of it: I prepared dinner, using the rotisserie feature in my oven for the first time.

Our menu:

• Pomelo and avocado with lemon vinaigrette
• Roast pork loin in mustard-horseradish glaze
• Gratineed baby cauliflower
• Herbed fingerling potatoes

This was accompanied by a demi-bouteille of Paul Goerg non-vintage Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne, a gift from our friend Bill K in Florida when he was visiting this winter.  Thanks, Bill – it was perfect with the right acidic notes to cut through the richness of the avocado and the mustard glaze.

For dessert, I baked an apple and rhubarb cobbler complete with a little Oscar statuette on the crust.  Maybe the picture doesn’t show the details very well, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Left: Detail of the cobbler.  Can you see Oscar on the crust?

Things turned out quite nicely and I was more than a little surprised that the rotisserie feature actually worked so well.  I’m not necessarily a big “let’s have a slab of meat” person, but it adds a greater variety of potential menu items to future dinner parties.  I was originally going to do a roast chicken but when I arrived at Villa Supermarket they had dismembered all of the chickens for the day.  All I could have was parts and I can’t rotisserie parts very well.

What about the show?  The show!  The show!

Thankfully, when we watch American television, it usually has no commercial breaks, so the Oscars moved much more quickly.  However, some odd editing had been done and it looked like maybe a few other parts had been inadvertently edited, too.  The second award that Will Smith’s son was presenting jumped directly to the winner suddenly being on stage – no idea what the award was for, nor who was nominated.  Nor, for that matter, who that winner was.

Ellen?  I like Ellen, but I didn’t think she was very funny at the Oscars.  I thought most of the audience’s laughter was just feigned politeness.  Could we have Billy back, please?  Or maybe Steve Martin again… he was funny.

I’m glad to see a more international group of movies and actors being honored and hope the future looks more like that.  My question about The Departed, though: why wasn’t Infernal Affairs ever honored?  The original movie was much better than the remake, despite Scorsese doing a fine job.  Can we get a rule put into place where you can’t do a remake of a movie for at least twenty years after the original?

In the end, I went to bed before it was all over.  Maybe if we throw a big party next year, or go back to the US in time to attend Albert’s annual soiree, then it will be more fun.

The wai – the gesture in which hands are placed prayer-like at chest level – is one of the most visible signs of Thais’ characteristic politeness.  It is used as a greeting, as a departure, as a thank you, as a sign of respect from a person in a lower social status to a person in a higher one, and in most circumstances it is also used as a response from the person in the higher social status.

From my first visit to Thailand in 1999, I’ve been tickled by the sight of foreign firms’ corporate icons – especially the Michellin Man – wai’ing outside their respective businesses.  It is an interesting way to adapt to local customs although the thought of a large stack of automobile tires being respectful is a tad bizarre. 

Is there a Thai equivalent?  I can’t think of any particular Thai corporate icons that wai, but I’m sure they exist.  At Kasikorn bank, after you’ve completed the ATM transaction there is a stylized animation of a woman wai’ing deeply at you, her forehead touching her fingertips in the deepest and most respectful of wais. 

Outside Thai restaurants everywhere there are often a pair of wooden statues showing two traditionally dressed woman – you may have even seen these at Thai restaurants elsewhere in the world – wai’ing you at the front door or near the entrance to the restaurant.

Friday afternoon the Australian, Canadian and British embassies released warnings to their citizens regarding reports of an increased threats of bombs by Islamic separatists from the south of Thailand, in Bangkok.  There had been reports in the Thai media that the government thinks that there may be several hundred separatists in universities in Khrungthep and perhaps as many as 10,000 “front-line” supporters.  The embassies’ warnings identified shopping centers and public transportation as likely targets.

Saturday  morning the English-language newspapers reported these threats in above-the-fold headlines.  In the Thai-language papers, the story was reported differently: “Farangs blow bomb threats out of proportion,” read one, using that play on words.

