About christao408

An expat American who moved to Bangkok in 2005 with his partner (now husband). Life is a grand adventure and each experience is worth having if for no other reason than to remind us that we are alive.

Would Someone in Al Qaeda Be Allowed to Burn a Quran?

Posted on 8 September 2010 by christao408

Two weeks ago it was the furor over the inaccurately named “Ground Zero Mosque”. This week, everyone is up in arms about a small-time Gainesville, Florida preacher’s plans to burn copies of the Quran on September 11th. Reverend Jones, leader of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center, has received oversized attention for someone who leads so small a flock. Surely we are giving him more attention than he deserves.

With such a deep hatred of Muslims and an uncivil way of expressing it, Reverend Jones is a world-class jerk who doesn’t live his life as an example of the teachings of Jesus Christ. There is no loving of his neighbors, doing unto others, etc. that we would reasonably expect from a man who claims to be a man of God.

But there is one point I find very interesting in all this fuss. While burning a Quran is a rather stupid and insensitive way to express his beliefs, isn’t the fact that the wrong Reverend Jones has and can freely exercise freedom of speech actually a big raspberry in the face of those who despise the freedoms that America represents?

Wouldn’t Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda ilk like nothing better than to see Americans stifle our own civil liberties and freedoms?

While I’m sure there will be plenty of people in Muslim lands and elsewhere who will be outraged at the sight of an American “Christian” minister burning copies of the Quran, I have to wonder if there won’t also be a whole lot of people who will be amazed that there is a country out there where someone can express contrary opinions without fear of persecution, repression, or execution by the authorities?

That is not the case in many countries out there, certainly not the ones where Al Qaeda likes to spread their poison.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Evelyn Beatrice Hall

Airport Link Now Fully Up and Running

Posted on 6 September 2010 by christao408

In June I wrote about my first ride on the Bangkok Airport Rail Link (ARL), which spent the past few months running a limited test service. The line has both a local and express service, the express promising to move you from the airport to the center of the city in fifteen minutes. The trial run for the past few months, though, only featured the local service. Two weeks ago the express portion was brought on line and the system was officially opened, so I went for another ride to check it out.

Now that all the stations were in operation, I decided to ride the express from the Makkasan terminal station (located near Asoke between Rama IX Expressway and Petchaburi Roads) nonstop to the airport, and then ride the local service back to Phaya Thai station, where the ARL connects with the BTS Skytrain.

Back in June one problem I noticed was that the ARL station (on the right in the picture) didn’t physically connect with the BTS station (on the far left). In fact, there was a gap of a good 5 meters, meaning that you had to walk down the stairs from one station, along the road, across the train tracks, and then ascend an escalator into the other station. Not convenient at all – especially for someone with suitcases!

I’m glad to report that on opening day, they had a connector bridge just barely finished (work was still underway but a narrow walkway was opened through it) that takes you from the paid area of the BTS station (in the background) to the public area of the ARL station (in the foreground). The operator of the BTS has added fare gates and a ticket window so you can enter and exit the station conveniently, walking directly to the ARL station.

Amazing, but true – there was some amount of advance planning and coordination between the agencies!

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the Makkasan Station, a beautiful, modern facility that is meant to offer the convenience of checking in for your flight at the station, checking your bags, and then being able to whisk off to the airport without the worry of lugging your suitcases with you.

The station is set back some 200 meters (650 feet) from Asoke Road, a heavily congested north-south artery, and some 500 meters from the Petchaburi MRTA subway station exit. Despite more than three years of construction, there is no direct pedestrian access between the MRTA and ARL and no vehicular ramps connecting the station to the southbound (inbound to the city) side of Asoke.

Illustration as to why this is a problem:

As I was walking from the subway station to the ARL station, a very pedestrian unfriendly route, I came across a family of travelers, pulling their suitcases from the ARL station. I asked where they were heading, ready to give directions, and they were looking for a taxi. Of course, the driveways weren’t open and no taxi queue was up and running, so they had to walk the 200 meters to the street and try to flag a taxi down. To top it off, the taxi would be going the opposite direction from where they were headed.

Open building but no taxis or any other traffic allowed up to the facility.

A week after the ARL opened, the State Railways of Thailand, which owns and operates the system, announced they would build an elevated pedestrian walkway to the subway station and would build ramps so cars could access the station from all directions. Give them two years and then things might work better.

The State Railways owns a huge tract of land around the Makkasan station, what used to be their main switch yards and maintenance facility. Their grand vision is to eventually develop all of this – enough room for 20 or more skyscrapers – into a large mixed-use facility of offices, hotels, convention center, shopping, and maybe some residential. At that point in time, it would be conveniently located. Until then, it is not really near much of the city.

