Message from a Big Person

Posted on 28 October 2008 by christao408

In the past few years, I’ve read a lot about how the proliferation of media – especially online – is balkanizing us. Instead of giving us access to more information and a broader range of perspectives, we are self-selecting sources of information and groups of people who mirror our already-held beliefs and values.

News of this disturbs me because I think one of the greatest strengths of globalization and the internet is their ability to break down barriers and make us more understanding of others’ concerns, feelings, values and perspectives. On an increasingly interconnected planet, we need to understand each other more, not less.

My experiences on Xanga have sometimes illustrated this balkanization: some people seem really unwilling to hear different perspectives and their responses are more defensive (or offensive, really!) than thoughtful, more attagonistic than trying to understand.

That’s why I want to acknowledge that in the entry I wrote two weeks ago about California’s proposition 8, in the midst of a lot of back and forth, there were several people who really rose above the fray and were able to disagree and debate ideas without resorting to insults and invectives.

Several people contacted me privately and had many encouraging words. Some of them agreed with my position that proposition 8 is wrong and should be defeated. Others disagreed with me but shared messages of respect and appreciation for the opportunity to have a dialogue on the issue. And others shared with me how their opinion had changed because of the opportunity to hear other perspectives. Here is one such message:

I have been thumbing through your site and am really blown away. My wife and I have never really given major thought to the whole gay marriage (sorry if that sounded so blunt). I do like to think that I am an open minded person, and my wife as well. She is a very religious person but day by day living here in California acceptance and new ideas are always around us, and in the same subject we asked ourselves tonight that if we were on y’alls end of the stick and someone told us that we could not get married even though we love each other, and ultimately it is an expression legally of how we feel about each other… I also have really been intrigued with a lot of your other writings and would like to add you as a friend. I wanted to send you this message to ask you if that would be alright, since I did come onto your site and threw a lot of bigotry out in the first couple of lines. I would like to apologize for not being open to the subject for debate from the get go, the proposition does not affect me or do me any harm, I know that you should be able to express yourself just as my wife and I do. Thank you for replying to my silly posts and I would love to hear more from you.

It take a mighty big person to be open to new ideas, to challenge his or her own beliefs, and to evolve his or her world view. Speaking from my own perspective, I know exactly how hard being open-minded is. Many times I fail despite my attempts. So I have tremendous respect for people who are big enough and confident enough to recognize the opportunity to learn and grow from others.

To all of you who participated in that discussion, or who have otherwise promoted civilized, thoughtful debate in the virtual and real worlds, thank you for your contribution to dialogue and understanding. And thank you for being a big person.

My first attempt at making pasta

Posted on 27 October 2008 by christao408

Each foodie, each weekend kitchen warrior who has dreams of being a chef, has recipe equivalents of the Himalaya mountains. Recipes that seems so intimidating and so difficult that we can only wonder if we will ever have the skill and the will necessary to tackle them.

Also, we can only wonder whether the people who share our kitchen will let us make as much of a mess as we might need to, in order to reach these culinary heights.

For me, pasta is one of those summits. Maybe not an Everest or K2, but certainly my Nanda Devi. I know what you’re thinking: how hard can a dish with only three ingredients be? Flour, a little salt, and eggs. Maybe a splash of water if the eggs were small.

But for years, I have wanted to try making my own pasta. Would it really be as good as they say homemade pasta is?

The opportunity finally came about when, after years of accumulating points through my business travels, my employer finally discontinued corporate membership in the American Express Rewards program. Unsure what to do with the points and not wanting to redeem them for gift cheques, which carry half the value of gift certificates, I opted for a Williams Sonoma gift card.

Thankfully, Bruce was coming for a visit and was going to be traveling well short of the three-bag check-in limit. So he kindly agreed to lug the extra fifteen pounds of pasta roller attachments I ordered for my trusty Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to mess up the kitchen, er… make pasta, while Bruce was here. So I had to scale the culinary heights on my own.

For those of you without the patience to watch the YouTube version of this adventure, here’s the story:

Using the mixer, I whipped up the dough easily enough. You combine the ingredient in the bowl, stir them with the paddle attachment for thirty seconds until they come together. Then you knead them with the dough hook for about two minutes followed by another two minutes of hand kneading. Then the dough sits for about twenty minutes.

