Pterodactyls sell condos

Posted on 25 March 2008 by christao408

I’m always amazed at how fear can be used to sell things. Sometimes subtly, sometimes quite obviously. A recent advertising campaign for a new condo complex promised you will be able to “Escape the Old City Living” – pre-sale available at Siam Paragon shopping mall from the 28th of March until the 1st of April.

If you look closely at this black and white collage of familiar Khrungthep landmarks – Victory Monument, the Rama VIII bridge, etc – you can see all sorts of interesting signs of urban “decay”:

Giant cobwebs on the bridge’s cables

Shattered windscreen on the BTS Skytrain

And of course, the true sign that urban decay has blighted the Big Mango is the flock of pterodactyls flying over the city.

Because we all know that before white flight from the suburbs really started in the US in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, there were many incidents of prehistoric winged creatures in the skies. One can only imagine what local sightings of these fearsome creatures portend for Khrungthep.

Fortunately, there are many options if you want a change from the “old city living”. The Bangkok Post today reports that there are no less than 17 condominium projects going up between Sukhumvit Sois 53 and 63 – the distance between exactly one stop on the Skytrain.

Here’s the fast progress being made in the large property adjacent the Asoke BTS Station. Formerly a Ford and Volvo dealership, it will become a large multi-use complex in the next eighteen months.

That was taken two days ago. Now there are twice as many cranes at work. We need a new city motto. Maybe, “Khrungthep: Things are always going up.”

Harry Swings in New Orleans… er, Bangkok

Posted on 19 March 2008 by christao408

Monday evening, St. Patrick’s Day, we enjoyed a huge treat. Harry Connick, Jr. and his big band came to the City of Angels to perform in support of his “My New Orleans” tour.

There were twelve of us in attendance and we preceded the concert with dinner at the Zen Food Loft. Tawn’s friend Fuyuko joined us – a too-rare pleasure, above – and in Ken’s absence we celebrated Chai’s birthday which is on Wednesday. I brought a candle and a lighter in my bag and then we put it in a slice of cake and sang “happy birthday” for him, below.

As for Mr. Connick, the 41-year old singer, pianist, and actor was making his first visit to Khrungthep and brought two of his three daughters with him. At one point near the end of the show, he called them onstage and did an impromptu interview, asking them about their impressions of the city. Both said it was their favorite place on the tour.

Mr Connick’s band is straight out of the Big Easy and many of the numbers they performed were classic jazz with a Dixieland flavor. Lots of brass, lots of improvisation, and everyone in the band was having a good time.

To top it off, in addition to being a talented musician and vocalist, Mr. Connick is a true entertainer. He interspersed songs with lots of self-depracating banter, knew a little bit about the local culture – the band even performed one of the popular jazz songs His Majesty the King had composed, and generally clowned around.

Early in the evening, his right contact lens came out and he proceeded to use the lens of one of the cameras as a mirror while putting it back in. Of course, that camera’s view was the one showing on the big screens so we saw a closeup of all this.

Afterwards, he joked that he had used the same hand to put in the contact lens, as he had used just before the show to pick the hot peppers out of his pad thai noodles. For several minutes there was an ongoing joke about him crying from only his right eye because he was only half sad.

It was a very fun time and the audience, seated in the Bangkok Convention Centre at Central World Plaza in a layout that was more appropriate for a business meeting than a jazz concert, warmed up appreciably as the night went on. By the finale of the concert, people were literally dancing in the aisles.

Even thought security checked for cameras, as usual they didn’t look very hard. Here are two short clips – 1:08 and 0:36, respectively – from the encore, just to give you a flavor of the concert.

Hope you enjoyed the show!

Taxes are done – need a recommendation?

Posted on 19 March 2008 by christao408

Yeah – my 2007 state and federal taxes are complete! Nice to have that done and out of the way.

Many kudos to my H&R Block tax adviser, Mary Reichenbach of Overland Park, Kansas. She’s been fantastically easy to work with over a distance and has helped me navigate some of the complexities of being an expatriate American, at least with regards to my taxes.

