When a Critical Mass is Reached

Posted on 24 February 2008 by christao408

After writing Thursday’s post about Rak Haeng Siam, a post which I had been writing in my mind for nearly two months, turning over thoughts and thinking about turns of phrase, I’ve found it difficult to write another post. It’s that silence that comes after you’ve said everything you have to say. It leaves me feeling empty and expended.

Maybe also it is because the weekend was a quiet one. Tawn was under the weather and I was pressed into service as a nurse, so there wasn’t anything to stimulate a new entry.

One thought, though: this coming Friday will be the first Critical Mass ride in Khrungthep. For those of you unfamiliar with this movement, it started in San Francisco in the early 1990s as a monthly group bicycle ride to celebrate bicycling and remind other users of the streets that bicyclists have a right to the roads, too. It has no organizers, usually no defined route, and the group just goes where it goes.

While some have seen it as a protest and some riders choose to be very confrontational with motorists, it is generally meant to be more of an awareness-raising opportunity as well as an opportunity to enjoy bicycling on the streets in numbers large enough to provide safety.

Even though there isn’t an organizer, someone on the Thai Cycling Club web board posted an entry announcing the event. And there are graphics in both Thai and English, so clearly someone has put a little effort into it.

In any case, I’m looking forward to this Friday evening and a chance to celebrate Leap Year and to see the City of Angels from my bicycle seat.

Rak Haeng Siam Resonates

Posted on 21 February 2008 by christao408

I’ve been sitting on this entry for two months, waiting for the right opportunity to write it. This entry is about the Thai movie Rak Haeng Siam (Love of Siam), a drama/romance/coming of age story that was a bit of a surprise hit here in Thailand back in November and December. As with all movies here, it came and went quickly and – with the exception of a “Director’s Cut” that has been sold out for weeks in advance exclusively at the House RCA cinema – it is out of the consciousness of most Thai moviegoers.

The movie really struck a chord with some moviegoers, particularly the gay men, as it told a story that we rarely see: that of teenagers who are wrestling with their sexual identities. After watching the 200-minute director’s version of the film on Monday, I’m ready to write about this movie. Apologies in advance if this post is lengthy.

Introduction

Love of Siam is two stories: that of the friendship and budding love of two secondary school boys, and that of the disintegration of one of the boy’s family, the result of the disappearance of his older sister on a family trip to Chiang Mai a few years earlier.

It is a notable film on many counts:

As a drama, it is a rarity in Thai cinema, filled as it is with audiences who prefer dumb comedies, ghost stories, and dumb comedic ghost stories.
At two-and-a-half hours in length, the film is almost twice the length of the average Thai film, pushing the attention span of most Thai moviegoers.
As a film that treats the gay characters in the story sympathetically, it stands apart from the frequent depiction of gays in Thai culture as either transsexuals, effeminate queens, or effeminate transsexual queens.
As a depiction of a family of Thai Christians, it is probably the first Thai film ever to have a Christmas nativity scene.
Finally, it addresses issues of teenage gays – something that is rarely addressed in the cinema of any country.

The Main Storyline

There are several subplots but the basic story follows the fortunes of two childhood friends, Mew and Tong, who are neighbors in their primary school years. Tong and his parents move away after Tong’s sister Tang goes missing on a trip to Chiang Mai, leading his father into an alcoholic depression and his family into disintegration. Mew and Tong cross paths again during their senior year in secondary school. This meeting rekindles old feelings and the two are left to sort out what these feelings mean, especially against the conflict of Tong’s family situation.

If you want to read the plot in greater detail, I’ve included it at the bottom of this entry. Hopefully, you’ll have the opportunity to watch the movie for yourself. I’m under the impression that the director is actively seeking distribution internationally and I’m sure it will play in at least some film festivals and maybe art cinemas in some of the larger cities.

Impact in Thailand

This film was a modest success – number one opening week, number two the second week, and then falling off from there. As the director’s third commercial film, and a huge departure from the more mainstream films he did before, it caught everyone by surprise. The advertising – both the poster and the trailer – didn’t play up the gay aspect of the story, to which the director later admitted that they wanted to get a bigger audience than they would have had they been as up front about the plot.

Here’s the trailer. Even though it is in Thai, I think you’ll agree after watching it that it leaves the orientation of the main characters’ love in question.

There was a great deal of talk on message boards and elsewhere in Thailand about this film. Equally loud were those who were moved by the film and those who felt duped by it.

For some of the audience, particularly the gay men, this film spoke to their experiences in a way that nothing else they’ve ever seen has. One of Kobfa’s friends sobbed through the entire film, his family experience (minus the missing sister) is so close to the one depicted in the movie. Tawn said afterwards that it was filled with touchstones of his coming-of-age experience: hanging out at Siam Square; sharing an ice cream sundae at Swenson’s with the guy he had a crush on; having chaste affairs in which holding hands for a few moments was as intimate as things would get.

Judging by the crowds at the different screenings I attended, there is a new generation of young gay men in their secondary school and university years, who are growing up with at least this one image of their experience being shown in the media. Someone who looks like them, some life that looks similar to their own, now is validated in the popular culture. It exists! They exist!

The Impact on Me

Of course, the story has greater relevance than just in Thailand. While I grew up in a completely different culture, the film still resonates deeply with me. I recall the crushes I had in secondary school, the boys my age for whom I had feelings that I couldn’t find the words for. “Respect”, “admiration”… these were the impotent ways in which I tried to rationalize what I felt.

I remember taking a field trip with one of the school organizations and in a hotel room with three other students, shared a bed with one of the boys I felt so strongly about. Lying just a matter of inches away and wanting so badly to reach out to him, but not being able to – that memory jumped back to life when watching this movie, a memory so vivid of an emotion so strong: feeling love but not being able to name it.

To this day, whenever I see young people including my friends’ children and my own two nieces, I wonder if they will be able to grow up feeling confident enough, loved enough, to be whoever they are and to feel love for whomever they do, without feeling afraid and unable to name it. It is one thing to love someone in an unrequited fashion – a theme addressed in a subplot of the movie – and quite another thing to have a love that may be shared but be unable to speak it, possibly even unable to know the words necessary to describe it to yourself let alone to the person for whom you feel those feelings.

