Above: Bankhonthiinai School, situated amidst banana and coconut plantations and across a small khlong from the local temple.

In Thailand, teachers are highly revered.  This is reflected in the annual Piitii Wai Khruu or “teacher respect ceremony”.  The word wai is both a noun and a verb, describing the prayer-like greeting Thais use as well as the action of paying respect to someone, usually by making the prayer-like gesture and/or also kneeling down before them, touching your palms together in front of your face, then bowing down until your palms and forehead touch the floor.

Wan Wai Khruu (wan = day) is held near the beginning of the academic year and is always a Thursday, the day associated with teachers.  Ajarn Yai specifically requested that Kobfa and I bring Ken and Markus with us, as they both have been to the school several times. 

Right: Ken, Chris, Kobfa and Markus.

I’m afraid I may have hurt some feelings by not inviting other people who are interested in going to the school.  We had only four places in the car and as English instruction doesn’t begin until next week, it was better to wait.

It was very nice to get back to Bangkhonthiinai.  Kobfa and I were remarking on the changes that various students went through in the three months since we last saw them.  Tanawat, a little second grader, has gained so much weight.  Wuttichai, already slender, grew several inches and now looks like a chopstick.  The children entering grade six have grown more mature: Sulaliwan and Wisit, in particular, are both starting too look like young adults rather than children.

The students were happy to see us.  Most were pretty shy about using their English.  I spent a little time speaking with them in small groups and I think they were excited to see that they still remembered quite a lot.

Left: Friends reunited after summer break.

We stopped by the English room and were surprised by the changes there, too!  After a trip to a technical college in Hua Hin that has an advanced program in TV production and broadcasts lessons throughout the country by satellite, Ajarn Yai decided she wanted that technology for her school, too.  A few proposals later, the school now has a digital projector and two computer workstations set up in the English classroom.  A satellite dish will be next, I’m sure.  Now I have to figure out how we can incorporate technology into the classroom. 

Before describing the ceremony, I’ll note that Ajarn Yai explained that while smaller schools usually don’t do this elaborate a ceremony, she tried to incorporate as much of the full ceremony as possible for our benefit.

The ceremony began about 9:30 with all the students seated in one of the larger classrooms (tight fit) with a monk from the neighboring temple presiding over affairs and all the teachers seated along the front of the room.  The students sat in rows, each with a small bundle of flowers, incense, and candles.  Additionally, there were a few dozen larger floral arrangements.  Below: Waiting for the ceremony to begin.

The flower arrangements represented group efforts, everyone having a role to play in making them.  Quite often at larger schools, this will be a competition between groups or grades.  In this case – everyone’s a winner at our school – there was no competition.

The student body presidents – a boy and girl in sixth grade who were elected at the end of the last year by the general student population – began the ceremony by wai’ing the monk and then lighting candles and paying respect to the Buddha image set up in the room.  Once seated at the front of the room, they read some prepared statements and chanted. 

The chanting, part in the Pali language and part in Thai, ties into Buddhist liturgy.  The gist of what was said was that the students want to honor and pay respect to their teachers who give them knowledge.  Then, speaking on behalf of the entire student body, they promised to study hard, pay attention, and learn a lot this year. 

Students came forward in pairs, beginning with the youngest children, to present the floral arrangements.  With the younger children (pre-school) this took quite a bit of instruction and guidance – “no, don’t kneel so close to the monk” and “wai first, then bow your forehead”.  The students would wai the Buddha statue three times, then the monk three times, then kneel in front of Ajarn Yai, wai once and present the floral arrangements.  These were then passed down the row of teachers so we could all “receive” them before they were placed on two tables.

After the floral arrangements were presented, the students came up with their individual flowers for the teachers.  There were ten teachers so ten students came up at a time, kneeled in front of the teachers, wai’d, then handed the teachers to us.  Because Ajarn Yai is not publicity shy, we stopped at this point with each batch of students for a photo opportunity.

The most common flower for Wan Wai Khruu is dok kem – the needle flower.  Just like the English expression, “as sharp as a tack”, dok kem is symbolic of sharp minds.  There was also a lot of dok malik, jasmine, as well as dok gulap, roses.  Right: In this picture, I’m holding a bunch of dok kem.

