Posted on 27 December 2007 by christao408

Things have been slow, socially, the past few days. A lunch here, a Thai lesson there, but not much that is blogable. My cousin Kari’s high school friend Sarah arrived from New York with her husband and another couple in tow. We met them for dinner last night at Cafe de Laos and then drinks on the rooftop Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel. But the week was pretty unblogable. Until the bookshelves arrived on Wednesday.

Some of you may recall this sketch I did before the remodel started, showing what I had in mind for the living room. A pair of pocket doors with traditional Victorian bookshelves built in on each side. All along, I thought this was the basic design that Tawn and I were working towards.

Modified Living Room

In fact, the design had made a left turn some ways back but it wasn’t apparant to me. Somewhere along the road, Tawn showed me a picture from an issue of Martha Stewart Living (a woman whose name is starting to haunt me) and asked, “What do you think aobut this design?” I took it as a question relating to the china cabinet that we want to put near the kitchen and dining table. Not realizing that it was related instead to the design for the bookshelf, I said that it was okay.

So on Tuesday the cabinet makers arrive with the “bookshelves”. But as they go to put the top halves up, they discover that the entire piece is physically too tall. They’ve mis-measured and the ceiling is two inches lower than the height of the bookshelf. To top it off, they depth and width are both just about a half-inch to an inch too big to fit into the space. It seems that baseboards and window frames were not taken into consideration when measurements were made. (And the measurements were not made by us, I’ll point out.)

Below: Tawn discusses the options with the handyman (left) who installed our toilet paper hanger vertically because, he says, I told him to, and the general contractor’s son. Note the height of the top border on the cabinet.

The workers left the shelves, drawers, and doors behind and took the top half of the cabinet back to the shop. They returned on Thursday and installed the new, slightly lower bookshelves. Width and depth issues have not been resolved but we’ll see about that later on. Notice that the border on the top of the cabinet is now narrower.

The problem is, because the shelves are still so tall and weren’t built with the correct width and depth, the top corner of the door hits the light fixture when you open it! (Collective sigh and roll of the eyes.)

So what do you think of the shelves?

Personally, I think the design is nice for a china cabinet, which is what I thought the design was originally for. But as a bookshelf? I don’t know about that.

One of the biggest problems is that the shelves in the top half are made of untempered glass and I’m not convinced they’ll hold the weight of the books. Especially since they have no supports in the middle.

I also have mixed feelings about the glass doors and sides, which has a diamond pattern etched into them. If you’re going to have glass shelves, shouldn’t you have doors that allow you to display the contents? The whole point of glass shelves and doors is to show off your plates, platters and teapots, right?

There is a little pull-out drawer, a feature I really like as it makes for a good side table or console… on a china cabinet. But not for a book shelf.

Also, I really expected that there would be a gap of about 10 inches between the top of the shelves and the ceiling. That’s why we installed the little spot lights, to highlight the objets d’art we would display there. I’m not sure if it is realistic to slice off several inches of the cabinet, maybe all of those small drawers?

Another option, which Tawn isn’t as keen on as he likes the cabinets, would be to try to sell them on Craigslist and use the proceeds to build another pair of bookshelves. Or, should I say, “to build some bookshelves” as I don’t think these are bookshelves?

So just when things were seeming a bit na beua they became interesting again.

Posted on 24 December 2007 by christao408

Christmas is and is not celebrated here in Thailand. Christians comprise less than 1% of the population, yet the main streets and shopping centers are done up in holiday lights. A lot of this is for New Year’s, which is a big deal here, but Santa Claus and other imagery associated with Christmas (including trees) works its way into the decorations.

Monday evening we met a small group of friends – Doug, Roka, Suchai and Ken – for dinner down the street at Bacco, the more expensive sibling of Basillico on Sukhumvit 31. The food is significantly better, more creative and of higher quality.

We had papparadelle in duck ragout, a tuna tartare and pomelo appetizer, linguine with smoked salmon and vodka sauce, and a tasty arugula salad (right) and a variety of bruschetta.

The conversation and company were wonderful, more than compensating for the slightly higher bill than I anticipated. Oh, well – you cannot regret what you’ve already done, but only learn from those lessons for the future.