Watching Love of Siam was particularly powerful for me, because I didn’t grow up with any reference points or role models on which to base my feelings. Despite having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I don’t have any recollection of seeing a gay person or a gay character anywhere, anytime before I graduated from secondary school. Certainly, by the point when I was beginning to recognize that I was different from most of the boys, I didn’t have the vocabulary available to me to understand those differences. To that standpoint, I am envious of the gay boys growing up in Khrungthep. At least now they have Love of Siam to help put words to those feelings, if indeed they were in need of a vocabulary – which I suspect they aren’t.

I know there have been some other films (including a German one, I recall) that addressed gay teens in the storyline. But surely in a world where many people are underrepresented, gay teens are highest among those, since they cut across both sexes and all religions, races and countries. Hopefully for more young people who are struggling with who they are, there will be images that positively validate that they are okay. (I’m sure the fundamentalists will love that. Glad I’m not running for elective office.)

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, wanting more details, or realizing that you might never get a chance to see it, I offer you a more detailed plot summary. Warning: This contains spoilers.

The Plot in Greater Detail – Warning: Spoilers

Mew (below right) is the child who is picked on at school, his classmates having already identified him as likely being gay even in his primary school years. Artistic and musically inclined, Mew’s grandmother is his best friend and she teaches him to play a song that his grandfather used to play on the piano for her, and tells him that she hopes that someday he will love someone so much that he writes a song for them.

Tong (below left) and his sister are Mew’s upstairs neighbors. At first, Mew shies away from them, but then one day at school Tong comes to Mew’s defense when he is cornered in a toilet by tormentors, clubbing the bullies with a plunger pulled from one of the toilet stalls. As a result, Tong winds up with a black eye and a bloody nose.

A friendship develops between the two boys and after Tong’s family goes to Chiang Mai on holiday, Tong returns with a gift for Mew, a wooden Christmas doll composed of several pieces. Following a family tradition started by his father, Tong hides the different parts giving Mew written clues to find them. Alas, when they arrive at the location of the last part – the doll’s nose – the tree in which it has been hidden has been pruned and the branches are being carted away. Nonetheless, the doll takes pride of place on Mew’s desk.

While on the family trip, Tong’s sister Tang receives permission to spend a few extra days in Chiang Mai with her friends. When the extra days comes and go and there is no word from her, Tong’s parents return north to search for her, not returning in time for Tong’s Catholic school Christmas pageant. Tong’s parents ask him to stay at Mew’s for a few nights while they search for Tang.

During these few nights, Tong prays for his sister each night before going to bed, sleeping next to Mew. His eyes wet with tears, Tong turns to Mew for comfort that everything will be all right.

In the weeks that follow, Mew is Tong’s support as there is still no sign of Tang. As the months pass, Tong’s family begins to disintegrate as his parents blame each other for allowing Tang to stay with her friends. Tong’s father begins to drink heavily and ends the ritual of mealtime prayers, having lost his faith.

Finally, Tong’s family moves away from the neighborhood, leaving Mew heartbroken at the loss of his friend.

(As a side note, this is where the opening credit roll. See – it is a long movie!)

Flash forward about five years. Both boys are in different secondary school. Tong’s family situation has continued to get worse, his father now lying about all day, drinking whisky and not eating any food. Tong looks to be a typical – read, “straight” – teenager with a perfect girlfriend that the other boys envy, but he doesn’t seem much interested in their relationship, to her chagrin.

Across town, Mew’s grandmother has long since passed on. He has become a gifted musician and is the singer and songwriter for a band of classmates called August (he is third from the left in the lower left-hand picture). Mew is also the object of an unrequited crush from Ying (below right – with pictures of Mew all over her walls), the girl who now lives in the house where Tong once lived.

Mew and Tong meet unexpectedly at Siam Square (below – Mew is left and Tong is right), an outdoor shopping area that is ground zero for Khrungthep’s youth culture. They exchange phone numbers and begin hanging out together, rekindling their childhood friendship and – for Mew – rekindling stronger feelings that inspire him to begin writing new songs.

(Side note – the above scene, along with two or three others in the Director’s Cut, were shot in the box office lobby of the lovely Scala Cinema, a classic 1960s theatre about which I wrote in this entry.)

Mew’s band is assigned a new manager, June, who is the spitting image of Tong’s lost sister, Tang. Tong and his mother conspire to hire June to play the role of Tang, in an effort to rouse Tong’s father out of his depression. For a time this seems to work and everyone is happy again.

At a party to celebrate Tang’s homecoming, Mew’s band performs a new song – Gan Le Gan (essentially, “You and I Together”) with the opening line sung with Mew looking directly at Tong (a look not unnoticed by June – above right with Tong), “If I’m telling you that this song was written for you, would you believe me?” After the party, Mew and Tong share a kiss in the backyard that is seen by Tong’s mother. In the director’ version of this film, there is a shot of a few minutes later when Tong escorts Mew to a waiting taxi. They are reluctant to say goodnight to each other, in the love-struck sort of way that you would expect from any two people who had just shared their first, oh so innocent kiss.

Worrying about her son, Tong’s mother forbids him from seeing Mew. But Tong leaves home one night anyhow, leaving his phone and spending the night at Mew’s.

Unable to get hold of Tong and spending the night driving around searching for him, Tong’s mother is further worried. The next day she visits Mew and confronts him, explaining that Mew’s lifestyle is not what she has in the cards for Tong. Mew insists they are just friends, but complies with her wishes. Mew’s secret admirer Ying overhears this conversation and is heartbroken.

Tong keeps trying to get hold of Mew but Mew won’t answer his calls. At the same time, Tong’s girlfriend pressures him about his inattentiveness while his family situation turns bad again as his father is diagnosed with severe medical problems brought on by his drinking.

Ying consoles Tong after his friends ask him whether the reason he isn’t seeing his girlfriend is because he’s gay. While they are together, he sees another of the Christmas dolls and Ying convinces the toy shop owner to give her only the nose piece, left.