With my return I received some coupons for recommending friends. If anyone wants to use her services, let me know and I can send you the coupon.

Do You Touch the Third Rail?

Posted on 18 March 2008 by christao408

At the birthplace of the United States Tuesday afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the issue of race in America as part of the Presidential campaign. Race has always been one of the “third rails” of American politics: you can use it, hint at it, or ignore it, but don’t touch it!

Senator Obama’s speech was one of the most honest and informative on the topic that I’ve read. Instead of trying to follow politically expedient routes, he instead talked about the issue in a way that I think all Americans can relate to.

Regardless of our racial identity, almost all Americans have in their hearts a complex web of conflicting thoughts, feelings and experiences as it relates to race. Even the most liberal-minded among us are tainted by the fears, innuendo, and racism we’ve been exposed to in our lives.

Even though the nature of the campaign for the White House encourages us to think about race in very reductionist ways, the issue is one that very much exists and very much influences our lives. And yet, as the Senator points out, it is time to “move beyond some of our old racial wounds.”

“The comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part of our union that we have not yet made perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education or the need to find good jobs for every American.”

Regardless of your political persuasion or, for that matter, nationality, I’d encourage you to take fifteen minutes to read the full text of Senator Obama’s speech. For Americans, it gives some much-needed food for thought. For people outside of the US, it provides an interesting insight into how the issue of race uniquely affects our country’s culture and politics.

The full text of the Senator’s speech is here.

Flattery is the Sincerest Form of Accusation

Posted on 18 March 2008 by christao408

One of the most interesting aspects of writing this blog is my ongoing discovery of people who I didn’t previously know were reading it. Last week I received a message from Stipica, a 37-year old architect from Croatia. Stipica used to read my trip reports on airliners.net (it has been a year since my last posting there – other projects keeping me busy) and subsequently started reading my blog.

Stipica has recently had some time on his hands and decided to use some of that time to respond to my March 13th entry (“Table incident leaves marble top shattered, planters in ruins“) in which I wrote about the damage to our balcony cafe table in an homage to police blotter crime journalism.

His response was a creative use of clips, quotes, and photos from my previous blog entries in order to continue the investigation. His conclusions and subsequent allegation are, to say the least, shocking. Here it is:

So I blamed the construction workers while I bribed Ken with a slice of orange merengue cake and showed him how to hack the table legs practicing on coconuts, all as retribution for being banished to the balcony? Needless to say, I deny everything. Thanks to Stipica for this creative editing and I promise to get another trip report written one of these days.

Sundays in the Park with Stuart

Posted on 17 March 2008 by christao408

It seems that things in the Khrungthep cycling scene are heating up, which has nothing to do with the coming hot season. It started with the first-ever Khrungthep Critical Mass on the final day of February. Then this past Sunday there was a 45-km trip around Khrungthep, about which I’ll write in a moment. It continues with a 160-km one way ride to Hua Hin this coming Sunday followed by the second Critical Mass the next Friday, and then a 70-km ride on March 30th that begins in Phra Padaeng on the southwest side of the river.

Crazy, huh? 160 km is way too much for me to do at this point as a one day trip. Maybe when the annual ride comes around next time. But I’m excited to see so much interest and enthusiasm in cycling in this City of the Perpetual Traffic Jam.

This past Sunday’s ride was a bit of a Tour de Khrungthep in the non-French sense of the word. About 150 riders met at National Stadium, which is just to the west of the Siam Square area. At 8:00 we headed out, stopping just a few minutes later at Hualamphong Railway Station for a tour – in Thai – from a docent. Hualamphong is a beautiful station and a good example of Thai Art Deco.

We then paid a visit to the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, a Red Cross-run “Snake Farm” whose primary purpose is to study and develop anti-venom serums for the many types of poisonous snakes found in the Kingdom. There is a fascinating and well-organized educational exhibit on snakes and you can see dozens of different poisonous and non-poisonous species.