Afterwards, Tawn and I headed to Central World Plaza to try and take some holiday photos in what is the equivalent of Khrungthep’s Times Square. Last year the New Year’s Eve celebrations were dampened by a series of bomb attacks that killed three people and injured more than 40. With the election of the PPP government, whose Thai Rak Thai roots were decidedly harsh on the South, we may very well expect more of the same this year.

Thailand returns to democracy but the fun is hardly over

Posted on 23 December 2007 by christao408

Sunday, December 23rd the Thai people went to the polls to elect a new government, the first democratic elections since a military-led coup toppled the constitution in September 2006. The coup government claimed that the coup was held because Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (“Thais love Thais”) party were corrupt and had undermined the nation’s democracy. After an investigation, a court dissolved TRT and banned 111 of its leaders from politics for five years.

From the ashes of the largely populist TRT, which despite allegations of vote buying in previous elections seems to legitimately have the support of a large majority of the Thai citizens, rose the People Power Party. With obvious connections to exiled Thaksin, PPP leader Samak Sundaravej has made clear that one of the PPP’s planks is to continue TRT’s popular policies.

Another plank is to let Thaksin return to Thailand and receive a fair trial. The implication is that the 111 TRT leaders could be cleared of all charges and return to politics.

How much do PPP members support Thaksin? This Bangkok Post picture, right, shows them at a rally wearing Thaksin masks. TRT/PPP has been especially popular in the North and Northeast sections of the country, with Khrungthep forming the crucial battleground for the elections.

The 72-year old Samak (left), a crotchety veteran of Thai politics known for berating “irreverent” female reporters, faces off against the rival Democrat Party, led by 43-year old Oxford-educated Abhisit Vejjajiva (right) who was described by The Economist magazine as handsome but ineffectual.

The Democrats, a historically conservative party that is royalist in nature that is the primary challenge to the PPP, has in recent years had a difficult time building any effective support beyond the urban middle class in Khrungthep and the residents of the conflict-torn South.

The Campaign

Thai election campaigns are more about parties than individual candidates. With the new constitution, each region of the country is given three representative seats so parties have promoted trios of candidates who are generally not notable with the exception of being from a particular party. We don’t need to know anything about them beyond their profession or the family they’re from. All we need to know is that they are a member of a particular party.

The party leaders, Samak and Abhisit included, have been the only point where there has been any policy debate. Most of this has been general and couched in elusive terms. “We’re for the country and happiness!” could easily be the slogan of any of the seven parties.

Campaign signs are generally dull. For example:

From upper left: “Please vote for all the team members” from the Democrat Party. Prachai Liawpirat, the leader of the Machimatitapai Party, an entrepreneur who is positioning himself essentially as a new Thaksin. Ruam Jai Thai Chat Pattana Party (“Thai Togetherness, the Nation Progresses”) puts forth a slate of multi-colored shirts with the slogan, “Choose as you think best, for the life of the Khrungthep residents”. Chart Thai (the #3 ranked party) leader, Banharn Silpa-archa, who is known by his nickname “Tung” referring to his passing resemblance to Mao Tse Tung. Tung actually is a key player here, which I’ll talk about in a moment.

The only campaigning that was really interesting was that put up by Chart Thai’s Khrungthep candidates, who are really emphasizing their youth and being part of a new generation, fed up by the past. Their posters, four of which I’ll explain below, are really funny.

Left: “We smell the bad smell of “polluted water” politics. Do you also?” The line drawing behind them show a crowd of people holding their noses, too. The expression nam naw refers to the polluted water that are underneath slum houses, for example along a khlong.

The expression is used idiomatically to mean someone or something that is overly dramatic for no purpose. For example, soap operas on television are called lakon nam naw – literally, “polluted water show”.

The funny event in all of this is that Tung, the leader of Chart Thai, was on a campaign stop in a slum area in Bangkok and the floor collapsed under him and he literally ended up in the nam naw. This led to all sorts of jokes that he, too, had been tainted by the bad smell of polluted politics.

