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.

This is Your Brain on Computers

Posted on 7 June 2010 by christao408

How many digital devices do you have? How much time do you spend on the computer, either for work or for recreation? I imagine I’m pretty much in the mainstream, relying heavily on the computer for most of my work and certainly spending a fair amount of time (although not as much as some people) checking emails, updating my blog, and reading articles on the internet.

I already know that the sedentary lifestyle isn’t good for my body, but what effect is all this technology use having on my brain?

An interesting article in the New York Times titled Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price caught my eye. It is a pretty lengthy article but the core piece that caught my attention is this:

Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.
These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored.
The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cellphone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks. And for millions of people … these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.
While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information, scientists say, and they experience more stress.
And scientists are discovering that even after the multitasking ends, fractured thinking and lack of focus persist. In other words, this is also your brain off computers.

Accompanying the article are two online interactive tests you can complete, one that measures your focus and the other that measures how quickly you juggle tasks. Curious, I took both. My results are below. The two tests are very interesting and take only four or five minutes apiece. Check them out and let me know how you did.

Edit: Senlin just pointed out that my real skill is in misinterpreting test results. It seems that I’m actually a very poor multitasker. Maybe I should try the test again. Or maybe I should just learn to love myself the way I am. =(

For multitasking, I performed better than both low multitaskers and, to a lesser extent, high multitaskers. As much as I am skeptical whether “multitasking” really exists (sometimes I think it just means to do multiple things without much focus, rather than focusing on multiple things at the same time), it looks like I am a pretty effective multitasker.

With regards to my ability to focus, I scored better than both low and high multitaskers. Generally, I have a low level of distractibility, as Tawn will attest anytime I’m in the midst of reading Xanga subscriptions and he wants my attention.

Seriously, though, as much as I’m a bit of a technology geek and know my way around computers reasonably well, I’m increasingly reaching the saturation point. I haven’t jumped on the smart phone bandwagon, for example, and I’ve been consciously scaling back the time I spend on Facebook and other social media. As for random browsing on the internet, following one link to the next, I’ve but the kibosh on that.

Instead, I’ve been reading more books lately, exercising more, and working on a project for my grandparents’ upcoming 90th birthdays.

This is my brain, unplugged.

What about you? How do you feel about your use of technology? Too much? Not enough? Just about right?

Can I Drink the Water and Other Important Questions

Posted on 7 June 2010 by christao408

In another week and a half, Tawn and I will have some very special guests. My longest-time friend, whom I’ve known since we met in three-year old preschool, and his family are coming for a visit on their way to China. Of course, I enjoy all the guests we have visit, but with Brad and Donna and their children, it feels like family coming to spend time with us.

In the course of preparing, they’ve been sending me emails with loads of questions. What should we wear? What will the weather be like? Is it safe to drink the water? What about when we brush our teeth? Should we bring toilet paper?

I love these questions because they remind me of my early visits to Thailand. Tawn and I met on my second trip to the kingdom and in the nearly six years between that first meeting and when I moved here, I must have made ten trips here, each time learning a bit more about the country and culture, and each time figuring out what it might be like to move here.

The water issue was one of my big fears. Every hotel you go to in Bangkok provides a couple of bottles of complimentary drinking water, the implication being that drinking from the tap is not a good idea. And it isn’t, kind of. Tawn’s uncle used to run the water department and swears that the water coming out of the department is world-class. And it is.

The problem is, that world-class water has to travel through all sorts of maybe not world-class pipes in order to arrive at your tap. Every so often I have to unscrew our facet heads and clean out sand and grit from the screens inside, so there is definitely some organic matter that makes it through the system.

That said, we still drink tap water at home after it has been run through a three-part filter. In the two and a half years we’ve been in this condo, we haven’t had any problems catching ill from water-borne bugs. In our previous apartment we actually had a bottled water service, but when we moved into the condo I didn’t want to deal with large bottles of water sitting about.

In fact, when I first moved here and before we got the bottled water service, we used to buy 5-liter bottles of water from the store and cart them home. For the longest time, I didn’t understand that there is an informal recycling system here (scavengers go through the trash and sell the recyclables) so on my first trip back to the US after moving here, I actually brought a suitcase filled with old bottles, cut in half and nested together to save space, so I could recycle them. Once I learned about the informal recycling system, I realized how silly my action had been.

Also when I first moved here, I was worried about getting water in my mouth when taking a shower or brushing my teeth. It wasn’t until I did some research and read expat forums like ThaiVisa.com that I realized I was being silly about that, too. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now, as Eponine sings in Les Miserables.

