*InSuk = Inner Sukhumvit, roughly the area of Sukhumvit Road from the First Stage Expressway through Soi Asoke (Sukhumvit 21).  I’d like to propose a naming convention for different areas of the city, relative to Sukhumvit.  Let me know what you think:

• InSuk – Inner Sukhumvit (Sois 1-21)
• MidSuk – Middle Sukhumvit (Sois 21-63)
• OutSuk – Outter Sukhumvit (Sois 63 and above)
• NoSuk – Northern Sukhumvit – from Sukhumvit to Phetchaburi
• SoSuk – Southern Sukhumvit – From Sukhumvit south to Rama 4

Anyhow, one of the things missing here in Khrungthep is “Mexican” food.  I use the quotes because I know that the food I’m referring to isn’t authentically Mexican but is probably more accurately described as San Francisco Mission District Taqueria food.  There are a few places here that serve the Mexican style food, but they are either not very good at all or are way too expensive. 

Recently, I received an email from Greg Lange, managing partner of Sunbelt Asia law offices, announcing the opening of his pet project: Sunrise Tacos.  Open 24 hours a day – “from sunrise to sunrise” – Greg is looking to fill what he sees as an empty niche in the Khrungthep dining scene.

Featuring freshly-made ingredients (“no cans!”) and no preservatives or artificial anythings, Greg explained to me that he is looking to provide that California taqueria-style food, especially to the tourist and expat crowd that frequently converges late nights in the nearby Nana entertainment district.  As many will attest, nothing absorbs excess alcohol so well as carbohydrates in the form of a burrito.

In the past two weeks, I’ve made two trips to Sunrise Tacos.  Nestled next to Sunbelt Asia’s Expat Service Center in a small strip mall between Sukhumvit Sois 10 and 12, half the space is filled with a counter seating six and the other half is the assembly area for made-to-order tacos and burritos.  The order-taking procedure continues to be refined.  On the second visit they had introduced order forms where you mark what items (lettuce, onions, guacamole) you want.  For dine-in orders, you don’t pay until you’re finished and with the clunky ordering process and system of “add-on” pricing where you pay extra for various added ingredients, this leads to some discrepancies in charging.  It would be easier if you just pay as soon as your food is prepared.

Those are procedural issues, which will get sorted out in due time.  The real question is the food.  Starting from the counter up, I was excited to learn that Sunrise makes its own tortillas.  However, on both visits these tortillas have been tough and crumbly and when they become chips, the chips are too thick and, again, tough.  I’m not sure whose mother’s recipe is being used, but we had best get her into the kitchen to demonstrate how it is really done.

While the tortillas are less than perfect, the fillings are redeeming.  The quality of the meats is very high.  The carne asada and barbacoa beef are flavorful and tender.  The chicken is also nice, chopped into moist and tasty pieces.  The carnitas, perhaps the best measure of any taqueria, was a bit under-seasoned, something that some tweaking with the recipe can resolve.  A roasted vegetable offering was fine for vegetarians but a bit unimaginative consisting mostly of too-large strips of bell peppers.  The addition of roast pumpkin, squash, or zuchini would make this option much more attractive and tasty.

Vegetable fillings were the usual suspects: black or red beans, Spanish rice, and cold fillings of shredded iceberg lettuce, onions, pickled jalapeno peppers, tomatos and for an extra fee, fresh guacamole made from imported Australian avocados.  The black beans and rice are not stand-outs on their own, some sofrito would greatly pump up the beans’ flavor, but as an addition to the burritos they are fine.

Salsas can make or break a good burrito or taco.  Sunrise Tacos offers four types of salsa, all made fresh throughout the day.  Their Munchy Mango Salsa is the standout, especially right now during the height of mango season.  In a few months, it may not be quite as spectacular.  John’s Red Hot Salsa is advertised as being so hot, it can dodge bullets.  In trying it, I’d be hard pressed to describe the heat as anything but mild.  We’re in Thailand; you can’t claim that something is hot (spicy or, as Ajarn Yai always says it “speee-cy”) unless it really is really hot.  The flavor is fine, mind you, very fresh.  Just not hot.

Sunrise rounds out its menu with a selection of fresh margaritas, from various in-season fruits.  Mango is on the menu right now.  While tasty, at 399 baht a pitcher it makes lunch quite expensive.  They also offer less-expensive virgin margaritas but in the confusion of ordering yesterday, Pune and I wound up with a pitcher of decidedly non-virgin mango margaritas and hopefully she was able to get some work done after lunch.

