Food in BKK: Le Normandie

Posted on 25 August 2010 by christao408

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, which traces its history to 1876 as the first hotel in the Kingdom of Siam, remains one of the finest hotels in Asia. Its legendary service and refined elegance leaves you half-expecting to find such famous visitors of years past as Somerset Maugham and Noel Coward sitting in the lobby or the colonial-style Authors’ Lounge.

Sitting atop the 10-story Garden Wing, which was home to Thailand’s first elevator (1958), is the most famous French restaurant in town: Le Normandie. It was there that we gathered for lunch Sunday afternoon to celebrate the marriage of one of Tawn’s university friends, Ko. She and her husband Per were married in a civil ceremony in Sweden a few weeks back. He will move here later this year and their Thai wedding celebration, certain to be much more lavish, will be held in December.

Photo courtesy of the Mandarin Oriental Group

Joining Ko, Tawn, and me was their other university friend, Bim. Both Bim and Ko are foodies, so this seemed as good a place as any to indulge and celebrate. Le Normandie, which is elegantly appointed in buttery yellow silks, mirrors, and fine chandeliers, has a view and a price tag to suit. What isn’t widely known is that each summer, which is low season here in Thailand, Le Normandie offers a summer prix fixe menu – this summer only 1100 baht ($35) for three courses.

In addition to the beautiful wall treatments and lighting fixtures, both sides of the room have floor-to-ceiling windows offering spectacular views of the city on one side and the Chao Phraya River on the other. The dining room is decorated with beautiful arrangements of fresh flowers, too.

Something that you are paying for at Le Normandie is the service, which is every bit as prompt and attentive as you would expect in a fine restaurant in Paris. The roast is carved tableside, plates are placed at the table simultaneously by the waiters, the proper utensils are discreetly placed on the table between courses, etc. Living in a city where most of the fine dining restaurants struggle to get the diners’ main courses to the table within ten minutes of each other, having the plates gently placed on the table at the same moment is a thrill!

Fresh breads of all sorts were brought before and throughout the meal, a variety of brioche, whole grain bread, sourdough, baguette, etc. that were freshly baked that morning and served warm. The butter was molded with a italicized “N” on top, served in a proper glass dish with silver lid.

After ordering, the chef sent an amuse bouche to tease our appetite. Sorry that the focus on the right isn’t sharp. The shot glass is a tomato jelly with avocado soup and a passion fruit foam. On the left is a slice of squash mousse with broccoli salad topped with a roll of chicken mousse wrapped in thinly sliced duck breast. Yummy!

Entrées

Tawn and I both ordered this beautiful dish: buisson d’asperges vertes, crème aux graines de pavot, œuf de poule prise en gelée, tartare de légumes safranés , which is a “buisson” or pile of green asparagus with poached egg, poppy seed cream, and saffron scented vegetable tartar.

Translating that further, that base was formed of asparagus spears set upright in an aspic, or gelatin, base. The poached egg, served cool but with a runny yolk, was inside the “crown” of asparagus and held into place with a little more aspic. The vegetables around the base were mostly tomatoes and pepper and had a nice saffron aroma. Once the plate was served, the waiter came over with a sauce dish of warm poppy seed cream and spooned it into the center of the crown.

When I cut into it, the cream and egg yolk came running out in what was both an amazing, and an amazingly beautiful, mess. The dish was really nicely prepared and what was especially pleasing about it was the amount of effort and technique that had gone into it. It was a good example of the elevation of food to art.

Ko ordered esquinade d’araignée, courgette et salicoque e la vapeur, émulsion au chorizo, which was a spider sea crab meat with poached prawn and zucchini, served with chorizo sausage sauce. I didn’t try it but she said it was very nice. Beautiful plating, too.

Bim ordered the vibrant green cuisses de grenouilles en fricassée, raviole Provençale, parmesan et sherry Tio-Pepe – a frog leg fricassee with Provençale ravioli, parmesan and Tio-Pepe sherry sauce. She really enjoyed this dish.

Between courses, here are the beautiful and intelligent Bim (left) and Ko (right). While there were many other friends who couldn’t make it, I can’t imagine anyone who would have been better to enjoy this meal with.

Plat Principal

The main courses were just as artful and tasty as the entrées. Bim and Ko both had the filet de Saint-Pierre confit, croustillant de lard Ibérique a l’abricot et jus a la vanille, which was a John Dory fillet with apricot wrapped in Iberico ham and a vanilla-berry essence.

Tawn had the cabillaud à la Boulangère, vin de Jura, cappuccino des sous-bois et sauce au café , which was cod fish Boulangere style with Jura wine, forest mushroom cappuccino and a coffee sauce. The fish was beautifully prepared, moist and flaky. The sauce was interesting as it had just the faintest hint of coffee to it.

I didn’t stray far from convention, enjoying a flavorful pièce de bœuf rôti, gratin de tomates cerise, échalote en chemise et sauce au poivre, or roasted beef with cherry tomato gratin, shallot and pepper corn sauce. It was very tasty.