Tong finds himself caught on all sides and in a scene where he and his mother are cheerlessly decorating a Christmas tree, he asks her in not so many words to let him make his own choice, represented by two decorations – one of a woman and the other of a man. “Just choose one!” she shouts. “But whatever one I choose, you won’t be happy with me!” he replies. She tells him that whatever choice he makes is okay.

June makes plans to leave the family, the unfolding story still leaving some question as to whether she might not in fact be the missing daughter. She leaves a note to Tong’s mother, telling her that they’ll be all right.

Having cut himself off from Tong, Mew finds his well of songwriting inspiration has dried up and his band members are on the verge of mutiny, about to replace him with a backup singer.

Tong agrees to meet his girlfriend for a date in Siam Square on Christmas Eve. Mew and his band are performing a concert there and when Tong sees Mew on a video screen and hears him start to sing the song Gan Le Gan, he realizes what he has to do.

He apologizes to his girlfriend and tells her that he can’t be her boyfriend anymore. Then he runs to the concern, meeting Ying there, to watch. Mew sees them in the crowd.

After the concert, Tong approaches Mew to give him a Christmas present – the missing nose piece from the wooden doll that Mew still has on his desk. Tong tells Mew that he can’t be his boyfriend, but that he will always love him. With that, they part ways.

The movie ends with Mew at home, putting the final piece onto the doll, crying, wiping his eyes, and saying “thank you” out loud.

Conclusion

The ending was good, if a little disappointing as I was cheering for Mew and Tong to end up together. Talking with friends, the general consensus was that Tong – despite his mother telling him he could choose for himself – still felt the pressure of family obligations over his feelings for Mew. Leaving us all to wonder… could there be a Rak Haeng Siam 2?

Bicycling from Bridge to Bridge to Bridge

Posted on 31 January 2008 by christao408

Sunday morning (maybe to work off the calories from Friday and Saturday’s dinners) I set out on a solo bicycle ride. I often ride on Sunday mornings with Markus, but he was out of town. Plus, urban riding doesn’t lend itself to groups. You can’t ride side-by-side and chat along the way, because the streets just aren’t wide enough.

There is some concern about the safety of riding in the city. For the most part, I think the concerns are over-stated. Drivers in Khrungthep pay attention and are used to sharing the road with motorcycles, tuk tuks, vendors with their food carts, and other non-automotive traffic.

The streets in some parts of Khrungthep are narrow, traffic is heavy, and road conditions can vary widely from freshly paved to potholed. The worst part, though, are the buses: they are large, their drivers are maniacs, and most of them run on very unclean diesel fuel, leaving behind a choking cloud of black particles.

Still, riding your bicycle is one of the best ways to get to see the city, giving you the flexibility to easily stop and explore, while letting you move quickly enough that you don’t wear out just within a few blocks. You can also recover from dead-ends much more easily when riding than you can when walking.

Sunday’s ride ended up taking about two-and-a-half hours to cover 42 km.

Starting at home on Sukhumvit Soi 53, I wound my way through the back sois until I reached Khlong San Saeb, the canal that cuts east-west through the city and provides water taxi service into the heart of the old city. There is a pedestrian path alongside the canal that I’ve ridden before, so I followed it a short way to the west before crossing over a foot bridge to the other side and entering the back of a temple.

The front side of the temple leads to Phetchaburi Road, one of the busiest traffic routes heading into the old city and one that has more bus traffic than you can believe. It is also one of the most direct routes into the city, so I followed it all the way to Sanam Luang, the large parade grounds immediately to the north of the Grand Palace.

Large crowds of black and white-clad Thais were arriving at the Grand Palace to pay their respects to Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, the King’s older sister, who passed away on January 2nd. We are in a period of mourning for her and later this year there will be a royal funeral and cremation on Sanam Luang. It should prove interesting as it will be the largest such event since the royal cremation of HRH the Princess Mother in March 1996.

By this point, traffic was much lighter and the riding more pleasant. I continued past Wat Po – the Temple of the Reclining Buddha – and past the flower market before ending up at Saphan Phra Puttha Yobfa (King Rama I Memorial Bridge – “A” on the map). This bridge, opened in 1932, is the oldest span across the Chao Phraya River. After crossing it I rode halfway across the adjacent Phra Pokklao Bridge to get this picture:

One thing I discovered is that there are a lot of homeless people sleeping in the cool spaces beneath the bridges and near the water. Several were also using the steps leading into the river underneath the bridge for their early morning bathing, modestly wearing swimming shorts or boxers.

The city sparkles at this early hour with a good number of locals up and around but very few tourists. The tourist boats ran up and down the river almost devoid of passengers, while the small ferries were filling quickly with locals coming and going from home to market, temple to restaurant.

Now on the western, Thonburi side of the river, I pedaled south into the bright morning sun through a predominately Chinese neighborhood that had bright red banners strung across the street in anticipation of next week’s new lunar year. My route took me down Charoen Nakhon Road, past the Peninsula and the Hilton Millennium hotels before I arrived at the Taksin Bridge (“B” on the map).

This is the bridge over which Sathorn Road runs, as does the Skytrain extension that will some day (this year, maybe?) connect to five stations on the Thonburi side of the river. It should be pointed out – to clarify the confusion that some farang experience – that the name of this bridge (Taksin) should not be confused with the name of the deposed Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. The names are not the same in Thai (ตากสิน vs ทักษิณ) and are pronounced a bit differently with the bridge starting with a hard “d/t” consonant rather than the softer, aspirated “th” sound as in the word “tall”.

Beneath the bridge is a park with a football pitch and several takraw courts, in addition to other health and fitness facilities. There were perhaps a hundred or more Bangkokites getting their morning exercise.

Takraw is a popular Southeast Asian sport characterized as “kick volleyball”. Using only your feet, legs and head, teams propel a rattan ball over a low net on a badminton sized court, following rules that are roughly similar to volleyball. Watching the players, it looks like a sport that takes tremendous flexibility and concentration.

Also beneath the bridge there are a large number of passenger express boats and a ferry, mostly older, sitting and waiting for repair, heavy crowds, or their eventual scrapping.