Following the receipt of the flowers, the monk said a brief sermon, explaining to the students that teachers are only second to parents in importance in their life.  He then blessed the learning materials, marking (jum) four new textbooks (including a Thai-English dictionary – a good sign!) with white clay mixed with water.  These are the same markings that you often see inside or at the entryway to a new building, or inside a vehicle.  Finally, he proceeded to bless the students and teachers, giving us all a good spraying of holy water. 

Above: Interest wanes and the monk preaches.  Below: Blessed textbooks.

Above: The monk splashes the students with holy water.  Below, in order to gain collective merit for the good deeds of two students who are feeing the monk, all of the other students touch each other in a move reminiscent of the “laying on of hands” withing certain Protestant Christian traditions.

The teachers also had their chance to deliver blessing to the students along with whatever wisdom they wished to impart.  Starting with Ajarn Yai and continuing down the row, we each took the microphone. 

When it was my turn, I asked in English who remembered their English.  Long silence.  Repeating the question in Thai, there was a better response.  I went on to explain, in Thai, that this year we are going to study very hard and learn lots of English.  Continuing, I reminded them that the way to learn is to practice every day: practice speaking English with their teachers and practice speaking English with each other.

Right: Khruu Somchai and me.

The microphone continued down the line, Kobfa translating for Markus and Ken, who each had nice things to say.  There was a song that Ajarn Yai said the students were supposed to sing at the conclusion of the ceremony, but the students had not had time to practice since we had a late start to the school year.  So things wrapped up after this and everyone went to the cafeteria for lunch.

Another nice treat: one of our grduates from last May stopped by school.  It was nice to talk with her and we learned that she passed some very tough competition to get into her prefered secondary school: out of 500 students applying for 200 positions, she ranked 19th.  To top it off – and we can’t take all the credit for this as she’s an excellent student – she scored 100% in her English examination!  Ploy is one of those students that will go very far in this life and Kobfa, Tawn and I have discussed how much we’d like to provide some help for her in the future, if she needs it in order to study at a good university or to study abroad.

Since there was no instruction today, we left early, returning home by 4:00.

Time to finish those lesson plans.  Next Wednesday the real teaching begins!

Reinforcing the image that foreign journalists are suckers for free alcohol, last night’s crowd at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand’s international film series filled every seat and spilled out the front door, drawn by the promise of Italian wine, served gratis the Italian embassy.

By the time we arrived at 7:30 with Ken, Markus, Tam, Vic and Kobfa in tow, Tawn and I found the fifteen or so wine bottles empty and no place to sit where we could see any of the screens.  After asking the staff, Tawn reported that they had no more chairs but would refund our money.  A quick discussion later and the lot of us were on our way down the street to Central Chidlom Food Loft for dinner.

Note to self for the film later this month where the Argentine embassy is serving up free wine and free Argentine beef: show up at 5:30.

Shortly after midnight I was woken up by a bright thunderstorm passing through the Khrungthep metropolitan area.  Khrungthep, which literally means “city of angels”, seemed appropriately named tonight as the heavens were alive, reinforcing another long-held belief that stems back to my childhood, when I was told that thunder is the sound of angels bowling in heaven.

Maybe the sleeplessness had less to do with the storm and more to do with the countdown to our condo closing this Friday.

The good news is that Khun Chai, the branch manager at UOB bank, was able to talk his superiors into giving us the full loan value – 4 million baht – that we had originally requested.  This is 80% of the actual price of our condo, instead of the 80% of the deflated valuation their appraiser had placed on the property.  This is a relief as the loan will cover the costs of remodeling that we had originally budgeted.

While there is no bad news, the timing of this will be quite tight: the only day that it appears all the necessary parties are available to go to the Land Department is Friday morning.  In what promises to be a very blogable but bureaucratic experience, we, the seller, the real estate agent, and the bank’s representative all have to show up at the Land Department at the same time for possibly a couple of hours of paperwork.

Look for that entry this weekend.