All in all, Sunrise Tacos makes a nice addition to the Khrungthep dining scene, adding some variety and providing good quality in the process.  Greg says they are planning on adding fish tacos in the next few months, which will be very welcome as I miss Rubio’s tacos pescados from San Diego.  The current menu has some room for improvement in terms of coaxing some more flavor from some ingredients and once the tortillas improve, there’s no doubt that Sunrise will become a weekly lunch destination for me.

There is competition, though: recently, another taqueria opened up on Silom complete with a logo blatantly ripped off from the Del Taco chain in the United States.  I’ll have to go check that out soon for a comparison.

Chatting with Ryeroam, a Thai expat living in Paris with his French husband, he shared the good news today that his dog gave birth recently to four puppies.

Très très! Il est maintenant une petite maman!

As expected, Khun Nui loved the biscotti and the cookies.  “Why did he give me so many,” she asked Tawn.  “Because he thinks you’re too skinny!” Tawn responded.  She’s been losing weight recently, which the doctors can’t explain, so I’m hoping some tasty and high-calorie tidbits will put the kilos back on.

Sunday morning Tawn went with his parents to an aunt’s 72nd birthday.  This was a large affair, 100+ people at the Royal Thai Navy Headquarters.  Tawn was a little tweaked that some relatives that he’s seen several times since moving back, asked him “are you still flying for United?”  He was thinking, how many times have I told her this already?  I left United seven years ago!

That’s how it is with extended relatives, I suppose.  He did find out that his cousin Kanita is in town from Indianapolis where she lives with her husband Alex.  Tawn and I have met up with them before when visiting my parents, who live in Indy.  She and Tawn had not been in touch in two years, and he was a little shocked when she asked whether Tawn and I were still together.

His response had an indignant note: “Of course we’re still together.  He lives here now and speaks Thai!”

Which may be a little unfair, considering that the last time they saw each other, both Tawn and I were living in the United States.  Plus, without the protections of marriage, staying together across the oceans is less of a certainty.  I’m glad he was able to tell her that we’re still together, though!

Across the street from us, the top-most part of the superstructure of a new condo complex is being completed.  This metal spire is about 35 stories tall and yesterday I watched construction workers scaling and working on it with no harnesses or other safety provisions.  The guy at the very top was just shimmying along.  OSHA?  I don’t think so!

Right: Perched precariously above Soi Asoke.

Sunday morning, since Tawn was off at his parents, I met up with the usual suspects for brunch down on Thanon Surawongse.  The Tawanna Hotel, formerly the Ramada, offers a good buffet for 450 baht inclusive of beverage, service charge and VAT.  The food selection is wide and the quality is good, but I’m generally not very excited about buffets: they are an invitation to eat so much more than you normally would.

But it is all about self-control.  Right, right, I know.  But the reality is that even with self-control you still wind up eating more than you would simply because you sample so many different things.

The “usual suspects” in this case were Vic, Kobfa, Todd, and Brian.  (Just as a point of clarification for long-time readers, Kobfa is the Thai friend who used to live in San Francisco and met Tawn at the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center.  Previously I referred to him by his nickname Tod, but since we have another Todd now, I’m using Kobfa for clarity’s sake.)  Also in attendance were three of Vic’s friends: Fong, visiting from San Francisco; Russ, his classmate from language school who has lived here almost a year from Virginia; and Big, a Thai friend who works as a producer for TV channel 7. 

On the way back to the Skytrain station, I noticed the Delta Airlines building where their ticket office is located.  Based on the age of the signage (decades!) I assumed that it was from a former office, but as I was doing some research online while writing this post, it seems that it might be an active office still.  It really looks like something out of the 70s.

It contrasts significantly with their new branding effort, the logo of which doesn’t look that different but instead uses an orange-rust color.  The aircraft color scheme looks nice, though.

Sunday was the day of free concerts.  Connecting trains at Siam Station, I saw that there was a large concert about to begin in front of Siam Paragon mall.  Then in the evening up at the Esplanade shopping center, also owned by the same group as Paragon, there was some Korean pop star performing a very loud show right in the center courtyard of the mall.