I continued across the Taksin Bridge, stopping in the middle to capture this picture looking up-river, below. From left to right, you see the Peninsula Hotel, the Hilton Millennium Hotel (with the spaceship lounge on top), the CAT Telecom building (with the antennae), the lower-rise Mandarin Oriental Hotel, and the Shangri-La Hotel.

Also near the Taksin Bridge, just to the left of the picture above, is the Pepsi bottle reclamation facility. This is the point to which all of the used Pepsi bottles from throughout the greater Khrungthep area are brought. They are then loaded on barges – several a day, from what I’ve observed – and then towed up river to the Pepsi bottling plant north of the city.

Behind the Pepsi pier is the construction site for The River – what will be a 73-story condominium building, a monstrosity that will be entirely out of proportion for the waterfront.

The illustration to the right is from The River’s own press department. While the foreshortened perspective exaggerates the different heights, it still shows how grotesquely out of balance this building will be.

As the second highest tower in Khrungthep (Baiyoke Tower II is 85 stories and the nearby State Tower with its rooftop restaurant is 63 stories), it will be very hard to miss on the skyline.

Subsequent to its approval, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority enacted new legislation, restricting any future development along this section of the river to only eight stories.

One can only hope that development remains controlled so the waterfront does not end up like Hong Kong’s. The geography of Hong Kong makes that sort of vertical development work okay, but here in the Big Mango, we would end up with a wall of buildings along the river, keeping river breezes from cooling the rest of the city and essentially making river views the domain of only those with the most money.

Looking west along the bridge, into the morning sun, I could see the last Skytrain station on the line (until that extension opens) – Taksin Station, below. Behind it looms an unfinished tower that was the sister of the State Tower (mentioned above). There are some interesting pictures taken from the State Tower during its construction, when it was known as the Royal Charoen Khrung Tower. Interesting that with so many unfinished buildings in this city – estimated at over 300 – that there is enough demand for so many other new high rise projects to be commenced.

Crossing the rest of the bridge, I walked down four flights of stairs to the street level, and resumed riding on Charoen Khrung (literally, “New Road” – the first paved road in the city). This is where the city gets especially interesting because it is really the heart and soul of the city. Outside of the royal portion of the city – Rattanakosin Island – this is the street on which the early Bangkok residents were going about their lives.

I continued all the way down Charoen Khrung until it dead-ended near soi 109, right next to the Good View Restaurant, situated at a sharp turn in the Chao Phraya River. Pedaling into their empty parking lot and right up to the water’s edge, it did indeed have a good view.

Backtracking along Charoen Khrung and just a little confused as to where I was – I had no map with me and was working only from a mental picture I had in my mind, one dotted with unfilled areas reminiscent of the “there be monsters” notations on ancient mariners’ maps. Shortly, I connected with Rama III Road, a major thoroughfare that feeds off the New Khrungthep Bridge. A large road, it was thankfully not too busy this early on a Sunday and it had very wide lanes, giving me plenty of room to ride unmolested by passing motorists.

Rama III is also the planned route for Governor Apirak’s ambitious Bus Rapid Transit program. The official website is here – it is in Thai but the pictures will give you an idea of what’s happening. Scheduled to open in about a year, there is already signs of progress. There are several BRT stations under construction – this one is located in front of a shopping center (“C” on the map) on Rama III Road.

My understanding is that the busses will have exclusive right-of-way in the center lane for most stretches of the road, giving it almost the same effectiveness of a light rail system but with significantly lower capital costs. Special buses will have to be purchased that have doors on the right-hand side instead of the left. It also looks like the platform will be very high, so presumably the doors will also be raised.

In either case, kudos to the local government for making an effort on transit issues. That, combined with the planned conversion of all 2,000+ plus local busses from diesel to compressed natural gas in the next two years, will hopefully help reduce pollution at least a bit.

Continuing along Rama III, I soon arrived at the Rama IX Bridge (“D” on the map) which carries the Rama II Expressway southwest towards Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkram provinces. If you’re a little confused by all the “Rama” names, that’s understandable. It would certainly be easier if the Rama II Expressway crossed the river on the Rama II Bridge.

Underneath the bridge on both banks of the river are parks. The one on the eastern bank is quite open and has many manicured gardens, providing a pleasant space to stroll and offering a lot of waterfront along which to take in the view. There is a nice view of the Kasikorn Bank headquarters on the west side of the river, below. Its dramatic roofline is lined with neon at night, making an outline that looks like the bank’s abstract growing plant logo. (“Kasikorn” is an old Thai word for “farmer” and the bank used to be known as Thai Farmer’s Bank.)

Looking just downriver from the park, you can see the “Mega Bridge” complex, a series of two recently opened bridges that cut across the Phra Pradaeng peninsula, significantly improving access to the south, southwest and southeast of the city. You can also see a capsized ship, below. I remember reading about this sometime last year on 2bangkok.com but was unable to locate the information. It makes for an interesting image, I think.

My ride continued along Rama III Road and back through the Khlong Toei port area. While there were probably still plenty of interesting things to see along the way, I was getting tired and traffic was picking up, so I did less sightseeing and more watching for crazy bus drivers.

The last leg of my trip brought me back into familiar territory, past the Queen Sirikit Convention Center – where Markus and I regularly ride circles in the adjacent park – and then town Sukhumvit Road to home, where I arrived just after 10:00.

It was a lengthy ride, but afterwards I feel like I have a much better understanding of many parts of the city I had not explored before. Still, there’s plenty of ground to cover!

Paradox Soft Opening, Partie Deux

Posted on 27 January 2008 by christao408

Fine dining, western-style, is still in its infancy here in Khrungthep. We have fine dining, alright: som tam, khao chae, tom yum goong, and a host of curries that work miracles on your taste buds. But western style dining faces a number of traps – ranging from fickle and inexperienced diners who are wary of venturing into unfamiliar culinary ground, to astronomical food costs for fundamental western ingredients that are not available locally, to a service mentality that runs counter to delivering each diner’s dishes at the same time – that can befuddle would-be restauranteurs.

It is against this backdrop that new restaurants open and, sometimes, succeed. Paradox, owner Adam Bryan-Brown’s new high concept dining, shopping, and art exhibition space, has opened its doors (partially) to see how it will be received by, and how it can shape, Khrungthep’s high-end diners.