Things that surprised me:

Unlike with pastry dough, flour is not your enemy. In fact, you want the dough to be a bit dry so that it doesn’t gum up the rollers or cutters.
Pastry dough is very forgiving. The first patch I cut was too soft and the cut fettucine clumped back together when piled in little nests. No worries: I just pressed the noodles back together and started the rolling process again.
It was a little less of a mess than I expected, but you need lots of room (and lots of wax paper) to stretch out the dough and the cut noodles. Maybe that’s what the dining table is for? Or the clothes drying racks?

The rolling was easy enough. You started at the widest setting and passed the dough through several times, folding it in thirds between each pass.

The net effect of this is to further knead the dough, making a smooth, pliable and very resilient dough. After about five passes, I turned the knob to the next smaller setting and sent the dough through two more times, this time without folding the dough between passes.

I continued the process until we reached the fifth setting (having started at the first setting). According to the recipe in the manual, fettucine should be at the fourth or fifth setting. In the end, I think it could have gone to the sixth setting without any problem.

Switching to the wide cutting attachment, the dough sliced easily enough. As mentioned before, the fresher dough stuck together after cutting. But the pieces I allowed to air dry for a bit before cutting stayed in lovely separate strands. Again, unlike pastry dough, a little drying is a good thing.

After creating some fresh pesto (large bunches of basil are about US$ 0.20 here!), I boiled the noodles. Fresh pasta cooks fast! In three minutes or so, I was draining the noodles and stirring in the pesto. Topping the pasta was a fillet of salmon, baked in parchment paper with a simple salt and pepper seasoning.

So the obvious question: was it worth it?

Well, the pasta was delicious and it had a texture that was much nicer than any dried pasta. I don’t know if I would spend the hour preparing fresh pasta for the everyday weeknight dinner. But since fresh pasta can store refrigerated in an airtight container for a few days, I could easily make a double or triple batch on the weekend and save it for the weeknights.

Also, I’ve very curious to try ravioli and lasagna with the fresh pasta, both of which I think will be amazing. Stay tuned for that.

As a dessert, I pulled together a farmer style peach pie. I confess, I used frozen pastry dough and peaches. But it was delicious!

Traditional Thai Margaritas

Posted on 25 October 2008 by christao408

Late in the week, we received a call from Biing, who had finally arrived from Taiwan with his mother and brother. It has been only about half a year since Biing arrived from New York with Sally and Malcolm. Nice to have him return so soon.

After meeting for dinner, we decided to go for a drink at one of the hotels with a view. A little pricey, yes, but a nice experience. But then Tawn noticed that Biing was wearing flip flops, a no-no in nice hotels’ dress codes.

So we switched plans and went to the hotel next to his, ending up at the most incongruous of restaurants: Senor Pico. This grand-daddy of Krungthep’s Mexican restaurants was almost completely empty except for a band of Latinas playing upbeat music that seemed forlorn in such a large and empty space.

We tucked into a corner table away from the racket and enjoyed a small pitcher of very strong margaritas. Biing shared many thoughtful gifts with us, including a bottle of cashew fruit liqueur from South America.

After a nice visit, we dropped Biing at his hotel. He and his family will continue their journey around Thailand and we’ll hopefully see him on the return leg.

Yet another guest!

“I am a Muslim”

Posted on 23 October 2008 by christao408

I think a number of you read Zakiah’s (ZSA_MD) blog, but if you don’t, I’d encourage you to stop by. Not only does she write beautiful poetry and share stories of her fascinating childhood in India, she speaks eloquently about her beliefs as a Muslim.

Most of my Muslim friends are not very devout, so I rarely get to hear them talk about their beliefs and how their beliefs measure up against the way they are represented in the western media.

Recently, Zakiah gave a speech in the community where she spent her career as a doctor, and in it she talks about the misconceptions surrounding Islam and, particularly, the term “jihad”.

I encourage you to stop by and read excerpts of that speech which is included in her entry here.

Health & Cuisine

Posted on 22 October 2008 by christao408

As a public relations professional, Tawn keeps up his contacts with editors and reporters at various publications. These contacts are invaluable to help his clients receive coverage and attract press attention when media events are held.

Not only do these contacts scratch Tawn’s back: he also has the opportunity to scratch theirs. Especially with the lifestyle media, there is always a desire to find new stories, new people to profile, new angles to cover.

This summer, the editor of Elle Decoration suggested that the food editor of Health & Cuisine magazine give Tawn a call. Tawn has written for Elle and our condo was featured in an issue earlier this year. The editor of Health & Cuisine was looking for people to profile in his “Men’s Cooking” column.