But those questions are a good sign, I think. A curiosity about the world and a desire to be prepared, things I value in myself and in others.

What questions have you asked in your travels that you later felt were a bit silly?

Bangkok Bus Rapid Transit

Posted on 4 June 2010 by christao408

Months after I thought the project was fatally stalled, Bangkok’s new Bus Rapid Transit scheme started running this past week. Finally, the City of Angels is making some more progress away from private automobiles and towards public transit.

The concept of Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, is somewhat akin to having a light rail system but substituting busses for the rail cars. This way, you don’t have the significant infrastructure investment while still enjoying many of the benefits of light rail transit. Cities as varied as Jakarta, São Paulo, Bogotá, Seattle, and Brisbane use various BRT systems to good effect.

This first route (four more are planned in the years to come) is shown in green at the bottom of the map. It begins near the Chong Nonsi BTS Skytrain station on Narathiwat Road between Silom and Sathorn Roads, running southeast along Narathiwat Road and then turning onto Rama III Road and heading west along the south side of the city, terminating on the Thonburi side of the river near the future Ratchadapisek BTS station on the western extension of the Silom Skytrain line. Prolific blogger Richard Barrow has created a Google map showing the whole thing in detail.

Based on questions I’ve asked, the new Ratchadapisek BTS station should be within easy connecting distance of the BRT terminus, but looking around once we reached the terminus, I could see the Skytrain tracks but no indication of construction of the new station. Articles I’ve read in the newspaper say that BTS plans to have this extension opened by the end of 2012. We’ll see…

The first map left out one important part of the larger transit scheme here in Bangkok – the Airport Express. The Airport Express (the dotted red line labeled “Airport Link” in the map above) just began trial runs for the public this week and I’ll take a ride next week and report on it, too.

As you can see, we are starting to get a more comprehensive transit network in place. If you are really curious, a reader of 2Bangkok.com created a very nice map that shows what our rail transit network would look like if every single proposed line and extension were built. You can find that map here.

So let’s get on with a review of the BRT itself. My friend Ken and I, after completing an errand at the US embassy, took the bus down to the Sathorn/Narathiwat intersection. Last October I wrote an entry about the intersection and I’ve pulled some “before” pictures from that entry to contrast with current pictures.

P1030512

This is an artist’s rendering of what the intersection will look like (facing northwest looking up Narathiwat Road towards Sathorn) once the construction is complete. The BRT station is at the bottom and the Chong Nonsi BTS station is at the top. The area with the yellow arch is part of the pedestrian bridge that is being constructed over Sathorn Road, replacing two smaller pedestrian bridges that currently exist at the corners of the intersection. A green-roofed walkway connects from the Chong Nonsi BTS station to the pedestrian bridge. That walkway is pictured below, with the Chong Nonsi station in the distance.

Current view of the walkway, above, and the way it looked in October 2009, below.

A view from the Skytrain looking southeast towards the BRT station. You can see the significant steel works that will form the pedestrian bridge crossing Sathorn Road. This is the area where the yellow arches appear in the artist’s rendering a few pictures above.

A closer view of the walkway leading from the Sathorn intersection to the BRT station under construction in October 2009.

P1030465

And that same completed walkway now. In the walkway, you pass through a ticketing area (which, I understand, will eventually use the same stored-value fare cards that the Skytrain, subway, and Airport Express will use) and descend escalators to an enclosed waiting room.

The waiting room at the Sathorn station has glazed glass and air conditioners, making your wait for the bus more comfortable. Interestingly, the rest of the stations along the line do not have air conditioning, only the two terminal stations. But the other stations are in the middle of the road and, presumably, catch a decent breeze.

Busses, which look like Heimlich, the German caterpillar in the animated Pixar film A Bug’s Life, run every ten minutes. The operator’s compartment is separated from the passenger compartment, rather like on a train.

The layout of the floor includes bench seating in the front and lots of standing room. Capacity is around 50 passengers. An LCD monitor at the front shows a map of where the bus is on the route, updating in real time, kind of like the “air show” maps on airplanes. Information on the monitor alternates between English and Thai.

The back half of the bus has single seats, which seem to be a waste of the raised floor space. They should change these to be benches as well, which would make better use of the space. The two men in blue shirts and ties were from the BTS Skytrain organization, apparently conducting some corporate espionage. Competition between transit systems must be fierce! Ha ha…

Near the end of the route, the bus crosses the Chao Phraya River on the Rama III Bridge. Above is a view looking northwards towards the heart of the city. You can see that many condos (and a few hotels) have sprung up along the river. Supposedly, there has been a moratorium on further riverside development higher than eight stories, but I don’t know if that is actually true. Off in the distance you can barely make out the gold-domed State Tower, which appears in the pictures from our stay last weekend at the Peninsula Hotel.

