Posted on 28 October 2007 by christao408

This entry would have been written earlier today, or yesterday, or even the day before. But I wanted to post some video that I shot and am having difficulties. You see, the nifty new camera I bought – a Panasonic Lumix TZ3, which I really do think is terrific – outputs video in a .mov format. This is an Apple-proprietary format that can’t be edited with the existing software I have on my Windows-based laptop computer.

I’ve been searching for a way to convert the files to something I can work with, but the freeware and shareware I’ve downloaded don’t seem to work correctly. So I caved in and went to the Apple website to spend $30 buying the upgrade to QuickTime Pro. My order is “being processed” and I don’t know how long that will take. I’ll probably end up having problems because my billing address is in the US but I’m connecting to the internet in Thailand.

Out of patience and not wanting my readers to think I’ve forgotten about them, I’ll go ahead and do the post the traditional way, with still pictures.

The big event recently was the dress rehearsal of the royal barge procession. Last done in June 2006 in celebration of the King’s 60th anniversary on the throne, this rarely-seen most of monarch transportation is being rolled out again next week for the thrice annual changing of the Emerald Buddha’s robes, in Wat Phra Kaew in the Grand Palace.

Using the barge procession to go 3 km down the Chao Phraya River is a whole lot of effort, especially since His Majesty is still in the hospital recovering from something stroke-like. The good news is, he is recovering nicely. Still, I think some other member of the royal family will travel in his place.

I’m quite surprised that the barges aren’t being used instead for something related to his 80th birthday in early December.

Nonetheless, I went with Roka, Ken and Francois to the River Mansion guest house, which sold tickets for seating on their poolside (and riverside) deck for viewing of the dress rehearsal. The view was spectacular, the weather cool, overcast and breezy, and there were only twenty people there viewing the barges.

Right: Chris, Francois, Ken and Roka, poolside.

Quick introduction for those of you who try to follow the cast of characters in my blog: Francois is a friend of Stuart’s, most recently from San Francisco but raised in Kentucky, who has bought a condo here and will be splitting his time between the Bay Area and Khrungthep.

We had a really good view and drinks and a plate of appetizers was included in the admission price. To give you an idea of the view and how close we were to the river:

We spent a good ninety minutes waiting and then the barges went past in about thirty minutes, a little more rushed than normal but this was their first dress rehearsal. They have two more before the big day on Tuesday. It was still very spectacular to see and amazing that they take more than 2,000 sailors to man the 52 barges and are able to control them so smoothly and gracefully, rowing to the stentorian chants of the Brahman priests.

Expect to see more monarchy fever in the next two eight weeks as we approach the big 8-0 on December 5th.

Posted on 24 October 2007 by christao408

Above: An interesting mixture of cultures as seen on a small soi off Sathorn road: a vintage car drives past a business displaying the Thai flag and symbols of the Chakri dynasty, next to images from Hong Kong juxtaposing a seated Buddha and Minnie Mouse.

Rainy season is coming to an end but the waters from further up country are heading our way. Reports are of expected flooding in Khrungthep. At the same time, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority has a construction project underway to rebuild and raise the sidewalk curbs along Asoke Road.

The curbs are raised 3-4 inches (10 cm) in most areas, stretching around into driveways and making an already inhospitable sidewalk even more so for those with mobility impairments. Of course, nowhere in this city is really hospitable for people in wheelchairs or who otherwise have challenges getting about readily.

Given how much flooding we had two Novembers ago, raised curbs will be just a bandage on a much larger problem as it was largely reported (somewhat sensationalistic) last week that Khrungthep is sinking.

Over the weekend, we ran more errands related to the condo, including going to Emporium to buy a new refrigerator. When we cleared the condo for remodeling, the current, older refrigerator was brought over to Tawn’s parents for storage.

Tawn’s father appropriated it, paying us a few thousand baht for the trouble, and now we need a new one. After much comparison shopping, we settled on a Mitsubishi model that will give us more space – 12.9 cubic feet – and lower energy consumption. Plus it is a three-door model, with the vegetable compartment being its own pull-out door.

Unlike refrigerators in the United States, all models of which are engineered so that the handles and door hinges can be swapped so the doors can open either to the left or to the right, all models sold in Thailand are designed to open one way only: left to right. That means that when open, the back of the refrigerator door will block the kitchen.