Tawn not only provided some suggestions of names but also offered up his own, since in the PR business, some self-publicity helps build your personal brand and makes you more valuable to clients.

After two rounds of having our condo photographed, I was not too keen on yet another shoot and another layer of publicity. Tawn assured me, though, that the story would remain focused just on his professional profile and on a particular recipe he would prepare.

In the week heading up to the shoot, Tawn scrambled to perfect a recipe for salmon en papillote – salmon baked in a parchment paper pouch – as well as a recipe for an accompanying cous cous salad. We ate a lot of salmon and cous cous that week.

The photographer and his assistant showed up on a Thursday, which was a Buddhist holiday in Thailand. They worked quickly and within ninety minutes, the shoot was done.

After the shoot was over, the editorial assistant was chatting with Tawn about our kitchen remodel. Before I knew it, they were excitedly pouring through our drawers, looking at the different kitchen tools I have.

The assistant explained that they also have a “Cooking Tools” column and were running out of tools about which to write. Would I mind if they borrowed some of them for upcoming issues?

A couple of months later, I’m still without those tools. Tawn tells me they have been returned by the magazine editor and are sitting at his office. Maybe one day they will be returned to my kitchen drawers.

Two months after the shoot, our issue came out with a mango and dragon fruit tart on the cover.

The pictures turned out quite nice, I think. Much better than my picture of the photo shoot, below. The article basically reads as follows. Let me know if you want the recipes.

Urban Dweller’s Kitchen: Salmon Cooked in Paper
Urban living is marked by a busy schedule and a hectic routine, not leaving much time to focus on yourself and your well-being. But Khun Tawn is one of those people who doesn’t let the fast-paced life of an urban professional overwhelm him.
“I think cooking is a happiness that comes from sharing good things with others, hearing their delight when they try my food really adds spice to my life.”
The selected menu today is Salmon en Papillote with French cooking technique using a parchment paper pouch to trap the aroma and keep the fish moist. The side is cous cous salad with Mediterranean ingredients, something light and easy to modify with different ingredients of your choosing. Most importantly, these two dishes are simple. Just like Khun Tawn says, you can easily make them right after you wake up.
We can see that everyone has twenty-four hours a day of crazy urban living, but at the end of the day it is all about the choices we make: work crazy or care about your health.

Here’s my photo from the shoot:

What about those kitchen tools that went missing? Well, near the back of the same issue I found a familiar picture (left). Then the following month, I checked the issue and found yet another one (right). As near as I can tell, there is one left.

Do you know what they are?

Patrapa and Suriyon’s Wedding

Posted on 21 October 2008 by christao408

With all this recent talk about same-sex marriage, I thought I’d go old-school and write about different-sex… er, “traditional” marriage. You know, the kind with a man and a woman.

Last Saturday Tawn and I attended the wedding of his university friend Patrapa and her groom Suriyon. To avoid any confusion here in a Saturday Night Live skit sort of way, the bride is “Pat” and the groom is “Yon”.

Pat studied her postgraduate degree in the US, just like Tawn. In fact, she came and visited us in San Francisco but I was out of town on business.

Unlike every other Thai wedding we’ve been to, this was a Catholic wedding. For once, I felt more familiar with the ceremony than 95% of the guests. Quite a turn of events!

We started with the church service at 1:00 at the beautiful Assumption Cathedral, located on the same soi as the Oriental Hotel, around the corner from the old French embassy, in the Bangrak district. This was the first part of the city to have a paved road – Thanon Charoen Khrung (“New Road”) – and during the early 1900’s was the European quarter.

The cathedral is beautiful, done in clean lines with a brick facade. The interior is every bit as colorful as the Grand Palace but instead of Buddhist and Brahman mosaics there are paintings of Christ, Mary, and the saints.

There is no air conditioning but all the side windows are open-air and there was an army of fans agitating the heat. With the natural rainy season breeze, it was actually very pleasant.

Since it was an afternoon wedding, Tawn wore white and a hat. Sharp, huh?

When we arrived at the church, we ran into many friends including one of Pat’s bridesmaids, whose daughter was a flower girl. Doesn’t she look look just like her mother?

The service was, interestingly enough, conducted in English. As near as I can tell, this is the lingua franca of this church. Some instructions (the Catholic calisthenics – stand, sit, kneel, stand, kneel, sit, stand, sit again…) were given in Thai along with some explanation such as the ritual of holy communion.

Other than that, though, I was in much better shape, thanks to my Jesuit education, than most of my fellow attendees. Listening to the responses of the participants, it is safe to say that very few of them are Catholic.