Above is the view from the same bridge looking roughly southwards as the Chao Phraya River prepares to make a large turn to the east. In April 2006, Tawn and I stopped by the temple you see on the right of the picture during Songkhran. There was something like a summer school for young boys, all of whom had their heads shaved and had donned the saffron robes of novice monks.

They were playing around – kung fu fighting, it looked like – on the roof of the temple in the heat of the early afternoon. Not very monastic behavior, but it made for a good picture. The rest of the story of that trip to Thonburi is here.

Stations along the way are in the median of the road, requiring a climb up stairs or escalators and then across the road on a pedestrian bridge. About 70% of the BRT’s route has a dedicated lane for the bus, set off from the rest of the traffic by green and white striped concrete barriers.

The remaining 30% is on a section of road with only two lanes, one of which has been painted and signed as being only for BRT busses and vehicles with three or more occupants. Needless to say, traffic on the remaining lane has become even more congested on that section of road, leading to a lot of complaints by car drivers that the BRT is worsening traffic, not improving it. Hopefully, the policemen will actually enforce the law and keep drivers out of the BRT lanes.

An interesting feature of the BRT system is that there are additional concrete curbs installed on both sides of the lane at the station. The driver wants to get as close to the platform as possible to make boarding smooth and safe. There are two small wheels sticking out from under the bus, parallel to the ground. These sense the curb and alert the driver so he can properly position himself. All boarding is through the single door in the center of the bus, which is at the same level as the platform. There is one emergency exit (see the red handle?) at the back of the bus.

The trip took about thirty minutes one way and provided an interesting look at some corners of the city I don’t see very often. The ride is smooth and comfortable, the stations seem well-located, and the directions and announcements were easy to understand. All in all, I have to give a solid B+ to the Bangkok BRT system. If they would bring the same sort of rationalization to the rest of the dozens of bus routes that ply this city, they wouldn’t need to build any more rail.

Next week… the Airport Express is finally running. Stay tuned.

Results of the Staycation

Posted on 3 June 2010 by christao408

Wow, it has been six days since my last entry. My longest break from Xanga in a long, long time, and one that was very much enjoyed. So much of my work is done on the computer that when I combine it with recreational computer use, it seems like I’m plugged in online too much of my time. The weekend completely unplugged and week mostly away from recreational computer use has reminded me of the importance of establishing some boundaries in terms of how much, and when, I use computers and the internet.

As for the two-night staycation at the Peninsula Hotel on the west side of the river here in Bangkok, it was fantastic. The hotel truly is world-class with wonderful service. It is very easy to spend three days in a cocoon and not really feel like you’re in the heart of the city, although from the balcony of the room, you could see that we were.

Upon check-in we were upgraded from the “Deluxe” room (funny how the lowest grade of room is usually given a fancy name) to a balcony room, which is two rungs up the ladder. All the rooms in the hotel face the river, laid out along one side of a W-shaped floor plan. Our room was very spacious, about 60 square meters or about 600 square feet. There was a separate walk-in closet/dressing room and then a large bathroom beyond the bedroom, making it feel especially spacious.

The Chao Phraya River runs past most of the nicest hotels in the city, including the Shangri-La (pictured here), Sheraton, Oriental, Hilton, Peninsula, and Marriott Resort. For sightseeing, the location of these hotels is a little less convenient. But if you’re staying at one of these places you can probably afford to hire a car and driver for the day, so convenience isn’t that much of a problem.

The hotel has a gorgeous swimming area, spa (the building behind the pool), and workout facility. The first afternoon we headed down to the pool but a typical afternoon thunderstorm quickly blew in, with winds gusting in advance of the rain, causing umbrellas to overturn and towels and chair pads to go flying into the pool. The remainder of the weekend had gorgeous weather, though, and we spent much of Saturday afternoon laying in the shade below one of these pavilions, sipping mango smoothies and reading.

The hotel’s interior design is very beautiful. Clean lines with an Asian theme but not in an overwhelming “Oriental” way.

The main lobby, where we stopped for a pre-dinner drink the first night, is very comfortable.

Even the public hallways, this one leading to the River Cafe and Terrace, are tastefully decorated with live orchids.