The last laugh will be on Tung, though, because unless the PPP or the Democrats get a significant majority in the elections, they will need to form a coalition government and Chart Thai is running third in the polls. As was pointed out after the nam naw incident, Tung might be smelling bad now but after the elections, the other parties will be coming up to sniff his cheeks.

Left: “Choose the team of the new generation, for the new era of politics” featuring Apikiat “Bo” Janpanit (#10) as the “captain” of the team, a perfect allusion in this football-mad country. Center: “Time to take out the political tape worms” with an image of a tape worm medicine bottle superimposed over Apikiat’s face. Right: “Too many new political parties, but the old faces again? Young people get bored.” Despite #12’s looking like he isn’t part of the young generation, Chart Thai is trying to drum up support among the younger generation.

The Results

The polls closed at 3:00 in the afternoon and three different exit polls are indicating that the PPP has won the largest segment of seats in the new parliament, although by how much is the question. One poll puts their lead at 256 of the 480 seats, to the Democrat’s 162. Other polls show the margin narrower. If the PPP does get around that many seats, they may be able to form a government on their own. But if their margin is narrower, they will have to form a coalition, which could lead to instability.

Either way, there is no doubt that the political turmoil will continue. The current government was making overt efforts to discredit the PPP’s campaign before the election, including raising questions about vote buying and the inappropriate appearance of a campaign VCD distributed in the north with a message from Thaksin. This looks like groundwork to potentially invalidate the election results afterwards.

In the past two weeks, the King has publicly appealed to the nation no less than three times – a rare excess of appearances – asking for unity in this difficult time. It will be interesting to see if his subjects pay heed to his request.

One thing is certain: stay tuned over the months to come for more political uncertainty.

Of fabulous women, real and otherwise

Posted on 17 December 2007 by christao408

Monday night Tawn and I went with Ken, Brian and Sean to watch famed soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa perform at the Thailand Cultural Centre. This was billed as her “farewell tour recital” which I can’t decide whether it means that this is a recital in preparation for the tour or perhaps just the tour itself.

I’ve never seen Dame Kiri perform before but was captivated by her incredible voice. It was a simple recital: Dame Kiri and her pianist, center stage. She peformed six sets of songs and two encores, starting with German operas, moving through French, doing a few more contemporary songs such as “Scarborough Fair”, and then moving to the Italian operas.

Dame Kiri’s voice, and her control of it, is amazing. Unamplified, the audience was leaning forward breathlessly to catch each and every subtle rise and fall of her voice. It was just a lovely experience.

That was our experience this week with a fabulous and real (by birth) woman. Sunday night we spent some time in the world of fabulous not-so-real woman, although in all fairness some of them are in the process of becoming women. The event: Miss AC/DC 2007! This year’s tag line: Same Thing in Reverse. The Thai version was a bit racier, translating as “Taking Turns Receiving and Giving”.

In its seventh year, Miss AC/DC has its roots deep in a strong subculture within the gay Thai community: transgendered and, particularly, transsexual people. Best described as the Miss Universe pageant with fake breasts and estrogen, it is a much better reflection of the gay community in Bangkok than the November pride week. Pride week is a feeble collection of events sponsored by the mostly farang owners of the bars and other businesses in the Silom gay ghetto.

Miss AC/DC on the other hand, was organized, supported, and attended by locals, many of whom probably don’t show their faces on Silom at all. It felt so much more like a representative picture of the community and, as such, was great fun. Nonetheless, there seems to be a bit of a divide within the event:

There are the transsexual participants, people who were born men but identify as women, many of whom are taking steps towards gender reassignment surgery. For example, a number of contestants had had breast implant surgery and filled out their evening gowns au natural.

Then there are the drag queens, people who are dressing as women for the fun of the event, but who maintain their identity as men on a daily basis. The choice of Miss AC/DC 2006 apparently caused some controversy precisely because she wasn’t woman enough, whereas many of the other previous winners seemed to put their inner woman on the outside.

Anyhow, that aside, it was an evening filled with a lot of talent, creativity, and fun. Here are the pictures and the stories that go with them. Click on pictures to see larger versions.