I was thinking about the language issue and all of the Catholic weddings I’ve attended in the past twelve years or so have been in English plus another language: Ryan and Sabrina had a Cantonese-speaking priest and Liliana and Earl had a trilingual service (Tagalog, Spanish and English), for example.

Proof of the Catholic Church’s ability to insinuate itself into cultures around the world, I suppose.

Based on the number of photographers and videographers in the picture above, you might think this wedding was a big deal. And you would be correct. It seems that Pat’s father is a bit of a puu yai – “big person” – and was, among other things, a high ranking official in the finance ministry. In fact, that evening, the host of the reception was His Majesty the King’s personal secretary, who handles all of his charitable activities.

Chalk another one up for our “hi-so” social life. Ha ha…

As the bride and groom walked down the aisle and out the church, everyone showered them with rose petals as the press corps snapped pictures and shot footage.

That evening, we returned to Thanon Charoen Khrung for the reception, held in the ballroom of the venerable Oriental Hotel. On the way, we picked up another university friend, Fluck, who lives with his partner Bobby a few blocks away from us.

Jumping out of the car, who did we run into in front of the hotel? Otto and Han, fresh in from Singapore, meeting with several other friends. They were a bit surprised as were we! Thankfully, I was able to meet up with them a few days later.

The reception was amazing. More than a thousand guests with a live jazz band including a wonderful female vocalist who sang all the standards. Later on, the emcee joined in the singing, with his beautiful baritone voice.

Right: Me and Tawn at the evening reception. Blurry picture courtesy of Ko. Time to get her a new camera, Santa.

The spread of food was bottomless: tables set around the room’s perimeter offered everything from made-to-order Thai food to western roasts to soups, Japanese tempura and sushi, and Chinese dim sum. The center of the room was dotted with tables overflowing with appetizers and desserts. Waiters circulated like ferries on the Chao Phraya River, gracefully weaving around the guests, picking up your empty plates and glasses and discreetly handing you new ones.

While there we ran into six or seven other university classmates, several of whom I’ve met before. They are all very nice people, many of them with adorable young children in tow.

About ten o’clock we left the reception and headed to Silom Road to meet up with a group of friends who were celebrating one friend’s impending departure. After drinks, we returned to the Oriental to meet in the Bamboo Bar with a professional colleague of Tawn’s, an expat American who after twelve years in Japan came to Thailand to manage a retail group that has the rights to the Barbara Barry, Martha Stewart Living and Thomasville brands. There’s an interesting story I could share about our relationship with the Martha Stewart store, but I won’t.

This was the most social of evenings we’ve had in a long time. By the time we pulled into home at 1:00, we were exhausted.

Turning the other cheek

Posted on 19 October 2008 by christao408

What a busy few days. Don’t know if you saw, but my last entry asking for everyone to support the “No on Proposition 8” campaign ended up as a featured entry on the front page of Xanga. As of Sunday evening my time, there are 2600+ views.

The good news is that about 80% of the 150+ comments are supportive. The bad news is that the 20% who don’t agree with my position are probably not going to be swayed.

I’ve made it a point to respond to all comments, even though trying to refute the same arguments is tiring. The ones that are easier to refute are the ones based in legal precedent: for example, people who don’t like the “activist” judges who “overturned democracy” – forgetting that 3 of those 5 judges are Republicans, appointed by Republican governors.

The more difficult ones to refute are the “I don’t like gay marriage because my god says so” arguments. If you are convinced that you are righteous, what can I say to change your mind. I’ll just have to wait until their day of judgement when, standing on heaven’s doorstep, God asks them what part of Jesus’ teachings they didn’t understand. Was it the “love your neighbor as yourself” part? The “worry about the log in your own eye before you worry about the splinter in someone else’s eye” part? Maybe the “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” teaching?

Personally, I take great comfort in Matthew 5:11:

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

Let’s move on to other news as I never intended for this blog to be a political sideshow.

New Car

No, we haven’t bought a new car. But in a few years when our 11-year old Nissan Cefiro is ready for a replacement, I think I’ve found the perfect replacement. It is cheaper than a Mini and a Mercedes Smart car, cuter than a Yaris, and fits in the narrow sois of Khrungthep without any problem.

I’m thinking white is the better choice of colors, but red is pretty cute, too.

We have had a lot of guests in town this weekend. Thankfully, we had time on Thursday evening to have dinner with PJ and Theresa. This was the first time we had seen PJ in years and years and our first time to meet Theresa, which was wonderful. Unfortunately, no pictures.