It looks like we have everything in order and there is no reason to expect any difficulties at all.  Still, both Tawn and I would prefer to have taken care of the Land Department a few days earlier so that if there was any problem, we would have a few days to sort it out.

Cross our fingers.

Tomorrow, Thursday, is Wan Wai Khruu.  This is the day near the commencement of the school year when students pay respect to their teachers.  I’ll be heading down to Bangkhonthiinai with Ken, Markus and Kobfa by special request of Ajarn Yai.  Stay tuned for an exciting blog entry as we kick off another year of teaching English in the jungle.

For local readers of this blog who subscribe to email updates, I’d encourage you to visit the actual blog from time to time in order to see my new listing of upcoming events in the “Things to Watch” column.  Items that are listed:

Foreign Correspondents’ Club Film Series: Italian film “The Best Day of My Life” on Tuesday 5 June and Canadian film “The Barbarian Invasions” on Thursday 14 June.

Bangkok French Film Festival – 9 to 20 June at SF World Cinema, Central World Plaza.  A selection of eleven new French films as part of the larger La Fete celebration.

The Italian Film Festival is coming up later in June, as well as an exhibition of brilliant black and white photography by Justin Brooks at Gallery F Stop at Tamarind Cafe.  Stay tuned or check back in frequently for details.

This weekend I jumped back into the saddle (so to speak) and made another attempt at Whole Wheat English Muffins.  This may come as no shock to some of you, but actually using whole wheat flour as the recipe directs, makes a huge different in the quality of muffins!

Two things that really helped improve the muffins, besides the use of the correct ingredients:

• I increased the amount of flour slightly and decreased the amount of liquid in order to make a less tacky dough.  With the high humidity here in Khrungthep, it is more effective to use recipes that list the weight of dry ingredients rather than the volume.  A cup of flour here has a lot more moisture in it than it would say in Texas.
• I used nonstick spray on the baking pans so that when the dough had risen, I could remove it without having to work too hard.  Last time this resulted in the muffins collapsing into limp pancakes.  I think next time I’ll try parchment paper instead, since this resulted in more oil that I wanted to use.

I also found some success keeping the skillet temperature on the low side.  I’ll be so happy when I have a new induction stovetop.  Below, the resulting muffins:

Don’t they actually kind of look like real English Muffins?  I’m so excited!

Also this weekend I made a large batch of white bean soup.  This is based on the recipe that is served at the U.S. Senate cafeteria, but I found it to be too watery so added some more potatoes and pureed part of the beans to make a thicker soup.  Lavender creme brulee, while planned, did not get made this weekend.  Stay tuned, though.

House update: Last week we received news from the branch manager at UOB bank that they approved our loan (or, more correctly, Tawn’s loan with me listed as a guarantor as I don’t have a work permit here and cannot hold a loan from a Thai bank in Thailand).  Great news, indeed, but their evaluator had appraised the condo at about 85% of the price we paid for it, and the bank gives the loan of up to 80% of the appraised value of the property.  This means that UOB is willing to give us a loan of 68% of the price we actually paid for the condo.

At first I was shocked.  How could they think the property was worth only 85% of what we paid for it?  The manager explained that their evaluators work very conservatively and that the price we had actually paid was a fair price, but that this is how the bank protects its interests in wake of the economic crash that happened a decade ago, based largely on a huge number of over-valued loans.

Tawn asked Khun Chai to see if there was anything he could do about this, explaining that we have a competing application in with Kasikorn Bank.  He said he would check and we hope to hear something from him this morning.

In either case, it isn’t a huge issue.  Financially, we’ll still be able to afford the condo, but it will mean that any remodeling budget will be decreased significantly. 

One thing we don’t have a lot of is time: the house closes this Friday, 8 June.  We have to have 4.15 million baht to the seller or forfeit the deposit (1.1 million) we’ve already put down.  To top it off, Khun Chai leaves for vacation Tuesday, so hopefully it all gets wrapped up today.

(Do they have a emoticon showing me chewing my nails, metaphorically speaking?)

In March 2006 I told you about one of the highlights of the 24th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, a spunky indie musical called Colma: The Musical.  With catchy lyrics by H.P. Mendoza, this is the story of a trio of friends just after their graduation from high school in the town of Colma.  No more than a speck on the map on the outskirts of San Francisco, Colma is known primarily as a town of cemeteries, a mall, and two Target stores.