Friday evening we ate outdoors alongside the river. The full moon was rising just behind the tower at the Shangri-La Hotel. I’m amazed by how busy the river is even well into the evening.

Our room rate included a set dinner for two but since their occupancy is fairly low, they were serving a buffet. It was actually a cleverly done buffet, offering a large range of prepared dishes that could be served at or near room temperature – salads, cold cuts, etc. – with soups, fresh seafood, a wide selection of breads, etc. to round it out.

The main feature was their grill. They offered a wide range of meats from seafood to satay to fine cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, grilled to order and served with a variety of sauces. This is actually a very smart way to do a buffet as there is much less waste.

My selections included a cut of snowfish grilled in a foil pouch with ginger and other seasonings, a very tender cut of Wagyu beef, and some foie gras.

There was a large dessert bar in the center of the dining room featuring all sorts of desserts and fresh fruit. There were three flavors of homemade ice cream including both raspberry and mango sorbets that were amped up with flavor.

A selection of desserts: a raspberry mousse, a ginger creme brulee, green tea and chocolate-orange macarons, and an interesting twist on sticky rice and mango that included a mango mousse.

Both evenings we retired to the room to watch episodes from season two of True Blood, the southern vampire series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris. Since we don’t have HBO here in Thailand, we haven’t been able to watch the series in real time. And since I generally don’t want to support piracy, I’ve waited patiently until the episodes were released on iTunes Store instead of buying them on the street.

The breakfast buffet was also included, featuring just about everything you might want for both Asian and Western style breakfasts, including to-order egg dishes.

The pastries were really nice. Could I just have eaten one of everything and called it a day?

The bread was amazing, perhaps the best European style bread I’ve found in Bangkok. They also served raw honey fresh from the honeycomb, with the comb hanging on the table with the honey dripping down a trough and into a bowl.

Enjoyinga healthy breakfast! The service was very attentive and we got into a discussion with one of the restaurant managers about the silver tea service they use, a design that Tawn has had his eye on. The manager took his name and number and called him a few days after the trip, connecting him with an unofficial resource to buy his own set. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.

The tropical fruits were the finishing touch, though. I don’t know where they buy their fruits but the mangos were the tastiest, sweetest mangos I’ve eaten in Thailand and the dragonfruit, which I usually find quite bland, was actually full of flavor.

By the time we checked out Sunday at noon, we had de-stressed quite a bit, promising ourselves that we would do more weekend getaways in the months to come. What’s the point of living in a tropical paradise if you don’t get out to enjoy it?

Bangkok Staycation

Posted on 27 May 2010 by christao408

Through some great bit of good fortune, this year both Thailand and the United States have a three-day weekend at the end of May. This doesn’t happen often as the Thai holiday is a Buddhist one, which moves around based on the lunar calendar. We’re going to take advantage of our long weekend to get away, but not very far away. In fact, we’re just going across the river to Bangkok’s Right Bank, Thonburi.

One of the positive side effects of all this political turmoil (which has been going on pretty much since right after I moved here in 2005 – coincidence?) is that tourism has been down. This means that the local hospitality industry is desperate to attract business, turning to locals with some amazing deals. Now, this usually happens during the low season, which coincides with the rainy season here and summer elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. But these deals are turning out to be a regular feature of Thailand life. Not offered to tourists, though. Only Thais and foreigners residing here for work or retirement are eligible.

Originally, we were going to drive three or four hours south to Hua Hin or Cha-Am. But that’s what all the Bangkok residents will be doing this weekend, so prices at those hotels we’re nearly as nice. We originally wanted to stay somewhere for about 2000 baht a night, about US$60. But the options we found, while nice, weren’t super nice and would require the expenditure of gas money and time.

When I saw a newspaper ad on Wednesday from the Peninsula Hotel, Tawn and I decided to explore the offer. The Peninsula consistently ranks as one of the top hotels in Asia and we’ve visited it many times when guests have stayed there. Their standard rooms often go for at least US$300 a night, and usually for much more than that.

Their rate for this promotion? Only 3000 baht (US$91) a night, inclusive of breakfast for two and a choice of either a set dinner for two or 50 minute massage for two. The promotion also provides full use of facilities and a 25% discount on other food and beverage. Drinks at the river bar, anyone?

It seems that if you calculate the cost of fuel and time, driving all the way down to Hua Hin doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead, we’re going to hunker down at the Peninsula, not leave for two days, and enjoy the luxury. I’m also going to leave my computer at home. No Xanga for 48 hours…

Here’s to hoping we have a fun weekend away.