In fact, that is probably the reason they chose to make Makkasan station the in-city terminal. They stand to make a lot of money (and maybe, for the first time in 50+ years, turn a profit?) from land development. The obvious place for the in-city terminal would have been Phaya Thai station, adjacent to the BTS Skytrain. Better synergy with the transit systems.

The express train to the airport is quite nice. The station is air conditioned and well signed, if lacking in taxis. The trains run every fifteen minutes and the cars are comfortable with forward and rear facing seats, luggage racks, and overhead storage for small items. The train is also very fast – top speeds supposedly of 150 kmh, but I think it is more like 120 most of the way.

A view of the roads leading from the highway to the airport as we zoom past, arriving exactly fifteen minutes after leaving Makkasan.

My assessment: The system is a very welcome addition to the transit network here in Bangkok. The local line, which connects from the airport directly to the Skytrain with six intermediate stops, is very useful and will probably do a lot of business, what with the rapidly-expanding suburbs to the east of the city. The airport express itself isn’t useful as you pay more and wind up at a station that isn’t convenient to anything. My advice – if you are arriving in the city and want to use the train, use the local line. Or, if there are more than two of you, take a taxi. In another two or three years, once the connections to the Makkasan station have been built and it is more convenient, I might revise my opinion.

Sunday Date Brunch

Posted on 5 September 2010 by christao408

This is going to be the final word on dates for the time being. I invited two couples, Doug and Bee and Ken and Chai, over for Sunday brunch. Since I had been on such a roll this week with date-themed recipes, it became something like an Iron Chef challenge. This meal’s challenge ingredient: dates. In all humility, it turned out pretty darn good. Let me share the menu with you.

An amuse bouche of sedai dates stuffed with a little French chèvre (soft goat cheese) and a sliver of almond. What a tasty combination! The orange rind, which I should have salted, was more for presentation than flavor. Had it been salted, I think it would have been a nice contrast and would have really stimulated the appetite.

Two of our four guests – Doug and Bee. Doug is a fellow American who lives in our neighborhood. Credit goes to Tawn for the elegantly understated table setting.

Two types of flatbreads. Both were brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. The one of the left has freshly chopped rosemary. The one of the right has za’atar, a Middle Easter spice mixture that contains oregano, thyme, basil, savory, and sesame seeds.

Greek style salad with fresh romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives and Feta cheese. Served with a homemade lemon vinaigrette dressing. (The dressing recipe is here)

The main course was the Moroccan style braised chicken. This picture doesn’t quite flatter the dish, which I thought was the standout of the meal. Wednesday’s Moroccan Pork Chop dinner (my blog entry about it and the original recipe I followed) was the starting point. Based on what I learned from that recipe, I repurposed it for chicken. Zakiah suggested a recipe for tamarind-date sauce (thank you – what a great idea!) and I extrapolated from that and braised the chicken instead of just pan frying it.

The chicken was brined for four hours in a mixture of buttermilk, salt, and cayenne pepper. While it was brining, I created a tamarind-date sauce. This was a learning experience as I haven’t worked with tamarind paste before.

Tamarind paste comes from the flesh of the ripe fruit of the tropical Tamarind tree. The flesh is very sour with just a hint of sweetness. Mashing the paste in a little warm water, you can extract a thick liquid with which you cook. A little goes a long way! To make the sauce, I sauteed an onion with the same spices I used for the chicken. Once the onion was soft I blended it with chopped dates and the tamarind water. Then I thinned this mixture with broth and cooked it down for a few minutes.

While the sauce reduced, I rinsed, patted dry, and dredged the chicken pieces with a spice mixture, then pan fried them a few pieces at a time. Once all the pieces had formed a nice crust, I returned them to the pot and added the tamarind-date sauce, covered the pot and cooked for an hour at low heat until the chicken was tender and cooked through. The nice thing about this recipe was that it could be prepared the day before then reheated. Tender, flavorful, and convenient.

To accompany the chicken, I made another batch of the Moroccan style rice. (Recipe I started with but I modified it a lot as I don’t cook with a microwave.) I was out of apricots so used dates, raisins, and dried mango to accompany the rice. Interestingly, this batch turned out much softer and mushier than the one I made Wednesday. I used the same type of rice and proportion of rice to liquid as before, but the rice was from a new bag. All I can figure is that this bag of rice was younger and didn’t need as much liquid. Still, plenty tasty!