Ken called his mother in Florida as soon as he heard about the warnings, to assuage her fears.  Unfortunately, she hadn’t heard about the reports, so his telling her not to worry only caused her to worry more than she had before.  The best of intentions.

Saturday evening, Tawn and I tried to reignite our efforts to eat more modesty.  While we haven’t been going overboard, over the past month we’ve noticed that we’ve been eating out more often and usually at places that are getting a bit more expensive. 

Let me put this in perspective: by “more expensive” I’m talking about a meal that totals 600 baht for two people – US$17.15.  Not outrageous but considering this: Saturday night we went to Sukhumvit Soi 36, a strip located next to the Thong Lor Skytrain station that has a row of food vendors on either side of the street. 

We had noodles and jok – rice porridge – and even with sticky rice and mango for dessert we only spent 200 baht.  Who says you can’t eat well while eating frugally?  Above: the scene on Sukhumvit 36 at 10:00 pm.

We made up for our Saturday frugality with a nice lunch on Sunday, meeting Paul and Nicha for dim sum at Jasmine Restaurant in Times Square.  Paul is Tawn’s cousin – his mother is Tawn’s father’s sister – but was born and grew up in Los Angeles.  He has lived in Thailand with his wife, Nicha, who is also Thai, for the past several years.  Despite being close in age and getting along well, we don’t see them very often.  In fact, it has been nearly a year since our last meal together.

Hopefully this changes and we will see more of them, because lord knows we can use all the familial support from Tawn’s family that we can get.

We concluded the weekend with a show of The Queen starring Oscar-nominated actress Helen Mirren.  Right now it is playing at only one cinema with one show each day, although I think it goes wider in two weeks.  We wanted to see her performance before the Academy Awards, which are on at this very moment but I told Tawn I would wait to watch the rebroadcast with him this evening.  He almost called in sick this morning when he remembered that the awards were on today.

So who wins?  Well, I have my money (figuratively speaking) on Forest Whittaker, Helen Mirren, and Adriana Barraza, and I have no thoughts about Best Supporting Actor.  As for Best Picture, I haven’t seen “Little Miss Sunshine” or “Letters From Iwo Jima” because they have yet to open in Thailand and I refuse to buy bootlegs on the street.

Don’t spoil the surprise for me… the awards are rebroadcast starting a 8:45 pm local time, Monday evening – that’s 8:45 am EST Monday.

Last Saturday, Tawn’s school friend Pim called with the news that her paternal grandfather, who had been ill for about five years, had passed away.  While this was sad news for the family, I suspect there was some relief that his suffering has ended.  This death also opened a door of opportunity for me, to attend a Thai funeral for the first time.

Pim’s paternal grandfather, Khun Prasit Ourairat, was a very big man.  Formerly the governor of the Thailand water utility, he was also the founder of Rangsit University, a large private university in Phatum Thani province, just north of Khrungthep.  Because of this, his funeral may have been a bit larger and grander than the average Thai funeral, but Tawn assures me that it was otherwise representative. 

I’ll share with you my experience and observations:

Thai funerals are usually seven-day affairs, generally commencing the day after the decedent’s passing.  Being a nation that is 95+% Buddhist, almost all funeral services are held at a temple although in some smaller communities the funeral may be held at home.

The family is assigned a sala – pavilion – at the temple and the body, after being washed ceremonially (sprinkling water on the decedent’s hands in a gesture of respect), is placed in a coffin that is more or less your standard box-like affair.  Tawn tells me that the washing of the body is the main place where people grieve over the loss of their loved one; it is the time when they first confront the reality of the loss.  Flowers, pictures, etc. are displayed around the coffin at one end of the sala, and there is always a Buddha image in the room.

In the case of Khun Prasit, because he held such high status, the Royal Household of His Majesty the King approved the use of a very fancy, octagonal coffin.  This is a high honor, indeed, and is not something that common people can use.  In this case, his body was not actually placed in the coffin, but was instead in a traditional coffin placed at the back of the flowers with the fancier ceremonial coffin displayed in front.  After the ceremony, presumably it will be returned to the Royal Household.