Because of a hectic work schedule the past few days, I haven’t had time to do anything blog-worthy.  Usually, I have only one after-hours work related telephone call per week, but this week I had four: 8:00 pm Tuesday, 8:00 pm Wednesday, and 3:00 am and 10:00 pm Friday.  This effectively wipes out time for doing anything after work.

Of course, I’m thankful for the opportunity to still be able to do my job from the United States, so these after-hours calls are just a minor inconvenience.

Saturday afternoon I had a little time free time so I did some baking: almond biscotti for Tawn’s mother and oatmeal-raisin cookies for general eating.  The biscotti were originally going to also have dried cranberries in them but of course I forgot to put them in!  Actually, I had a few memory mis-fires. 

When I was making the cookies, I decided to mix butter and shortening but instead of using half the normal amount for each, I used the full 1 cup each.  After I had mixed together all the ingredients I looked at the dough and quickly realized that something was wrong – there were very few oats when usually the oats are the majority ingredient. 

Retracing my steps, I saw my error and added the necessary dry ingredients to effectively double the recipe.  Whoops!

Above: A jar of biscotti for Khun Nui.

Last night Tawn and I met Brian and his friend Sean for dinner.  We went to Oishi Grand Buffet, which has very good quality food, but I think at 1000 baht per head (we received a 15% discount thanks to Brian’s HSBC bank card, so 850 per head) it is still a steep price.  The big challenge I have with buffets is that I don’t usually eat a lot of food at any one sitting.  I’d rather do the four or five small meals throughout the day than eat a ton at any one time.

Bangkok office workers were awoken from their mid-afternoon drowsiness by an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale. 

Preliminary reports from the United States Geological Survey put the earthquake’s epicenter at the junction of the Laos, Burma and Thai borders.  It struck at 3:56 pm local time (4:56 am EDT).

While there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, several office buildings were evacuated and inspected before workers were allowed back in.

A typical Californian, I sat working in my 25th story apartment, completely unaware of the shaking. 

The social circle continues to develop here in Khrungthep.  Over the past few months, Tawn and I have been introduced to more people, have started to know them better, and are creating opportunities for those people who don’t already know each-other to meet. 

This is something I particularly relish.  Responding to one friend’s observation that my friends usually have an interesting degree of interconnectedness, I explained that I really like introducing people whom I think will be a good match as friends.

When I think about any particular group of people, I imagine any number of good conversations just waiting to happen.  Then, I try to orchestrate those conversations or, at the very least, to get the right people together to create the potential for the good conversations; the rest is up to them!

It does seem that the art of conversation is slowly dying in this television and internet influenced age, especially the art of conversations among newly-introduced people or even perfect strangers.  There are any number of reasons why the ability to converse with others is important.  Especially in this era of globalization, conversation with others creates empathy and understanding, helping us find common ground in a world of differences.  There’s an interesting organization called Conversation Cafe that is consciously trying to cultivate a culture of conversation.

We had the opportunity for the conversational strings to be played on Sunday, when a group of friends came together to attend a jazz concert, a celebration of what would have been the 90th birthday of Ella Fitzgerald.  The concert was held at the Thailand Cultural Center’s recital hall, a very relaxed performance that had featured small ensembles in the first half and a big band setting in the second.  Above: Ken, Nath, Tawn, Vic, Kobfa, Prawit and Todd.

Left: Kobfa and Tawn in the flower shop half of High Tea.

Many of the performers were students of the lead pianist and at times their inexperience in public performance showed, including a pair of the big band members who resisted the band leader’s encouragement to perform an improvisational solo.  Still, it was a very good performance and you could tell all the musicians were having fun.

The singers were also very talented, five or six different ladies including some well-known popular singers.  It made for an enjoyable afternoon.

The concert was proceeded by lunch at High Tea, a cute little flower shop / restaurant just off Soi Langsuan.  This was an opportunity for some new introductions, as Todd brought his friend Nath, whom I had heard about but never met.  Also, we found out that it was Todd’s birthday!  So a trio of desserts complete with candles was ordered and we sang happy birthday for him. 

I’ve never quite understood some people’s hesitation to celebrate birthdays. 

Hmm… actually, as I write that sentence I realize that isn’t true.  There are several times when I’ve been hesitant to celebrate my birthday and at least once when I was a child that I refused to celebrate it at all.  Which is interesting to me (as I have this moment of memories flooding my mind) because these days I enjoy celebrating my birthday and have never had any problem with getting older.  As I asked Todd when he lamented turning 39, “Are you happier now than you were ten years ago?”