For dessert, we has two items. The first was a date nute bread (recipe) from Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa series of cookbooks. This is a quick bread similar to banana bread or zucchini bread. I think I overcooked it a little as it was dry. Tawn, however, likes his food drier than I do, so he thought it was perfect! Toasted, I think it would make no difference. On the side is a tub of butter whipped with a little honey and orange zest.

The final dish was a Greek Yoghurt Panna Cotta with dried apricots reconstituted in a white wine and honey sauce. (Recipe) This turned out very nice as the panna cotta is not overly sweet and has a nice tanginess from the yoghurt. Of course, by this point we were stuffed, and smaller servings would have been fine!

All in all, the brunch was a success. Pleasant company and conversation, most importantly, and the food turned out nicely, too!

Beauty Literally Melts Away

Posted on 3 September 2010 by christao408

In the aftermath of the May political protests and the two days of rioting and fires that followed, certain parts of the city showed the scars of this violence, despite efforts by business and civic leaders to clean up and put on a fresh face. One area in particular where these scars still showed was the shops in the eastern section of Siam Square, a popular shopping destination in the heart of Bangkok. Until just a few weeks ago – more than two months after the protests – this sign from a skin care clinic remained unreplaced.

I saw it while walking from the Siam Skytrain station and found it very evocative of the Buddhist teaching that everything is impermanent, our beauty as well as our bodies.

Just a week or so ago, I passed by again and noticed that the clinic has put a new sign up and is, it seems, back in business. In this most Buddhist of countries, you can once again test the precepts of your faith and see if beauty can be made permanent.

Cooking with Dates – Moroccan Rice and Pork Chops

Posted on 1 September 2010 by christao408

Now that we had a nice box of dates as a gift from Tawn’s boss, the only question was, what to do with them? Okay, the premise is a bit misleading. I always have some dates on hand and add them to my oatmeal every morning. And I’m certainly not going to use the expensive, plump fresh dates for cooking – they’re perfect for snacking or stuffing with candied almonds or goat cheese. But the receipt of the dates did get me thinking about ways to incorporate dates into my cooking beyond the oatmeal, so I was inspired to try some Moroccan-themed recipes.

Before anyone accuses me of not being authentic, or of using pork in a recipe ostensibly from a Muslim country, let me acknowledge the disconnects. These recipes were more “loosely inspired by the cuisine of Morocco” than anything else.

I didn’t strictly follow a recipe – no surprise there – but used one as a guide. I prepared jasmine rice, since it was handy, in a rice cooker with a mixture of half water and half chicken broth, adding a cinnamon stick, some cardamom pods, and some cloves.

While it was cooking, I fried a small onion, finely diced, with cumin, tumeric, ground cinnamon, paprika, and chili powder until fragrant, then added chopped pine nuts, slivered almonds, chopped dried apricots, chopped dates (you were wondering when I’d get to that, weren’t you?) and the zest of half a lemon.

After the rice was finished, I pulled out the cardamom and cloves, then stirred in the onion, spice, and fruit mixture. I added a little salt and pepper to taste and garnished with some green onions. If I had had some coriander (cilantro) I would have added that, too.

The pork chops (you could use chicken, too) were marinated in a brine of 2 cups buttermilk, 1 tbsp of salt, and a generous dash of cayenne pepper. After two hours, I rinsed the buttermilk off, patted the meat dry with towels, and then coated it with a mixture of flour, brown sugar, ground coriander seed, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Fried the chops for a few minutes to get a crust, and then moved the pan to the oven until the internal temperature reached 160 F. While the pork chops rested on a plate, tented loosely with foil, I made a sauce from the drippings, using chicken stock, raisins, green onions, and a little corn starch as a thickener.

This was a tremendously tasty meal and I’ll have to experiment with it further and see what other things I can do with the basic idea. Chicken is next on my list, maybe for a brunch this Sunday.

Dates

Posted on 1 September 2010 by christao408

One of my favorite fruits is dates. There are many different types, of course, but in my mind there are few things that are more of a treat to eat than a date. Last week, Tawn’s boss was in Abu Dhabi for work. When she returned, she gave Tawn this beautiful gift box.

Opening the box, we found a kilogram of fresh dates. Fat, plump, sweet dates. What a thoughtful gift. These are segai dates, which often develop a light patch near the top of date and are grown in Saudi Arabia. In fact, there are more than two dozen varieties of dates sold by this company, Bateel.

My appreciation of dates started in childhood, when during one spring break we drove to Southern California on vacation, spending a day at the Indio Date Festival (now the Riverside County Fair and Date Festival) in Indio, California. Camel races, date shakes, date ice cream, displays on dates – it was a regular date-o-rama.