Mendoza and director Richard Wong have struck a limited distribution deal with Roadside Attractions and will make an initial run in five cities: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Portland, and Austin.  The run will start with a single week but will be extended if it finds an audience.

• The San Francisco run will be the week of June 22nd at the Embarcadero Center Cinemas.
• The New York run will be the week of July 6th at The Quad on 13th Street.
• Other dates and locations to be announced.

This is a really fun film.  I encourage you to see the film and help spread the word.  There is a lot of power in word-of-mouth marketing.  This is the type of film (and the type of film-makers) that mainstream studios are hesitant to support because they don’t know if there is a market out there.  But history has shown that when the word gets out, an audience will find good films.

Friday night Vic invited us up to his place (he lives on the 32nd floor here at Asoke Place) to play poker.  Being short on seating, several guests helped carry our entire dining room set upstairs, shocking Tawn when he returned home to find a much more spacious living room than when he had left for work.

Of the ten people there, only four had played poker before.  A valiant effort was made by Vic to explain the intricacies of the game and Kobfa actually stepped up and started playing.  Others, including myself, were overwhelmed by the complexity of remembering which hands beat which other hands, so we played blackjack instead.  Sadly, Tawn had not had the opportunity to pick up a board game for us so no Monopoly, checkers or chess.

I think we should do these game nights again; it is a nice way to socialize and is really a lot less expensive than going out.  Everyone was responsible for dinner on their own, so Vic just provided drinks and snacks and most people contributed to that.  I baked three dozen chocolate chip cookies and brought a bottle of Bordeaux.

To add a bit more to the last entry, and to attempt to answer Aaron’s question about what the CNS (military government) hoped to gain from the Constitutional Court’s ruling, let me elaborate:

Why the CNS wanted the court to hear the case

The CNS’s pretext for the September 19 coup was that carport politicians (mainly Thaksin and the Thai Rak Thai party) had undermined democracy in Thailand through their shady dealings, manipulation of elections, etc.  The CNS said their purpose for usurping the democratically-elected government was to set democracy back on course in Thailand.

The Constitutional Court’s investigation into the April 2, 2006 election was expressly at the request of the CNS, and looked at both Thai Rak Thai, the Democrat party, as well as two minor parties.

Regardless of the outcome of the court, the aims of CNS, if not explicitly stated, were essentially to get Thaksin out of power and then, once democracy was restored, to partner with popular politicians (presumably other Thai Rak Thai leaders but not ones loyal to Thaksin) to form a new political party that would maintain/protect their interests.  It helps to know that Thai Rak Thai was itself an amalgamation of several other smaller parties that had united behind Thaksin’s charismatic persona. 

By being part of the next administration, the CNS would protect itself from retaliation.  The down side is that it would be a step back to the days of semi-military regimes, similar to the coup in 1991.

By asking the Constitutional Court to look into this matter, it was in essence the CNS’s play to show some respect for rule of law.  We will ask the court to look into it, and will respect their decisions, was the message.

If the court found the politicians and political parties guilty, it would add some legitimacy to the coup but wouldn’t necessarily be good for Thai democracy, leaving the country without any political parties or senior politicians.

If the court found the politicians and political parties innocent, it would cast doubt on the legitimacy of the legal process because it was the Constitutional Court itself that had originally declared the April 2 elections tainted and would undermine the legitimacy of the CNS.

Of course, what happened was somewhere between the two: Thai Rak Thai and the TRT leadership was found guilty, but the Democrats were not.

The effects of this ruling

Before the May 30 ruling by the court, a Thai Rak Thai executive was accused of leaking “possibly true” verdicts that both parties would be disbanded.  The message was intended to warn Thai Rak Thai supporters who still have faith in Thaksin that the party would be disbanded regardless of the legal process.

The Nation newspaper described the supposed leak as being “like a bomb thrown at the junta and the Constitutional Tribunal.  The underlying message is that a verdict that disbands only Thai Rak Thai would suggest to its supports and the public that the judges had been swayed to change their mind at the last minute in favor of its opponents.”

