Sundays in the Park with Stuart

Posted on 17 March 2008 by christao408

It seems that things in the Khrungthep cycling scene are heating up, which has nothing to do with the coming hot season. It started with the first-ever Khrungthep Critical Mass on the final day of February. Then this past Sunday there was a 45-km trip around Khrungthep, about which I’ll write in a moment. It continues with a 160-km one way ride to Hua Hin this coming Sunday followed by the second Critical Mass the next Friday, and then a 70-km ride on March 30th that begins in Phra Padaeng on the southwest side of the river.

Crazy, huh? 160 km is way too much for me to do at this point as a one day trip. Maybe when the annual ride comes around next time. But I’m excited to see so much interest and enthusiasm in cycling in this City of the Perpetual Traffic Jam.

This past Sunday’s ride was a bit of a Tour de Khrungthep in the non-French sense of the word. About 150 riders met at National Stadium, which is just to the west of the Siam Square area. At 8:00 we headed out, stopping just a few minutes later at Hualamphong Railway Station for a tour – in Thai – from a docent. Hualamphong is a beautiful station and a good example of Thai Art Deco.

We then paid a visit to the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, a Red Cross-run “Snake Farm” whose primary purpose is to study and develop anti-venom serums for the many types of poisonous snakes found in the Kingdom. There is a fascinating and well-organized educational exhibit on snakes and you can see dozens of different poisonous and non-poisonous species.

Some people are really scared of snakes and other reptiles. I find them really fascinating. When I was in secondary school – I forget which grade, maybe seventh – we could check out a reptile for the weekend from our biology class. I brought a snake home and while it was interesting (I love the way they move), they really aren’t very fun pets.

Afterwards, we rode to Lumpini Park and on to the park next to Queen Sirikit Convention Center. This is where Markus and I often ride as it has a good 2-km dedicated bike path around the lake. Below, you can see the progress on the four towes of the Millenium Condo project between Sukhumvit 16 and 18. More on that in an entry here. Below that is an atist’s rendering of what the finished project will look like. Way, way out of scale to the skyline.

millennium_main2

After some pretty short legs, we finally started some serious distance riding, heading up Asoke Road to Ratchadapisek, cutting under the Rama IX expressway on a small local street, and then continuing up by the Thailand Cultural Center where we broke for lunch.

After lunch we continued up Ram Intra to Lad Prao, one of the main east-west arteries on the north side of the city, and then all the way to the very large and busy Phahon Yothin / Lad Prao intersection. Thank goodness we had a large group of riders still so we could command traffic as we made a series of turns to get to the far side of the de-facto traffic circle.

There we arrived at Railroad Park, a former State Railways of Thailand golf course that has been converted into a beautiful public park, below. Hard to imagine that this is in the teeming metropolis of Khrungthep, isn’t it?

By this point it was nearing 2:30 and the group was starting to thin out. People who lived on the northern side of the city headed home directly, while about thirty of us headed back towards National Stadium. This part of the ride took me through some areas that I’ve driven before but was not very familiar with, especially the frontage road that follows the railways tracks past Bang Sue station, parallel to the Rama XI expressway. It was good to cover this area on bicycle because now I know it better. It is also easier to navigate on bicycle because you can ignore the forced left turns that keep cars from using the frontage road as a raceway/shortcut.

Returning to National Stadium wasn’t really the end of it for me, as I still had to bike home. All told, the ride worked out to be about 65 km for me, the longest I’ve done since I moved to Thailand.

Fortunately, I was not alone for the trip.

Since Markus had church to attend, I drummed up another riding companion, Stuart.

He’s expressed interest in going for a ride before and this was certainly the one to give him a taste (a big, heaping taste) of what urban riding is like here. By the end of it he seemed pretty positive about the experience, so maybe he’ll be heading to ProBike and spending some money soon!

Stuart’s blog entry about the ride, along with a map of the route, is here.

Saturday Errands

Posted on 16 March 2008 by christao408

Almost all of our Saturdays get consumed by errands. Along the way, there are always interesting things to see. At least, things to see that are interesting to me. So I’ll share them with you and assume you’ll be interested, too.

A sign of the times

Part of a series of advertisements for the Noble property development company, announcing their new “Noble Reveal” condo that will soon begin selling. The advertisements use the same pitch: “Help reduce global warming; use cars less. Noble Reveal, new condo located close to Ekkamai BTS station.”