Returning to the Mundane

Posted on 26 May 2010 by christao408

You can tell that the political excitement has faded – at least for the moment, thankfully – when I have to return to blogging about mundane topics. After a two-week interruption because of the protests and their aftermath, I finally concluded an errand to the Nissan dealership. Our Cefiro, pushing a dozen years old, is starting to have all the little aches and pains that accompany aging. In this case, it was a dead window motor.

Normally, that wouldn’t be much of a problem, considering that, generally, the weather here in Thailand and, specifically, the polution here in Krunthep rarely allows for windows-down driving. But it was the driver’s window motor that had died and at every expressway toll booth and the entrance to every car park, I had to open my door and reach over it to pay the toll or receive my parking ticket. I felt like the driver of one of those old taxis around town, whose windows no longer roll down.

To get a new motor would have taken twenty days (shipped from Japan!) and would cost 6,000 baht, about US$ 185. Thankfully, the dealership was able to locate a second-hand motor and installed it for only 1600 baht. The expression “second hand” exists in Thai just like in English. Literally, “hand two” as there are no ordinal numbers in Thai. The dealership pointedly explained that they would only warranty “hand two” parts for seven days after installation. What do you want to guess I’ll be blogging about in another two weeks?

While at the dealership, I took a look at the Nissan March, a so-called “eco car” that recently had its debut in Thailand. I have yet to figure out what the “eco car” label means as it doesn’t mean hybrid or electric. [Okay, a little research and I discovered an eco car, the manufacturers of which receive something like a 17% tax credit, are defined as cars with a 1.3 L engine or smaller, get at least 56.5 MPG / 24 KPL, and release less than 192 grams of CO² per mile / 309 grams per kilometer.]

Since our car has been showing more signs of aging, we’re starting to consider what would be an appropriate replacement vehicle. While I like the size and comfort of a midsize car, I don’t think they are very practical or economical when driving here in Krungthep. With the amount of time one spends sitting in traffic, a hybrid would be a great choice. Unfortunately, the Toyota Camry is the only hybrid sold in dealerships here and it is very pricey.

The March has received good reviews in the local auto press and gets high marks for value when compared to the Suzuki Swift, Honda Jazz, and Toyota Yaris in the B segment and Cherry A1, Proton Savvy, and Kia Picanto in the A segment. Technically, the March is a B segment car but with a slightly narrower body than most B segment vehicles.

At about a half-million baht (US$ 15,600) it is relatively affordable. I think it is cute enough although not great – I prefer the Yaris. The size is small enough for the narrows sois of Krungthep. Still, I’m not ready to do any serious comparison shopping. It is enough to just start thinking about potential candidates.

Food in BKK – Baan Mae Yui

Posted on 24 May 2010 by christao408

Two weekends ago, before the Red Shirt protests came to a head, I took a taxi up to the Soi Ari neighborhood. Because of the political situation, most people were at home and what could have been a thirty-minute Skytrain ride or a forty-five minute taxi ride took me just fifteen minutes. Down a side soi is a cute little restaurant called Baan Mae Yui – Mother Yui’s House. It is located in an old house set in a nice garden area. The food is standard lunch fare – noodles, fried rice, etc. – but served in a nicer setting than you would get along the side of the street.

The dining area spills out through open doors into a covered patio. There is no air conditioning other than the natural breeze and dozens of fans, but with the green garden just outside, the restaurant always feels comfortable.

One highlight on their menu is the satay, the Southern Thai style grilled skewers of pork or chicken served with a rich peanut-based sauce and pickled cucumbers. The meat is basted with coconut milk, lending an extra rich flavor.

For lunch, I went with an odd choice – pan fried macaroni with tomato sauce. This was actually a childhood favorite of one of my dining companions. It has slices of sausage and onions mixed in and the sauce is a very sweet and vinegary (that is to say, “ketchup-y”) one. It was a lot of fun to eat although not the greatest culinary achievement.

It is places like Baan Mae Yui that make Bangkok neighborhoods so much fun. They date back decades and each have their own unique character. I should write about more of them.

Biking through the Protest Aftermath

Posted on 23 May 2010 by christao408

This morning I pulled out my bicycle and, figuring that five days had been enough time to wait, pedaled my way to the various spots that had been affected during the Red Shirts’ protest and the subsequent riots and arson.

At 8:00 on a Sunday the streets were very quiet although there were others out. For closed off sections of road, there were a surprising number of sightseers there to absorb the unimaginable. This raised a question that has crossed my mind many times in the past two months: where were the police?