Furthermore, a ruling against Thai Rak Thai would suggest that the Democrats were allies of the CNS, fueling anti-CNS rallies which have the potential to gain momentum.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Thai Rak Thai was guilty and is to be disbanded, and the Democrats were found not guilty.  This creates the potential for anti-CNS rallies to gain momentum while also making it harder for the CNS leaders to plan to enter politics with some former Thai Rak Thai leaders as all 111 of them have been banned from politics for five years.

Was the judgment legally sound?

Political analysis being discussed here in Thailand generally agrees that the legal process used by the court was very sound.  In taking so many hours to read out the case, they demonstrated a very transparent thought process that had carefully considered the arguments from all angles.  In general, it is also agreed that the legal principles used to determine guilt were rightly based on pre-coup law, since the fraud and other crimes occurred before the coup.

However, there is a certain amount of unease over what is perceived as determining the punishment (dissolution of the party and five year ban on executives) based on post-coup law dictated by the CNS.  In this case, the punishment is being retroactively applied.  Additionally, of the nine judges, three are on record as disagreeing with the punishment.

Where do we go from here?

This leaves the CNS somewhat vindicated from the stand point of the guilt of Thai Rak Thai and its leaders being confirmed by the court, but it also leave the CNS with a mass of potentially explosive Thai Rak Thai supporters and no former Thai Rak Thai leaders to partner with in creating the next government; the Democrats are the strongest (only!) party left standing and could do very well in the next elections but will not be trusted by many former Thai Rak Thai supporters; and some leaders of Thai Rak Thai are saying that the fight isn’t over yet, suggesting that the party’s adherents will reform under the new name “Thai Rak Thai Group”.

Leaving the question, “So now what?”  Stay tuned, dear readers.  Hopefully I’ll be able to return to lighter topics soon.

Thailand passed another critical point Wednesday evening in the path from democracy through military government and, hopefully, back to democracy.  In an painfully long eleven-hour court session, the Constitutional Court (a combination of nine high-ranking judges including the three from Thailand’s Supreme Court) read the entire election tampering cases against the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai political parties.  

At stake: the possible dissolution of the two largest political parties and the banning of their executives from any political activity for the next five years.

This is a highly complex story because what it essentially involves is a military government (the CNS) conducting a coup to overthrow a democratically elected government (Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party), on charges that the Thaksin government had undermined democratic processes in interfering with the April 2006 election.  The CNS then instructed the Constitutional Court to look into these accusations (against Thai Rak Thai as well as accusations against the Democrats), which is what Wednesday’s ruling was on.

Above: Split screen coverage on all local channels.  On the right, one of the judges reads the case.  On the upper left, a live view from the Democrat party headquarters.  On the lower left, a live view from the Thai Rak Thai party headquarters.  Throughout the show, channel 5 provided English-language updates scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

There had been widely-reported fears of violence, protests, and a possible counter-coup.  It turned out later that the hysteria around this was largely the result of comments by the CNS about how ready they were to maintain the peace.  Both parties had made very public statements that their members were to respect the rule of law regardless of the outcome of the court cases.

During the early part of the court cases, the CNS sent a message through all mobile phone providers reminding people to respect the King’s teachings and the rule of law.

The result of the ruling: the Democrats were cleared of all charges.  Thai Rak Thai was found guilty of interfering with democracy and will be dissolved.  Additionally, 111 of the top executives of the Thai Rak Thai party were barred from any political activities for the next five years.

Confused yet? 

To make it a little more confusing, let’s consider the concept that is widely being discussed here in Thailand: that of “rule by law” versus “rule of law”.  The latter is the standard formula of there being widely accepted laws and judgements are derived from them.  The former is that there is someone in charge and since they have power, judgements are derived from that power.

Quoting an op-ed piece in the Nation,

The judgement is legally valid, subject to what the conception of law is. If the law refers to an order of the ruler, the judgement by the Constitution Tribunal is unquestionable but legally unnecessary. If law means a popular consensus, the punishment that was based on the orders of the coup-makers is questionable, but politically necessary and important in ensuring that the politics of fear continue to work as the dominant theme in Thai politics so that those in power now will continue ruling the country.