For each of the seven days, a service is held at the fixed time of 7:00 in the evening.  Chairs are arranged in the sala for guests – the number varies depending on the size of the building but there were about 120 guests seated inside in the case of Khun Prasit’s funeral.  Additionally, the family had tents set up outside and facing the sala to accommodate another two hundred or so guests.

Guests wear black – this is different from many Asian cultures where white is the color worn at funerals as a symbol of purity – and it seems that every Thai man has a black suit set aside just for this occasion. 

The sala was overflowing with flowers – perhaps 100 wreaths were displayed, hanging on walls and over doorways.  While white flowers made a notable presence, the wreaths were still very colorful and each had a sign expressing condolences from this family or that organization or government department. 

As guests arrive, they remove their shoes and enter the sala at the front near the casket and floral displays.  The area is carpeted in red and there is a small padded stool.  You then pay your respects by sitting on the floor, usually kneeling or sitting with your legs tucked to the side, bowing three times to the Buddha image off to the side of the room – touching your forehead to your fingertips on the ground – and then bowing once to the deceased.

Tawn explains that normally you would light incense, too, but with the large number of guests the amount of smoke would become overwhelming, so in this case no incense was lit.

The service is presided over by four monks – only funerals have four monks; all other services have an odd number of monks – representing the four “can-nots” associated with the death:

• Bai mai glab – Cannot return
• Lab mai teun – Cannot awaken
• Feun mai mii – Cannot regain consciousness
• Nii mai phon – Cannot escape

Over the course of about 45 minutes, the monks conduct four rounds of chanting.  The chanting is in Pali, the Sanskrit-derived language in which Buddhist texts are written, and each lasts maybe 7-8 minutes.  There is a break of a few minutes between each and, Tawn says, usually between the third and fourth round a light snack is served to guests.

During the chanting, guests sit with their hands in a prayer-like position, but often are holding respectfully quiet conversations with each other.  During the breaks the volume of chatting increases a bit, but all in all the manner is respectful.

As I mentioned, there are seven days of services.  Each day a different person or group of people sponsors the services – a friend of the family, colleagues of the deceased or of his or her spouse or child, or an organization with which the deceased had been associated.  In this case, the first three days of mourning were sponsored by His Majesty the King.

At the conclusion of the service, small snack boxes from S&P restaurant were handed out to guests as they departed.  Generally, as I mentioned, snacks would be served between the third and fourth rounds of chanting.  However, I think since it was a Sunday evening and the temple is on the outskirts of the city, a to-go snack box afforded guests greater convenience.

Pim’s father, whom I’ve met a few times before at family meals, invited Tawn and me to join the family for some noodles and food that had been set up near the sala, but we politely declined as Pim was giving us a ride back into town.

Having only observed one day of the mourning, I think I missed some things about which I’m curious, especially how Thais express their grief.  The answer may lie in what happens after the seven days: the cremation service.  This is also held at the temple and in many cases does not happen until the 100^th day after death.  While more and more families are opting to get the cremation over with after the seventh day, the rationale behind the 100 days is that the spirit, when it leaves the body after death, sometimes is confused about where to go and will stay around the body.  Waiting 100 days gives the spirit time to find its way.

Additionally, as Tawn explains, the 100 days provides time for the family to let go of their loved one.  The body is in a safe place, at the temple, and so they are comforted by the knowledge that their loved one is under the protection of the monks and the Buddha.  This gives them time to go through the grieving process before the cremation service, which is the final goodbye.

The service usually draws an extended crowd, not only immediate friends and family.  The coffin is carried from the sala around the bot – the main chapel at the temple – three times and then to the cremation sala.  There, mourners are given a small candle, a stick of incense, and a wooden flower – these are the “holy trinity” if you will, of Buddhist prayer – and the mourners will throw these into the fire.  Doing so, they become part of the fire that sends their loved one to the next life.