We also drove to Twenty-nine Palms, then down by the Salton Sea, and walked across the border into Tecate, Mexico during the afternoon siesta, then continued to San Diego later in the week. Not many things I remember from the trip, but I do remember the Date Festival!

So Do You Believe in Karmic Retribution?

Posted on 31 August 2010 by christao408

For the first time ever, I’ve had to select a rating for my blog entry tougher than “A – All Ages Allowed”. Shocking? Yes. But you’ll see why in a moment…

There are those who, whatever their religious persuasion or lack thereof, hold a general belief in the concept of karmic retribution. Whether expressed as “what goes around, comes around” or simply an understanding that those who send negative energy out into the world eventually find themselves on the receiving end of that same energy, I wish to submit the following bit of evidence for your consideration.

My friends Otto and Han were in town from Singapore last weekend and they shared this story and the accompanying pictures with me, from a vacation they recently took to Taiwan. Many thanks to them for letting me share the pictures with you!

…

PARENTS: PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN’S TENDER SENSIBILITIES AND LET THEM READ NO FURTHER!

…

The setting is a beach on the outskirts of Taipei. The weather is warm, the tide is out, and families and people of all ages are catching some sun and playing on the sand bars.

…

Unfortunately, though, one man – perhaps a bit of a naturist – decided to bare all. But it wasn’t a nude beach and, to the best of my understanding, the Taiwanese aren’t the type who embrace (if you’ll excuse the pun) those who take a clothing-optional approach to beachwear.

…

It turns out that the man was a bit more than a naturist. More of an exhibitionist, really, or what you might more commonly call a pervert. He bothered a few groups of beachgoers, not just showing his itty bits but enlarging himself, too, if you catch my drift. This pair of ladies tried to shoo him away and then quickly gathered their things to leave the area.

(This is probably about the right time to assure you that Otto and Han were merely bystanders on the beach who happened to observe this and captured it with their zoom lens. Neither of them is the man pictured above!)

Now, I can imagine you are wondering where the evidence of karmic retribution is. Well, see the dog in the picture above?

…

After the man bothered those two ladies, the dog ran to where the man had left his clothes sitting on a piece of driftwood. And then peed on them.

Now, whether you think that God set his wrath upon the man in the form of dog urine, or whether you think that the nature of good and evil finally found its level, I submit that this is clear and incontrovertible evidence of karmic retribution.

What say you?

…

And in case you are curious…

here is a picture of me, Tawn, Kar Wai, Han, and Otto after dinner here in Bangkok. Many thanks again to Otto and Han, for without them, this story would never have been told for your edification.

Bank in a Garden

Posted on 30 August 2010 by christao408

Success in business is often a matter of degrees, finding that unique niche that sets you apart from the competition in a way that is meaningful to potential customers, but isn’t gimmicky. In the category of “I’m not sure if this is cool or silly” I present for your consideration, the bank in a garden.

For their 1,000th branch, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Thailand’s oldest bank, created what they are calling a “bank in a garden”, a themed branch that has just opened in the newly remodeled Paradise Park mall on the city’s rapidly expanding eastern flank.

Paradise Park, which was previously known as Seri Center, has undergone a complete makeover and as part of it, SCB decided to make a big splash in keeping with the new mall’s “Oasis of Eastern Bangkok” theme.

I’m all for innovation and certainly banking, which is still largely done in person here in Thailand (which explains why they have 1,000 branches!), is a task that will benefit from nearly anything that can make it more pleasant. But I’m not sure that artificial grass and artificial shrubs and wicker lawn furniture is going to help. Especially in a few months when the fake leaves and blades of grass start to fall (or be pulled) off and the greenery starts to have some bare patches.

What are your thoughts? Would you like to have a bank in a garden at your local branch?

Danny and Annie

Posted on 29 August 2010 by christao408

StoryCorps is an oral history project in the US, an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives. Credit goes to Jacquie for posting this on her site yesterday. It is the heartfelt story of Danny and Annie Perasa – a combination of an interview of them talking about their first date and then a subsequent interview made just a few days before Danny died of cancer. I want to share it with you. Grab some tissues before you watch, though.

(Interestingly, StoryCorps has set at least two of their featured stories to animation, which is an interesting twist. You can follow their YouTube channel here. For more StoryCorps stories, please visit their website.)

The thing I’m reminded of when listening to this story, is that a large portion of the success and joy in our relationships with others is based on how we approach those relationships. Writing a note to that person every day, regularly telling them how much we love them, and appreciating all the good things about the relationship instead of focusing on the obstacles and frustrations – that’s how we make those relationships meaningful!

