Visit to Omaha

Posted on 21 December 2011 by christao408

Near the end of my trip, I drove up to Omaha to spent a night with Andy and Sugi. It is normally about a three-hour drive form Kansas City to Omaha. After about the first hour, I started to encounter snow which grew heavier the further north I went. By the time I hit the Iowa border, I was passing cars that had spun off the road and took that as a clear warning to slow down. Arriving in Omaha to sluggish and slushy late rush hour traffice, my trip took about an hour longer than normal.

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Sugi and Andy at the Mexican restaurant they took me to, Cilantro’s. Sugi managed to order the really good dish, a mixed fajitas that included some tasty chorizo. Andy had some tamales that were decent. My fish tacos totally missed the mark. Using tilapia, the tacos had a muddy flavor that I couldn’t get past. All in all, I decided not to post pictures because the dishes pretty much looked like American style Mexican food from just about any American style Mexican food restaurant. That said, the company was fantastic.

Now, I’m not totally unfamiliar with snow. But at the same time, I live in Bangkok so it isn’t something I have to deal with very often. Here’s a short video capturing my impressions.

View of Andy’s street the morning after my arrival. My poor little rental car really wasn’t up to the task. I wasn’t able to get it all the way up the driveway without it slipping on the ice.

The culinary highlight of the trip to Omaha was a drive across the river into Councli Bluffs, IA, where Tawn and I were married a bit more than two years ago. In the downtown area, just a few blocks from the courthouse, is Dixie Quicks, a combination restaurant and art gallery, which just recently relocated from Omaha.

The space is fairly large, much more so than their previous space, and features an eclectic style of decorating. Chef René Orduña’s menu is a hodge-podge of southern, Mexican, and Cajun, done to good effect. It was featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” although you shouldn’t hold that against them. The staff is friendly (ask Andy about his new nickname) and the food is good.

A vintage toy robot stands guard on the beautiful terrazo counter. The restaurant definitely has a retro-chic vibe.

A real stand-out item on the regularly changing menu is the cornbread crab cake. Loaded with plenty of lump crab meat, the use of cornbread gives the cakes an added dimension. The sauce is a tomato butter which is made, interestingly, using the steamer on an espresso machine. If I had it to do over, I’d just have ordered three of these and called it a day.

Chicken Tortilla soup with a wonderful mixture of vegetables. Good flavor and the avocado was a nice touch.

Sugi ordered tortas, which were filled with avocados and lots of other tasty things. Served with a side of pickled collard greens. I’ve never had pickled collard greens which were, as you might expect, vinegary. Made for a pleasant contrast. While I liked the tortas, I do think that a crustier bread would have been nicer. Just my preference, though.

My breakfast was chilaquilles, a first for me. A common Mexican breakfast dish, chilaquilles makes use of leftover tortillas, which are fried then simmered in salsa. In this version, tomatoes and peppers are used to create something that is reminiscent of lasagna but with Mexican flavors. Served with black beans and two soft fried eggs, this was a really tasty treat and something I look forward to seeking out at other restaurants.

We managed to get on really well with one of the owners, the one who gave Andy his nickname. Before we had even finished our main courses, two types of French toast had been sent out for dessert, compliments of the house. The chocolate and banana is on the left and fresh berries are on the right. The bread is the same as is used for the tortas and while I still maintain that a slightly crustier bread would be better, it was hard to fault this French toast.

The gallery next door was open for browsing, getting ready for a three-artist show that was debuting that evening. Here, a giant inflatable black squirrel holds an acorn.

All in all, Dixie Quicks was a highlight meal during my trip to the US. A drive up to Omaha is worthwhile if for no other reason that to visit Andy and Sugi. But having this restaurant there provides an added incentive.

On the Way to Kansas City

Posted on 19 December 2011 by christao408

Now that I’m safely back in Thailand, let me share some highlights from my recent trip to the United States. This first portion covers the trip from Bangkok to Los Angeles and San Francisco on my way to Kansas City.

Self-portrait on the Flight Information Display Signage. Thankfully, I scheduled a 12:40 pm departure which meant I didn’t have to get up too early or rush to get to the airport. Instead, time for a leisurely breakfast before hailing a taxi.

On the climb out of Bangkok, I could still see some lingering effects of the flooding. While these rice paddies normally have water in them at this time of year, you can see how the vertical boundaries between many of the paddies have been erased. The water is still high enough in this area to the northeast of the city that water flows across dikes and roads, combining multiple paddies into small lakes.