A small detail, perhaps, but if I have to physically walk out of the kitchen, open the door, close it, then walk back into the kitchen, that will take much more time when repeated thousands of time a year rather than just being able to lean from the kitchen, open the refrigerator door, and reach in to get what I want.

What about you in other countries? Can your door handles and hinges be swapped?

Exhausted from the refrigerator buying, we ate at the food court at Emporium. Top to bottom: bami ped yang (roast duck over egg noodles), pad thai goong (fried rice noodles with shirmp), and buttered Texas toast with ultra-sweet pandan leaf flavored frosting. That was for Tawn – too sweet for me.

Some additional errands were run including a stop by the condo. Left: Me in my new kitchen – still a few details to finish. Bottom: Tawn poses with a secretary he likes at a furniture store.

Ajarn Yai called and asked how the trip to the US was going. Kobfa and I offered to drive down and have lunch with her in Samut Songkhram. Ken, just back from his trip to Paris and Amsterdam with his partner Chai, joined us. We ate at a restaurant with cute little sala – pavilions – right next to the river. There was a good breeze and it rained on and off but we were well-sheltered.

Above: Kobfa thinks about what to order while Ken dishes up ice. Below: Me and Ajarn Yai.

Above: gang som cha-om chupkai (“orange” soup – tamarind flavored, with shrimp and omelet). Below: After some of the soup was served, the sterno started getting a bit out of control, shooting green flames out the top of the chimney and orange ones out the side.

Above: sanghaiyaa maphraw – an egg custard dish sweetened with palm sugar with pieces of squash inside, served inside a coconut. More commonly this dish is served inside the squash itself, and slices of squash and custard are served.

After the rain, the many flowers were glistening.

Starbucks offers free coffee to build health clinic

Posted on 24 October 2007 by christao408

While it is easy to demonize multinational American corporations like Starbucks and McDonalds, it is important to give credit when they do good things for their communities. Here is one such event:

In celebration of the opening of their 100^th store, all Bangkok-area Starbucks will be serving free coffee on Friday, 26 October from 1:00-2:40 pm. This includes all stores except the Suvarnabhumi Airport location.

They ask that instead of paying for your coffee, you donate an amount of your choosing to help construct a health clinic in the Huay Sompoi coffee community in Chiang Mai.

Sounds like a pretty good way to get your afternoon jolt of caffeine (or decaf, if you like) and do a good deed, too.

Got DSL?

Posted on 30 November 2005 by christao408

The quest for a DSL line in our apartment nears its end, but is not over yet. Monday morning a technician from TOT (Telephone of Thailand) came to the apartment complex and switched on our home phone line. Then on Tuesday afternoon a maintenance man from the complex came to our unit and actually activated the telephone jack itself. Then this afternoon I attached the DSL modem/router, used the enclosed CD-ROM to format the modem and get ready to actually use the DSL line.

Everything appears to be properly installed and ready to go. The DSL and LAN lights are on full-strength. The connection appears live. And yet, when I open Internet Explorer, the request to go to a particular address times out. I think the settings (“Obtain IP Address Automatically”) are not correct. So I’ll ask Tawn to help me sort this out, which may involve a phone call to TOT – a daunting task in and of itself.

Halfway Quiz at ULS

Today was my tenth day of Thai language instruction at Union Language School, the halfway point in Module 1. So today each of the thirteen students had an oral examination with the khruu, or teacher.

I selected number ten in a random draw, which may have been somewhat beneficial as khruu Lakkanah realized that she was taking too long for each student and the exams became increasingly brief. I was in the exam for about five minutes, maybe less. As each question was asked, if I didn’t have the answer right now then she moved on to the next question. Kind of like being on the speed round of the $64,000 Pyramid game show.

The general areas of knowledge that we were quizzed on:

Being able to name yourself, ask names, and ask for clarification about names
Being able to describe how you are doing and ask others the same
Being able to ask what things are called, and to respond to the same questions
Being able to identify common colors, classroom objects, eating objects (bowls, plates, utensils), fruits, vegetables, and meat products.
Being able to request basic food and beverage items, and to say how many of something you want, using the right classifiers (“glass of water”, “cup of coffee”, “bottle of orange juice”.)

The biggest challenge for me was to remember the fruits and vegetables. The first challenge is that the fruits and vegetables common here in Thailand are not regularly available in the United States. Mangosteen, rambutan, and wax apples (those are just the English names – I have to remember “mangkut”, “nhoc”, and “chompuu”) are all terribly commonplace here but I rarely see them at the local Safeway in the US!