Each audience member receives a ballot – I’m not sure how or what our votes count for, because there was a panel of some twenty judges. Before the show the contestants are mingling with guests in the foyer of the BEC Tero Hall (a large concert/event hall at Suan Lumpini Night Bazaar) showing off their costumes and posing for pictures. Here is Tawn with some of the contestants. Clockwise from upper left: Miss Canada (the only farang contestant), Miss Greece, Miss Zimbabwe, and the recipient of our votes, Miss Vietnam.

Also posted in the foyer were the profiles of the contestants, most of which had “before and after” pictures showing them in their everyday and as a woman looks. There were some eighty contestants, but here is a sampling, most of whom I think participated as drag queens rather than transsexuals:

Miss Bangladesh and Miss Lithuania

Miss Mauritius and Miss Oman

Miss Russia and Miss Zambia Below, Miss Zimbabwe

This was a professional production, held in a large hall with all of the trappings of any major pageant. Filming was being done for the DVD (last year’s was on sale in the lobby) and the event was projected onto screens throughout the hall so people sitting further back could see every detail.

Thanks to Suchai, whose group of friends is very closely involved with the Miss AC/DC organization, we scored front row tickets across from the press section. Note where Tawn is sitting in the picture below.

The opening piece, a full on Broadway style musical number with hired dancers (these are not the contestants performing) was a political satire using an old patriotic song, performers dressed as female military members a la the Women’s Auxiliary Corps of World War II, ending with the soldiers holding up the constitution – a very clever commentary on the coup and other recent political events, below.

Then the evening’s contestants paraded onstage in their fanciful and creative costumes:

Above: Miss Czech Republic is her diamond dress, Miss Denmark in her award-winning costume walks with Miss Dominican Republic. Below from left to right: Miss Norway, Miss Egypt, Miss England (dress inspired by My Fair Lady), Miss Jamaica, Miss Zimbabwe, Miss China, Miss Zambia (red hair), Miss Singapore, Miss Spain (red dress, back row), and Miss Curacoa (yellow feathers).

Left: Miss Jamaica, Miss Hong Kong, Miss Finland, and Miss Peru.

Below: In the center of the picture, Miss Netherlands (tulip dress with windmill) and Miss Burma.

The best costume award was won by Miss Russia, who came out as a series of matrioshka nesting dolls in an arrangement of fishing wire and two assistants that was brilliantly clever. How much money and how many hours were spent on these ideas?

Also quite well done was Miss Laos, whose puffy plaid dress flipped down in the midst of her runway walk to reveal and elegant canary yellow number.

The second phase of the event was an evening gown contest, which gave the contestants an excuse to wear yet another fantastic outfit. Here is a sample of the types of dresses we saw, some of which were truly beautiful and, on some of the contestants, very elegant.

The number of participants was whittled to a final ten who then performed in the talent portion of the pageant. Miss Vietnam rode her unicycle, Miss Czech Republic did a gymnastics routine, and Miss Jamaica sang with a resonant and powerful voice.

As the judges’ votes were tallied, Miss AC/DC 2006 (who had been Miss USA) performed a cheerleading routine with what must be an organized cheer squad. They were very good and other than being gay and Thai, would have fit in at almost any college football game in the United States.

Finally, some five and a half hours after it started, the final five contestants were lined up on stage and the runner-up awards were given. Our choice, Miss Vietnam, came in second to this year’s Miss AC/DC, Miss Jamaica!

It was a long evening and a lot of fun. Who knows if we’ll have the energy to do the whole thing again next year, but it was one of the most interesting glimpses into gay Thai culture that I’ve seen so far. In fact, Ken, Tawn and I were discussing what a fascinating documentary could be made about the pageant and the lives of the various participants. Who is there for which reasons, whose family members know (and support) them in this event, what about the trans vs. drag debate, etc…

Nong Ryeroam ma jag meuang Paris (Ryeroam comes from Paris)

Posted on 16 December 2007 by christao408

Saturday afternoon we hosted our first meal. Granted, Roka came over a week ago and we baked cookies, made soup, and ate some food. But that wasn’t an official meal, just cooks eating their cooking.