Right: Tawn enjoys a promotional Belvedere vodka cosmopolitan with a lengthy twist.

In the interest of full disclosure, the meals I had at Paradox on Friday and Saturday were part of a promotion where the four-course set menu (priced at 1250 baht) was offered free to the first twenty reservations each day. Additional items and gratuities were paid for ourselves. In talking about the food and restaurant, I’m approaching it from a “What if we had paid for the entire meal ourselves?” perspective.

The front half of Paradox’s multi-space building remains under construction, above. This space, which is scheduled to be a retail store and possibly a wine and jazz bar in the evenings, will do a lot to determine how visible and welcoming Paradox is to passers by on Soi Ekkamai. In a neighborhood filled with nightclubs and restaurants, having a good face will be important. As construction continues, Paradox is barely visible, hidden down a driveway near the corner of Soi Ekkamai 17 and fronted by a sidewalk noodle vendor.

It is worth a walk down that driveway, though, as the interior is modern and comfortable. A future open-air terrace dining area, a second floor private dining room and a quieter dining area behind the kitchen make the restaurant seem smaller than it really is. There is a large gallery/multi-use space that would lend itself well to many sorts of arts events. Currently, there is an exhibition of vibrant oil paintings by Vichian Boonmeemak in this space, which calls diners to leave their tables and browse the artwork between courses.

Chef Andrew Cole is at the helm of a large and capable kitchen team, turning out food that Tawn interestingly described as “comfort food”. Interesting, because while I wouldn’t use that word myself (I picture macaroni and cheese when I hear the words “comfort food”), I understand what he’s getting at. Cole’s Mediterranean inspired cuisine avoids pretentiousness by preparing fairly conventional ingredients – roast chicken, for example, or spaghetti with scallops – in creative yet grounded ways. There is no over-reaching with foo-foo additions like a dollop of medjool date paste, a pillow of lima bean foam, or cubes of bay leaf gelatine.

That’s important because all too often in fine dining, there seems to be the urge to turn fusion into confusion: searches for inspired and new flavor combinations turn out messy and misguided.

Let’s take a look at our dinner, which was the same both nights with the exception of the amuse bouche and a pasta dish on Saturday.

One thing that sets Paradox apart right away is their bread basket, above. Khrungthep is a city lacking in quality bread and the Paradox bread basket was a welcome start to the meal. The bread sticks are light and flaky things of beauty and the spinach bread we had on Friday (I think it was a spinach bread… maybe basil bread?) went very well with a tomato spread that accompanied it.

An amuse bouche of spinach au gratin atop toast was very tasty, below. A plate of a dozen of those along with the soup would have been enough to make a satisfying meal. Friday’s amuse bouche was a deep-fried half of a baby zucchini served with an olive tapenade and red sauce. Both were welcoming and familiar ways for the kitchen to greet the diners.

The set menu began with a Parma ham salad, above. What on the menu could be mistaken for a stodgy and unimaginative start was creatively – and tastily – inverted. Whereas you would normally expect melon-wrapped ham with a side of greens, the chef instead wrapped the beautiful greens with the ham and balanced the melon on the side. A couple of perfectly ripened tomatoes and the accompanying balsamic vinegar reduction nicely tied together the flavors while the plate’s arrangement was pleasantly architectural without being silly.

One hit of the menu was the cream of pumpkin soup, below. Pumpkin has such a wholesome, good-for-you flavor and when it is balanced with just the right amount of cream, it is such a delight to eat that I could subsist on this and nothing more – except for those spinach au gratin amuse bouches, which would go wonderfully with the soup. The texture of the soup was velvety and the garlic croutons lent a nice textural contrast with their crunchy-then-buttery-soft quality.

There were three main courses from which to choose and since both nights we had three diners, we chose all three and shared. The first was a roasted boned baby chicken with port wine sauce, above. This was a very nice take on a menu standard – roast chicken – and was successful because the chicken itself had such nice flavor. Beyond the sauce, beyond the crisp skin, this was one tasty chicken. The port sauce was a nice addition and the accompanying medley of vegetables were well-prepared. The chicken suffered from some toughness on Saturday night, but was none the less flavorful.

A vegetarian option, gilled polenta with sauteed mushrooms served with rocket salad, below, again took a classic combination and brought out the best of the flavors and textures through skillful preparation. The dish was piping hot and the polenta perfectly crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside Saturday evening, making it even more satisfying, although it would benefit from just a few drops of balsamic vinegar to complement the earthiness of the mushrooms.

The third main dish was a millefuille of river prawn served with saffron creme sauce, above. This was the most “artsy” of the dishes but was actually much simpler than it may sound. Resting on a bed of spinach – Tawn thought zucchini would have been a better choice, but I really liked the flavor of the spinach – the prawn was sliced and separated by a layer of puff pastry. The textural component of the pastry was an interesting touch; my dilly-dallying on Saturday, trying all the other mains before concluding with the prawn, did the texture no favors but the fault was entirely my own. The saffron creme sauce lends a nice richness and a subtle hint of floral spiciness to the fresh, clean flavor of the prawn meat.

On Saturday we ventured briefly onto the a la carte menu to try the spaghetti with scallops (imported from the US, which seems unnecessarily far) in a tomato and capsicum sauce, below. Tawn found this to be reminiscent of the satisfying foods of his childhood, the sweetness of the peppers in the sauce playing nicely with the sweetness of the scallops.

Dinner concluded with a very nice apple pie with vanilla ice cream, above. This has to be the most classic of “comfort” desserts (except for the tasty but overly frequent creme brulee that seems to be on the menu of every restaurant in creation) and it was so nicely done. Constructed as a tart, the pastry crust was flaky and tender, the apples cooked to just the right point of softness, and the accompanying honey-based sauce (colored by pandan leaf, is it?) was a beautiful addition, albeit a little too sweet on an already sweet dish. This proved to be a very satisfying finish to the dinner.

Throughout dinner both days, we received extremely polished and attentive service. Right now the dining room is not filled to capacity and hopefully the staff retains their polish in the heat of a busy night. But at this point the very good food is accompanied by the sort of service organization lacking in many of the fine dining restaurants in the Big Mango.