Each of the advertisements features a similar photo: sea lions huddled on an ice floe, penguins huddled on an ice floe, polar bears huddled on an ice floe.

The environmental claim is, of course, a bit questionable. While the condo will be located very close to the Skytrain, it will also be at one of the most congested intersections in the city and will feature an ample car park. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that anything Noble will do during the construction will be environmentally friendly, from the materials from which the condos are constructed to the disposal of paints and other chemicals that are used.

Worst of all is the other message sent by the pictures: you’ll be huddled together in a small space that is getting ever smaller. What a terrible way to sell a condominium. The rooms are small! You’ll be cramped together! You’ll be competing for an ever-diminishing pool of resources!

Yeah, sign me up.

Le Tour Eiffel in Central

Central Department Stores is having a “Europe” promotion. Their flagship location, Central Chidlom, has models of various famous European sights: Big Ben in the east parking lot, Arc de Triomphe (two of them!) at the main entrances, and in the escalator atrium, a 30-meter tall model of Le Tour Eiffel.

This must have taken a good bit of time to build. The structure is metal and the sections are bolted together. As you ride up the escalator you can get a pretty good look at the construction and you have to give them credit for a job well done.

On the various levels there are mannequins displaying famous European designer wear. On the ground floor underneath the tower, there is a l’Occitaine display where the employees are wearing very pink outfits reminiscent of provincial French farmers, complete with straw hats.

Thankfully, there are no mimes.

Need a Nikon?

Down the street at Siam Paragon there was a large event promoting Nikon cameras. They had dozens of models on display, especially the SLR cameras and some really big lenses. There was something going on onstage, there were beautiful girls dressed in short shirts and tight tops, there were giveaways and music. And lots of nerdy men who seemed more interested in the big lenses than the scantily clad women.

You need this machine!

We met Tawn’s colleague Meiji at Starbucks Siam Center and visited for a half-hour. Afterwards, on our way out, we stopped to look at the espresso machine that they have for sale. The “Barista” model has received pretty good reviews from different sources and we’re in the market to replace our rather crappy drip coffee maker that we’ve had for two years. Not sure that we need an espresso machine in particular, but we like the idea of controlled portions and greater consistency in the quality of our morning coffee.

The root of the problem might actually lies in our coffee grinder. We have a Krups model, which is supposed to be a good one. But I find a lot of variation in the resulting grind which of course leads to variations in the strength of the coffee.

We try French press and run into the same problem, plus the added one of the coffee cooling off quickly in the glass container. Our drip coffee maker is really inconsistent and one of the plastic parts is irreparably broken. We have a stovetop Italian espresso maker but the base isn’t steel so it doesn’t work on our induction stovetop. Back in the US in my sister’s guest room closet I have a really nice drip coffee maker, but I don’t know if it is worth the effort to bring it over here. Plus, I’d have to use a converter like I do with my Kitchen Aid mixer.

So we’ve been exploring options. When we showed interest in the model at Starbucks, one of the employees rushed over and offered to demo the machine for us. What followed was a very thorough 20-minute demonstration in which he made a latte for us using the machine, then allowed us to practice using it, too. End result, two free lattes – after the ones we had already purchased and consumed. Jittery.

The machine is very easy to use and the construction looks solid. Only a few parts and the design does not have any of the “awkward” elements that machines sometimes have. The only problem is the price. That’s a lot of money to spend for a coffee maker. Cheaper than some of the others we’ve looked at but more expensive than some, too.

How much for our morning cup of coffee?

Skateboarding at Siam

Despite the popularity of Siam Paragon, Siam Square and Siam Center remain much more the focal point of the Khrungthep youth scene. Between the two Siam Center properties (Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center) there is a plaza that is often set up with concerts and other events.

On Saturday is was home to a skateboarding demo. A hundred or so youth were hanging out, watching. A dozen skateboarders went back and forth, none of them doing any particularly impressive tricks. A DJ played music and the breeze kept spectators comfortable.

Viva Siam.

Saturday evening we met up with Otto, who is in town from Singapore, for dinner. It was very nice to catch up with him as on his last visit here timing was rushed and we never did really get a chance to visit. Dinner was at the food court at MBK, which tries to mimic the choices available at the Central Food Loft, but to poor effect.

But it really is about the company, not the food, right?

Right?