Right: The marble mantle has been installed and is decorated for the party.

Saturday was our first official meal with invited guests, a champagne brunch to enjoy the bottle that Ryeroam had asked Ken and Suchai to bring to us as a housewarming, after they visited him in Paris in September. Since Ryeroam was in town to collect his grandmother and take her to the US for his graduation next week, it was the perfect time to open the bottle.

Ryeroam and I met through airliners.net, a website for aviation enthusiasts, which is also how I met Ken and a score of other people. He lives with his partner in Paris, although in the time I’ve known him he has lived in Mexico City as well as Buenos Aires, all the while working on his degree in the United States. It is a global village, I tell you.

Above from left: Chris, Ryeroam, Suchai, Ken and Tawn.

The menu was pretty simple and easy to prepare:

Individual spinach, mushroom and pine nut quiches

Mixed green salad with tomatoes

Homemade buttermilk biscuits (not pictured)

Assorted desserts from The Landmark Hotel

To wash it all down, we enjoyed a bottle of Laurent-Perrier brut non-vintage Champagne and a bottle of Vallformosa methode Champagnoise sparkling wine from Spain

I had also prepared a cherry pie, not knowing that Suchai was going to bring desserts. Needless to say, there was no room for the pie.

The condo really sparkles when we have guests. There are just a lot of nice spaces and it is a lot of fun to entertain. The kitchen is sufficiently large, although we’re short on plates, bowls and glasses. Once we have a small china cabinet we’ll round out our collection of dinnerware so we can match.

Skytrain extension progresses

Posted on 15 December 2007 by christao408

Last Sunday after completing a 30-km ride around Benjakiti Park with Markus (fifteen times around the 2-km bike path) but before heading home, I rode out to Sukhumvit 101, near the very edge of the province of Khrungthep.

The week before I had driven to a vendor’s showroom out in that neighborhood and had wanted to take pictures of the progress of the Skytrain extension, but there was nowhere convenient to stop. On a Sunday morning and with a bicycle, it was easier to stop and document the construction.

The Skytrain, the nearly seven-year old elevated rail system, along with the underground MRTA system, have provided a lot of relief to Khrungthep commuters. Prior to these transit systems opening, traffic was really a mess.

The good news is that the system is expanding: an extension across the Chao Phraya River is nearly done, the airport line will be finished late next year, and two new MRTA lines extending north and to the west into Thonburi are slated to begin construction soon. There is also an extension down Sukhumvit, the city’s main northwest-southeast artery, that will run from the current terminus at On Nut all the way to the provincial border at Bang Na.

Above: The construction of Punnawithi Station, which is referenced as “Sukhumvit 101” on this master transit plan map. Note the equipment they use to hoist the preformed concrete viaduct pieces into place using the hanging cables. After a section is done, it is rolled forward to the next pillar.

Below: From a pedestrian bridge just south of the future Punnawithi Station, I was able to look north (back towards On Nut, Thong Lo, Asoke, and Siam) along Sukhumvit:

Below: And then south towards Bang Na and the provincial border.

It is very exciting to see this progressing. Still another two years or so until it is completed, but it should help reduce traffic significantly.

Amazing Race, Khrungthep

On the subject of traffic and the effects of transit, yesterday evening Tawn and I conducted a little test. We left our condo on Sukhumvit 53 (Thong Lo station on the map linked to above) and headed to an event at Lumpini Night Bazaar (Lumpini station on the map). It was 5:50 on Sunday afternoon and Tawn wanted to drive, but I felt traffic would be heavy.

So we agreed (amicably) that I would take transit and he would drive. As we walked out the front door of the condo and Tawn headed for the car park, I hailed a motorcycle taxi. Two minutes later I was standing on the platform of Thong Lor station while Tawn was still making his way out to the main street.

At 6:12 I exited Lumpini station, having made the connection from Skytrain to MRTA at Asoke station. An easy five minutes’ walk later I was at the BEC Tero Hall in the Night Bazaar. I called Tawn: he was stuck on Sukhumvit headed towards Asoke.