All in all, there is quite a mess. The damage is a little less extensive than my wild imagination had feared after seeing selected pictures shown again and again last Wednesday while the city was burning. But it is still a mess. Everywhere that the protesters had burned barricades made of tyres, there is a thick layer of burned rubber, a slick that has permeated the asphalt. Plants and landscaping are destroyed, the same fate suffered by every police box in the area.

Please let me share some photos and video with you. The commentary may sound a little pro-government, when in fact I don’t align particularly with any side in this conflict. But after seeing my city heavily damaged, largely by outsiders who claimed to be peaceful, I’m a bit jaded.

My first stop was the Chidlom intersection. You can see the Chidlom Skytrain station and are looking down Ploenchit Road towards Siam Square. There was a very large barricade here that was torched. There are large scorch marks on the underside of the Skytrain station and you can see that the traffic lights melted. The ground by the looted police box is slick with the residue of burned rubber.

The same intersection from the other side, with Soi Lang Suan running off to the back right of the picture. This was the largest contingent of troops I saw. Many soldiers seemed to be assigned to clean-up duty but this bunch was armed and definitely doing security. The curfew is still day-to-day but the hours are being shortened. What started at 8 pm – 6 am is now something like 11 pm – 5 am and will hopefully be lifted in the next few days.

The Ratchaprasong intersection. Ploenchit-Rama I runs left to right through the picture. Straight ahead is Rajadamri Road heading towards Lumpini Park and Silom. On the back right of the picture is the police headquarters. Would you like to ask the obvious question? How in the world was a protest of tens of thousands of people that lasted 40+ days allowed to happen right in front of the nation’s police headquarters? Were there no officers around to put a stop to it when it first started?

The answers lies in the complex politics of Thailand’s military and security services: it has been reported that there are many factions within the police, several of which are loyal to the former Prime Minister.

The Skytrain started running today and will be back to a full schedule starting Monday. The only station not open is Rajadamri due to damage to the station.

Gaysorn Plaza, on the Ratchaprasong corner, appeared to not have sustained much damage. Louis Vuitton, in particular, seems to have come through unscathed. Given the number of LV knock-offs sold in Thailand, I can only imagine that the shop was saved only by its immense popularity, even among Red Shirts.

The collapsed section of Central World Plaza, which was still smoldering. This is in the Atrium section, a part of the mall that was new construction since I moved here. The right half of the mall is expected to be reopened within six months but this portion and to the left will have to be completely razed and rebuilt.

Doesn’t that look like more damage than would be caused by a couple of Molotov Cocktails? Sure enough, the authorities report finding at least one compressed gas cylinder amid the debris. At the nearby Four Seasons hotel, it is reported that several cylinders were found, wired to make a bomb.

Along the Rama I side of Central World, you can see the extensive damage to the Zen department store. No word as to whether the high-rise portion was affected, but I cannot imagine how the structure could not have sustained damage.

Down the street in Siam Square the damage was also extensive. Of the six or seven soi (alleys) in Siam Square, it appears that two suffered extensive damage. This building is on the corner of Rama I and Henri Dunant Roads.

I had originally heard that both the Siam and Scala theatres, the last two independent single-screen cinemas in Bangkok, had burned. Thankfully the Scala, architecturally the more interesting of the two, survived unscathed.

However, the building housing the Siam, as well as dozens of small, owner operated shops, was destroyed. This area is immediately below the Siam Skytrain station, directly across from Siam Paragon mall.

Extensive damage to many shops.

There are still some coils of razor wire here and there. This is at the Payathai – Rama I intersection across from MBK Mall. These appear to be awaiting clean-up and are not part of any current security operation.

The Metropolitan Electric Authority office in Khlong Toei along Rama IV Road (between the expressway and Asoke-Ratchadapisek Road) was completely destroyed. There are still sections of this generally poor neighborhood that are without electricity.

The good news is that there was an important sign of the city coming together this morning, a volunteer clean up effort which drew at least 1,000 people to Lumpini Park and the Silom-Saladaeng neighborhood. The name of the event: Together We Can.

Okay, I’m ready to put this topic aside for now and move on to other things.

As Bangkok Burned, I Baked

Posted on 21 May 2010 by christao408

In times of fiery stress, we all find different ways to cope. Nero played his fiddle (supposedly) while I turn to baking. Truthfully, I started my baking well before the Red Shirt leaders had surrendered and the angry crowd turned into arsonists. But I knew the army was making their move on the protest site and also knew Tawn and I would be stuck at home for the next few days, so a little bit of preparatory baking seemed wise.