Desserts

After the main course, the dessert cart was rolled over, featuring a half-dozen types of cakes and four stewed fruit compotes including fig and rhubarb. We could choose two selections and the waiter prepared each plate, saucing and decorating it differently. It took about five minutes per plate but the results, as you can see below, were beautiful.

A cappuccino cake that was calling to me from the dessert cart, although I settled on this one instead:

My marscapone cheese cake with vanilla sauce and rhubarb compote.

A raspberry mousse cake and a chocolate cake – Tawn’s selections.

While tea and coffee were served, two trays of beautiful and tasty macarons were served: chocolate-raspberry, caramel, chocolate-orange, and green tea.

While we didn’t partake of them, there was a cart loaded with fine after dinner drinks. I’m not a brandy drinker, but there is something about an after-dinner drink that seems very refined.

After an enjoyable, nearly three hour dining experience above the banks of the Chao Phraya River. What an elegant and pleasant way to celebrate a friend’s wedding. If only her new husband had been there to enjoy it, too!

Exploring Bangkok – the Old Market in Yaoworat

Posted on 23 August 2010 by christao408

Like so many cities around the world, Bangkok has a sizeable Chinatown. Over the past few hundred years, the Chinese has become very integrated into Thai culture and many Thais, including His Majesty the King, have Chinese blood in their veins. This is especially true of the merchant families, as a trip to Yaoworat – Bangkok’s teeming Chinatown – illustrates. I had the opportunity this past weekend to join Tawn and his boss for a early morning shopping trip to talat gao – the old market.

We parked in a gutted theatre that used to stage Chinese operas. It is interesting as the arches mark the boundaries of the original hall and the backstage area would have been where the white car is parked. The walls have been removed for ventilation, leaving only the columns and beams. The neighboring balconies and windows now look in on the car park.

There are two main streets in Yaoworat, both one-way and both very crowded even early in the morning. Yaworat is located on Rattanakosin Island, the historic center of Bangkok. When the police officer finally does stop traffic for pedestrians he admonishes them: “Raew, raew, raew!” – “Quickly, quickly, quickly!”

The old market area is a wet market – meat, seafood, and vegetables – located off the street. It is crowded early in the morning but by 8:00 when this picture was taken, the customers are clearing out and the vendors are shutting down. This is where Tawn bought a lot of seafood including fresh lump crab meat for one-quarter the price we would pay at our local market.

There was still a large selection of fresh fish around, including what I believe are baracuda in a basket.

The knives used in the market show their age, having been sharpened thousands of times. Reminds me of the show Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The market has vibrant colors and interesting openings where natural light comes flooding in. It is a place where you need to be paying attention, with lots of people passing through carrying boxes, pushing carts, and riding motorcycles stacked high with deliveries.

On the opposite side of the street, we explored some of the new market, which focuses more on dry goods and prepared foods. Any guess what are in all those bags? Fried fish swim bladders, also known as fish maw.

Tight quarters in some sections as motorbikes and pedestrians create traffic jams.

A mad rush for fresh cherries! The vendor also sells toilet bowl brushes in a variety of colors.

Ginko nuts on ice. Very nice sweetened in a little sugar syrup and added to my morning oatmeal. Plus, they are supposed to be very good for your kidneys.

Freshly shaved pig’s head. You don’t want any bristles before serving this to guests.

Chinese buns are stacked as part of a good-luck offering.

Small, very sweet pineapple.

A Chinese shrine located in the car park with tea and water left for the gods. Note the mound of incense stick ash that has built up at the base of the shrine.

Outside the new market, makeshift vendors line the sidewalks in front of shops that have not yet opened for business, selling whatever items are from their farms (of their relatives’ farms) in the nearby provinces.

On a nearby street, a shop sells all things steel, from containers for burnt offerings (far left with holes in them) to stools to buckets, to huge stock pots, to funnels, to an oil lamp for use at shrines (far right, wrapped in plastic). Regarding my earlier comment that many of the merchant families in Bangkok are Chinese, you see signs of this all the time – literally! Notice that the shop’s name appears both in Thai letters (left) and Chinese characters (right). Very interesting is that right between the two are some markings made by Buddhist monks to bless the shop. I’ll have to do a close-up of that one of these days and explain it in more detail.

These three-wheel tuk-tuks, when not gouging tourists, haul bulk goods (usually with their purchaser, although not in this case) around the city.

Getting hungry, we stopped by a fastidiously clean, freshly painted shop known for its muu daeng – literally “red pork”, which is the barbecue pork often known by its Chinese name charshu. This man is the owner. Signs in the building proudly announce that he is now 82 years old and has been in business for 61 years.

There’s not much else he serves but the rice or noodles with barbecue pork on it. This is a plate of “two types pork” – one barbecued and the other roasted with the crispy skin on it. The sauce, unlike that of many competitors/immitators, isn’t super-sweet and has a complex flavor to it. He serves it with a slice of soy sauce boiled egg (not the “100-year old egg”) and some slightly sweet pickled cucumbers. Wonderful, all for about US$1.

So that was my morning trip to the market. We were home by 10:30, a bit exhausted but with a lot of seafood and other good buys. I hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride.