At 6:45 Tawn arrived, having caved into the traffic and parked at his father’s office on Sukhumvit Soi 12 and taken a motorcycle taxi the rest of the way. The motorcycle taxi cost him 80 baht and my transit cost me less than 50.

Conclusion: Let’s get those transit projects built!

Letter to Dear Abby

Posted on 14 December 2007 by christao408

Dear Khun Abby,

I am a farang (foreigner) living as an ex-pat in Bangkok, Thailand with my Thai partner of nearly eight years. In the time we’ve been together, I’ve made a lot of effort to try to understand the Thai culture, including learning to speak, read and write the language, and be aware of and sensitive to the customs, manners, etiquette and social expectations of Thais.

While I know that it can take a lifetime to really learn another culture, I think I’ve done a pretty good job learning and applying what I’ve learned. I base this on “Thais tell Thais” feedback, where other Thais have complimented my partner on my manners, appropriate behavior, etc.

But this isn’t about me, Khun Abby. Living here, I’ve met many other farang, both in relationships and looking for relationships. Many of them have had success in learning the culture, too, and make a lot of effort to be sensitive to Thai expectations. But there are also many times when I observe some of them do things that are taboo, impolite, or unrefined by Thai standards.

At first, I thought this was just haughty arrogance on my part. “I’m better than they are” type of thinking. But the “Thais tell Thais” network suggests there is more to it than that. The Thais in our social group comment on some of the things they do. Even their own partners comment about it in a “oh, well, what can you do?” sort of way.

Some of the things are pretty minor – table manners, for example – while others are a bit more important and involve language use and interpersonal communication. But all these actions reflect on them and, in a society that values the concept of “face” so highly, the actions reflect on their partners and potential partners.

Khun Abby, what do I do – or do I do anything – to make other farang aware of these standards, manners and expectations? I know that they have the best of intentions and aren’t doing these things on purpose, but I also know that I’ll come across as either prissy or a know-it-all if I try to gently mention these things.

“Let a Thai tell them,” you say? Maybe, except that one of the tantamount aspects of Thai culture is not to cause others to lose face, so it is better just to smile away the conflict than to confront it.

Thank you for any advice you can provide.

Khap khun khrap,

Caring in Khrunghtep

Baking gingerbread cookies and souffles

Posted on 9 December 2007 by christao408

A recent purchase at Playground’s design and arts bookstore was The Best Make-Ahead Recipe Cookbook from the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. I’m a big fan of CI magazine and the companion show on US public television, America’s Test Kitchen, because the editors are detailed and yet no-nonsense and they talk about technique, mechanics, and the science behind what’s happening in the recipes.

The premise behind the cookbook is the idea that modern-day cooks haven’t the time to prepare full meals from scratch each and every time the clock strikes breakfast, lunch or dinner. So they tested their recipes to determine how to create ones that could be prepared in advance and come out of a few days in the refrigerator or even a few weeks in the freezer, looking and tasting as good as (or better than) their freshly-made counterparts.

Individual chocolate souffles was one recipe that piqued my interest as I think souffles are a fantastic dessert but am hampered by what I perceived to be the amount of last-minute time needed in the kitchen. I’d rather be out enjoying my guests’ company than whipping up egg whites.

On Friday evening I prepared the recipe and put the individual souffles, tightly wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil, in the freezer. Trying something different and playful, I used a combination of Illy Caffe cappuccino cups along with traditional ramekins.

Starting at the top left and working across and down: Whip the egg yolks and sugar to create a pale, frothy mixture. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marie, a water bath. Fold the eggs into the chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Spoon into prepared ramekins. The finished product, ready to wrap and freeze.

But how would they turn out after two nights in the freezer? Roka came over on Sunday to help me make gingerbread cookies and Tawn had two friends over to listen to one’s relationship troubles, so I had a ready audience of guinea pigs.

Fifteen minutes in a 180-degree C oven was enough to bring the souffles to modest heights, hampered by their lack of paper collars to help the climb. But they were evenly cooked and very tasty. Plus, they look cute in the cups!

Below, Tawn, Pim and Prince enjoy their “cups” of souffle.