Right: Nath looks on as Todd blows out his candles.

Also in the category of “Meeting People”, Monday evening Tawn and I met his cousin Mee and his friend Richard for dinner.  After years of being convinced that he might be the only gay person in his very large extended family (Tawn is grandchild number 35 of 37), about a year ago Tawn received an unexpected call from his cousin Mee, a single baker in his mid-40s who lives in Buriram Province, Tawn’s father’s hometown.

Mee had decided to finally come out of the closet and, when he first approached a few of the other cousins about the matter, they all gave the same advice: You should go speak with cousin Tawn.

So Tawn gave Mee whatever advice and support he could, and speaks with him from time to time, usually when Mee gives a call at some late hour in the evening.  For a baker, I’d think that he would get to bed early.

Fast forward a year, and Mee has been seeing a retired American named Richard who lives in Portland, Oregon and travels to Bangkok once or twice a year.  Mee calls and tells Tawn that he’ll be in town as Richard is coming for a visit, and invites us to dinner.

We met on a rainy Monday evening at Baan Kanita, an upscale Thai restaurant that specializes in Palace Cuisine.  I think Tawn was very worried that the dinner conversation would go smoothly, which it did, because he wanted the experience to be a good one for his cousin.

Right: Chris, Tawn, Richard and Mee

One observation I made is that when Mee and Richard arrived, Mee came up and instead of returning my wai, just gave me a big hug.  Commenting on this later to Tawn, I said how shocked I was because hugs are pretty unusual for Thais and especially so on a first meeting.  Tawn responded that he had told Mee so much about me over the past year that he probably felt like he already knew me.

The family gets larger.

Money Expo 2007 was held this weekend at the Queen Sirkit Convention Center.  A consumer finance and banking convention, it is designed to educate the public about investing (and credit card debt… sign up now) and is also the place where banks compete to offer tempting home loan rates.

Tawn’s cousin-in-law, Nicha, had told us that in addition to any other loan applications we filled out, to be sure we attended the expo to see if there were any good promotions.  So on Friday evening and then again Saturday we were there.  We did find two good promotions and signed up for them.  Right: Just like in the US, you sign up for a bank account (with ATM Check Card) and you get a free toaster!

While Tawn was doing the paperwork, I walked around and took pictures of this amazing event.  Part Vegas, part half-time show, part Patpong, the banks were targetting consumers by using whatever shock-and-awe techniques they could: pretty girls, pretty boys, costumed mascots, loud music, flashing lights.

Above: Dozens and dozens of loan officers were on hand to sit down with you, sign you up, and sell you on their business.  Below: Two girls from Siam City Bank educate the crowd about the benefits of their bank – free umbrella if you open an account today.

Above: Khrung Thai Bank featured a high-energy dance team with blaring music.  Below: Siam Commercial Bank’s rabbit mascot along with Thanachart Bank’s orange Teletubbies-like mascots. 

 Above: I don’t know what they are, but they sure can dance!

Hi friends, I’m wondering if you can help me.  October 6th we will be attending a cousin’s wedding in the San Francisco Bay Area and it looks to become a bit of a family reunion.  Tawn and I will be traveling back with my grandparents, parents, sister and brother-in-law and their two daughters.

We’re looking for a rental home for four or five days, anywhere in the Bay Area (the wedding is in Walnut Creek, but we’ll rent vehicles so we can drive) that can sleep at least eight of us, if not ten or twelve.

I’ve done some online research and have found some options, but would certainly appreciate it if you know anyone who has a house that might be free for a few days around October 6th.

Thanks for your help!

Yesterday morning Tawn called and told me to turn on the television: I was missing the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, called แรกนาขวัญ – “Raeknakwan”.  Sure enough, being covered on all the local stations was a live broadcast from Sanam Luang, the Royal Parade Grounds in front of the Grand Palace, of this Bhramanist ceremony.  (Pictures were taken of my TV screen, explaining the low quality.)

Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of rice, although not the largest cultivator of it.  Despite economic development in the past few decades, a majority of the Thai people still earn their living either directly or indirectly from agriculture.  As such, festivals and ceremonies associated with farming still play a central role in Thai culture.

(Left: The Crown Prince hands declarations out to representatives of each of the 76 provinces, most of them are citizen farmers.)