Some people are really scared of snakes and other reptiles. I find them really fascinating. When I was in secondary school – I forget which grade, maybe seventh – we could check out a reptile for the weekend from our biology class. I brought a snake home and while it was interesting (I love the way they move), they really aren’t very fun pets.

Afterwards, we rode to Lumpini Park and on to the park next to Queen Sirikit Convention Center. This is where Markus and I often ride as it has a good 2-km dedicated bike path around the lake. Below, you can see the progress on the four towes of the Millenium Condo project between Sukhumvit 16 and 18. More on that in an entry here. Below that is an atist’s rendering of what the finished project will look like. Way, way out of scale to the skyline.

millennium_main2

After some pretty short legs, we finally started some serious distance riding, heading up Asoke Road to Ratchadapisek, cutting under the Rama IX expressway on a small local street, and then continuing up by the Thailand Cultural Center where we broke for lunch.

After lunch we continued up Ram Intra to Lad Prao, one of the main east-west arteries on the north side of the city, and then all the way to the very large and busy Phahon Yothin / Lad Prao intersection. Thank goodness we had a large group of riders still so we could command traffic as we made a series of turns to get to the far side of the de-facto traffic circle.

There we arrived at Railroad Park, a former State Railways of Thailand golf course that has been converted into a beautiful public park, below. Hard to imagine that this is in the teeming metropolis of Khrungthep, isn’t it?

By this point it was nearing 2:30 and the group was starting to thin out. People who lived on the northern side of the city headed home directly, while about thirty of us headed back towards National Stadium. This part of the ride took me through some areas that I’ve driven before but was not very familiar with, especially the frontage road that follows the railways tracks past Bang Sue station, parallel to the Rama XI expressway. It was good to cover this area on bicycle because now I know it better. It is also easier to navigate on bicycle because you can ignore the forced left turns that keep cars from using the frontage road as a raceway/shortcut.

Returning to National Stadium wasn’t really the end of it for me, as I still had to bike home. All told, the ride worked out to be about 65 km for me, the longest I’ve done since I moved to Thailand.

Fortunately, I was not alone for the trip.

Since Markus had church to attend, I drummed up another riding companion, Stuart.

He’s expressed interest in going for a ride before and this was certainly the one to give him a taste (a big, heaping taste) of what urban riding is like here. By the end of it he seemed pretty positive about the experience, so maybe he’ll be heading to ProBike and spending some money soon!

Stuart’s blog entry about the ride, along with a map of the route, is here.

Another Class Graduates

Posted on 17 March 2008 by christao408

Friday was the final day of school – or nearly the final day, depending on whom I asked – at Bangkhonthiinai. Wanting to take the opportunity to see the children before the end of the term, and a final chance to see the graduating sixth graders, I drove down to Samut Songkhram province with Kobfa, Ken and Markus.

Left: First and second grades, with one sixth grader on the right.

Our arrival was eagerly anticipated and we soon had all fifty students crowded into a single classroom, antsy to play bingo. We made the pretense of practicing English for a little while, but it was Friday afternoon and nobody had any patience for that. Ken and Markus arranged some games of bingo and “A calls B” while I assisted Kobfa in reviewing the English proficiency test the sixth graders had taken the previous week.

As with last year’s batch of sixth graders, the girls generally did pretty well and the boys were goofs. Sadly, just listening to the three boys it is clear that they’re smart and with some extra time and tutoring, they could perform much better.

I’m continuing my effort to get students involved in practicing their English or, for the younger ones, just staying in touch with a farang in the hopes it encourages their interest in studying English. When I left the school officially in September, I had distributed my address card and encouraged people to write. It wasn’t until I received only one postcard from a student that I realized that maybe they don’t have access to writing materials and stamps. They come from very poor families and I doubt that writing letters is a part of their everyday experience.