New Pedestrian Bridges at Asoke and Thong Lo

Posted on 17 August 2010 by christao408

For a city of about 8 million people with generally poor mass transit systems, Krungthep (Bangkok) can sometimes surprise you with the usefulness of some of its infrastructure development. A good example of this are the pedestrian bridges built to connect some of the BTS Skytrain (elevated rail) stations to surrounding buildings. In a city with lots of traffic congestion, poor air quality, and even poorer footpath quality, an elevated way to get from the station to the buildings is a big incentive to get out of the car and into the mass transit.

Asoke Road

The junction of Asoke and Sukhumvit roads is an example of this bridge building trend. One of the busiest intersections in the city, crossing at street level has long been a hazardous activity for pedestrians. Located at the intersection of the MRTA subway and the BTS Skytrain, this junction houses three high-rise offices each with a few floors of retail, two large hotels, and a nine-story mall that is under construction.

The pedestrian bridge built under the Skytrain viaduct, heading east from the Asoke station.

In the past two years, pedestrian bridges were built to the west of the BTS Skytrain station, connecting the two hotels and one of the three office buildings. Then a large bridge was built to the east under the Skytrain tracks on Sukhumvit, crossing Asoke in a single cantilevered structure. On the east side of the junction the pedestrian bridge connected to the building in the southeast corner, but not to the newer building on the northeast corner.

The northeast corner of the Asoke-Sukhumvit junction.

Before the pedestrian bridge opened across Asoke, you had to descend from the Skytrain station to the subway station, cross under Asoke road in the subway station, and then reemerge at the base of this building. The subway entrance is in the lower left of the photo, near the large umbrellas. The new pedestrian bridge is on the right that connects directly to the building is on the right. What follows are some pictures of the connection under construction over the past two months:

Taken about six weeks ago, you can see in this picture how the new extension of the bridge will connect from the existing pedestrian bridge (shown in the very first picture in this entry) to the third floor of the building. At this point, just a part of the metal framework has been put into place.

A few days later, crossbeams have been added and some of the concrete flooring is in place. You can also see how a stairwell to the street level – a requirement for all the bridges that connect to buildings to allow after-hours access to the pedestrian bridge – fits into the design.

A few days after that, the columns for the roof structure are mostly in place. The following week, the roof itself has been added and most of the side panels are installed.

Finally, about two weeks ago the bridge is finished and is nearly open. Lighting is working, as you can see. This will be much more convenient to access the building and its businesses. Certainly much easier than having to pass through the subway station to get there! Plus, you can now descend to the street and access businesses along this side of the street more easily.

Thong Lo

A second example of new pedestrian bridges is going up on the west side of the Thong Lo Skytrain station. This is my neighborhood station and it lies just to the east of the junction of Thong Lo and Sukhumvit Roads, two stops to the east of the Asoke station.

Looking west from the foot of the Thong Lo Station

The main driver behind this bridge is the Noble Remix condo (the purple building) which will have two floors of retail below about 35 stories of residences. While the retail floors will get traffic from the residents, there’s no hope of anyone else traipsing over there unless it is convenient, and that means a pedestrian bridge.

Looking west from the station’s westbound platform.

Looking from the station platform to the west, you can see the condo on the left and the entrance to my alley on the right, just under the tracks before the first column. The rationale for needing a pedestrian bridge is that someone walking along the sidewalk has to go along the petrol station and then cross a small but busy alley between the petrol station and the condo. By building the bridge, it is safer and more convenient for pedestrians.

At the same time, some stairs will be built on the north (righthand) side of the road in front of the international school – the building that is wrapped in blue construction tarp. This should be safer for students and their parents to access the Skytrain station.

Looking back from in front of the international school towards the BTS Skytrain station, you can see the condo to the right and the first columns of the pedestrian bridge. This is about two months ago.

As of four weeks ago, box frames were built around the train viaduct’s columns.

A few weeks later, the bridgework was added to connect each of the support columns. For the past two weeks, no further work has been done including the connection to the station itself. I’m curious to see how quickly they will finish this project. It seems like it should not be difficult but each step has moved quite slowly. In the end, it won’t benefit me very much but it is another sign of progress in making the Skytrain more accessible to the area surrounding the station and and more user-friendly to potential passengers.

Escape the Rains

Posted on 7 July 2010 by christao408

A news report in Wednesday’s paper indicated that a weak La Niña system is building up in the western Pacific, which will result in heavier than normal rainfall throughout Asia. Sure enough seems to be the case here in Bangkok where, despite reports of a severe drought in the northeast of the country, we have had quite a bit of rain to kick off rainy season.

Late Monday morning we had several hours of nonstop torrential rain, much more than we usually get at one time. As you can see from the picture taken from my balcony, the soi (alley) on which we live was flooded enough to brush the undersides of passing taxis.

My poor maid was caught in the rain while eating lunch on her way from one of the other houses she cleans to our condo. She was eating at a streetside vendor and stayed there under and umbrella, hoping to wait it out. When the vendor asked where she was heading, he shook his head and told her that the area floods and that she had better head out right there and then, or else abandon all hope.