The connection through Taipei was smooth and we landed about thirty minutes early in Los Angeles in the mid-afternoon. Here, I snap a photo of my plane before boarding a bus at the remote parking area. Winds were very high and were blowing offshore, the opposite of the usual direction.

Los Angeles is a great place to see the world’s largest passenger airplane, the Airbus A380. Qantas sends multiple planes there daily, one of which is hidden behind the other in the picture on the left. Singapore Airlines also sends an A380 to LAX (above right) and Korean Airlines and Air France will soon join them, too.

I connected to Southwest Airlines for a flight up to San Francisco. Had I realized that my 6:00 departure was going to be delayed, I would have hustled over from the international terminal and tried to make the 3:30 flight instead. While waiting for my flight, a teenager practiced his violin, playing very well for an appreciative crowd of passengers.

A young girl gets her start as an aviation enthusiast, watching the planes as her father “flies” her through the air.

My high school friend Ryan, pictured above with his 2-year old son, picked me up at the airport and we were able to catch up over dinner – Vietnamese noodles! – before I crashed on an air mattress at his house. While I was only in the San Francisco area for about 12 hours, it was very nice to be able to see Ryan and his family again.

After some coaxing, Elliot decided it would be okay to pose for a picture with Uncle Chris before heading to the airport.

The weather on Friday morning was crisp and clear, allowing for a beautiful view of San Francisco as we took off to the north, climbing towards Oakland.

After buying Midwest Airlines, Frontier adopted their practice of serving fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies onboard. A nice touch at an airline that is hard to distinguish from all the other domestic carriers. After a tight connection in Denver, I arrived in Kansas City about 5:45 Friday evening.

A Visit to the United States

Posted on 13 December 2011 by christao408

Today I start tracing the reverse of the course I traveled twelve days ago, heading from Kansas City, where many of my relatives live, back to the west coast, then on to Taipei where I connect back to Bangkok. It has been an exciting and busy twelve days. While I initially thought I would have a lot of free time on my hands, in reality I find myself not having blogged since the day of my departure and with a list of friends I have not had time to visit.

My grandparents with my cousin’s son and my two nieces.

Most of the time was spent with family. My two nieces are here in Kansas City. They are now 5 and 8 and as they mature a bit (especially the older one), spending time with them is more interesting because we can do and discuss a wider range of things.

We had time to bake Christmas cookies. I was a “mystery reader” at their school, going to talk to their classes about life in Thailand. I cooked several meals and had the extended family over.

I had to spend a few days working. Anytime I’m in the US, my boss can’t resist the urge to meet me! That’s actually a good thing as it reinforces that I provide value to the organization and am worth a special trip.

I also had the opportunity to meet a Xangan – Ruth Ann – who lives near Kansas City – and her husband Pat. They lived in Thailand for a few years in the late 1960s and Pat is fluent in the language. They are a wonderful couple and full of great stories about their experiences.

Anyhow, my resolution upon my return is to re-engage with Xanga. There are lots of things I do that I document (photographs) but never take the time to write. And there are a lot of online friends whose blogs I have not been following faithfully.

Terminal 21: Mall as Airport

Posted on 4 December 2011 by christao408

In early November, a new mall opened in Bangkok. Terminal 21, located adjacent to the Asoke Skytrain station along Sukhumvit Road, is a 9-story mall with 20 stories of serviced apartments and office space above the mall. What sets this mall apart is that it is themed as an airport.

By an “airport theme” I mean that there are many airport motifs throughout the complex. These range from information boards that looks like the digital “arrivals” and “departures” flight information displays you see at an airport, to the escalator signage looking like they indicate the directions to different gates, to each floor being themed after a different international city.

“Departure for Level 3” reads the sign above the long escalator that ascends from the mezzanine floor to a point halfway up the mall. Given its fantastic location, the mall has been crowded since its opening several weeks ago, filled mostly with local sightseers, much like the international airport was when it first opened.

Floors include Tokyo (left), Istanbul, Rome, and Paris (right) with each floor decorated in a manner meant to evoke the feel of the city. Lots of visitors are stopping to take pictures with these decorative items, leading to the likely chance that you will walk through the frame of someone’s picture at some point or another. Even the mall security and cleaning staff are uniformed appropriately for the floor on which they work. Yes, that means that on the Paris floors the staff cleaning the toilets are dressed like French maids.

The San Francisco floor has a miniature Golden Gate bridge spanning an atrium. The only shops on this floor are restaurants, which seems appropriate for a city well-known for its food. I’m not sure that the selection of restaurants would necessarily do the City by the Bay proud, though.