Visit from Mother-in-Law

Posted on 10 March 2008 by christao408

Sunday afternoon my mother-in-law, Khun Nui, stopped by the house. For the longest time she had never been over here, then when Elle did the photo shoot she came over. Subsequent to that, she has been a frequent visitor, stopping by whenever her husband is away.

While Tawn’s father is largely operating in extended “don’t ask, don’t tell” mode, Tawn’s mother knows what’s going on and seems pretty happy to have me as a son-in-law. Although there are occasional moments when I think she’s holding out hope that Tawn will change his mind.

She made a comment the other day about another member of the their extended family having a wedding and how Tawn wasn’t getting married, to which I responded that we could go ahead and have a wedding for the family. She shot me a look that was one part “you’re crazy” and another part “what are you talking about?”

Two summers ago, Tawn and his parents went to Italy to visit the family for whom Khun Nui had worked as an au pair for two years before Tawn was born. Khun Nui has remained in touch with Joanna, the Italian mother, and her oldest two children whom Khun Nui helped raise.

The oldest of these children will be married this July and the plan is for Tawn to take his parents back to Italy to attend the wedding, possibly extending it into a two week trip to see more of Europe.

This is a very Thai thing: older parents do not go off on holiday without their children accompanying them. Much in the way that in years past farmers gave birth to many children in order to have a supply of labor on the farm, nowadays Thai parents have children in order to have a supply of tour leaders, travel agents, and porters when going on holiday.

While we canceled our Spring trip back to the US because of cost overruns on the condo remodel, Tawn’s father will pick up his costs for the Europe trip, so it shouldn’t be much of a burden. With a few weeks free, maybe I should scrape up a few baht and fly back to the US and enjoy some peaches, nectarines, and beefsteak tomatoes!

Elephant naps in Minburi

Posted on 9 March 2008 by christao408

When it comes to Sunday morning bicycle rides, the earlier I start, the better. Sunday, I was up at six and arrived at the ride site in Minburi just before seven. Already, the sun was above the horizon and the day was warming up. There were still some hints of the overnight coolness, though. Wish I had arrived even earlier.

This ride site is a stretch of expressway that was a built a few years ago as part of a larger project, but was never connected to the other portions. Other than a handful of local vehicles, the road is used in the mornings primarily by runners, joggers, and families out for a ride with their children. It also attracts cyclists, often several dozen of them, in their fancy spandex racing gear with their fancy aerodynamic helmets and their expensive road bikes.

I shouldn’t use what could sound like such a derisive tone. We’re all brothers and sisters in cycling. Compared to most of these cyclists, though, I’m decidedly down-market. My spandex is hidden under a pair of cargo shorts, my helmet is functional, not aerodynamic, and my bicycle is a clunky hybrid. There are no potholes or rough patches of pavement that I fear!

Anyhow, Sunday I was out there earlier than most of the other cyclists and had the road pretty much to myself. The first stretch is actually a narrow side road that connects the airport expressway’s frontage road to this new stretch of expressway. It is a country road with small khlongs on either side (shades of Sukhumvit fifty years ago), a few small manufacturing businesses, and the occasional restaurant. Locals are up yearly, fishing in the khlongs. A tractor is preparing a rice paddy for planting. Someone is picking a bunch of bananas from a roadside tree.

Along this narrow street that lies under the approach path to the new airport, two small housing estates are being built. Both look like they’ll be targeted at the entry level home owners what can afford maybe at most a half-million baht for two bedrooms and no land. I’ll take more pictures as the development continues. It fills my heart with a little sadness to see another rural area being developed, rice paddies traded for cookie cutter houses.

The stretch of expressway I ride is about four kilometers long and bridges two other khlongs. Both bridges are built up with earth like highway overpasses in the US, affording nice views of the surrounding countryside. Early morning along the khlong you see more of the fishing-cooking-harvesting activities as people rise with the sun and have families to feed and work to do.

One of the stranger sites I’ve seen was captured in the photo, below. Next to one of the bridges is an open field, quite a large one. In the field there was a baby elephant wandering around, grazing. I’ve never seen an elephant out here and it certainly isn’t native to Minburi. Many times, the mahouts who are the elephants’ caretakers bring them into the city because there is no work elsewhere. Even though it is illegal, they bring the elephants right into the tourist sections of town, selling people the opportunity to feed the elephants and pose for pictures.