So this time I arrived with two-baht postcards, a nifty and inexpensive sheet of paper that is blank on both sides and preprinted with the postage. Considering that the postage is two baht, the cards themselves are essentially free. This is a really good deal and is designed with the exact same target audience in mind of which my students are members. I printed my return address on them and then distributed the postcards to students (above) with the explanation that they could use these to write to me and that I’d return all letters that I receive.

Below: Explaining what to do with the postcards.

Some people mistook that to mean that they should immediately fill out the cards. By the end of class I had to direct a few students to put the cards in the letter box.

One student sheepishly approached me after class and said he had already lost his postcard. I gave him another.

We’ll see how this works. I suspect I’ll receive a flurry of postcards this next week. Will they respond to my responses? I think I’ll send a blank card with each response I send, to prime the pump a bit.

Below: The Thai concept of grangjai – not wanting to obligate or impose on someone – in action as the teachers present Kobfa and I with a gift basked of fruit. Later, one of the sixth graders, co-president of the student body association – made a brief speech thanking us for our volunteering at the school.

The teachers, who are still without a school director, once again invited us to resume English teaching. Maybe when school starts again in June or July, we should make an effort to go there once a month. Weekly is no longer workable, but once a month – especially if we worked specifically with the upper classes – would have some good impact.

Hopefully the graduating sixth graders (above) will stay in touch. The girls have written a few emails, one more consistently than the others. She has the most potential of all of her peers and I’m confident she’ll go on to do great things.

The most fun was the lucky draw. I’ve been saving up various promotional tchotskies that Tawn receives from his clients – calendars, not pads, a backpack – and those were used for a raffle. This is really fun for the students and it was amazing because even pretty simple things were really a big deal for these children. The Thai belief in luck was noticeable as some children had their hands together at their heart as they prayed that their name would be called.

One third grader would call out his own name – “Anurak!” – at every draw just before the name was revealed.

We made sure to have enough items for everyone, and once we had pulled all the names we put them all back in to give away the final few big items.

Finally, an hour after school is normally supposed to end, the last items were given away, the goodbyes were said, and the students stood up and sang the “Goodbye, My Teacher” song, below. Very touching.

Saturday Errands

Posted on 16 March 2008 by christao408

Almost all of our Saturdays get consumed by errands. Along the way, there are always interesting things to see. At least, things to see that are interesting to me. So I’ll share them with you and assume you’ll be interested, too.

A sign of the times

Part of a series of advertisements for the Noble property development company, announcing their new “Noble Reveal” condo that will soon begin selling. The advertisements use the same pitch: “Help reduce global warming; use cars less. Noble Reveal, new condo located close to Ekkamai BTS station.”

Each of the advertisements features a similar photo: sea lions huddled on an ice floe, penguins huddled on an ice floe, polar bears huddled on an ice floe.

The environmental claim is, of course, a bit questionable. While the condo will be located very close to the Skytrain, it will also be at one of the most congested intersections in the city and will feature an ample car park. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that anything Noble will do during the construction will be environmentally friendly, from the materials from which the condos are constructed to the disposal of paints and other chemicals that are used.

Worst of all is the other message sent by the pictures: you’ll be huddled together in a small space that is getting ever smaller. What a terrible way to sell a condominium. The rooms are small! You’ll be cramped together! You’ll be competing for an ever-diminishing pool of resources!

Yeah, sign me up.

Le Tour Eiffel in Central

Central Department Stores is having a “Europe” promotion. Their flagship location, Central Chidlom, has models of various famous European sights: Big Ben in the east parking lot, Arc de Triomphe (two of them!) at the main entrances, and in the escalator atrium, a 30-meter tall model of Le Tour Eiffel.

This must have taken a good bit of time to build. The structure is metal and the sections are bolted together. As you ride up the escalator you can get a pretty good look at the construction and you have to give them credit for a job well done.

On the various levels there are mannequins displaying famous European designer wear. On the ground floor underneath the tower, there is a l’Occitaine display where the employees are wearing very pink outfits reminiscent of provincial French farmers, complete with straw hats.

Thankfully, there are no mimes.

Need a Nikon?