Tawn spent quite a bit of time reviewing the foods with me last night. I drew pictures in a notebook and he quizzed me on them until I had most of them down. Tomato (“makhuatheet”), papaya (“malahkha”) and fruits in general (“pohlaymaay”) were three of the stumbling blocks.

All in all, I think I did fine with the quiz. The purpose of the quiz was really to make sure that students are getting the basic concepts, constructions, and pronunciations before we get too far through the class. The last day we do have a final – oral and written – and passing is mandatory to proceed to the next module.

First Thanksgiving in Bangkok

Posted on 27 November 2005 by christao408

Thanksgiving weekend came and went and not a single turkey was sighted in Bangkok. In fact, Thursday was another “regular” day for me – not that I’ve been here long enough to have truly established a routine. The good news is that I was able to get several days’ worth of work done while my colleagues in the US were busy eating and then digesting their holiday meals.

On Friday morning – Thursday dinnertime in the US – Tawn and I started two separate phone calls to the States to talk with relatives. The day concluded with the gala 32nd birthday celebration and housewarming for Tawn’s high school friend Eddy Ritthiworachart. Eddy and his partner, Lek, purchased a 3-bedroom house in a suburban Bangkok development almost two years ago. Eddy’s responsibility since then has been to take it through an extensive finishing process to create a tranquil oasis for Lek, a doctor who usually works seven days a week and wants somewhere to unwind on his occasional days off.

Eddy partnered with Ble, a fairly well-known designer here in Thailand, to shop for antiques and pull together a design for the house. The results, as you shall see below, are fantastic.

Sadly, Eddy has no experience throwing parties so he asked us to host the party for him. His new kitchen is still unfurnished, so it really turned into a catering event of sorts for us. Things worked out beautifully and the dozen or so guests had a wonderful time.

Image 1: Living and dining room area in Eddy’s house with a gilded Naga horn in the style seen atop temples in northern Thailand.

Image 2: Tawn with his friend and Hill & Knowlton colleague, Mon.

Image 3: Tawn looks on as Ble, the house’s designer, unveils his contribution to dinner – a variety of Thai-style appetizers very creatively presented in a huge bamboo steamer.

Image 4: Chris and Tawn in the lovely outdoor courtyard of Eddy’s house.

Image 5: Eddy figures out how to handle the trick candles we put on his birthday cake. After blowing them out, they would relight, much to his shock and irritation. The house ended up filled with smoke. Finally, some water was brought in as the solution.

Image 6: Tawn’s friend Kat, Eddy’s boyfriend Lek, Eddy, and Kat’s friend Candy have a good laugh in the foyer.

Image 7:Tawn and his friend Tao have a good laugh over an antique Chinese drum that Ble and Eddy used as a side table.

Image 8: Party-goers – from the left: Ble, Mon, Eddy, Tawn, Candy, Kat, and Lek.

Washing Machine Installation is Complete

Posted on 18 November 2005 by christao408

With amazement, I am pleased to announce that the washing machine installation project has reached completion more than seven weeks after we leased our apartment. The handyman, whose picture is listed in the dictionary next to the entry for “flake”, was supposed to show up today to finish the project. Instead, he showed up unexpectedly on Thursday afternoon.

He and two assistants toiled away in our bathroom for about five hours. The water was turned off and the bathroom was a mess of fumes, PVC pipe dust, concrete powder, etc. Finally the washer was hooked up, Tawn started running a load, and we discovered that not only does the water back up on the balcony a bit – there’s also a leak in the ceiling space where the water line runs.

Picture 1: Bedroom balcony with a water line and no power. The washer is on the living room balcony on the other side of the wall.

Picture 2: Construction taking place in our bathroom. Opening in the ceiling exposes the brick and mortar that is used to seal the crawl space.

Picture 3: Washer is installed and the first full load is drying (or not) in the rainy afternoon air.

So the handyman came back an hour later to check if the area was dry enough to make additional repairs. And it wasn’t so he said he’d be back in another hour. About two hours later, at 9:15 pm, he returned as Tawn and I were cleaning up and getting ready for bed.

So his two assistants returned this afternoon about 1:30 to get the job finished. They were much neater than the handyman and actually wrapped the project up in about 45 minutes.