I think Biing is in town with his family, although have not heard from him yet. Otto and Han are in town with their friends. Coincidentally, we ran into them at the front of the Oriental Hotel last night when we jumped out of a taxi to attend a wedding. An entry about that beautiful event soon.

Also, Paul (aka “Ekin” here on Xanga) is in town although we don’t expect to hear from him necessarily. Who else? Oh, the brother of Trish’s close friend and colleague is in town from Hong Kong, staying in his vacation home. Maybe we’ll see him Tuesday night if time allows.

Crazy, huh?

I’ll write about the wedding tomorrow but want to share with you some pictures from the demolition of the block of shop houses at the corner of Ploenchit Road (different stretch of Sukhumvit) and Witthayu/Wireless Road. They are taking a long time to demolish these buildings, dismantling them from the inside.

In the picture above, you can see a low building with a metal roof in the midst of the empty lot. That’s the “housing” for the workers, all of whom are from the countryside and many of whom are probably from Laos, Cambodia or Burma. Seems to be the same story everywhere: immigrants from somewhere else come in to do the dirtiest, lowest-paying work. Who does that work in their own countries?

Above, you can see how the building is being taken down, story by story. An arduous process to say the least!

Interestingly, the buildings are brought down in separate sections. The buildings to the left and right of this one are still being demolished, whereas this one is already completely gone. I wonder why they do it this way?

Help me and Tawn get married

Posted on 15 October 2008 by christao408

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Tawn and I need your help, please. Just a few minutes of it.

On November 4th, Californians will vote on Proposition 8 which will explicity take away the right of gay men and lesbian women to marry. Tawn and I, now together for almost nine years, are planning on getting married when we are back in California this December. We need your help to get the word out to Californians to vote NO on Proposition 8.

Outside of the issue of equal rights, this would represent a frightening precedent of the rights of a minority being taken away after they have been won. This is a disturbing example of Alex de Tocqueville’s “tyranny of the majority”, whereby majority opinion is allowed to trample the civil rights of the minority.

Here’s how you can help me and Tawn:

Contact the people you know in California – let them know about me and Tawn and that if Proposition 8 passes, we’ll be unable to marry in December. Ask them to vote no on the proposition and to talk with their friends, family and fellow citizens, too.

If you are a Californian, talk to people who think differently from you – it is easy to “preach to the choir” but the ones who need to hear form you are the undecided voters, the ones for whom a personal story will make all the differentce. Studies have shown that personalizing the issues makes people more supportive of equal rights.

If you are a registered voter in California, remember to vote – right now the proposition is slightly ahead in voter support. To defeat it, we will need ever supporter who is registered to vote to actually get out to the polls. Your vote will count!

Consider contributing to the “No on 8” campaign – They are being outspent by 2-to-1 by donations from outside the state, 30% of which have come from the Mormon Church. I have already made a donation and hope you will join me. Even if you donate just $10, you will help buy valuable television airtime so our side of the debate can be heard. Click here to donate at Equality California’s secure website.

I know that we are ready for the political silly season to be over. Hang in there and help me and Tawn out for this one last issue! We’re looking forward to sharing your marriage with you this December, but we can’t do it without your support. Vote NO on Proposition 8.

Thanks for your help.

Border Run to Singapore

Posted on 13 October 2008 by christao408

Hot on the heels of Bruce’s departure, I did a one-day border run to Singapore. The type of visa I have for Thailand (despite being a one-year visa) rather inexplicably requires that I exit and re-enter the country once every ninety days. For no other purpose, it seems, than to ensure that the immigration officers have employment, seeing as how other types of visa allow holders to just check in every ninety days at the immigration office off Sathorn Road.

Accepting things as they are – a very Thai trait, if I do say so myself – I booked a one day trip to Singapore as a change of pace from the usual all-day van trips to Cambodia. At least with Singapore there would be something interesting to see at the other end of the trip.

Keeping costs low, I flew Air Asia, the “Southwest Airlines of Southeast Asia”. The outbound flight was on time and the return was only thirty minutes late – some sort of a record for Air Asia. Both flights were pretty full although on the return flight I managed an empty middle seat between me and the lady sitting at the window.

It was a fun day for flying with good views of both Suvarnabhumi (left) and Changi (right) airports.