In speaking more with the chef, he sounds very interested in exploring the use of local ingredients as well as doing special menus featuring the cuisines of different regions around the Mediterranean. The second idea is one done well at several restaurants, and the upcoming focus weeks – “Vegetarian Delights” the week of February 18th and “The Food of Spain” the week of February 25th – will give Cole some room to play.

It is the first idea, though – the one about exploring more local ingredients – that may prove to be the biggest test of his skills and, perhaps, Khrungthep fine diners’ often limited adventurousness. With the host of great ingredients available on the land and in the seas around Thailand and Southeast Asia, it is a shame that more local diners are so insistent that their tomatoes are imported from France, their cheese from Italy, and their sea bass from Chile. I’m very excited about the idea of more dabbling with locally-sourced ingredients as I tire of paying high prices just to subsidize the long air and sea journeys of my ingredients.

As for Friday and Saturday nights’ dinners, Paradox looks to have the sort of foundations that make for a truly successful restaurant: good space, good location, and – most importantly – good food and service. The chef’s kitchen is turning out thoughtful and well-prepared versions of standard dishes – a good way to get started. He shows enough creativity and imagination to play with some of the assumptions diners might make and, in so doing, may have the opportunity to explore some really interesting culinary ground.

There are still many questions to be answered about how the menu develops, how the space is used once construction is finished, and whether the quality can be consistently maintained over time. But from these first few visits, I have no doubt that Tawn and I will make Paradox a destination when we want to celebrate birthdays, promotions, and other special occasions.

Stay tuned

Posted on 25 January 2008 by christao408

Friday night, Roka, Bill and I had dinner at the soft opening of a new restaurant, art gallery, and performance space called “Paradox” on Soi Ekkamai. Website here. It is a fancy new high-concept place featuring Mediterranean food. Since they are not quite finished with construction of the whole complex, they’re doing this soft opening to ease their staff into operations and to get the word out.

They offered a not-much-advertised promotion featuring free four course set dinners for four, for the first twenty reservations each day. The promotion ends today. Roka read about it in a blog and called me, so we made reservations for Friday evening.

It was really good, but I didn’t bring my camera. Course after course, I cursed my camaralessness. After dinner the Australian chef, Andrew Cole, came by the table and we talked for about twenty minutes. We critiqued the food (mostly compliments with only a few bits of feedback), learned how he found his way here (because of Pakistan’s political troubles he discontinued a cross-continent journey and ended up here), talked about the challenges of fine dining in Bangkok (expectations of the well-heeled locals are largely based on what everyone else is doing, not on what is new, original, or even good), and his vision for the restaurant. The picture here is from their website, but it shows the general idea behind the food.

As there were only three or four tables being served while we were there, we inquired as to whether they had any places left on Saturday night. Why not come back and enjoy another free meal and get some pictures for the blog? Sadly, they were at 22 reservations so they were past the free dinner stage. We decided we’d wait until another day, but then at the BTS station, Roka received a phone call. It was the manager. Andrew had spoken with him and would we care to come back for another meal on the house?

Absolutely!

So stay tuned for some pictures and more detailed coverage of this new restaurant in my next entry…

Posted on 17 January 2008 by christao408

Monday evening, Bill hosted pre-dinner drinks and snacks at his apartment, the two-month old Grand Centre apartment near the Four Seasons Hotel and Ratchadamri BTS station. I don’t know what he is paying for his 33rd story unit, but with the view below, he must be paying a lot!

Above: Looking north towards Siam – Paragon is in the middle of the picture, Central World Plaza to the right, the Police Hospital and headquarters at the bottom. Below: Looking southwest towards Silom. The State Tower with its golden dome is visible one-quarter the way across the horizon from the left. The Royal Sports Club is in the forground with Chulalongkorn University behind it, discernable by the many low-lying buildings with Thai style roofs.

Afterwards we went to dinner at Center World Plaza, within the distance of a short walk.

Above: Vee, Maitree, Sean and Tawn. Below: Suchai, Francois, Chairat, and Tawn at the Food Hall at Central World Plaza.

Above: Dresses on display at Zen department store that will be part of a charity auction.

Of pumpkin pies and upside down sconces

Posted on 9 January 2008 by christao408

Paul and Aori came over last night. They thought they were coming over to see the condo then we’d go out to dinner, but I cooked dinner for them. Nothing fancy: linguine with homemade pesto, a mixed green salad and a baguette. For dessert, homemade pumpkin pie. From scratch. Yes, really.

Started out with this … and ended up with this

The crust didn’t work out correctly. I had this “foolproof” pie crust recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that uses a vodka/water mixture to keep the dough pliable but not tough when cooked. But it is made with a food processor and my food processor is in Kansas City. So I cut the fat in by hand and it just didn’t work out the same. For some reason the dough already seemed moist before I ever added any water. It didn’t hold together when being rolled out. Maybe I mis-measured, although I thought I was being very careful. A tablespoon of butter is 1/2 oz or 4 grams, right?

Maybe I really need to have a food processor to distribute the fat correctly? Jenn, if you’re not using my Cuisinart, I might be bringing it back to Thailand next time I’m in KC. No budget left for buing one here.

Anyhow, crust aside, the pumpkin filling tasted great. It really is so easy to make it from scratch that I don’t know why you would bother with canned filling and that tinny flavor that accompanies it. I’ve never been much of a fan of pumpkin pie, but this was seriously tasty. Roka was the one who first asked if I knew how to make pumpkin pie, so as soon as I get the crust figured out, I’ll make one for her. Anyone else want to come over?

♦ ♦ ♦

This morning the mirror men (glass men?) came to install the handles on the mirrored cabinet doors. This involved drilling into the mirror and through the wood behind it. It looked like a complicated process as they changed drill bits frequently and were sprinkling water on the mirror as they drilled, I guess to either keep it from cracking or to keep the glass dust from flying around. Considering that nobody had any protective gear on, either reason would be fine with me.