Sure enough, when she arrived at the condo she was soaked. I told her that next time it is raining so hard she should just call and cancel; no need to brave the floods. A bit later she pointed out that where she lives out by Sukhumvit Soi 101, the sois don’t flood. With all the expensive condos around here, she tsked, the streets shouldn’t flood.

So much for location, location, location!

I’m headed to the airport. Talk to you soon.

Food in BKK: Rex Hotel

Posted on 6 July 2010 by christao408

Yesterday I promised a retro meal and this is just the place for it: the Rex Hotel, an establishment that dates from the 1960s, one of a large number of hotels that offered fixed rates for foreign GIs who were on rest and relaxation breaks during the Vietnam War. The Rex Hotel is still in business, still owned by the original family, in fact. It has undergone some remodels but has never lost that 1960s charm. Its coffee shop, the Rexa Coffee Hall, is still famous for its khao tom, boiled rice.

Located on Sukhumvit Road between Sukhumvit Soi 32 and 34, the Rex Hotel is just a short walk from the Thong Lo BTS Skytrain station.

Despite fresh coats of paint, the Rexa Coffee Hall screams 1960s with its delightfully unselfconscious menu design, booth upholstery, and table dividers.

We ate at an off hour and there was only one other group dining. The Rex Hotel focuses mostly on package tour groups these days and with tourism way down, I’m sure there is a low occupancy level. Notice the staff, wearing the classic red jackets and bow ties.

The Rexa Coffee Hall has a wide menu of both Thai and Western items – eight types of sandwiches, for example – all of which are decent without being flashy and all of which are inexpensive. They are most famous for their boiled rice, khao tom, a Thai breakfast favorite. The rice porridge is served with a variety of side dishes. You can mix and match to get whatever flavors you want to contrast with the backdrop of bland rice.

One must-try is jab chai, which literally means “leftovers”. A mixture of whatever is left over, the Rexa’s version includes bitter greens stewed with tofu, pork belly, and chicken feet. Not very pretty but it is very tasty.

Pad tua ngoc – Bean sprouts stir-fried with pork and tofu. Clean flavors and very refreshing.

Kai jiaow – omelet with fried pork Omelets here are fried in plenty of oil but they always seem to come out without being oily. I guess they keep the pan really hot.

Finally, my choice, some gun chien tod – Fried sweet Chinese sausage

The Rexa is going to get some return visits from me. With a menu so inexpensive and varied and a location so close to my home, it would be a good break for when I need to get out of the house for lunch.

I’m on my way to the United States today so there may be a few days without an entry. Stay tuned, though. Next stop, Omaha.

First Ride on the Bangkok Airport Link

Posted on 14 June 2010 by christao408

Three years late, the rail line to the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport has finally started running, although on a limited, trial basis. Last week I headed out for a look at this latest addition to Krungthep’s transit infrastructure.

The new airport, Suvarnabhumi, opened more than three years ago about 30 km east of the heart of the city. The planned rail service, the so called “pink line,” suffered through interminable delays caused for any number of reasons, not the least of which might have to do with the State Railways of Thailand’s notorious inefficiency. The SRT, which owns the right-of-way, built, and will eventually operate the pink line, has never turned a profit in its more than half-century of operations.

Nonetheless, I’m excited that another piece in the transit puzzle is nearly put into place as the line started limited trial service almost two weeks ago.

The pink line is actually two lines: the darker line is the city line, which will make multiple stops between the airport and Phaya Thai, which is currently the westernmost station. As you can see in the above map, there were several planned but unbuilt stations, shown with station names in outlined font. The second, light pink line is the airport link, which will run nonstop between the airport and the Makkasan station (at Asoke and Petchaburi Roads), where the in-city terminal will be located.

If all goes according to plan, passengers will be able to check in for their flights at Makkasan station, receive boarding passes and drop off their bags, then ride on the train to the airport. Their bags will be carried in a secure storage area and, already ticketed, will go from the train directly into the airport’s baggage system. It sounds like there will be some delay before that part is operational.

Additionally, the plan is that passengers on the pink line will be able to connect with the BTS Skytrain at Phaya Thai and with the MRT subway at Makkasan-Petchaburi. Sadly, it appears that neither connection is currently built.

I met up with Bill and Ken, two friends with an interest in things both transit and aviation related, at the Phaya Thai BTS station to give the pink line a try. During this trial run, only the two end stations – Phaya Thai and Airport – are operational on the pink line. The train service is running weekdays from 7-10 am and 4-10 pm nonstop between these stations, although some intermediate stops will be introduced next week. This trial run is free and will last until August, when the full system is supposed to be in service.

Above, you can see the Phaya Thai station of the pink line, the big concrete behemoth on the right, and a ramp that is supposed to connect to the Phaya Thai BTS station on the left. You’ll notice, though, that the ramp stops about 5 meters short of the BTS station. I’m curious about this because passengers will have to walk down to the street level, along 100-200 meters of broken, dirty sidewalk, cross an active railway line, and then ascend into the second station, regardless of which way they are connecting.

Above: Flagman at the active railroad tracks that passengers connecting between the pink line and BTS have to cross, directs cars off the track as a train approaches.