Down the street at Siam Paragon there was a large event promoting Nikon cameras. They had dozens of models on display, especially the SLR cameras and some really big lenses. There was something going on onstage, there were beautiful girls dressed in short shirts and tight tops, there were giveaways and music. And lots of nerdy men who seemed more interested in the big lenses than the scantily clad women.

You need this machine!

We met Tawn’s colleague Meiji at Starbucks Siam Center and visited for a half-hour. Afterwards, on our way out, we stopped to look at the espresso machine that they have for sale. The “Barista” model has received pretty good reviews from different sources and we’re in the market to replace our rather crappy drip coffee maker that we’ve had for two years. Not sure that we need an espresso machine in particular, but we like the idea of controlled portions and greater consistency in the quality of our morning coffee.

The root of the problem might actually lies in our coffee grinder. We have a Krups model, which is supposed to be a good one. But I find a lot of variation in the resulting grind which of course leads to variations in the strength of the coffee.

We try French press and run into the same problem, plus the added one of the coffee cooling off quickly in the glass container. Our drip coffee maker is really inconsistent and one of the plastic parts is irreparably broken. We have a stovetop Italian espresso maker but the base isn’t steel so it doesn’t work on our induction stovetop. Back in the US in my sister’s guest room closet I have a really nice drip coffee maker, but I don’t know if it is worth the effort to bring it over here. Plus, I’d have to use a converter like I do with my Kitchen Aid mixer.

So we’ve been exploring options. When we showed interest in the model at Starbucks, one of the employees rushed over and offered to demo the machine for us. What followed was a very thorough 20-minute demonstration in which he made a latte for us using the machine, then allowed us to practice using it, too. End result, two free lattes – after the ones we had already purchased and consumed. Jittery.

The machine is very easy to use and the construction looks solid. Only a few parts and the design does not have any of the “awkward” elements that machines sometimes have. The only problem is the price. That’s a lot of money to spend for a coffee maker. Cheaper than some of the others we’ve looked at but more expensive than some, too.

How much for our morning cup of coffee?

Skateboarding at Siam

Despite the popularity of Siam Paragon, Siam Square and Siam Center remain much more the focal point of the Khrungthep youth scene. Between the two Siam Center properties (Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center) there is a plaza that is often set up with concerts and other events.

On Saturday is was home to a skateboarding demo. A hundred or so youth were hanging out, watching. A dozen skateboarders went back and forth, none of them doing any particularly impressive tricks. A DJ played music and the breeze kept spectators comfortable.

Viva Siam.

Saturday evening we met up with Otto, who is in town from Singapore, for dinner. It was very nice to catch up with him as on his last visit here timing was rushed and we never did really get a chance to visit. Dinner was at the food court at MBK, which tries to mimic the choices available at the Central Food Loft, but to poor effect.

But it really is about the company, not the food, right?

Right?

Table incident leaves marble top shattered – planters in ruin

Posted on 13 March 2008 by christao408

After two years of being on Skype, I finally made contact with my grandfather. He’s had Skype on his Mac for nearly a year but for some reason he hadn’t been able to accept me as a contact. Of course, since I was never on my computer at the same time that I was sitting at his (when I was visiting) I hadn’t been able to trouble-shoot the problem.

This morning, though, for some unexplained reason he was on line and had somehow accepted me as a contact. Out of nowhere, my computer started ringing as he called me.

So that was nice. A little strange, though, as he doesn’t have an external headset so his voice sounded far away. Also, perhaps his volume was turned down and he couldn’t hear me, because in the web cam picture, it looked like he was leaning in close to his computer and he said he couldn’t hear me.

Kudos for his efforts at technology. Hopefully, we’ll get that all squared away and can chat more regularly.

Tragedy struck at Raintree Villa this week as our cute marble-top cafe table out on the balcony tumbled over, cracking the marble in two. A pair of innocent planters were brutally shattered, but truth be told, I didn’t like them all that much anyhow.