Roka (left)makes for an excellent co-chef. She is knowledgable and passionate about cooking, is able to provide good insights and helpful suggestions, and it very willing to pitch in above and beyond the “just tell me what to do” level.

What was originally just an evening making gingerbread cookies turned into a whole lot more. I had some recipes I was meaning to try and since the cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator, we had some time on our hands.

The additional menu items included an Ecuadorean potato soup called locro de papas which is flavored with anatto seed oil (easy to make at home) and fish cakes with paprika-lemon mayonnaise made from cod.

The gingerbread was a new thing for both of us, so we used a Martha Stewart recipe for “easy” gingerbread. It was fairly easy but for the life of me it seemed really dry. Also, we had not found a person-shaped cookie cutter so we used biscuit cutters and a hand-made template for the profile of a house.

Above: fish cakes with paprika-lemon mayonnaise. Below: Decorating the cookies with our makeshift pastry bag.

Below: Our finished cookies. Can you spot the Wat Phra Gaew cookie – the Temple of the Emerald Buddha? This may not be the most appropriate image to put on a cookie, but it seemed to go with the theme of gingerbread houses.

You know you’ve really moved in when…

Posted on 8 December 2007 by christao408

Each person has their own way of defining the moment when they know that they’ve really moved in to a new place. For me, it is when I first fire up my oven and bake some biscuits. Always from scratch and, whenever available, from buttermilk.

This morning as Tawn and I waited to the handyman and the contractor’s son to come over and fix some things, I whipped up a batch of biscuits.

Above, from left: Taken from the balcony looking in, I cut-in the shortening; mixing in the buttermilk just until the dough starts to come together; kneading just a half-dozen times to create flaky layers but not make the dough tough; cutting the biscuits – pushing straight down and not turning the cutter so the sides of the biscuits do not seal and can rise properly. Below: Ready to go into the convection oven.

Below: And, just out of the oven…

Above: Gentle breezes, swaying palms, French-press coffee and hot biscuits with pomelo marmelade from the Oriental Hotel Shop. Below: We’re still figuring out how we want to arrange the drop-leaf dining table. Tawn and our designer have proposed putting it in this arrangement but when the leaves are dropped it looks awkward to me. Also, when the china cabinet is installed behind me, there won’t be room for this arrangements.

Elsewhere in the news, I stopped by Markus and Tam’s apartment on Friday to borrow their internet connection. Their unit is on the 24th floor of a building on Sukhumvit Soi 10 and has a good view of both the park and Queen Sirikit Convention Centre as well as the Asoke and Sukhumvit junction. There was some spectacular light effects when I looked towards the Silom/Sathorn area:

One more week until DSL is up and running. In the meantime, I’m becoming fast friends with the staff at the Starbucks on Soi 49 near Sumitivej Hospital, which has multiple power outlets in the store.

Coming to you live from Raintree Villa

Posted on 4 December 2007 by christao408

… and we pick up right where we left off, except 3.5 km to the southeast down Sukhumvit Road.

It is Tuesday evening and I’m using a “borrowed” weak wifi connection that someone has here in the building. Hopefully DSL will be up and running in the next week or so. Meanwhile, there is a daily trip to Starbucks for some high-speed internet connection and a latte.

The move was smooth, all things considered. Sunday night was our first night in the place and other than being woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of a pack of soi dogs barking loudly and sounding very dangerous, it was comfortable.

I’ll tell you the story through pictures taken over the course of the Thursday through Tuesday period:

Thursday

Above: Installing spray foam insulation to fill the gap in the concrete wall where the stove hood vents to the balcony. Below: The hole, before and after.

Above: Organizing herbs and spices on the pull-out spice rack drawer. What seemed like a good use of space may be a little inconvenient in my middle age as I try to bend over and read the fine print on label jars all the way on the bottom shelf! Below: More storage, this time in the bathroom. Make note of the not-yet-installed toilet paper dispenser sitting on the marble shelf over the toilet. More about that in a moment…

Friday

Above: A design feature I have not previously shared with you is our faux fireplace. It will not give off any heat (that’s kind of unnecessary here, really) but will provide a place to hide the DVD player and stereo system and run the wires through the wall in case we put a TV above it. The handyman pictured here, his face hidden to protect his identity, was responsible for this next fun discovery…

Below: … the incorrectly installed toilet paper dispenser. This guy has worked with our contractor on many projects and yet even though I specifically showed how I wanted it installed, the dispenser ended up ninety degrees off kilter.