The electricians showed up unexpectedly after that to install the final two sconces, which Paul had hand carried from San Francisco. Unfortunately, when the question came whether to install them facing up or down, I chose up. I tried calling but he was in a meeting and I couldn’t get through.

Feeling empowered, I told the electricians to install them facing up.

They’ll be out Thursday afternoon to correct that and turn them to face down.

So much for being empowered, eh?

♦ ♦ ♦

Afterwards I had to run an errand so while out, I met up with Ken, Bill and Roka at Kalpapruek Restaurant off Silom.

I’ve eaten at their locations at Paragon and Emporium many times, but it wasn’t until I walked onto the property today (the restaurant is situated in an old house and adjoining buildings between Silom and Sathorn) that I recognized it: this is the place Tawn brought me for lunch the day after we met, eight years ago. There has been remodelling since then but I knew it in an instant. Above, Ken tries to navigate the menu as our waitress looks on, very patiently. Below: Kalpapruek is known for their baked goods. Here is their orange cake with a meringue frosting.

♦ ♦ ♦

Back at the Surasak BTS station, I took some pictures of the abandoned office building immediately next to the station.

There are hundreds of these ghost buildings in the greater Khrungthep area, victims of the 1997 Asian economic crisis.

While dozens of new buildings are being built today, there are countless relics that for whatever reason are never finished. Most of them just stand empty, others have been taken over by squatters or have been targets for what I assume are mostly farang graffitti taggers.

♦ ♦ ♦

Funny election picture. From the New York Times is this picture of John McCain. All I can think is, “I hope he doesn’t try to hug me!”

Thursday evening Tawn and I are heading to Hong Kong for the weekend. It is the end of my 90-day visa and I need to renew it, so a border run is necessary. Temperatures are wintry there – highs forecasts of 25 C / 77 F and lows of 20 C / 68 F. Where is that parka?

Posted on 7 January 2008 by christao408

Lots of visitors. Paul is in town. Daniel and Joe are coming to town. And yesterday I received a call from Claude, who, while being from New York, had found himself in Singapore about to board a flight to Bangkok.

“Can I crash at your place?” he asked.

“If you’re okay with a little Japanese style futon,” I replied.

As my aunt says, there’s always room for one more. Most of the time, Tawn agrees with that, but I’m not going to test him to see where the limit is.

So I picked Caude up at the airport. On the way there, sitting at the intersection of Thanon Ramkamhaeng, I noticed these interesting planters. The mayor of Khrunthep has made a lot of effort to beautify the city, planting more greenery. What I liked about this particular intersection was the clever (and Very Thai*) way that the people with the green thumbs had gone about overcoming the very tall concrete barrier.

First off, put the plants in trash bins. They’re large enough, there’s plenty of them around the city, so why not?

Second, if the bins aren’t tall enough, just keep piling on concrete footpath pavers until the plants can peer over the top of the barrier.

Waht I love about it is, it is such a practical and elegant (if not pretty) solution.

Claude was very thoughtful and bought us a bottle of Absolut Vodka at Singapore Changi Airport’s duty free. They are selling a limited edition “Absolut Disco” bottle, which is a regular bottle sold in a funky disco ball case. Very cute! There’s even a hole at the top so you can hang it from the ceiling on a little spinning motor. I’ve suggested to Tawn that we take down the chandelier and replace it with this bottle.

This morning, Claude went off to Koh Samed for a few days at the beach. We’ll see about reconnecting this weekend in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, it is off to Thai class for me.

* I’m thinking that I may start using this “Very Thai” picture to denote entries or observations that I find to be illustrative of Thai culture. The original book is by Philip Cornwel-Smith and is full of many “oh, now I understand” moments. I’ll try to contribute more of them along the same vein.

Fireworks galore as we stay home

Posted on 1 January 2008 by christao408

New Year’s Eve was thankfully quiet. It is a public holiday here in Thailand, essentially giving people a four-day weekend. Roads were quieter than normal, car parks and malls emptier.

In the morning I drove to the Sukhothai Hotel on Sathorn Road, right. The sister of a friend was in town from Hong Kong and had a package to give me. I met her and her husband pool-side and visited for a few minutes.

Such an attentive staff and so gorgeous a hotel! When I arrived, I didn’t see Julie. Turns out that she had gone up to her room to get the package and since I hadn’t met her husband, I didn’t know what he looked like. The staff made a great effort to locate her and fortunately she showed up a few minutes later.

In the afternoon, Tawn decided it was time for him to do some cooking. Craving linguini with pesto sauce, he pulled out the blender and made some fresh pesto. We enjoyed a light lunch before he headed to his parents’ house.

I worked throughout the afternoon and then started preparing dinner as we had decided to spend our New Year’s Eve at home. The menu was a bit of a reprise from Saturday. I had leftover mozzarella cheese and ricotta and spinach mixture, so I bought some more mushrooms and made another vegetarian lasagna.

There was still some broiled zucchini and eggplant mixture, so that became a gratin. The flavors of the cucumber-mango salad were nicely melded by now, so that rounded out the trio nicely.

For dessert, the final two individual chocolate souffles were unwrapped from the freezer, puffing up nicely in the oven as if the batter had been prepared just minutes beforehand. All in all, a simple menu, but a delightful one and spent with the best of company: Tawn.

Shortly before we moved into the condo, I bought a bottle of Möet & Chandon Brut Imperial Champagne to celebrate. It has been waiting patiently and last night seemed to be the best time to open it.

To kill time waiting for the clock to strike midnight, we watched an episode from season two of “The West Wing” on DVD. I don’t watch TV and hadn’t really seen this show when it was on the air. Vic loaned me the discs and the series is really good. If all TV were like this, I’d be watching all the time. Heck, I’d even go out and buy a TV.

About three minutes before midnight some over-eager locals began setting off the fireworks. Limited in the US to only “safe and sane” fireworks or official public displays, it seems everyone in Khrungthep gets their hands on some pretty serious munitions. There was an excellent view from our balcony of a large display just up Thong Lo from us, complemented by a half-dozen adjacent properties setting off their own Roman candles and other more spectacular fireworks. For a quarter-hour there were bams and booms and howling soi dogs.

And thus we start 2008 (2551 in the Buddhist calendar).