Perhaps this is where the mahout and his elephant are living. I didn’t see any fences or restraints, but perhaps elephants aren’t prone to making a break for their freedom. As I passed the field each time, I looked at the elephant as she wandered about. Finally, she settled down for a nap in the tall grass. Can you spot her?

Speaking of development, if I had panned about thirty degrees to the right and taken another picture, you would see a forest of mid-rise condo projects, all about eight stories tall, built about one kilometer away. If I had to guess, there are probably about two thousand units, all of which have sprung up in the past three or four years.

Different things to different people

Posted on 9 March 2008 by christao408

In the musical The Boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman (playing Peter Allen), opens the show singing a song titled “The Lives of Me”.

“I come in many colors, assorted shapes and sizes,
can adapt to your demands.
And if you smile at someone then I’ll just become that one,
and throw in all the others for free.
All the lives of me.”

Sometimes I feel that way about my blog. This is probably a feeling common to many bloggers. You start out writing the blog for one reason or another and over time, as it attracts more readers, it is easy to start feeling like there are different blogs being written.

There’s the food blog, the travel blog, the Thai cultural blog, the gay long term relationship blog, the airline enthusiast blog, the random quotes from showtunes blog… you get the idea.

Just like the character of Peter Allen in the musical, I feel like if you enjoy one particular blog, my blog will become that one and throw in all the others for free.

The blog started out because I knew I would be moving to Thailand and wanted to create a means by which my family and friends could stay in touch with what’s happening in my life. Many of those “target audience” member do read regularly although I’m always a little amazed at friends who, when we trade emails, express how out of touch with me they feel. No reason to be out of touch… you can get a pretty exhaustive recap just by reading my blog.

Along the way, I’ve assembled a fascinating and rewarding collection of readers. Truly, some very interesting and thoughtful people whose acquaintance I’m very glad to have made. I just hope that you weren’t misled about what this blog was and feel subsequently disappointed that there aren’t enough entries about food, travel, Thai culture, airplanes, showtunes, or whatever it was that drew you to the blog in the first place.

Doing a PR Polish for Ble

Tawn recruited me on Friday morning to help our designer, Ble. In advance of a feature article on him in the Bangkok Post newspaper, Ble (pronounced “bun”), was sent a list of interview questions. When he showed Tawn his responses, Tawn shook his head and asked, tactfully, how he could be such a good designer and yet such a poor self-publicist.

I was called in to polish his responses so bicycled over to his store at noon on Friday. We had lunch at a cute little place on Sukhumvit 16 called Kuppa, a cozy place that reminds me of a restaurant I’d expect to find in the San Francisco Bay Area. More about it on a future visit but here’s a picture of their tasty cherry pie, left.

The lunch proved to be a very good opportunity to get to know Ble better. We’ve never spent any time, just the two of us. Tawn has known Ble for several years and we’ve socialized, but never had two hours of solo conversation. In the course of essentially re-interviewing him, I learned a lot about what drew him to design in the first place. I tried to polish the answers to convey certain themes. Here’s a selection:

How did you become involved in Modern Thai Living?
As a child, my interest in design was already evident. I would spend hours drawing; I was fascinated by textures and textiles, fabrics and furniture. My playtime was spent exploring the markets. It was there – especially at Chatuchak – that my love for Modern Thai Living was cultivated.
What are your extravagances?
When I’m abroad exploring for beautiful objects for my clients and my stores, I have only one extravagance: no matter how remote the town, no matter how hot or dusty the markets I’ve searched in, I must conclude my day with a satisfying meal at a cozy, comfortable restaurant.
What advice would you give visitors to Bangkok?
Beyond the famous tourist sights, beyond the temples and the nightlife, Bangkok is a city full of hidden treasures. Every local has a favorite restaurant, a favorite shop that is his or her “hidden gem”. Make every effort to meet as many locals as you can and as you get to know them, they’ll share these treasures with you.

Hopefully that doesn’t sound too silly. What do you think? Hopefully the prose is a beautiful as his design work.

A House in the Country

Sukhumvit Road in modern times is very much a main artery in the City of Angels. It might be hard to imagine that not that many decades ago, the street was lined with two small khlongs and rows of trees. Well-heeled residents bought land along Sukhumvit and in the sois that branch off it in order to have country homes where they could escape on the weekends.