With its location adjacent to both the Skytrain and subway stations, Terminal 21 is positioned at a literal crossroads of Bangkok, accessible to customers from many corners of the city. The mall looks like it has targeted the middle of the market: there are many popular stores but no high-end ones and there are also a large number of smaller boutiques featuring local independent businesses. Compared to other malls in the city, it is not nearly as fancy as Central Childlom or Siam Paragon but is much nicer than Platinum or MBK. I suspect it will be a winning formula.

The thing that I find terribly ironic, though, is that in a city with an airport that has been criticized for being too much of a mall (the picture above is of the actual airport, not Terminal 21), we end up having a new mall that has an airport theme. To compare the two:

Suvarnabhumi Airport	Terminal 21 Mall
High end shopping	Local boutiques
Took 4 years after opening to get rail service, which is expensive and inconvenient	Served by rail service from the first day on both the Skytrain and Subway lines
Easily mispronounced Sanskrit name	Easily pronounced English name
Confusing signage and endless moving sidewalks	Clear signage and quick escalators
Intolerable waits at immigration	Breeze through metal detector at entrance
Insufficient toilets, often dirty	Plentiful toilets cleaned by women in French maid outfits

Tawn C – First Collection Photo Shoot

Posted on 2 December 2011 by christao408

At one point in time, mine was the exciting life filled with ever-changing adventures and Tawn was the one who went to the office every day, living a life of nine to five drudgery. Nowadays, as he is moving towards his dream of being a fashion designer, his life is the eventful one and I’m fading to a quiet support role. The latest big event was a photo shoot of the first collection on his own label, Tawn C, to create a “look book.”

As I understand it, a look book doesn’t necessarily have to display every outfit in the collection. Instead, it is meant to convey the overall feel of the collection, to tell the “story” of the woman for whom the collection was designed. Tawn will use the look book to pitch his collection to prospective vendors including some of the large department stores here in Bangkok.

Tawn called in a half-dozen people with whom he has worked on other events, assembling a talented but reasonably priced team to assist with styling, make-up, and hair. Our “annex” – the studio unit adjacent to our main condo, was turned into the backstage area. Needless to say, there wasn’t a lot of work I could do other than to prepare the snacks to keep the talent satisfied.

The setting for the photo shoot was out unit, which not only saved money but also matched the style of Tawn’s collection. Above, photographer Siwanat Phangbunkumlarp directs the models. The model on the left is a Russian with whom Tawn worked at his student fashion show. The model on the right is Thai-German and was added later when the Russian woman’s twin sister was no longer available to do the shoot.

Khun Siwanat did a very detailed job, having scouted the location in advance, discussed the overall themes with Tawn, and plotted the look and feel of different shots. It ultimately took something like 10 hours to shoot the entire sequence, but the results were very nice. Here are some of my favorite shots. These are pre touch-up, as the versions that Tawn will use on his website underwent modest Photoshopping.

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Stay tuned for more updates on the adventures here in Bangkok as Tawn pursues his dreams and Chris supports him.

How Does My Garden Grow – Pt 4: First Harvest

Posted on 23 November 2011 by christao408

With the US Thanksgiving holiday just a few days away, it seems fully appropriate that I was able to recently celebrate my first harvest from my balcony garden. It was a limited harvest – one beet, one radish, and two cherry tomatoes – but at least it is a start, right? For those of you who have missed my videos, I filmed and edited a new one to mark this momentous occasion.

The harvest was a small one, but I was excited with it nonetheless. On the left is a golden beet, on the right is a type of heirloom radish called a watermelon radish. It is supposed to have a light green skin with a pink interior. The skin was kind of a pinkish white instead. Behind the two roots are my carrots which are slowly growing.

Raindrops on the leaves of my third tomato plant. Once we hit the start of October – the end of rainy season – the weather rapidly changed. We’ve had significant rainfall only two or three times since then and my south-facing balcony has been bathed in direct sunlight for about 7 hours a day. The plants have definitely enjoyed the sun, although I’ve had to be diligent about watering.

One curious thing is that my tomato plants – both cherry and beefsteak – have had a problem with pollination. So far only two fruits have grown. I’ve not seen any bees around my plants but according to my online research, tomato plants are self-pollinating. One technique recommended in some videos is to give the plants a good shake to encourage the pollinating. So far that hasn’t seemed to help. Plenty of blossoms come and go, but few ever become fruit.