After cremation, some people have the ashes interred in a wall or chedi (pagoda) at the temple with a small memorial plaque with their name and picture on it.  Other people will have the ashes scattered.

Well, the Year of the Fire Pig has officially started, preceded by an unrelenting barrage of firecrackers Saturday afternoon as local businesses and properties made offerings at their spirit houses and exploding firecrackers to scare away any bad spirits before the start of the new year.  Those things are loud and up on the 25th floor we could hear them from buildings all around us.

To start the year off right, we had friends over for dinner last night.  Unfortunately, I suffered a number of accidents and mishaps all evening long: I burned my wrist on a hot pan and then my hand when lighting a candle; stumbled over a chair; and overturned a creme brulee.  Not particularly fortuitous for the year to come.

For whatever reason, butane is difficult to find here.  Tawn stopped at a half-dozen shops yesterday and had no luck finding any, so I had to use the broiler in my convection oven to brulee the creme.  It didn’t work very well.  I think I saw butane at Central Chidlom so will go back there today or tomorrow and stock up.

As for the Year of the Pig, here’s the forecasts for the year to come for me and Tawn from the Hong Kong Tourism Authority’s website:

Year of the Rabbit (Tawn): Good prospects and fortune await “bunnies” in a well-aspected, happy year when you make positive progress.  You’ll be as popular as ever among your wide circle of friends and family.  Love lives are also promising in such a memorable year.  Work is also encouraging, but try being bolder in promoting your skills.  Stay alert for opportunities and for most of a rewarding year you’ll hopping around delightedly.

Year of the Dog (Chris): Man’s best fried can relax.  The calmer pace of the Year of the Pig is much to the liking of over-anxious dogs, who tend to fret under pressure.  Much headway can be made by capitalising on opportunities, with your characteristic loyalty highly appreciated and rewarded.  Your “pack” at home will appreciate your considerate nature in a satisfying and often exciting year.

These horoscopes really don’t tell me anything useful.  Who writes these things?  Oh, the tourism authority.  Right, that explains it.

Let me try my hand at making some predictions for my year to come.  We can look back at them in one year’s time and see how they turned out:

This will be a year of change, leading towards eventually settling down.  After much searching, you will make a large investment.  Uncertainty about career will be cleared up as longer-term arrangements are made.  Extended family will face obstacles in which some resolution is reached, but the year will end with some issues unresolved.

How’s that sound?  Self-fulfilling enough?  Especially when you consider that Tawn and I have been going condo hunting pretty much every weekend.

This story about students at my alma matta from the AP via the San Jose Mercury News:

Outrage over college theme party accused of mocking Hispanics

Saturday, February 17, 2007 – Santa Clara, Calif. (AP) —

A “South of the Border” theme party has stirred outrage at a Silicon Valley university after students showed up at the bash dressed as Hispanic janitors, gardeners, gangbangers and pregnant teens.

Photographs from the private, off-campus party organized by Santa Clara University students in late January appeared on the Internet soon afterward, prompting an outcry on campus.

One image shows a partygoer with a balloon stuffed under her shirt, making her appear pregnant. In another, a woman wears pink rubber cleaning gloves and carries a feather duster.

“A lot of people have the idea that Mexicans or Latin Americans are all like that, and that’s wrong,” said Nadine Rasch, 18, a finance major from Guatemala, who did not attend the party.

Paul Locatelli, president of the nearly 8,400-student Jesuit university, has condemned the party. No students have been disciplined, but a campus spokeswoman said the school is investigating the party and that the university’s code of conduct extends to students who live off-campus.

A protest march organized by students attracted 250 people Tuesday, and the campus has held meetings and plans a forum for this Thursday.

What an embarrassment.  I can’t believe that something like this would happen in this day and age, especially in the Bay Area. I’ll be writing to the student newspaper to express my shame at being affiliated with SCU.