Can a government who has subverted the rule of law, then use those same laws to prosecute the democratically-elected government it overthrew?

In either case, the strange case of Thai politics continues.  The former leaders of Thai Rak Thai, at least those not banned from politics, vow to regroup.  The Democrats, who have historically been less friendly towards the military – or at least, less influenced by them – look to have an advantage in any elections scheduled for later this year. 

One wonders whether the CNS will partner with selected Thai Rak Thai members to build their own popular party, minus Thaksin, who was seen as exerting too much control over the military.  

What fascinating times.

In other news, our friend Anthony was visiting from the Bay Area last night with his friend Francis.  We joined them for dinner at Cafe de Laos, a nice Lao-style restaurant on Silom Soi 19.  Ever the thoughtful visitor, Anthony brought us a box of Japanese tea cakes from his stop-over in Japan. 

In my continuing quest to cook new and intersting things, yesterday I decided to bake a batch of Whole Wheat English Muffins.  These combine breakfast convenience with the health benefits of whole grains, so why not?

The first challenge I encountered was the whole wheat flour.  I had purchased it less than a month ago but upon opening the package noticed a musty odor and what looked like small spots of mold.  For about a minute I carefully observed it, poking with a fork, sniffing, looking carefully.  It certainly seemed less dry than it should.

Finally, I decided to throw the whole wheat out and instead changed the recipe to Regular White Wheat with a Half Cup of Wheat Germ Thrown in for Good Measure English Muffins.

The recipe said the dough would be a little sticky.  How “little” is a little?  Because it was sticky.  Maybe substituting regular flour for the whole wheat was causing the dough to be a little… thin?  Is that the right word?  I patted it out to about 1/2-inch thick per the instructions, but wound up with 18 muffins instead of the 12 the recipe said it would make, using the 3-inch diameter biscuit cutter, per instructions. 

Resting on a baking tray, they rose beautifully but when I tried to remove them they stuck so much that the handling caused them to deflate.  What I put into the pan looked and acted more like a sticky pancake.  When they baked they started to look more like real English muffins except for the ragged inconsistency in shape, but they never really puffed up and gained any volume.

The finished product tasted good enough but the muffins were too flat to actually split.  And isn’t that the defining characteristing of an English muffin?  You split it with a fork and then toast it.

Maybe this weekend I can take another attempt at the recipe.  This time with some whole wheat flour, as it was written.

Below: Chris and Tehlin with their children, celebrating Samuel’s third birthday.  I find it very funny how Chris and Tehlin are looking one way, the children the other.  Proof that parents and children never look at things the same way.

After a week of searingly hot weather, with clear skies lacking the clouds that provide a little bit of shade, Sunday afternoon the pattern broke and we had a tremendous afternoon thunderstorm. 

Then again Monday afternoon, the clouds gathered, the sky became darker and darker and then like someone tipping over a giant bucket, the rains cut loose.

No rainstorm releases so much energy, so intensely, as a tropical thunderstorm.  From the twenty-fifth floor I was watching the sheets of rain as they gusted and eddied, the wind whipping the rain around the corners of buildings and sometimes carrying it back up instead of letting gravity take its due course.

All but the closest buildings disappeared in the clouds and rain.  Even though it was only four in the afternoon, it looked nearly as dark as night.

And then the lightning and thunder!  I could hear the storm cell approach as the baritone rumbles came more closely after the heavenly camera bulb flash of lightning until finally, they were nearly one in the same.  As if from the sound of the sky itself being torn asunder, the windows rattled from another roaring boom as the storm passed right overhead.

As it moved east, I stepped onto the balcony and watched the Tesla ballet of lightning connect heaven and earth again and again.  Thirty or forty minutes after the flood gates had opened, enough energy had been released to appease nature and the clouds dissipated.  A vibrant orange light reflected off the newly-scrubbed buildings as the sun, now lower in the west, bathed the damp city in its warm glow.

As the sun set, all of Khrungthep enjoyed a broad palette of blues, purples and indigoes and an exceedingly crisp view across a normal obscured city.