The cause is still under investigation but initial inspections point to metal fatigue. Chris Schultz, armchair expert, had long been critical of the design of the table. A metal bolt had previously been sheared off when too much torque was created as the table was moved with at least one leg still on the ground.

Right: detail of the break.

Investigators are following a lead that the table was damaged on initial delivery. The construction crew who was delivering the table broke the leg during delivery and placed it back on the truck. The table was then brought for repair but the nature of the damage and subsequent repair were never disclosed to the table’s owners.

Meanwhile, breakfasts, teas, and dinners on the balcony have been canceled until further notice.

Left: The remains of two bystanders.

Anyone with information about the incident are encouraged to contact Khun Tawn.

Martha Does Peanut Butter

Posted on 11 March 2008 by christao408

Thanks to all of you who commented about yesterday’s entry regarding Tawn and I getting married. I certainly appreciate the support, although more practically the opportunity to do this in Thailand will probably not come around anytime in the next few decades as there isn’t any real friction here to drive social change. We keep having coups, after all, so gay rights is somewhere further down the list.

When I moved here, our friend Kobfa advised me that my relationship with my in-laws would likely not change and that the way it is now is the way it is likely to remain. Considering how many people I know whose partners have to be totally closeted with their parents, I appreciate that Tawn can be honest with his parents even if I’m not welcomed into the family fold by my father-in-law. It could be worse.

Anyhow, changing topics for a moment…

Monday I made a recipe for a peanut butter tart that Tawn had printed from Martha Stewart’s website. This was originally meant to be his project, but somehow it didn’t get made so before the ingredients went to waste I went ahead and made it. Things like this happen sometimes…

First, I made a graham cracker crumb crust. Let me tell you, the familiar graham crackers of my childhood are not stocked at even the best international markets here. An online search showed that it is pretty easy to make your own graham crackers so I’ll do that next time. Eventually, I finally found “70% organic” graham crackers from Health Valley at Villa market and used them, even though they didn’t look or feel like the graham crackers I have known.

These different crackers posed a small chalenge. The measurements in Martha’s recipe were absurd: Ten 4 3/4-by-2 1/2 inch crackers, which must be the official, universal graham cracker size. These grapham crackers were different dimensions and were thicker than normal graham crackers, so the cracker crumb-to-butter ratio was off. Couldn’t the recipe editors just come up with a volume? Two cups of cracker crumbs, for example.

After dealing with the graham cracker crust debacle, I made a chocolate ganache. This is shaved or chopped good quality milk chocolate into which boiled cream is poured. After the chocolate melts, it is whisked together to combine, then whisked over an ice bath until it thickens but is still spreadable. The ganache is then spread into the crumb crust, forming a chocoalte base. Refrigerate to set.

The next step is to make the peanut butter filling. This is peanut butter, cream cheese, and sweetened condensed milk, whipped together. The recipe used a food processor but mine is in the US still so the trusty Kitchen Aid mixer was enlisted.

Next, 3/4 cup of cream is whipped to soft peaks.

Then the whipped cream is folded into the peanut butter mixture to make it lighter and fluffier.

Finally, the peanut butter-whipped cream mixture is spread over the chocolate base and the tart is allowed to set in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

Meanwhile, I prepared dinner for Tawn. Dischi volanti pasta with homemade pesto; steamed salt-and-pepper Tasmanian salmon for him, roast beef for me; steamed asparagus with butter and sea salt; a medley of corn, peppers, and peas; and a green salad. Feeling like we hadn’t had enough of a weekend, I opened a bottle of prosecco. Why not enjoy some sparkling wine on a Monday?

And, finally, the dessert:

There was supposed to be another dallop of whipped cream on top but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of whipping cream just for two servings. All in all, the crumb crust wasn’t holding together sufficiently – not enough butter, I think. The flavor was good and the texture light enough. I’m a big peanut butter fan but even so, I found the tart to be pretty one-dimensional. Maybe if the chocolate was a darker chocolate instead of milk chocolate? Or maybe if a little cardamon or chili pepper was added?