Of course, nowadays the idea of a home along Sukhumvit being a country home seems downright absurd. But amidst the condo developments, hotels, and shopping centers you can still find plenty of examples of the beautiful houses built in the distinctive styles of the 1950s and 1960s on gated compounds that feature generous gardens and a peaceful respite from the surrounding city.

Below are two photos of one of these houses. Facing Sukhumvit proper between sois 34 and 36, this house is a lovely example of 1960s tropical architecture. To the east of the building is a new condo complex that will tower some 30 stories above it, destroying whatever privacy the residents enjoyed. One day, eventually, the family or their heirs will finally cave in and sell the property to developers.

These days, the homes being built in the countryside are large developments, gated communities in which several hundred cookie-cutter homes are squeezed together on old rice paddies. No gardens of any appreciable size, no cross-ventilation, and a horrible commute into town. It is times like these when I wonder whether it is really appropriate to use the western definition of the word to measure Thailand’s “progress”, for this relentless suburbanization of the city hardly seems like progress. More like degeneration.

Bill’s Farewell for Now Party

One constant in your life if you’re an expat is the coming and going, the constant ebb and flow, of other expats. Francois left last week, gone home for two months to work. Russ will leave soon for a few weeks. Ken will be out of town quite a bit over the next two months, to say nothing of Markus, who is away more than he is here. Bill’s turn is next as he’ll be heading back to Florida on Tuesday for an indefinite length of time although with a desire to return just as soon as he can.

To celebrate his departure – or perhaps just to finish his collection of whisky – he threw a party on Saturday night. It was a collection of the usual suspects leading to the usual conversations and silliness. Right, Ken dances for Roka and Russ looks on.

Below, Tawn and Chai

Call me crazy, but if you throw a party beginning at 7:30 in the evening, wouldn’t the normal expectation be that you have at least a few real food items on the table? We ended up just with chips, dips, and other assorted junk food. Worse yet, Tawn and I contributed to it! We brought cupcakes. I know, I know… chicken satay would have been a much better contribution.

Yet, there was an ulterior motive. I’ll let you in on the conceit:

My elder niece turns five at the end of the month. For her birthday gift, I used Shutterfly to make a customized picture book telling the story of her trip to San Francisco last autumn with her uncles to attend a family wedding. It is 27 pages with pictures and a compelling story. On the final page, I wanted a funny picture of me and Tawn wishing her a happy birthday.

I settled on the idea of buying some cupcakes and staging a photo in which we ostensibly were presenting the cupcakes to my niece, but instead I’d be sneaking a bite of one while Tawn scolded me. We did a number of shots with Bill doing the picture-taking.

Wanting some nice cupcakes for our friends, we went to After You, a small shop in J Avenue on Thong Lor. After You has really cute packaging, right, and a very clever name.

You see, there is an upscale Japanese barbecue restaurant two doors down called Yuu and, like most Japanese restaurants, it doesn’t really offer much in the way of a dessert menu. I understand that in Japan, if you want dessert you go to a dessert shop afterwards. So after eating dinner at Yuu, if you want something sweet to finish the night you go to After You. Get it? Clever, huh?

Anyhow, here’s the picture we settled on.

Waiting for Fridays

Posted on 6 March 2008 by christao408

Much like some people are born in the wrong body, likewise some Thursdays are really meant to be Fridays. Sadly, there is no “day reassignment surgery” option. When we woke up Thursday morning, Tawn asked three times whether it was Friday. Sadly for him, the answer didn’t change.

But despite Thursday having to stay a Thursday all day long, it went pretty well.

Thai Lessons

For me, Tuesday and Thursday mornings are Thai classes with my tutor, Khru Kitiya. We meet at Bitter Brown, a small coffee shop and restaurant near the Asoke BTS station. Things are quiet there in the morning and we’ve been meeting there for the better part of two years – so long that the staff monitors my learning progress – so we usually have a comfortable space in which to study free from distraction. Class ends around noon or shortly after, at whatever point that the din of the lunch crowd makes it difficult for me to hear the subtle final consonants of the Thai words.

For the past several months, I’ve been using a well-known Thai book from the mid-1950s, Lai Chiwit (Many Lives), as my textbook. Written by a former Prime Minister and prolific author, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj (1911-1995), the book is a collection of short stories that chronicle life in Thailand in that time. Written in elegant prose, the stories not only give me a window into the past – a past which heavily influences modern Thai culture – but also give me the pleasure of exploring the beauty of the Thai language.