Arriving in Singapore at about 10:30, I spent an hour exploring the newest terminal (Terminal 3), which is really a beautiful facility with lots of light, water and plants to make it comfortable. I also wanted to see the new Airbus A380. There were two of them, but always with several layers of glass between me and them. No opportunities for a clear view or a good picture.

I did, however, get a picture of this rather gaudily painted Air Asia jet:

When I passed through the deserted immigration hall in Terminal 3, the officer was a little confused at how I had wound up so far away from my arrival gate (which was in Terminal 1). When I explained that I had come over to see the new airplane, he promptly gave me his advice for the best view – outside the secured area and on the fourth floor. Unfortunately, the planes were still parked outside the line of sight from the otherwise nice viewing gallery.

Taking the clean and efficient train into town, I met with Otto at Vivo City, the largest mall in Singapore. You certainly can’t avoid malls when you visit there, and we had a very nice visit with lunch at a food court and then a stop for coffee.

Below – Indonesian style lunch with fried chicken and rice, along with a few pieces of Chinese dim sum.

Late afternoon I headed a few stations away to the Chinatown area. After a little exploring, I met with Suyoung, a former colleague from the SF Int’l Asian American Film Festival and the Hamptons International Film Festival. Along with a friend of hers, we had a lovely dinner at a small Italian restaurant called Spizza. Really good thin-crust pizza and a pine nut torte that was the perfect end to the evening. As I told Suyoung, Tawn and I really should do more weekend trips to Singapore. It is so nearby and there are lots of good restaurants to explore.

With an easy taxi ride I was back at Changi International in time for my return flight home, even with a little time to spare for duty free shopping.

With my return, I’m “locked in” to Thailand and will not be able to leave again until my return trip to the United States in December, when I’ll apply for another one-year visa.

The Dog Days of Rainy Season

Posted on 12 October 2008 by christao408

Above: an exhausted dog keeps watch (barely) over a table of local eggs for sale along Soi Rang Nam. The vendor was nowhere in sight. I was curious whether, if I wanted to buy some eggs, the dog could give correct change.

The final days of Bruce’s trip were lower-key. I had to get back to work and I think he was ready to just chill out and not see any more sights. We picked up his tuxedo, custom made at the same shop many of our guests enjoy visiting, so that he will have something nice to wear for his performance at Carnegie Hall in New York next April.

The final night, we went across the street to Extra Virgin, the cute new Thai-European bistro that opened a few weeks ago. The decor is very nice but Tawn and I were actually surprised by the food. All in all, much better than we had expected. Sadly, so many western or quasi-western style restaurants in Khrungthep are long on concept and short on kitchen execution. Not so in the case of extra virgin. Here’s a selection of the food we enjoyed:

Top row from left: Indian-themed appetizers with fried calamari and vegetable samosas; Thai-themed appetizers with a take on fried chicken and sticky rice served with a “som tam” style salad made of guava; rocket and pancetta salad topped with a very light balsamic dressing. Bottom row from left: seafood and vermicelli stir fry; a take on pad thai; grilled pork and sticky rice with chili dipping sauce.

My pictures of the western food did not turn out so well, but I thought the veal, which Bruce had, was nicely done and the coq a vin, while slightly less rich than I’m used to, was also tasty.

Below, Bruce’s plane taxis out to the runway after a full ten days in the Big Mango.

With Bruce departed, we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves. Life returned to normal as we had dim sum with a group of Tawn’s school friends, Eddy, Sa and Job.

Sa and Job brought their half-year old baby boy, J.J. He has his mother’s fair skin and his father’s beautiful eyes and was the center of attention.

J.J. was pretty fussy when other people would pick him up to hold him, but if you picked him up and held him facing towards his parents so he could see them, he didn’t fuss.

Later on, Tawn’s friend Prince came by to get changed for a wedding. His back was hurting him so he asked Tawn to stand on his lower back.

Knowing how much Thais consider the feet to be the lowest part of the body (cultural note – you never touch another person with your feet, gesture to something with your feet, or put your feet up on furniture or objects while in public) you have to be a pretty close friend to be asked to step on someone!

Time to direct Prince to a chiropractor.

In short, things are returning to normal here at home. I’m able to work in my office again, we can wander around the house without regards for our state of dress, and I can enjoy the fresh air and cooling breezes with my windows open and balcony door ajar.

Tawn and I were talking about this: it is nice to have visitors, but we’re not very used to having visitors in our small home, especially for extended lengths of time. It is amazing how much it alters your normal routine. Something we’ll have to keep in mind in the future as we travel and visit others.