The finished products: granola, oatmeal raisin macadamia and oatmeal chocolate chip macadamia cookies, and a loaf of rosemary-olive bread.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Based on a recipe for Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries in the May/June 2005 issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, I omitted the cherries and then divided the batch in two, half with chocolate chips and the other half with raisins. And instead of pecans I used macadamia nuts.

6.25 oz all-purpose flour, .75 teaspoon baking powder, .5 teaspoon baking soda, and .5 teaspoon salt, whisked together. Mix together in a separate bowl 3.5 oz old-fashioned rolled oats, 4 oz nuts (pecans, but I used toasted and chopped macadamias), 5 oz dried and chopped sour cherries, and 4 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate. I used regular raisins and chocolate chips in place of the cherries and chocolate chunks. Improvise!

Cream together 12 tablespoons of soft but still cool butter and 10.5 oz of dark brown sugar. Once combined, beat in one egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

From there, add the flour until incorporated but be sure not to over-work. Finally, add the mixture of oats and add-ins. Before doing this, I divided my dough between two bowls, adding nuts and chocolate chips to one and nuts and raisins to the other. But heck, you could combine all three together!

Scoop out heaping tablespoons of the dough, forming a ball then mashing it slightly. Cook in a 350 F oven for about 12 minutes, rotating to ensure even baking. Take out of the oven while the centers of the cookies still look a little undercooked. Let sit on the pan for another five minutes before transferring to a wire rack. The cookies will remain soft and chewy this way, which is how I like my oatmeal cookies. Cook for a few minutes longer if you prefer them crispy. As my grandmother used to say, the world would be a boring place if we were all alike.

Rosemary Olive No-Knead Bread

I love making no-knead bread. It turns out every bit as nice as artisanal bread and it fills the house with a wonderful aroma. Oh, and it is easy because you don’t have to knead it!

I make mine with 20.5 oz of flour, roughly and even split between bread flour and all-purpose flour. You could substitute whole wheat for about half the flour, but up the yeast a little. I mix into that a scant 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and .75 teaspoon of yeast. I stir it thoroughly and also add the chopped leaves from a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Dried rosemary does not work here. Next, add one can of cold beer and stir the dough together. You may need to add a little extra water, but only enough to pull together a pretty dry and stiff dough. At this point you can add about a 1/2 cup of chopped olives, preferably kalmatta.

The secret to no-knead bread is time. I fold the dough over a few times just to make sure there are no dry pockets and then coat it with a little bit of olive oil. Put it in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap, a lid, or aluminum foil. Then put it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, folding it over once during the time. This is when all the magic happens. The dough kneads itself, forming beautiful, elasticky protein strands.

Then, take the dough out of the refrigerator, turn it over on itself another time or two, then place it covered in a cool room for another 8-12 hours until the dough has doubled in size. Shape the dough into a loaf, deflating gently, and place on a parchment lined pie pan or oval casserole (if you want an oblong shaped loaf). Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature for another 2 hours or so until doubled.

Preheat a 500 F oven, preferably with a pizza stone in it to moderate the heat. For the best effect, preheat a Dutch Oven (with lid) in your oven and, when ready and working very carefully, transfer the parchment paper with the dough into the Dutch Oven. Spritz a half-dozen times with water and then place the lid on, returning to the oven. After ten minutes, lower the temperature to 425 F and cook for another 30-45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer measures 210 F in the center of the loaf. If you don’t have a Dutch Oven just cook it on the breadstone or on a baking sheet. Will still turn out nicely but probably not as crispy a crust.

Use extreme caution when handling the Dutch Oven as it will be very hot. Lift the finished loaf out using the parchment paper and let cool on a wire rack.

Granola

A few years ago when I was still living over on Asoke Place I got into a granola-making kick. It is easy to make and relatively healthy, especially because you can control what goes into it. Tawn wanted to have some granola and yogurt as a change in pace to our usual breakfast of oatmeal, so I pulled up Alton Brown’s recipe from the Food Network and made a few changes.

Mix 3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup slivered almonds, 1 cup cashews (which I substituted with pecans), and .75 cup shredded coconut. You can also add wheat germ or other whole grains here to have some variety.

In another container, mix .25 cup vegetable oil, .25 cup maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener, I suppose), and .25 cup brown sugar. I realized later that the brown sugar is supposed to be mixed with the dry ingredients but it seemed to work this way, too. Please note that Mr. Brown’s recipe called for an additional 2 tablespoons of both sugar and syrup, which seemed a little too sweet for me. In fact, you could substitute a little orange juice for some of the maple syrup to good effect.