Below: Our mattress arrived on Friday, a good two weeks before the bed frame will be finished. Shockingly, this is the deepest mattress (the highest mattress?) that I’ve ever seen. It is so tall it barely needs a frame.

Above: Returning to Asoke Place on Friday afternoon after moving some things to Raintree Villa, I was reminded why I’m so happy to be leaving Asoke. Look at the crazy traffic at 4:00 in the afternoon. And none of these cars is moving when I took the picture.

Saturday

Saturday morning, Tawn waits in the Asoke Place apartment for the movers to arrive.

Above: During a shopping trip to the housewares section of Central Chidlom department store, I see a special Winnie the Pooh toilet sheet that proclaims – without any trace of irony – that underneath the lid is a “Pooh Splash Zone”.

Below: Halfway through the move on Saturday, Tawn waits for the movers to arrive with more of our things. The small bedroom was eventually filled halfway with boxes. By Tuesday evening there are only six boxes left to sort through.

Sunday

The move has largely taken place and all that is left is the cleaning out of a few items in the old apartment and the official moving in into the condo. I met Tawn at the condo, waiting outside the front door, just before the appointed auspicious time of 8:30 am. Tawn was carrying a Buddha image selected for him from his father, along with garlands and incense.

In an interesting mixture of animism, Brahmanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism (and a pinch of plain old superstition), we opened the front door and announced to the spirit of the dwelling that we were asking permission to move in. Then, holding the Buddha statue, we prayed that by following the teachings and lessons of Buddha we would have a harmonious and happy life in the house. We entered, then placed the image on the mantle of the fireplace, adding jasmine garlands and lighting incense.

We then went back to the front of the building where the condo’s spirit house is located. This is where the spirit (spirits?) of the land that were displaced in the construction of the building live. We lit incense there and offered garlands to the spirits. The spirit houses often contain images from Brhamanist and Hindu belief systems.

Sunday afternoon we took a break from the unpacking and met up with Otto, who was in town from Singapore with his partner Han. Otto, you may recall, is the teacher at Singapore’s prestigious Raffles Institute prep school who made waves a few months ago when he came out of the closet as a gay man in an open letter to his colleagues. Needless to say, the last few months have been a roller coaster ride for both him and his partner and it was nice to see them.

Above: Rather artistic shot as Tawn and Otto ride the escalator at Playground shopping centre on Thong Lor. Below: Tawn and Otto pose at Starbucks in a picture designed mostly to capture the mirror, which Tawn thinks would look good in the front hallway.

Below: Sunday evening after several hours of moving the last few items out of the apartment, I’m ready to say goodbye and head out the door. Lights out!

Above: Driving back to the new condo on some of the back sois, we passed this lovely compound that has an elaborate front gate. Thais seem to really like their elaborate metal gates.

Below: Sunday dinner was at Grand Ramen restaurant on Thong Lor (which is Sukhumvit Soi 55, for those of you playing along at home). This is a very good ramen restaurant that caters to the Japanese expats. At four tables sat four Japanese salarymen, each at the same corner seat at each table so they looked like schoolboys sitting in a row. Each read the newspaper, drank beer, are noodles, and watched the football game on the television. The pork tonkatsu ramen was very tasty! Oishi des ne!

Monday Morning

Monday was our first morning in the new place. Most important of all, the coffee machine was plugged in and I was able to heat milk for the coffee on the new induction stove. No more microwave here.

Finally, since it is now just after midnight, I’d like to wish His Majesty King Bhumibol, Rama IX a very happy 80th Birthday. May this man, who has been an inspiration and source of pride for his subjects, enjoy a long and healthy life. Below, a mother and daughter sign their birthday wishes in a greeting book at the Sukhumvit subway station, one of hundreds set up at various public points through the Kingdom.

christao408

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

Tag Archives: Bangkok