My theory for this is that the two systems didn’t communicate very well, even though the BTS has been running for more than ten years so certainly wasn’t an unknown entity. The ramp would connect a paid area in the BTS station with a public area in the pink line station. So someone is going to have to pay to build and maintain turnstiles and a BTS ticket booth somewhere at the connection point. This is insane because the three rail systems in town are supposed to be moving to a common ticket platform – one ticket, all systems – so the ramp should lead from the paid area to another paid area, not pass through a public area of the pink line station.

Anyhow, we walked across the railroad tracks with no problems and took the elevators up several levels in the new pink line station, being directed by friendly guards the whole way.

The trains (these are the city line trains being used for the test run, not the airport link trains) are from Siemens and they look nice enough. The stations along the line are not very impressive, a collage of grey concrete and grey metal. Only the Makkasan and Airport stations are air conditioned.

The line was pretty well used when I took it about 4pm. By the time the train left, the seats were full with many of the passengers looking like airport employees or people who live out in the eastern suburbs. There were also many local tourists traveling just to see the new train and, surprisingly, a few people actually using the train to get to the airport with their bags.

Once the line is fully operational, the city line will charge between about 10-40 baht (up to US$1.25) and the airport link will charge 150 baht (US$4.75). I would assume that the seating arrangement on the airport link train will feature pairs of seats facing forwards and backwards along with storage space for carry-on baggage.

Notice the wide gap between the train and the platform. It looks like there is a ledge under the door that can be extended, but they were not doing that.

The monitors in the station show a video of the route, alternating between Thai and English. There is also a countdown clock until the next departure – shown in seconds! I’ve never seen a train station that shows countdown time in seconds. And, believe me, SRT isn’t the sort of prompt organization that runs things to the second.

Looking east from Phaya Thai station towards the Ratchaprarop station, the two closest stations on the line.

The ride itself was very smooth, with the exception of one station midway through the line where there is a passing lane. We had to slow down significantly to change tracks, breaking our otherwise good speed of approximately 120 kmh or 75 mph. We were going faster than all but the fastest taxis on the expressway that parallels the tracks most of the way to the airport.

Along the way, there was a nice view of the many new housing development springing up near the airport and the new stations on the pink line. This line will probably become very useful, less for airport passengers and employees, but more for locals who live to the east of the city and need a fast way to commute into town to their offices.

It took just about 20 minutes to go from Phaya Thai station to the airport. I understand that the airport link service from Makkasan to the airport will be about 16. The train pulls into the sub-basement of the car park structure, connecting directly into the terminal building. A quick ride up the elevator or moving sidewalks and you are at the arrivals and departures levels. Very convenient on this end of the line. In the future, you will be able to walk through this station to the airport hotel, which you currently have to take a shuttle van to. The station will also have various retail shops, although those are all located on the hotel side of the station, which doesn’t make much sense.

There are some potential cons to the system right now and I’ll have to wait and see how it works once the whole system is up and running, then I’ll talk more about the cons if they haven’t been addressed. For the moment, I’ll simply say that I’m glad additional transit options are opening and I hope that we’ll see several more in the next few years.

Speaking of which, one has to wonder where the pink line, which ends just to the west of the Phaya Thai station, will go in the future. The master plan shows this line continuing, turning north and heading towards the old Don Meuang airport (and beyond) and also turning south and heading to the current Hualamphong train station and then underground, across the river, and southwest to Samut Sakhon province. Ambitious!

Bangkok Bus Rapid Transit

Posted on 4 June 2010 by christao408

Months after I thought the project was fatally stalled, Bangkok’s new Bus Rapid Transit scheme started running this past week. Finally, the City of Angels is making some more progress away from private automobiles and towards public transit.

The concept of Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, is somewhat akin to having a light rail system but substituting busses for the rail cars. This way, you don’t have the significant infrastructure investment while still enjoying many of the benefits of light rail transit. Cities as varied as Jakarta, São Paulo, Bogotá, Seattle, and Brisbane use various BRT systems to good effect.

This first route (four more are planned in the years to come) is shown in green at the bottom of the map. It begins near the Chong Nonsi BTS Skytrain station on Narathiwat Road between Silom and Sathorn Roads, running southeast along Narathiwat Road and then turning onto Rama III Road and heading west along the south side of the city, terminating on the Thonburi side of the river near the future Ratchadapisek BTS station on the western extension of the Silom Skytrain line. Prolific blogger Richard Barrow has created a Google map showing the whole thing in detail.

Based on questions I’ve asked, the new Ratchadapisek BTS station should be within easy connecting distance of the BRT terminus, but looking around once we reached the terminus, I could see the Skytrain tracks but no indication of construction of the new station. Articles I’ve read in the newspaper say that BTS plans to have this extension opened by the end of 2012. We’ll see…

The first map left out one important part of the larger transit scheme here in Bangkok – the Airport Express. The Airport Express (the dotted red line labeled “Airport Link” in the map above) just began trial runs for the public this week and I’ll take a ride next week and report on it, too.

As you can see, we are starting to get a more comprehensive transit network in place. If you are really curious, a reader of 2Bangkok.com created a very nice map that shows what our rail transit network would look like if every single proposed line and extension were built. You can find that map here.