Right, the cover of the 1996 English language version of the book, translated by Meredith Borthwick and published by Silkworm Books.

Thai really is a very elegant language in which to write, at once both graceful and playful. Needless to say, I’m having a tough time wading through it since the more formal and prosaic language which Khun Kukrit used is more elegant to the ear than it is clear to the farang! But Khru Kitiya is infinitely patient and while there are days (Thursday) where we manage to wade through only two paragraphs, there are many more days in which the progress is measured in pages, plural, rather than fractions of one.

Interesting trivia: Pictured left is Khun Kukrit, whose “M.R.” (Mom Ratchawong) designation indicates he was the son of a prince, was a technical advisor and played the role of the prime minister in the 1963 film, “The Ugly American” starring Marlon Brando.

Unpretty Dinner

When Tawn returned home from work he suggested that we eat somewhere nearby. There is a local seafood restaurant on Thong Lor between sois 5 and 7 called Niyom Gotchana and it is the most unassuming place you’d imagine.

The storefront is open air, floors and walls are finished in an antiseptic look of white tiles, and the lighting comes from dozens of “cool white” florescent tubes which give the place the sterile charm of a county examiner’s office.

Right: Easy Thai – can anyone guess what is said in the blue field of the sign? Actually, if you know the English word, you should be able to work out what all of the Thai characters represent like a code-buster would.

That said, the seafood is fresh, of good quality, and inexpensive. Out in front of the shop are two baskets covered with damp blankets, each containing live crabs. A few had slipped out of one or the other of their bindings but, lacking the right evolutionary tools, could not undo their other binding and climb to freedom. So they sat there snapping and awaiting their fate. Ending up as a plate of curry or salt and pepper crab really is a pretty noble fate, if you ask me.

I was pretty punchy, having spent all afternoon staring at the computer screen, so after ordering the food I sat there making conversation with Tawn and playing with my utensils. Tawn was kind of punchy, too.

The food at Niyom is tasty, but they just have no sense of presentation. Each dish that came out looked quite “blah”, not helped by the icy blue cast of the lights. Tawn’s expression above was the actual response to the flat look of the otherwise tasty stir-fry of tofu, bean sprouts and onion sprouts. The dish was fine; it just looked lackluster.

Even our tod man goong, the fried shrimp cakes that were very fresh, moist, and not at all oily, looked kind of ho-hum. Now, I’m not one to complain, because the prices were good and the food was tasty. But I was hoping to bring back inspiring pictures that would make your mouths water.

We opted for fish instead of crab for the simple reason that neither of us wanted to do the work of picking apart a crab. Instead, we smartly ordered crab fried rice, letting the kitchen do the work for us. The fish was tasty, steamed and then served with soy sauce, ginger, scallions, and peppers. But the fish’s mouth was, once again, not pretty.

I have no idea why we ordered so much food – maybe because we secretly still hoped it wasn’t Thursday evening but was in fact Friday. After eating our fill the staff boxed up the leftovers and we walked back home, made the bed, and fell asleep waiting for the real Friday to arrive.

Bicycling Around Ekkamai

Posted on 2 March 2008 by christao408

Sunday morning I jumped back on my bicycle and went for a ride through the neighborhood. What interesting things there are to be seen!

I didn’t realize that I lived near a store that sells plastic models of food. Not only the ones you expect to see outside Japanese restaurants, but also ones for Chinese, Thai and Western cuisines.

What a perfect gift for someone for Christmas: a slice of cake that you can never eat!

Sadly, they were closed on Sunday morning so I couldn’t pop in for a visit. They would probably freak out if I started taking pictures inside the store, though. That seems to really be an issue at businesses here in Thailand.

I continued up Ekkamai Road, which is Sukhumvit Soi 63, and stopped at Ekkamai Soi 26 to take a picture I’ve long been meaning to take.

Someone, for reasons unknown, decided to post a street sign on the corner of the soi in the style of the signs that grace Parisian street corners. Interestingly, the person who made or ordered the sign decided to place Ekkamai Soi 26 in the 18th Arrondissement.

Perhaps there is a clue to be had from the fact that the 18th Arrondissement is Montmartre, the artsy residential district. Further exploration is called for but the fact that there is a frame shop below the sign might yield some answers.

My route continued north, crossing Khlong San Saeb, the primary east-west canal in the city and the only one that has any scheduled passenger boat service on it. You can actually take the canal taxis all the way into the old city, an efficient and inexpensive way to travel.