Coffee Bars and the Quest for Third Places

Posted on 28 August 2010 by christao408

An interesting article appeared in the New York Times this week about a trend of some coffee shops not offering seating – standing room only – and trying to make the space more about the coffee and the other customers than about hunkering down, plugged into your iPhone, iPad, and iPod. This spurred some thoughts and I beg you to bear with me as I bring them up in the disjointed manner one might expect after having had a double espresso on an empty stomach.

First, a few excerpts from the article, to give you the general idea of it:

At times, the large back room at Café Grumpy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has so many customers typing and wearing noise-canceling headphones that it looks like an office without the cubicles. A second Café Grumpy location, in Chelsea, prohibited laptops after too many customers ran extension cords across the room. …
When Café Grumpy’s owners … decided to open a third location … they built a solution to the laptop problem right into the design. The furniture consists of a counter in the back and a chest-high table in the front. …
“I don’t think I’d ever do a bigger space with tables and chairs again,” [one of the owners] said. “I appreciate the idea of when you go someplace and it feels like a home away from home, but I don’t think it should be a home office away from home.” [emphasis mine]

Photo courtesy the New York Times
Earlier this summer, the Bluebird Coffee Shop in the East Village replaced half its tables and most of the chairs with two counters and a few stools. “A coffee shop should be a place to meet your friends and hold conversations and cultivate ideas instead of — I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, so I have to be careful — instead of sticking your head in a laptop,” said [Bluebird’s owner].

Third Places

Years ago, just as I was starting university, coffee shops were starting to come into fashion in the US. Starbucks was around, although not as ubiquitous as it is these days. I remember reading an in-depth article about the concept of Third Places, an article that contributed to my interest, and my brief majoring in, urban studies.

Third Places are informal public gathering spaces that offer a balance between the spheres of home and work, the first and second places, respectively, in our lives. Just as a tripod offers more stability than a bipod, the third place can serve to keep us from falling into a mental trap of “home to work and back again”.

The article, and many like it, identify examples of third places such as the cafe in French culture, the corner pub in the British Isles, and the espresso bar in Italy. Places that serve to anchor neighborhood life. The underlying thesis of the article was that the overall quality of life in a society is better when there is such a third place and declines in the absence of such spaces.

The corner pub has served as a third place in Britain

Do We Actually Have Third Places?

I’ve observed is that we’ve built a great number of spaces that are designed to look like third places – indeed, Starbucks’ founder and CEO Howard Schultz (no relation) acknowledges that as one of the omnipresent chain’s motivations. But these spaces don’t actually function as true third places.

How many of you go to a business like Starbucks regularly enough that you know the employees who work there, but don’t know any of the other customers? There are certainly many small businesses within walking distance of my house (including a Starbucks, I type a bit guiltily) where I recognize the staff but none of the patrons.

The element that is missing from our pseudo third places is our interaction with our neighbors, the other customers in the place. Some of that may be because the third places we visit are largely outside of our neighborhood, often on the way to (or nearby) work. That begs the question, are they really third places in the true definition of the word? They cannot anchor a neighborhood if they are not in your neighborhood.

As an aside, I have to wonder whether the increasing political polarization in the US is due in some small part to this lack of third places in which we interact with our neighbors. When we don’t know our neighbors, much less have the opportunity to interact and converse with them, what hope is there of having a civil dialogue about the issues of the day?

What About My Third Places?

About a five-minute walk away from my home, at the mouth of the soi (alley) where I live, there is a small corner spot that is a small, failing Japanese bar. It is steps away from the entrance to the Skytrain station, near a busy intersection, and across the street from a private international school. It strikes me that it would be the perfect location for a coffee bar that the NY Times article talks about. Being at the gateway to my neighborhood and just next to a transit station, it would be the ideal crossing path for neighbors. I don’t know if it would work financially – there are a lot of factors at play here – but in terms of being an effective third place, it would be well suited.

Another possibility is one of two small retail spots on the street level of my 8-story condo building. It is currently empty but the juristic board says that a lease has been signed for someone to open a small cafe of some sort. That would be an ideal third place, right? Go down for a morning coffee, meet and chat with my building’s neighbors and other people in the neighborhood. We’ll see if it works out like that.

Courtesy The Age newspaper, Melbourne

Somewhere in my mind, I imagine either patronizing (or owning) a place like the one pictured above. An espresso bar that is crowded with people from the neighborhood, getting their coffee, chatting for a bit, and then going on their way. Somewhere warm and convivial.

What about you? Do you have a third place? Do you see an absence of third places in our societies? And what do you think about coffee bars without a place to sit down and plug into your digital devices?

christao408

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

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