“Soft Opening” a success

Posted on 30 December 2007 by christao408

Entertaining friends at your home is not a particularly common feature of Thai living. Instead, people will meet at a restaurant, bar, karaoke, or bowling alley and socialize there. Tawn and I really enjoy entertaining and it was an enjoyable part of our life in the United States.

When we were planning our condo remodel, we made many decisions along the way that would help us maintain this aspect of our lifestyle. From redesigning the kitchen with a larger refrigerator to setting up the bedrooms so they could be used for socializing, we tried to build a space where we could host friends and family members in comfort.

After having a small brunch as the first test of our home’s ability as an entertaining environment, we were ready for the next step in the proving trials: dinner for a dozen. Actually, it ended up being sixteen or seventeen, but who’s counting. Below: Moments before the first guest arrives, the stage is set. The condo looks especially nice at night.

I began prep work for the cooking on Friday evening, while Tawn hosted a small group of his friends. Originally it was explained to me as, “Eddy and Jack are going to stop by to take a look at the condo.” It then became, “Eddy and Jack and David are going to stop by to take a look at the condo and maybe have a drink.”

It further progressed to, “… and maybe I’ll order some Italian food if we get hungry.” Finally, it turned out as Eddy, Jack, David, Sa, Job, Mon and Ton came over for several hours, drank numerous bottles of wine, ordered pizza, pasta and salad from Pizza Mania, and kept me from getting all the prep work done I had hoped to.

But that’s okay… it was nice to see them and I continued working while people floated into the kitchen to visit for a while, then floated back to the living room. The only things I couldn’t do involved sauteeing onions and garlic, which I thought might annoy the guests a bit.

When I lived in San Francisco, before Tawn and I moved in together, I lived in a 90-year old Edwardian house on Eureka Street, just above the Castro in a section of town known by longer-term residents as Eureka Valley. I had two roommates, Anita and Colleen (although both Holly and Nina lived there at various times, too), and we would have parties quite frequently. Usually, if they involved dinner they were smaller affairs – 8-10 people at the most. If they were just drinks and appetizers, the numbers would get larger.

I recall these parties as being pretty uncomplicated. Tidy up the house a bit, light some candles, turn on some Miles Davis or Morcheeba, and wrap a round of brie in some filo dough and pop it in the over.

Somehow, when Tawn and I host gatherings, it becomes quite complicated.

Some of it is the food, although we’ve been learning and applying lessons and the food we prepare is increasingly prepared in advance, requiring little work during the party itself. In fact, by the time the first guest arrived Saturday night, the cooking was done.

Some of the complication comes from the decoration. I think we put a lot of effort into arranging the house, decorating it, and making it like something out of a magazine. I’m sure the guests appreciate these thoughtful touches, but I suspect they wouldn’t mind or even notice if they were missing.

For example, we provided party favors for our guests last night: pairs of macarons from the Erawan Hotel bakery, neatly wrapped in a cellophane bag with a festive bow. Really cute and very thoughtful, but it meant a trip to the hotel, waiting for them to wrap everything, and then an hour Saturday morning tying the bows.

After our parties, Tawn and I debrief and try to see what we can learn to make our lives easier next time. Hopefully we’ll get a bit better at applying the lessons and not just learning them again and again, because we really like entertaining and want it to be an enjoyable experience for us, too.

With that said, let me now regale you with all the cooking that was done! It was a pot luck dinner but I wasn’t sure how effectively that would work. First of all, many of our friends have small or nonexistent kitchens. Second, I’m not sure if a pot luck is really a very “Thai” thing to do.

As a result, I over prepared and created two side dishes and extra appetizers in addition to the main course that I had promised to provide. That’s okay as I wanted to try the recipes and they were pretty easy to prepare. The menu provided by me included:

crudités with homemade basil and sundried tomato dressing
baked artichoke-spinach dip
Australian brie en croûte
mango-cucumber salad dressed with a green curry and rice wine vinaigrette
roasted eggplant and zucchini medley
lasagna two ways: hearty meat and mushroom-spinach

Right: Chopping roasted artichoke hearts for the dip.

Our guests provided many wonderful accompaniments: a large mixed green salad, fried turnip cakes, a spicy Thai-style sausage salad, and desserts and beverages. Pot luck is a successful concept here so that means less cooking for me in the future.

Below: Lasagna in three easy steps.

Above: The egglpant-zucchini medley. Below: The table is set with the appetizers.

We ended up with a nice mix of people. In addition to the usual suspects of the American expats and their partners, Roka, Prawit and Kobfa, Tawn’s cousin Paul and his wife Nicha made a visit. Tawn’s friend and ballet instructor Mae stopped by with her Danish friend, Daniel.

Vic also brought a volleyball friend of his, Kook, who recognized me and Tawn – it turns out that he works in the same building as Tawn for an advertising company that is under the same corporate umbrella as Tawn’s employer. Kook had seen us before at the Thailand Cultural Centre, and he and Tawn saw each other in the elevators at work but had never met.

Furthering the coincidences, we discovered that Ken’s partner Suchai knows Kook’s brother. Small, small world.

Right: Ken and Suchai in a rare display of public affection. Below: Russ, Bill and Vic fuss over the salad.

Above: The second bedroom/office makes for a nice separate seating area for guests in the background. Below: Tawn’s cousin Paul (center) shares a story about his experiences working in China for the Central Group of department stores. Bill is to the left in the group and Kook is to the right on the sofa.

In the end, it was a very good party. As people left, we sent food with them so that we ended the evening with only a small amount of leftovers. I think on my next trip to the US I’m going to Costco and buying a big box of those Gladware storage containers. We sent people home with some of my better quality storage containers and I hope I get them back as they’re kind of expensive!

We had our customary debrief while cleaning up: what went well, what could be better? Hopefully we’ll apply the lessons we discussed…

christao408

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

Tag Archives: Bangkok

When a Critical Mass is Reached

Rak Haeng Siam Resonates

Bicycling from Bridge to Bridge to Bridge

Paradox Soft Opening, Partie Deux

Stay tuned

Of pumpkin pies and upside down sconces

Fireworks galore as we stay home

“Soft Opening” a success