So let’s get on with a review of the BRT itself. My friend Ken and I, after completing an errand at the US embassy, took the bus down to the Sathorn/Narathiwat intersection. Last October I wrote an entry about the intersection and I’ve pulled some “before” pictures from that entry to contrast with current pictures.

P1030512

This is an artist’s rendering of what the intersection will look like (facing northwest looking up Narathiwat Road towards Sathorn) once the construction is complete. The BRT station is at the bottom and the Chong Nonsi BTS station is at the top. The area with the yellow arch is part of the pedestrian bridge that is being constructed over Sathorn Road, replacing two smaller pedestrian bridges that currently exist at the corners of the intersection. A green-roofed walkway connects from the Chong Nonsi BTS station to the pedestrian bridge. That walkway is pictured below, with the Chong Nonsi station in the distance.

Current view of the walkway, above, and the way it looked in October 2009, below.

A view from the Skytrain looking southeast towards the BRT station. You can see the significant steel works that will form the pedestrian bridge crossing Sathorn Road. This is the area where the yellow arches appear in the artist’s rendering a few pictures above.

A closer view of the walkway leading from the Sathorn intersection to the BRT station under construction in October 2009.

P1030465

And that same completed walkway now. In the walkway, you pass through a ticketing area (which, I understand, will eventually use the same stored-value fare cards that the Skytrain, subway, and Airport Express will use) and descend escalators to an enclosed waiting room.

The waiting room at the Sathorn station has glazed glass and air conditioners, making your wait for the bus more comfortable. Interestingly, the rest of the stations along the line do not have air conditioning, only the two terminal stations. But the other stations are in the middle of the road and, presumably, catch a decent breeze.

Busses, which look like Heimlich, the German caterpillar in the animated Pixar film A Bug’s Life, run every ten minutes. The operator’s compartment is separated from the passenger compartment, rather like on a train.

The layout of the floor includes bench seating in the front and lots of standing room. Capacity is around 50 passengers. An LCD monitor at the front shows a map of where the bus is on the route, updating in real time, kind of like the “air show” maps on airplanes. Information on the monitor alternates between English and Thai.

The back half of the bus has single seats, which seem to be a waste of the raised floor space. They should change these to be benches as well, which would make better use of the space. The two men in blue shirts and ties were from the BTS Skytrain organization, apparently conducting some corporate espionage. Competition between transit systems must be fierce! Ha ha…

Near the end of the route, the bus crosses the Chao Phraya River on the Rama III Bridge. Above is a view looking northwards towards the heart of the city. You can see that many condos (and a few hotels) have sprung up along the river. Supposedly, there has been a moratorium on further riverside development higher than eight stories, but I don’t know if that is actually true. Off in the distance you can barely make out the gold-domed State Tower, which appears in the pictures from our stay last weekend at the Peninsula Hotel.

Above is the view from the same bridge looking roughly southwards as the Chao Phraya River prepares to make a large turn to the east. In April 2006, Tawn and I stopped by the temple you see on the right of the picture during Songkhran. There was something like a summer school for young boys, all of whom had their heads shaved and had donned the saffron robes of novice monks.

They were playing around – kung fu fighting, it looked like – on the roof of the temple in the heat of the early afternoon. Not very monastic behavior, but it made for a good picture. The rest of the story of that trip to Thonburi is here.

Stations along the way are in the median of the road, requiring a climb up stairs or escalators and then across the road on a pedestrian bridge. About 70% of the BRT’s route has a dedicated lane for the bus, set off from the rest of the traffic by green and white striped concrete barriers.

The remaining 30% is on a section of road with only two lanes, one of which has been painted and signed as being only for BRT busses and vehicles with three or more occupants. Needless to say, traffic on the remaining lane has become even more congested on that section of road, leading to a lot of complaints by car drivers that the BRT is worsening traffic, not improving it. Hopefully, the policemen will actually enforce the law and keep drivers out of the BRT lanes.

An interesting feature of the BRT system is that there are additional concrete curbs installed on both sides of the lane at the station. The driver wants to get as close to the platform as possible to make boarding smooth and safe. There are two small wheels sticking out from under the bus, parallel to the ground. These sense the curb and alert the driver so he can properly position himself. All boarding is through the single door in the center of the bus, which is at the same level as the platform. There is one emergency exit (see the red handle?) at the back of the bus.

The trip took about thirty minutes one way and provided an interesting look at some corners of the city I don’t see very often. The ride is smooth and comfortable, the stations seem well-located, and the directions and announcements were easy to understand. All in all, I have to give a solid B+ to the Bangkok BRT system. If they would bring the same sort of rationalization to the rest of the dozens of bus routes that ply this city, they wouldn’t need to build any more rail.

Next week… the Airport Express is finally running. Stay tuned.

Results of the Staycation

Posted on 3 June 2010 by christao408

Wow, it has been six days since my last entry. My longest break from Xanga in a long, long time, and one that was very much enjoyed. So much of my work is done on the computer that when I combine it with recreational computer use, it seems like I’m plugged in online too much of my time. The weekend completely unplugged and week mostly away from recreational computer use has reminded me of the importance of establishing some boundaries in terms of how much, and when, I use computers and the internet.