And there they are, my two cherry tomatoes. Organic, homegrown, and mighty tasty. Now if I could just get a few more of them off my plant, which is nearly three meters tall!

Inside of the watermelon radish. It had a nice flavor, less sharp than the conventional red radishes you see at the market.

Golden beet. I have only seen red beets sold in Thailand so was very excited to have golden beets. What I’ve decided, though, is that root vegetables are a poor use of limited container space. I need to focus on vertical plants – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc. – where I can get more yield per square meter of soil. Of course, I guess the tomato plants haven’t really panned out yet, have they?

Here’s the video of the autumn 2011 harvest.

The healthy salad I made from mostly store-bought vegetables and my few container garden vegetables. The shredded golden beet is on top, some sauteed beet greens, and the radish. Success! Stay tuned for more gardening developments.

Previous entries on this subject:

How Does My Garden Grow – Part 1: Defying Gravity
How Does My Garden Grow – Part 2: A Move to the Sunny Side
How Does My Garden Grow – Part 3: Back to Seedlings

Last Word on the Flooding

Posted on 19 November 2011 by christao408

Quick (and hopefully final) update to the flooding situation here in Bangkok:

While the waters have started to slowly recede, many areas on the northern, western, and eastern edges of the city continue to be under a meter or more of water. This water has been there for, in some cases, nearly a month and has stagnated. Needless to say, residents of these areas are furious and have taken to tearing openings in some of the sandbag barriers to enable some of the water to more rapidly drain away.

In the past few weeks, what had just been piles of sandbags in the Sukhumvit area (where I live) has turned into more extreme defenses against the likelihood of flooding, a vote of no-confidence in a government that has continued to be incapable of communicating useful information in a timely manner. Thankfully, by this point it seems unlikely that we will see any water but nobody is removing the defenses yet.

Outside an office building in the Ploenchit area, two rows of sandbags with a wall of boards sealed at its base with silicone or tar to hold back water. Of course, vehicles are unable to enter or exit this building so, like many buildings around the city, business is being impacted.

Along the road leading up to the international airport, mega-sandbags were laid out and pumps installed in case the road itself needed to be turned into a canal to channel the water out of the city. The airport’s retaining wall was increased to 2.5 meters (almost 9 feet) and, despite having been built in the midst of a natural flood plain, the airport has thus far remained dry.

Photo courtesy Bangkok Post

Not so the old airport, Don Meuang, which before the flood was being used as an air force base and for limited domestic service. It is still closed with more than a meter of water covering the entire airfield. It will cost millions of dollars and take at least two months to bring this airport back into service.

As of last week, walls and other barriers were still being constructed. Here, a view from the inside of the Villa Supermarket near Sukhumvit Soi 33, looking outside to the street. A wall of concrete blocks and sandbags was built, necessitating a climb over the wall with your groceries.

The subway stations, exits at a few of which were closed because of the flooding, had flood barriers installed. These were new additions but were added very quickly that I imagine they must have been prepared in advance and stored for such an event. I’m unclear why there’s a gap at the corner but I guess they would close it with sandbags?

Finally, while at Bangkok Hospital this past week, off Phetchaburi Road, I noticed the wide range of flood protection they had put into place, including concrete walls around the base of escalators so water wouldn’t damage the machinery. Kind of awkward to climb the wobbly wooden steps to get over the wall. Perhaps it is part of their plan to treat more slip-and-fall patients!

Here is a short video showing some of the other flood preparations at Bangkok Hospital.

As mentioned above, I’m hoping this is the last entry I write on this subject. The amount of damage and suffering in Thailand has been immense – 594 deaths as of this morning – and yet I’m not sure that there’s anything more I can add to the subject after this point. I’ll return to other subjects from this point onwards including an update on my attempts at container gardening.

A Birthday Message

Posted on 16 November 2011 by christao408

Today I turn 41 years old. This seems to be a popular time for birthdays. Two friends here in Thailand share my birthday, two other friends have birthdays the day before, and a dozen other friends have birthdays within plus or minus a week. Perhaps St. Valentine’s Day provides a good explanation for this mini-bubble of mid-November Scorpios. That’s speculation, though, and beside the point.

I’ve heard of “peak oil”… does “peak hair” also exist?

To give you a brief update, life is going quite well. Yesterday, as part of a habit I would like to create, I visited the doctor for an annual physical. By chance, I was seen by Dr. Nina, an Indian-born doctor whom I had seen a few years ago for a suspected case of Dengue Fever (which, thankfully, it was not). I’m glad I reconnected with her as she has a wonderful manner and I will make it a point to have her as my regular physician.