Pour the sugar-oil mixture over the dry mixture and stir for several minutes with the spoon until the mixture is evenly moistened. Note that it will still seem pretty dry; you don’t want it sopping wet! If you would like, you can sprinkle on some cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or ground clove to give it a little spice.

Then bake in a 250 F oven on some baking sheets, stirring every ten to fifteen minutes, for about 75 minutes or until there is a nice even golden color. After the mixture has cooled you can mix in 1 cup of raisins and/or other dried fruit to taste. Store in an airtight container once completely cooled.

Well, some might criticize me for doing something as trivial as cooking in the midst of Thailand’s worst political crisis in fifty years, but it seems to me that there is only so much depressing news a person can take. After a while, it becomes an echo chamber and you just get overwhelmed by the rehashed images, sounds, and stories. Best to do something productive in the kitchen, which nourishes both your soul and your body.

The Day After the Fires

Posted on 20 May 2010 by christao408

Thursday evening, the second night under curfew has started. The government has announced that these will last through the weekend. There were very few reported incidents today apart from a brief confrontation between about 100 protesters and a few police officers up near Victory Monument, and an arson attack on another bank branch. Relatively speaking, things are calm both here in Bangkok and in the provinces.

To be certain, no long-term fix has been found to the political situation. But for now, at least, things are calmer.

Lines around lunchtime at the local Villa Market were twenty deep as residents of the Thong Lor neighborhood and beyond rushed to stock up on supplies. With all the malls closed and many of the supermarkets, the Villa Markets in the mid-Sukhumvit area have been some of the few proper supermarkets that are open. We are stocked up enough to get us through the weekend.

This afternoon, Ajarn Yai, the retired school director pictured below for whom I volunteered as an English teacher a few years ago, called and expressed her concern. Her worry? How bad these events will make Thailand and the Thais look in the eyes of the world. She wants everyone to know that this isn’t Thailand and this is not how Thai people are. So there you have it, from her lips to your screen.

One of the most useful sources of information in the past 48 hours has been Michael Yon, the freelance American writer, photograph, and former Green Beret. With loads of war zone experience he has been reporting from Bangkok and has provided a near-continuous stream of information and updates through his Facebook page. Hundreds of locals have started following and commenting on his feed as he has provided a unique insight both in terms of quantity and also in terms of providing his military knowledge.

Best of all, he has been very generous in giving permission to people to use his photos. All he asks for is attribution and a link to his page. Here are some pictures:

Northeast corner of Rama IV and Ratchadamri looking down Rama IV towards Sathorn. Lumpini Park in the foreground with Silom subway entrance visible. The large barricade has been removed and there is a small army of city workers who have been cleaning the park. Still a lot of debris and damage to the pavement.

Damage to shops (possible a bank?) at Siam Square. On the far right of the picture is Siam BTS Skytrain station. From what I’ve heard, both the Siam and Scala cinemas were destroyed. Many small shops were also destroyed, ruining the livelihoods of the independent owners of those businesses.

Michael and a Thai reporter he was traveling with spoke with one of those owners, who went into her shop trying to salvage inventory. As you can see, things are pretty well destroyed here. Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) reports that because of the damage, the buildings that house the cinemas and shops (Siam Square Sois 5 and 6) will likely need to be demolished.

Damage at Central World. This is the front side, the Zen department store that faces Rama I road. From what Michael reports, it looks like the damage was limited mostly to the department store and this end of the mall. The remainder of the mall looks like it might be okay.

Same building but around the corner looking back towards Rama I Road and Siam Square. The central structure of the department store collapsed after the fire. BMA also says that because of the extent of damage, this structure will need to be demolished. Now, the reports are that the BMA is saying that Central World will have to be demolished, which I would interpret as the entire mall. However, this doesn’t seem to jive with the firsthand reports from Michael so we’ll have to wait and see what the truth is over the days and weeks to come.

The seven-story Big C superstore and mall across the street from Central World also was destroyed by fire and will need to be torn down. The first floor or two of that is filled with small, independently-owned shops. Anger vented at “elites” managed to do more damage to “common people” than anything else.

Finally, not from Michael’s website but floating around from various Thai bloggers, this picture that compares a clip from Resident Evil 4 to the real skyline of Bangkok yesterday. The film shows downtown Los Angeles, the other City of Angels, on fire. Eerie, isn’t it?

christao408

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

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