As for the two-night staycation at the Peninsula Hotel on the west side of the river here in Bangkok, it was fantastic. The hotel truly is world-class with wonderful service. It is very easy to spend three days in a cocoon and not really feel like you’re in the heart of the city, although from the balcony of the room, you could see that we were.

Upon check-in we were upgraded from the “Deluxe” room (funny how the lowest grade of room is usually given a fancy name) to a balcony room, which is two rungs up the ladder. All the rooms in the hotel face the river, laid out along one side of a W-shaped floor plan. Our room was very spacious, about 60 square meters or about 600 square feet. There was a separate walk-in closet/dressing room and then a large bathroom beyond the bedroom, making it feel especially spacious.

The Chao Phraya River runs past most of the nicest hotels in the city, including the Shangri-La (pictured here), Sheraton, Oriental, Hilton, Peninsula, and Marriott Resort. For sightseeing, the location of these hotels is a little less convenient. But if you’re staying at one of these places you can probably afford to hire a car and driver for the day, so convenience isn’t that much of a problem.

The hotel has a gorgeous swimming area, spa (the building behind the pool), and workout facility. The first afternoon we headed down to the pool but a typical afternoon thunderstorm quickly blew in, with winds gusting in advance of the rain, causing umbrellas to overturn and towels and chair pads to go flying into the pool. The remainder of the weekend had gorgeous weather, though, and we spent much of Saturday afternoon laying in the shade below one of these pavilions, sipping mango smoothies and reading.

The hotel’s interior design is very beautiful. Clean lines with an Asian theme but not in an overwhelming “Oriental” way.

The main lobby, where we stopped for a pre-dinner drink the first night, is very comfortable.

Even the public hallways, this one leading to the River Cafe and Terrace, are tastefully decorated with live orchids.

Friday evening we ate outdoors alongside the river. The full moon was rising just behind the tower at the Shangri-La Hotel. I’m amazed by how busy the river is even well into the evening.

Our room rate included a set dinner for two but since their occupancy is fairly low, they were serving a buffet. It was actually a cleverly done buffet, offering a large range of prepared dishes that could be served at or near room temperature – salads, cold cuts, etc. – with soups, fresh seafood, a wide selection of breads, etc. to round it out.

The main feature was their grill. They offered a wide range of meats from seafood to satay to fine cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, grilled to order and served with a variety of sauces. This is actually a very smart way to do a buffet as there is much less waste.

My selections included a cut of snowfish grilled in a foil pouch with ginger and other seasonings, a very tender cut of Wagyu beef, and some foie gras.

There was a large dessert bar in the center of the dining room featuring all sorts of desserts and fresh fruit. There were three flavors of homemade ice cream including both raspberry and mango sorbets that were amped up with flavor.

A selection of desserts: a raspberry mousse, a ginger creme brulee, green tea and chocolate-orange macarons, and an interesting twist on sticky rice and mango that included a mango mousse.

Both evenings we retired to the room to watch episodes from season two of True Blood, the southern vampire series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris. Since we don’t have HBO here in Thailand, we haven’t been able to watch the series in real time. And since I generally don’t want to support piracy, I’ve waited patiently until the episodes were released on iTunes Store instead of buying them on the street.

The breakfast buffet was also included, featuring just about everything you might want for both Asian and Western style breakfasts, including to-order egg dishes.

The pastries were really nice. Could I just have eaten one of everything and called it a day?

The bread was amazing, perhaps the best European style bread I’ve found in Bangkok. They also served raw honey fresh from the honeycomb, with the comb hanging on the table with the honey dripping down a trough and into a bowl.

Enjoyinga healthy breakfast! The service was very attentive and we got into a discussion with one of the restaurant managers about the silver tea service they use, a design that Tawn has had his eye on. The manager took his name and number and called him a few days after the trip, connecting him with an unofficial resource to buy his own set. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.

The tropical fruits were the finishing touch, though. I don’t know where they buy their fruits but the mangos were the tastiest, sweetest mangos I’ve eaten in Thailand and the dragonfruit, which I usually find quite bland, was actually full of flavor.

By the time we checked out Sunday at noon, we had de-stressed quite a bit, promising ourselves that we would do more weekend getaways in the months to come. What’s the point of living in a tropical paradise if you don’t get out to enjoy it?

Food in BKK – Baan Mae Yui

Posted on 24 May 2010 by christao408

Two weekends ago, before the Red Shirt protests came to a head, I took a taxi up to the Soi Ari neighborhood. Because of the political situation, most people were at home and what could have been a thirty-minute Skytrain ride or a forty-five minute taxi ride took me just fifteen minutes. Down a side soi is a cute little restaurant called Baan Mae Yui – Mother Yui’s House. It is located in an old house set in a nice garden area. The food is standard lunch fare – noodles, fried rice, etc. – but served in a nicer setting than you would get along the side of the street.

The dining area spills out through open doors into a covered patio. There is no air conditioning other than the natural breeze and dozens of fans, but with the green garden just outside, the restaurant always feels comfortable.

One highlight on their menu is the satay, the Southern Thai style grilled skewers of pork or chicken served with a rich peanut-based sauce and pickled cucumbers. The meat is basted with coconut milk, lending an extra rich flavor.