In any case, the general conclusion is that I am fine, health-wise. My cholesterol, which had dropped from about 260 three years ago to only 165 a year ago, has since climbed back to about 250. We’ll have to monitor this and see if some diet and exercise changes can bring it back under control. Other than that, a clean bill of health. If I can lose a few kilograms over the next year, we’ll all be happier at next year’s check-up, too!

Celebration-wise, I don’t think Tawn and I will do that much to celebrate. We had a large sausage making, cooking and eating dinner this past weekend with some friends (see “lose a few kilograms,” above), so that was probably enough hoopla to celebrate. Instead, a quiet evening at home with Tawn should be celebration enough.

From a general happiness standpoint, I realize that despite the few gripes and frustrations that arise in life, I have very little about which to be unhappy and a very large amount to be thankful for. Yesterday, in what I interpret to be a nice bit of serendipity, a university friend of mine posted a quote from poet Gunilla Norris that I think should be my birthday prayer:

“Guard me against the arrogance of privilege,
against the indulgence of feeling that I don’t have enough,
and the poverty of spirit that refuses to acknowledge what is daily given to me.”

Beautiful and timely, isn’t it? When I think of all the wonderful people, experiences, and opportunities I have had thus far in my life, I can’t help but be grateful to everyone and everything that has played a role.

Swastikas Popping Up in the Oddest Places

Posted on 10 November 2011 by christao408

After our lunch of southern style dishes, Tawn and I did some shopping at Bangkok’s famous Chatuchak Weekend Market. With thousands of stalls and vendors, you can find most anything for sale and the people-watching is entertaining, too. Along the way, I stumbled across some disturbing signs: swastikas.

First off, some of the interesting sights. We encountered this cute Jack Russell terrier who was dressed in full kit including shoes. He was nearly as stylish as his owner!

We also encountered a fortune teller (in the bandana) who was giving a reading to the young man in the (potentially offensive – sorry) black shirt. Based on the shirt’s message, I can only imagine what questions he is trying to have answered about his future.

Actually, as an aside, his shirt is an example of something I see often here in Thailand: Thais wearing shirts with English language messages that would broadly be seen as offensive or not particularly appropriate for wearing in public in an English-speaking country. I always wonder to what extent the wearers understand the message and its meaning. Would they wear the equivalent message if it was in Thai?

Which brings me to the swastikas.

In a number of shops, I encountered buttons, t-shirts, and other items that featured swastikas. Now, the swastika has a history that extends back a few thousand years before the Nazis came along and appropriated it. Even in contemporary Buddhism, you see the swastika as a sacred symbol. I feel comfortable, though, concluding that the use of the swastikas in this commercial context was not religious, but was meant to evoke the perceived “revolutionary” feel of the Nazis. Witness the Mao Zhe Dong buttons as a similar “statement”.

This sighting of swastikas brought to mind an incident from September, when a private Roman Catholic school in Chiang Mai (in northern Thailand), had a sports day in which a group of students dressed in a Nazi theme and marched carrying swastika banners and wearing swastika arm bands.

There was widespread outrage and several foreign consulates as well as the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles denounced the event, citing it as insensitive and inappropriate. The school authorities, no surprise, claimed they had not been aware of the students’ plans, even though their protestations seemed a bit thin.

What followed (before the floods) was a lot of discourse about how poor the Thai education system is and how the teachers and administrators had failed to educate their students. There were others who pointed out that students in western countries are often just as unaware of similarly significant events in Asia’s history and are sometimes even equally unaware of the details of the Holocaust.

I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and denounce the students or the teachers. There has been enough said to that effect already. Suffice it to say that I was disturbed that in a short period of time, I saw several signs that the history of the Nazis and the Holocaust is not very well appreciated by some people in Thailand and the symbols of that history are seen as benign fashion statements.

There are probably countless examples in other countries where locals appropriate words and symbols from other languages, cultures, and countries, without fully understanding what the meanings are, sometimes causing offense. I guess that more than anything, this is a reminder that we need to be aware when we adopt things, whether they are words or symbols, that are not originally our own. Meanings are not universal and it is easy to be insensitive to others’ feelings.

New IKEA in Bangkok

Posted on 7 November 2011 by christao408

The first IKEA store in Thailand, and the largest in Asia, opened this past week in Bang Na – the eastern suburbs of the city. I went with some friends to check it out. Here’s the video:

720p HD version here

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

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