Here’s a short video I edited in an attempt to capture the sensation of the storm:

Happy Memorial Day to all of you in the United States.  I’ll not be taking today as a holiday since it isn’t a holiday in Thailand.  Instead, I’ll wait for the end of June, when Tawn and I will have a three-day weekend in Hong Kong.

It has been a full weekend, full enough so that I haven’t taken the time to blog.  Let me give you the highlights.

First, though, let’s have a cute picture.  This is Devin, the son of high school friend Lalima and her husband Aaron.  They regularly send us albums and we love it: such a good way to stay in touch. 

Size Doesn’t Matter: initial GLBT networking event small but successful

Friday evening was the first of what will hopefully be monthly networking events at Tamarind Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant and gallery on Sukhumvit Soi 20.  There is a noticeable gap when it comes to places to socialize for members of the international GLBT/GLBT-friendly community: most of these places are nightclubs or nightclub-adjacent facilities in the Silom district.  There are few places to socialize that aren’t bars or nightclubs.

In an attempt to close that gap, to create more spaces for a broader community to develop, the French and Chinese co-owners of Tamarind Cafe decided to advertise monthly Friday night mixers.  For the price of a glass of wine or other beverage, you get a cozy environment, music volumes low enough to actually engage in conversation, and a wide selection of tasty appetizers. 

The first night’s crowd was a little light – Kobfa, Tawn and I met for dinner at the restaurant and were joined a short while later by Ben, who runs the Windsor Hotel just down the street and had informed the rest of us of the event.  When we gravitated to the second-floor gallery for the mixer, there were only four other people but it is upon these small steps that a marathon is run.

As it turned out, one of the other people, an American woman named Roka, was someone I had met a few weeks ago online.  We had exchanged emails so it was interesting that we should connect at this event.  I guess it gets bonus points for efficacy.

As for the restaurant, while it is just a little pricey (nice night out prices, not everyday dining) the food is well-prepared.  Co-owner Sylvie Bruzeau is French and so she takes European techniques to a mostly pan-Asian list of ingredients.  All the food is vegetarian with an eye to high quality ingredients.  The menu also features some Thai dishes, done fancy.  The interior is very nice, service is attentive, and they have an extensive breakfast menu so one of these weekends Tawn and I will be back for brunch.

Thai house construction techniques look flimsy to this Californian

Determined not to have a crazy weekend of deadlines and checklists, we started Saturday on a relaxed note.  We stopped at the Emporium food court for lunch amidst hundreds of families with crying/screaming/fussing children.  Then we went to a small framing shop in one of the sois behind Thong Lor so Tawn could get some Herb Ritts and Annie Liebowitz postcards framed.  Already an afternoon coffee break was called for, so we stopped at Big C center on Ekkamai.  Tawn decided to have a manicure while I wrote some letters over a latte. 

It was while walking back to the car that I observed a building under construction next to the shopping center.  The construction style is interesting and, it seems, very typical of the technique used in Thailand for small buildings such as temples, houses and businesses. 

The framing is built of reinforced concrete beams including the ridge, primary rafters, collar ties, and ceiling joists.  To construct it, wooden forms have to be built and then concrete is poured in (on an angle) and allowed to set before the forms are removed.  Additional steel rafters are installed between the concrete ones to provide support for the roof. 

I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated with the construction techniques used here.  Maybe because of the architectural studies I took in high school.  Or maybe just because the construction looks so flimsy to my un-trained, non-engineering eye.  Especially with the recent earthquakes we’ve had here, I have to wonder whether these types of buildings could withstand any seismic activity.

Rain’s fans cause traffic nightmare

From Ekkamai we drove to Central Chidlom to run some more errands and buy groceries for dinner.  What a mess!  Who knew that Korean pop star Rain was giving a free concert at Siam Paragon shopping center to generate excitement (as if more were needed) about his two Khrungthep concerts next weekend?  Traffic along Phetchaburi Road was a mess and it took us nearly ninety minutes to get from Asoke to Chidlom, a distance of maybe 5 kilometers. 

As a side note: Rain’s US website homepage reads “Endless effort, endless endurance, endless modesty.”  Endless traffic, more like.