The khlong has pedestrian paths on either side and I have explored those before. In some parts of the khlong, nice houses back up to it. In other parts, the pedestrian paths cut through the shacks and shanties of some very poor families. Also, in the Thong Lor / Ekkamai area, there is a prominent Muslim community that lives near the khlong with one mosque near Thong Lor and another past Ekkamai. There are so many interesting communities here and you just don’t see them if you stay in a car.

Above: On Ekkamai flyover above Phetchaburi Road, there is an interesting Buddhist temple (gold pagoda on top) called Wat Ekkamai Pasi, literally, the “Ekkamai tax temple”. Next to it is the large Charn Issara 2 office building. Such a contrast! And in the cloverleaf formed by the ramps leading to the flyover, there is a small park that includes basketball, badminton, and football courts.

Beyond Phetchaburi Road is (below from left to right) the old State Railway line, the new Airport Express viaduct, and the maintenance facility for the Airport Express. To the left of the railway line is a small market and, with the red roof, the Khlongtan railway station. The track is currently used for commute rail services to the east as well as longer-distance trains that run to the Cambodian border and up to Northeast Thailand.

The maintenance facility is coming along nicely. If you look closely in the picture below you’ll see that the first piece of rolling stock has arrived.

How much longer until the Airport Express is running? Well, if you time your trip for late 2009, it should be running sometime around then. Meanwhile, if you arrive earlier, give me a call and I’ll come pick you up!

Critical Mass Recap

Posted on 29 February 2008 by christao408

Friday evening I pumped up my bicycle’s tires, changed the batteries in my head and tail lights, strapped on my helmet and started pedaling down Sukhumvit Road towards Siam Square. The last Friday of the month is payday in Thailand, jokingly called a national holiday. The roads are packed more than usual as everyone goes out to celebrate having money again.

It took me nearly thirty minutes to ride the six kilometers, weaving through traffic, riding a few very short stretches (slowly!) on the sidewalk, and ultimately arriving at Siam Discovery Centre just before 6:30. There I found more than a hundred bicycles parked on the sidewalk, a hundred bicyclists milling about, with more arriving every minute.

Not recognizing anyone, I stood about taking in the scene. As has happened before with Thai bicycling events, the locals are very friendly. The ones less confident about their English just smile and nod, and within a couple of minutes I was engaged in conversation with a married couple. The wife had done her undergraduate degree in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while the husband had been a high school exchange student in – are you ready for this? – Moscow, Idaho.

Oh, and especially interesting, the couple cornered the reporter from the independent TV station (public broadcasting) and had her interview me – in Thai! Talk about a challenge. Don’t know if I made the evening news or not.

About 6:45 the now 200+ people saddled up and we headed out on our ride through the city. The route was less than 20 kilometers and with such a large group we were not moving very fast, covering the route in about two hours.

Throughout the ride I continued to make new friends, some farang who joined the group and some Thais. There really is a vibrant bicycling community here, which you wouldn’t necessarily realize.

This was the first time a Critical Mass ride has been undertaken in Bangkok and it had its own Thai flavor, combined with just some “inexperience” in what elements have made CM rides successful in other cities.

Unlike the leaderless rides at other CMs where the people at the front of the group sort of create the group’s direction on an ad hoc basis, this ride had a route map, police had been informed, and there was one man at the front wearing his bambo pith helmet – I believe he is the founder of the Thai Cycling Club – who was leading the way.

Also, there were some things that could have been done to keep the group together. We were regularly split up by traffic lights and lost much of the group in the first twenty minutes. Had there been some “safety monitors” who would block traffic in an intersection and let the group get through, it would have been a bit more effective.

But, hey, it was the first time and there isn’t a right or wrong way to do a ride. Thai cyclists can make it their own.

One realization I had, though, is that non-cyclists have a lot of misconceptions about bicycling in this city. “The traffic!” they say, ignoring the fact that the traffic largely isn’t moving and that on a bicycle, it is easy to get around larger vehicles stuck in a jam. “The heat!” they say, fogetting that when you are riding, you create your own cooling breeze. “The danger!” they say, not realizing that Thai drivers are the most patient, accommodating, and polite anywhere in the world. Not a honked horn, not a waved fist, not a foul word.

Can’t wait until next month’s ride!

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?

christao408

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

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