So now our bedroom balcony has a washing machine that is hooked to power and water. A second pipe runs across the edge of the balcony to the drain beneath the air conditioning compressor. Since the water flows out of the pipe and not directly into the drain, we get a bit of a shallow lake on part of the balcony. But it dries quickly in the warm air and, frankly, I’m just glad that we can wash clothes now instead of paying rates higher than the US to have our clothes laundered!

Playing the Handyman

Posted on 10 November 2005 by christao408

Well, the handyman flaked out yesterday afternoon. Said that he went to the hardware store and they didn’t have the type of pipe he needed so he had to order it. And he can be here next Thursday. Tawn said that wasn’t okay, so the handyman said he could be here on Sunday. Sounds a little suspicious. Well, no home-washed clothes tonight.

In an intrepid attempt to be handy myself, I did some hardware installation today. First up were some nice polished nickel hooks for the back of the bathroom doors. I discovered that the doors are not as wide as the drill bit I was using to drill a pilot hole. One of the doors now has both an entry and exit wound. I’ll have to patch that up – or maybe we can hang a calendar there. After all, it is the door that faces the kitchen and living area.

Next up, I installed door stops. We have several doors that just go slamming into walls or other doors. Ah – but nobody in Thailand seems to sell those spring-type door stops that attach to the doors themselves. So I purchased some in the United States and brought them over with me.

The first one installed very easily. Feeling quite satisfied with my handyman skills, I continued to what was behind door number two. I don’t know what type of wood the second door is made of, petrified wood perhaps, but I could only get the pilot hole drilled about 1 cm (1/4 inch) into the door.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “Better than drilling the hole all the way through the bloody door!” Yes, yes. So I decided to start screwing the doorstop into the door.

It grew increasingly difficult and after getting about three-quarters of the screw into the door, the Phillips slot at the top of the screw was beginning to get stripped.

Then, with one last effort, I tried to turn the screw and the top of it snapped off!

So I moved on to door number three. The lower corner of that door was quite solid, too, so I moved a little higher and a little further from the edge. Finally, I found a softer spot and was able to install the door stop. A second attempt on the previous door was successful, again because I was willing to think “outside the box” or, more correctly, “away from the edges.”

Feeling truly like I was channelling Bob Vila, I proceeded to change drill bits. Tightening the cement bit with the bit key (you may be in understandable awe of the masterful way I casually throw around these technical drilling terms) I decided to tackle the project of hanging a mirror in the entryway. The entryway is also the kitchen. And the entire living room.

One of the interesting things about contemporary Thai construction is the thoroughly consistent use of cement in the walls. Perhaps because of the humidity or the adobe-like insulating qualities of cement, but cement construction is de rigeur. It makes the hanging of pictures somewhat challenging.

Undaunted, I proceeded to drill a hole into the wall with deceptive ease. It wasn’t until I hit something solid – really solid – that I started to get worried. I tried several different things until it occurred to me to see whether the plastic sleeve (don’t know the technical term) for the screw would fit. The hole was not wide enough for the sleeve, so the depth of the hole was not an issue. Then I tried to put one of the screws in to see whether what I was running into was metallic or just really hard cement.

Long story short, it took me about five minutes before I realized that, since the hold was deep enough for the entire screw to fit into it, it didn’t really matter whether the obstacle was metal, mineral, animal, imaginary, or anything else. All I needed to do was widen the hole so the plastic sleeve would fit. Which I proceeded to do. There is now a lovely mirror hanging in our entryway, hanging on a very professionally mounted screw securely anchored to the wall by a plastic sleeve which, come to think of it, may be called a “wall anchor.”

It is probably worth mentioning that in the process of figuring things out, I decided that I should drill a second hole, a little lower and a little to the left of the original one, figuring that I would probably not hit whatever obstacle I encountered in the first hole. So if you come visit us you can take the mirror off the wall and gaze upon the second, superfluous hole, and comment upon my amazing do-it-myself talents which should probably be allowed to lie dormant.

Did I mention that also on my project list for this weekend is to hang a bamboo shade on the edge of my balcony, above the railing?

Yikes!

Yesterday evening Tawn and I went to the Emporium shopping center (actually, I think it is a department store, not the entire center) to watch Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride at the SFX Cinema. It was presented on a Christie Digital Projector, which was the first time I had seen a movie on a Christie DP.

The movie was a lot of fun. The story line reminded me loosely of the love story from Les Miserables without the revolution or barricades. The animation was lovely and Danny Elfman’s score was, as always, a perfectly blend of gothic darkness and beauty.