After the madness, we decided that home was the best place to spend the evening, so Tawn cooked salmon and snow peas in Chuu Chee curry and I made a Cajun shrimp dish from the Cha Cha Cha cookbook.

This gave us lots of tasty suaces to be sopped up with a loaf of rustic rye bread and washed down with a bottle of TarraWarra Estate 2006 Pinot Noir Rose.

Ajarn Yai calls to announce the start of school

While preparing dinner, I received a call from Ajarn Yai.  When she found that I was cooking dinner at 9:00 in the evening, she expressed concern that I was eating so late.  I wondered whether this was the real reason she was calling.  Eventually, she arrived at the reason for the call.  A date has been set for school to start: Monday June 4th.  The first day for English instruction will be Wednesday June 6th.

All of you people out there who have helped / are considering helping with the English instruction, mark your calendars! 

Designer advises several months of renovation

Sunday morning I was up bright and early for a Skype call with my family.  My parents were visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Kansas City for the holiday weekend so they, along with my uncle, were a part of this call.  I really appreciate the convenience of Skype.  It makes it so much easier to stay connected with my nieces as they grow up.  Emily is a ham and for at least the first few minutes (before she gets bored because watching her uncles “on t.v.” isn’t as interesting as, say, watching Shrek for the umpteenth time) excitedly recounts the events of her week.

After catching up with the family we drove around the corner and met with Ble, friend and interior designer who has done such fantastic work as the restaurant Mahanaga on Sukhumvit 29, pictured above.  He has done some interior sketches of our new condominium and wanted to discuss the ideas with us.  There are several “problems” that we need him to address:

• Moving the washer/dryer from the kitchen to the bathroom and how to make sufficient space for them.
• How to maximize storage in the master bedroom.
• How to best divide the living room from the second bedroom/office.
• How to arrange the dining area while still having room to store the wine cellar.

He’s received our initial feedback and will continue to work on the plans.  It will be a very cozy and comfortable home, but our original estimate of maybe a month’s worth of construction is probably woefully naive.  If we’re lucky, we can move in at the beginning of September, instead.

Amazing California strawberries lead to dinner party

At Central on Saturday, there was a special on strawberries from Watsonville, California.  Strawberries are always tremendously overpriced here and most of the time, they’re awful, too.  Careful breeding has led to strawberries that look beautiful but are lacking in flavor.  When I walked by the display counter I caught a whiff of that heady, overpowering perfume of fresh strawberries.  Just to make sure, I picked up a carton and inhaled deeply.  Sure enough, these were the real deal.

Sunday afternoon, while Tawn visited with his parents, I went back to Central and bought a kilogram (2 pounds) of fresh strawberries.  The cost: 269 baht ($7.88) per half-kilo.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with my Cha Cha Cha cookbook spread open.  The menu: cinnamon-scented lentils, mashed sweet potatos, and red snapper cooked en papillote in a lime and annatto oil marinade served with spicy mango salsa.  Do you want free dessert next time you visit Cha Cha Cha (pictured right)?  There’s a link here to their city search page.  Print the page, bring it in, and get a free flan.

Our dessert?  Homemade strawberry buttermilk shortcake with fresh vanilla whipped cream.  I forgot to take a picture of the real thing, but the picture here is a fair representation. 

We invited Vic down for dinner and he brought a nice bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon.  Kobfa was invited, too, but wasn’t able to make it.  His loss – more shortcake for the rest of us!  I can’t wait until we’re in the condo and have a large enough kitchen to invite larger groups over for dinner.  Right now, turning out a complete meal for four people really pushes the limites of our confined kitchen.

There are a lot of variations of strawberry shortcake made with pound cake or angel food cake, but those simply aren’t shortcake.  Shortcake is sweetened biscuit dough, made with either butter or shortening (or a combination of both).  The secret to really good strawberry shortcake, besides using really ripe strawberries, is to add just a little bit of very high quality balsamic vinegar to the berries as they macerate.  One brand I really like is Villa Manodori from Williams Sonoma.  This adds a complexity and richness to the sweet berries.

Stuffed but fully satisfied, we called it a successful end to an enjoyable weekend.