The other day while in a Bangkok department store, I noticed this odd pairing of shops: Playboy Intimates is located adjacent to the Hello Kitty boutique. In face, about half of this floor sells lingerie and a quarter of it is the children’s toy department. I’m certainly not a prude but at the same time I have to wonder what messages are received by young children, especially girls, about self-image.
An American journalist friend of mine is teaching a television documentary production class at the Faculty of Communication Arts at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand’s premier secondary school. Since I graduated as a Communication major with a TV production emphasis, I tagged along on a visit to the university, curious to see how a modern production facility compares to what I learned in nearly twenty years ago.
Other than the monitors being large flat-screens instead of smaller tube monitors, the control room looked familiar. I have fond memories of sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with my classmates as we would produce mock newscasts and other projects. “Cue camera one… standby to fade in…”
One cool thing that didn’t exist back in my day is the virtual studio. Using the principle of the chroma key (often called the “green screen effect”), the background of the image is created digitally. There is nothing on the studio walls other than a grid that can be used to ensure the effects’ perspective is lined up correctly.
Within the control room, you can see how I’ve been placed “on set” for a Thai TV show. The most interesting thing is how there is ostensibly a raised platform behind me with a mirrored front surface. Of course, that platform doesn’t really exist. What happens if I walk back there and try to step onto it?
Of course, my own career hasn’t followed my TV emphasis that closely (except for my youtube channel!), but other aspects of my Communication degree have proved helpful. Still, it is hard not to visit Chula’s studio and not feel the desire to reengage with TV production, an art I really enjoyed.
Tawn’s first shop opened nearly a month ago. His first personal assistant quit two days after the opening, unable to cope with the job’s demands. After watching Tawn struggle with the volume of work for two weeks, I stepped in, appointed myself HR Director for Tawn C Designs, and started sourcing candidates for the PA role. What an experience!
While I’m experienced in matters of recruiting, training, and Human Resources (that is my professional background), recruiting here in Thailand is different in several ways from what I’ve experienced in the US.
The first step was to locate applicants. Similar to in the US, online recruiting is that standard, so I turned to JobsDB.com. This required setting up a company account and paying several hundred dollars for a 30-day ad.
Next, I had to post the job description. This took more time than you might imagine, because if you are going to get qualified applicants you need to know what qualities you are seeking, right? I settled on the following:
Operations Assistant / Personal Assistant
Seeking a qualified person to assist at a fashion design company specializing in up-market women’s clothing. The role’s responsibilities, listed in the order of how you will spend your time, include:
Within minutes of posting the ad two Friday nights ago, resumes (or, “CVs” as they are often called here) started to arrive. In a week, we received more than three dozen applicants.
The first interesting thing is the amount of information a Thai CV contains that would be unacceptable in the US: age, height, weight, religion, and a picture, for starters. These are factors that, as US Human Resources training will tell you, are generally irrelevant to job performance and so cannot be requested or used in evaluating applicants. Here in Thailand, that information is usually included on the CV.
Being conscientious, I emailed all applicants to confirm we had received their CV. I invited qualified applicants to schedule a telephone interview. Interestingly, of a dozen qualified applicants to whom I offered telephone interviews, six never responded to the request. Not a “thanks for your interest, but I’ve decided to accept another offer,” or something like that. Nothing at all. Tawn told me that such a lack of response is common here, although it confuses me. Twenty-four hours ago, you were eager to work at my company. Now you won’t acknowledge my email?
By week’s end, I conducted six telephone interviews. The candidates were a mixed bunch, ranging from two to a dozen years of experience. Candidates included men and women, a Christian, a Muslim, and four Buddhists, and ranged in age from 24 to 36. During the interviews, I asked questions about their work experience, focusing on a technique called “behavioral interviewing”. Sample questions include:
The theory behind behavioral interviewing is that candidates will generally answer these types of questions honestly (it is difficult to concoct an elaborate answer that withstands follow-up questions on the fly) and the answers will give you more insight into how they respond to real-life situations.
The interviews went well and I felt that all six candidates were people who preferred a higher level of independence than the average office job provides. They seemed self-motivated and interested in taking on new tasks and challenges. I also learned that three of the six were very interested in fashion, including one person who already designs and makes her own clothes. (Red flag: this could mean she wants the job in order to obtain contacts and connections rather that for the job itself!)
Interestingly, of the six candidates, only two – the men – sent any sort of follow-up communication to thank me for my time. Another example of what seems to be basic courtesy being absent. Since Tawn mentioned that it isn’t unusual here in Thailand, I didn’t let the lack of thanks influence my evaluation of the candidates.