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony marks the beginning of the rice planting season, which coincides with the rainy season.  This ceremony is taken to ensure a bountiful harvest and is performed on an auspicious date in the sixth month of the lunar calendar, usually falling in early May.  The ceremony dates back to the Sukhothai period (1257-1350 AD) but faded out towards the end of the reign of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) in the early 1960s. It was revived by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 1960.  Since then, it has been observed annually.

Today, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony consists of two ceremonies conducted on consecutive days.  Both royal ceremonies are state events with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture assuming the role of the Lord of the Harvest, a representative of the King.  Additionally, four single female officials of the Ministry undertake the role of the Celestial Maidens, assistants to the Lord of the Harvest.   All are dressed in traditional clothing.

The first ceremony is a Cultivating Ceremony known as “Phraraj Pithi Peud Mongkol”.  The Cultivating Ceremony is a Buddhist ritual that was added by during the reign of King Rama IV.   Rice and the seeds of forty other crops and ceremonial items to be used in the Ploughing Ceremony are blessed in religious rites performed in the Royal Chapel of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

(Right: the Royal Pavillion where the Lord of the Harvest reports the results to the Crown Prince.  Notice the three furrows that have been ploughed in the field.)

The second is the Ploughing Ceremony, “Phraraj Pithi Jarod Phranangkal Raek Na Kwan”.  The ceremony is held the next morning at Sanam Luang, the Royal Parade Grounds.  It begins with the Lord of the Harvest performing a rite to predict the amount of rainfall in the coming season by selecting one of three pieces of cloth of varying lengths:

• If the Ploughing Lord picks a piece of cloth measuring four palm spans, there will be more water. Farming on high land will bear good yields, while farming on low land might face some flooding.
• If the Ploughing Lord chooses a piece of cloth measuring five palms, the prophecy is that water supply will be just about right, rice plantations will yield good output and other food will also be abundant.
• If the Ploughing Lord selects a piece of cloth measuring six palms, water will be scarce. Farming on low land will bear good yields, but farming on high land will not bring good results.

At the auspicious time following the arrival of His Majesty the Crown Prince, the Lord of the Harvest begins to plough the field with a traditional wooden plow led by two royal oxen.  He circles the field three times, then sows rice seeds from the baskets carried by the Celestial Maidens. 

At the end of the ceremony, the oxen are brought a tray with seven banana left baskets, each containing a different offering of food or drink: rice, green beans, corn, hay, sesame seed, water and liquor.  Predictions regarding the success of the harvest and the abundance of particular crops in the coming season are determined by the items selected by the oxen.

(Above: A member of the Ministry of Agriculture holds the tray of seven types of food and drink for one of the royal oxen.)

If the Sacred Cows eat rice or corn, the prophecy is that the rice harvests will be abundant. 

• If they eat green beans or sesame, rice harvests will be abundant and the food that we eat every day will also be available throughout the country. 
• If they drink water or eat grass, water will be abundant, while harvests, food production and the food that we eat every day will be rich in supply. 
• If they drink the liquor, transportation will be convenient and commerce with foreign countries will be prosperous.

Tawn points out that all the choices are good one: there’s no way for them to forecast negative news.

After the ceremony is over and the Crown Prince has left, the barricades are removed and hundreds and hundreds of people – many of them farmers from the different provinces – rush into the field hoping to gather a few sacred rice grains scattered by the Lord of Harvest.

(Right: The crowd converges on the field to scramble for grains of auspicious rice, quite literally a land rush.)

“The cow ate the rice,” Tawn messaged me on my phone, “How macrobiotic of him.”

Reported from this morning’s Bangkok Post:

During the ceremony at Sanam Luang yesterday morning, the sacred oxen, Therd and Thun [they have names!], chose rice, maize and grass to eat from among the various food offerings. As a result, the court astrologer predicted there will be crops, grain and livestock in abundance this year, as well as sufficient water for farming.

Sounds like good news.

For you aviation enthusiasts, my complete Airliners.net trip report for last weekend’s trip to Melbourne has been written and posted here.  Yes, minute by minute detail of the experience of flying JetStar International Airlines.  Enjoy.

Tod is complaining that I need to update my blog more frequently.  I suggested he should become a contributor.  That’s what I need here: correspondents.  No response from Tod yet.

Yesterday a group of us went to try a new taqueria that has opened.  More about that soon.