For lunch, I went with an odd choice – pan fried macaroni with tomato sauce. This was actually a childhood favorite of one of my dining companions. It has slices of sausage and onions mixed in and the sauce is a very sweet and vinegary (that is to say, “ketchup-y”) one. It was a lot of fun to eat although not the greatest culinary achievement.

It is places like Baan Mae Yui that make Bangkok neighborhoods so much fun. They date back decades and each have their own unique character. I should write about more of them.

Biking through the Protest Aftermath

Posted on 23 May 2010 by christao408

This morning I pulled out my bicycle and, figuring that five days had been enough time to wait, pedaled my way to the various spots that had been affected during the Red Shirts’ protest and the subsequent riots and arson.

At 8:00 on a Sunday the streets were very quiet although there were others out. For closed off sections of road, there were a surprising number of sightseers there to absorb the unimaginable. This raised a question that has crossed my mind many times in the past two months: where were the police?

All in all, there is quite a mess. The damage is a little less extensive than my wild imagination had feared after seeing selected pictures shown again and again last Wednesday while the city was burning. But it is still a mess. Everywhere that the protesters had burned barricades made of tyres, there is a thick layer of burned rubber, a slick that has permeated the asphalt. Plants and landscaping are destroyed, the same fate suffered by every police box in the area.

Please let me share some photos and video with you. The commentary may sound a little pro-government, when in fact I don’t align particularly with any side in this conflict. But after seeing my city heavily damaged, largely by outsiders who claimed to be peaceful, I’m a bit jaded.

My first stop was the Chidlom intersection. You can see the Chidlom Skytrain station and are looking down Ploenchit Road towards Siam Square. There was a very large barricade here that was torched. There are large scorch marks on the underside of the Skytrain station and you can see that the traffic lights melted. The ground by the looted police box is slick with the residue of burned rubber.

The same intersection from the other side, with Soi Lang Suan running off to the back right of the picture. This was the largest contingent of troops I saw. Many soldiers seemed to be assigned to clean-up duty but this bunch was armed and definitely doing security. The curfew is still day-to-day but the hours are being shortened. What started at 8 pm – 6 am is now something like 11 pm – 5 am and will hopefully be lifted in the next few days.

The Ratchaprasong intersection. Ploenchit-Rama I runs left to right through the picture. Straight ahead is Rajadamri Road heading towards Lumpini Park and Silom. On the back right of the picture is the police headquarters. Would you like to ask the obvious question? How in the world was a protest of tens of thousands of people that lasted 40+ days allowed to happen right in front of the nation’s police headquarters? Were there no officers around to put a stop to it when it first started?

The answers lies in the complex politics of Thailand’s military and security services: it has been reported that there are many factions within the police, several of which are loyal to the former Prime Minister.

The Skytrain started running today and will be back to a full schedule starting Monday. The only station not open is Rajadamri due to damage to the station.

Gaysorn Plaza, on the Ratchaprasong corner, appeared to not have sustained much damage. Louis Vuitton, in particular, seems to have come through unscathed. Given the number of LV knock-offs sold in Thailand, I can only imagine that the shop was saved only by its immense popularity, even among Red Shirts.

The collapsed section of Central World Plaza, which was still smoldering. This is in the Atrium section, a part of the mall that was new construction since I moved here. The right half of the mall is expected to be reopened within six months but this portion and to the left will have to be completely razed and rebuilt.

Doesn’t that look like more damage than would be caused by a couple of Molotov Cocktails? Sure enough, the authorities report finding at least one compressed gas cylinder amid the debris. At the nearby Four Seasons hotel, it is reported that several cylinders were found, wired to make a bomb.

Along the Rama I side of Central World, you can see the extensive damage to the Zen department store. No word as to whether the high-rise portion was affected, but I cannot imagine how the structure could not have sustained damage.

Down the street in Siam Square the damage was also extensive. Of the six or seven soi (alleys) in Siam Square, it appears that two suffered extensive damage. This building is on the corner of Rama I and Henri Dunant Roads.

I had originally heard that both the Siam and Scala theatres, the last two independent single-screen cinemas in Bangkok, had burned. Thankfully the Scala, architecturally the more interesting of the two, survived unscathed.

However, the building housing the Siam, as well as dozens of small, owner operated shops, was destroyed. This area is immediately below the Siam Skytrain station, directly across from Siam Paragon mall.

Extensive damage to many shops.

There are still some coils of razor wire here and there. This is at the Payathai – Rama I intersection across from MBK Mall. These appear to be awaiting clean-up and are not part of any current security operation.

The Metropolitan Electric Authority office in Khlong Toei along Rama IV Road (between the expressway and Asoke-Ratchadapisek Road) was completely destroyed. There are still sections of this generally poor neighborhood that are without electricity.

The good news is that there was an important sign of the city coming together this morning, a volunteer clean up effort which drew at least 1,000 people to Lumpini Park and the Silom-Saladaeng neighborhood. The name of the event: Together We Can.

Okay, I’m ready to put this topic aside for now and move on to other things.

christao408

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

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