Reviewing the candidates with Tawn, we have selected four finalists for in-person interviews, which we will hold Monday and Tuesday evenings. With any luck, one of these four will be a clear-cut winner and we can offer her or him a job by week’s end.
Given the history of supposedly interested job applicants suddenly vanishing incommunicado, we will not send any rejections until we have a signed employment contract, though.
A few weeks ago I spent the first half of the day at Bangkok Hospital taking care of a few odds and ends. I had an eye appointment in the early part of the morning because my right eye was inflamed (thankfully, not infected – doctor said just too much time working on the computer). An hour later, I had an appointment with another doctor about my back, which had a bad muscle spasm that had lasted a week. He proscribed some physical therapy, which was available elsewhere in the hospital complex.
When I arrived at the physical thearapy center, though, they were quite busy and the service manager told me I’d have to wait an hour. Since I had my iPod with me, I didn’t mind waiting. Nonetheless, she came over a few minutes later and apologized for the wait and gave me this snack box. I guess they prepare these for patients who have long waits.
While I wasn’t hungry (I brought the box home to photograph!), the gesture was appreciated. Service in Thailand is generally very good, especially at the hospitals. What do you think of the contents of the snack box, though? Juice and cookies – seems more appropriate for someone who has just donated blood.
A few months ago, a group of our friends gathered to cook dinner. Being mostly from the United States (or having lived there), we were missing Mexican food, something that is difficult to find in Bangkok – at least if you want decent quality Mexican food and not something akin to Taco Bell. Thought I would share some pictures with you.
The final spread, a mishmash of sauces, condiments, and dishes, all of which were very tasty.
Home made black beans and rice with a soffrito – onion and pepper mixture.
Put them all together and we wind up with a wonderful soft taco and side of black beans and rice.
I also served homemade horchata, the traditional Mexican rice milk beverage. I followed a recipe on the internet which is based on one from the book “Paletas” by Fany Gerson. Can’t say if it is the authentic process, but the end result tasted familiar.
From left to right, blend the uncooked rice. The result is a rough, sandy powder. Put the powdered rice and cinnamon stick in a container and add warm water, letting it soak overnight. The next day you remove the cinnamon stick, puree the rice and water mixture, strain it to remove any solids, and then add sugar and rice milk (or cow milk) and mix until dissolved. Of course, adding rice milk at the end seems a bit redundant but as I said, the flavor turned out as I remembered from the taquerias of San Francisco.
Candice shows us a baby lychee, the runt of a large batch of lychees we ate our way through.
For dessert, I served mangoes on home made cornmeal pound cake. I brought my panini grill along and was going to grill the pieces. Unfortunately, I forgot that the waffle plates were in the grill instead of the panini plates. Undaunted, I used the waffle plates instead, which produced this interesting toasting pattern.
End result of the dessert: curiously toasted cornmeal pound cake with mangoes and fresh whipped cream spiked with a touch of almond liqueur and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
When I travel around Bangkok, I almost always have my camera out and ready because it seems inevitable that something interesting will cross my path. The other day it was this ancient pickup truck, parts of which looked like they were held together with bubble gum and baling twine.
Perhaps the driver was checking out that Toyota next to him? And check out the texture on that front fender – how many times has that been tapped back into shape with a hammer?
Living in Thailand, where English is taught in the schools but not very well, one encounters all sorts of examples of Thai English that provoke confusion, bewilderment, and hilarity. (Of course, being perfectly fair, my creative uses of the Thai language send normally polite and reserved locals into paroxysms of laughter.) The other day at a local mall, I stopped to admire the works of young artists who had created entries for an exhibit themed around environmental awareness.
A painter offers this moose imploring viewers to “please abstain us”. The idea, according to the plaque on the base, was to not eat endangered species of animals. A thoughtful idea and a graphically arresting one, even if a bit off in its use of English.
Not the first time I’ve written about Italian Sunday Gravy, the seminal slow-cooked tomato sauce filled with various cuts of meat. Shortly before leaving for the US, we visited a Swedish-Thai couple we know and prepared Italian Sunday Gravy for them and several other friends.
A plate full of meats – sausages, ribs, and loin – are seared to get some color into the pot. Then onions are sauteed, tomato sauce is caramelized, canned tomatoes are added, and then the meat is placed back in the sauce and the whole thing bakes in the oven for three hours.