On my way to the theatre at dusk, I snapped a couple of photos of the Skytrain that I think turned out pretty well. I’ve started carrying my digital camera, a Fujifilm FinePix E510, with my just about everywhere because there are many interesting things to see in this city. Plus, I was given advice that too much text in a blog doesn’t appeal to the audience. At least, it doesn’t appeal to the short attention span audience!

Signing the Lease on the Bangkok Apartment

Posted on 28 September 2005 by christao408

Bangkok, my new home. I arrived on Monday evening after a very long 24-hour journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Tokyo to Bangkok. The LAX-NRT leg was not upgraded so I was squeezed into Economy class. Not so bad as it could have been but I was unable to sleep and arrived in Bangkok very tired.

On Tuesday Tawn and I went to our new apartment to sign the lease and pay the deposit plus the first month’s rent. The apartment that was decided upon is at Asoke Place tower, about a 5-minute walk north of the Sukhumvit / Soi 21 (aka Asoke) intersection. At the intersection is both a Skytrain station and an MRTA (Subway) station, so it is quite convenient to everywhere. Also, traffic is not too bad along Asoke and we’re on the side of the road that heads into the city.

The apartment is quite large (about 700 square feet) and is a 1-bedroom with an additional small storage room. Tawn was able to choose paint before the handyman repainted, so the walls are a light yellow in the living area and a light khaki in the bedroom.

We spent most of Tuesday shopping for furniture and have so far made absolutely no decisions. The big question is, how much do we want to spend? Furniture of decent quality is cheaper in Thailand than the US, but that doesn’t mean it is inexpensive. At the same time, we don’t necessarily need to buy permanent stuff right now. So we are going through the joint priority-setting process.

There’s also a few odds and ends that need to be ironed out. Anyone with any expertise in these areas is welcome to provide advice:

The refrigerator (about 2/3s of full size) sits more than 10 feet away from the nearest power outlet, which it would share with the TV, stereo, etc. I get the impression that there wasn’t a refrigerator there before and it was placed there as a selling point rather than a practical consideration. Can you put all that equipment on one outlet without a problem?
Similarly, the plugs in the kitchen (which are all under the counter, no idea how you run a cord under the counter as there are no openings!) all feed into one circuit, if I’m not mistaken. So that would be a 2-burner stove, microwave oven, rice maker, and coffee maker (or combination thereof) on one circuit. Problem?
Our clothes washer was originally in the bathroom, but it takes up a lot of space and was on a wall that have no drain, no power, nor a water supply. The next logical place is on the balcony (makes more sense that it might sound) but there is no water supply and the power is just a closed junction box. Landlord seems to think it is an easy problem to overcome. I’m curious to see how.
There’s no hot water heater in the bathroom. Cold showers, anyone? We’ll ask the landlord on Friday whether we can pay for installation of a water heater, which will run about 5,000 baht plus another 800 for installation.

Truly, none of these are challenges we cannot tackle, but they are interesting “oh, I hadn’t considered that” situations.

Another lesson I’ve learned. If you want to pay your credit card at one bank with money in a bank account at another, the only way you can do this is to withdrawl the cash from the first bank and then take it to the other bank and deposit it. So we went to the bank to withdrawl our deposit, first month’s rent, and money for paying some billes. 110,000 baht total. It is worth noting that the 1,000 baht bill is the largest denomination available. Yes, we were carrying 110 bills in a wad in my pocket. That’s pretty crazy.

Well, the adventure is just starting, I’m sure. I’m extending the hotel stay by a few days because we won’t have all of the necessary arrangements made by tomorrow morning. Plus, other than a bed and an armoire, we have no furniture.

Apartment Hunting in Bangkok

Posted on 15 August 2005 by christao408

Tawn has started apartment hunting in Bangkok. His goal: to scout out apartments that meet our combined criteria (mission impossible!) so that when I’m there in late September we can select a place.

I’m not being very helpful. I found a web site called Mr. Room Finder, set up by a Bangkok local who wanted a site that listed apartments that real people, not overpriced expats, could afford. So I send Tawn links from my searches, fully realising that I don’t know Bangkok neighborhoods all that well.

My recommendations are not always very useful. Like personal ads, these apartments listings are sometimes… generous.

We’ll see what turns up, though. He’s found a few places that look nice, have a decent location, and are teeny-tiny. But that’s the reality there, I think. Especially when we don’t want to spend more than US$ 400 a month on rent.

christao408

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

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