Meanwhile, I made some homemade pasta using Thomas Keller’s French Laundry pasta dough recipe. Since we were at friends’ house and I didn’t want to carry my KitchenAid mixer (which has a pasta rolling attachment) I just used a cutting board and rolling pin. A little more rustic, but it still turned out okay.
Letting the sheets of pasta dry for a few minutes before cutting them. This way, the individual pieces of pasta cut more easily.
The hand-cut pasta – I didn’t have a ruler or straight edge handy so these are cut with all sorts of varying width. Very rustic, indeed! My technique (or lack thereof) would shame Italian grandmothers.
Cook the pasta in salted boiling water just as the sauce is finished. Fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than dried pasta so one needs to pay close attention.
Once the meat is tender, you pull it out of the sauce and serve it on a platter.
The remaining sauce is served directly from the pan and spooned over your pasta. Lots and lots of flavor in there!
A side dish of cabbage, fennel and radish cole slaw with a sesame dressing. Makes a nice accompaniment to the heavy Sunday gravy.
For dessert, one of our hosts cooked raspberry almond bars. These were fantastic. All in all, not only did we have a very fun time visiting with our friends, but the cooking was fun, too.
While eating lunch at the Central Chidlom department store Food Loft, I looked at the car park below and was startled to notice that, other than that pink taxi and one blue car on the left, every other car was black, white, grey, or beige. Bland, bland, bland…
When Tawn and I flew back from the United States to Bangkok in June, my sister Jenn and brother-in-law Kevin made the trip with us. It was an adventure as they have traveled very little outside the United States and never before to Asia. Thankfully, I was able to book seats on our same outbound flight and even arranged for seat assignments across the aisle from us.
Jenn and Kevin were an adventurous pair, willingly trying new foods and having new experiences. Here, we venture out for a typical Thai breakfast of curries and stir-fries served with rice.
We spent one morning seeing another side of Bangkok, going to Hualamphong railway station and boarding the intercity train for a trip to the suburbs.
Train cars in Thailand are antiques – most at least three decades old – and the third-class cars have no air conditioning. Definitely a different experience for visitors from the American midwest!
One morning, they took the Skytrain to Lumphini Park, the closest thing Bangkok has to a central park. I met them there in the late morning and then we walked to a nearby Isaan style restaurant famous for its fried chicken. In the above picture, the Dusit Thani hotel is the one on the left with the spire. It was the first high-rise building in Bangkok.
Another morning, we visited Wat Saket, also known as the Golden Mount. A steep, artificial hill and the highest terrain in the city, Golden Mount offers a nice view and also a nice breeze – much appreciated on a hot Bangkok day!
View from the top of Golden Mount, looking southwest. In the distance you can see the roofs of the Grand Palace.
Across the canal from Wat Saket is Wat Ratchanaddaram. The most famous building on the temple grounds is Loha Prasat, commonly referred to as the Metal Palace. This is a unique building, built in a pyramid shape with 37 spires (signifying the 37 virtues towards enlightenment) and modeled on two other similar buildings, one in India and another in Sri Lanka. Loha Prasat is the last of the three in existence and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The structure has recently undergone a full renovation and informative displays fill the hallways.
The symmetrical layout allows for refreshing cross-ventilation and also a sense of surprise as you turn corners and see the architectural features of the structure framed in interesting ways.
Loha Prasat has made its way onto my “must see in Bangkok” list, a list which I really need to update as I’m frequently asked for it.
We made our requisite trip to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, where Jenn and Kevin hunted for gifts for friends and family members with Tawn’s assistance.
We also visited one of Bangkok’s newest attractions, a nighttime market on the banks of the Chao Phraya River called Asiatique. Essentially a replacement for the now-closed Lumphini Night Bazaar, Asiatique is reached by free shuttle boats and has a range of restaurants and shopping. The space, a series of converted warehouses, is fun to visit although I was not particularly impressed by the goods for sale. That said, I’m not a shopper so my view may be biased.
Near the end of the trip, we went for drinks around sunset at the top of the Centara Grand Hotel at Central World. Bangkok has no shortage of rooftop restaurants and bars (a large increase from the two or three that existed when I moved here) and the Centara offers one of the best views, being centrally located. This also makes it onto my “must see” list.
We made a side trip to Chachoengsao Province to visit Wat Sothonwararamworaviharn, also known as Wat Hong. This beautiful temple is located on the banks of the Bang Pakong River and is the oldest temple in the province.
Tawn, who was born in the year of the rabbit, poses with an appropriate statue at the temple.
After two weeks, I think Jenn and Kevin were ready to head back to Kansas City. Hopefully, they will return next year with their two daughters and my parents in tow!
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