Food in BKK: Gastro 1/6 at RMA

Posted on 10 May 2011 by christao408

San Francisco, the area I come from, is a great place to eat breakfast. Since moving here more than five years ago, I’ve regretted the lack of good San Francisco-style breakfast places and if I had the money and free time, I’d probably open one myself. In the meantime, I’m glad to have recently learned about another candidate for my breakfast baht: Gastro 1/6.

Located at the RMA Institute, a gallery and art space buried deep in Sukhumvit Soi 22, Gastro 1/6 is just a small cafe, really. It is already busy on weekends and I suspect will become so popular that its charm will quickly wear off. That said, it is a charming place in a way that eludes most restaurants in Bangkok.

All the seating is in an outdoor, although covered, space that is thick with foliage and decorated with a motley assortment of chairs and tables. There is no table service – you order at the counter and pick up your own food.

The kitchen is a tiny, open affair with a limited selection of dishes. Pastries are available from Le Blanc, a local bakery that is improving the quality of baked goods available to us denizens of Bangkok. There are both breakfasty type dishes as well as specials more suitable for a lunch, making this an appealing place for brunch and those who can’t decide what they’re in the mood for.

The grounds are home to a friendly dog who greets visitors and generally manages things. We arrived at what we thought would be a bit late – about 10am – on a Sunday and were surprised to find things not very busy yet. Some other people breezed through, mostly it seemed for a quick bite and then on to whatever else was on their docket for the day.

Tawn had French toast with a side of bacon, which was very tasty. There’s a drop of syrup about to drip from the bacon on the right end of it. Caught it with the camera!

My breakfast came with a bowl of toasted bread, thin slices that definitely wouldn’t appeal to the Thai palate, which doesn’t seem to like crispy and crunchy. Perfect for me, though, who likes his bread willing to fight back a bit.

I had the traditional English breakfast, which was spruced up so nicely I barely recognized it. Scrambled organic eggs with fresh cracked pepper and sea salt, homemade baked beans and baked tomato, salad with a lovely dressing, homemade sausage, and some bacon. This was really tasty and just the perfect serving size.

Afterwards, relaxing with my latte as an English family with three adorable children decide what they want to order.

Tawn, fresh off his fashion show, looks so much more relaxed without the stress of an impending deadline looming over him.

My impression? Gastro 1/6 is a cute and satisfying choice for brunch or even pastries and a cup of coffee. Probably not the place to linger for a long time, but a good start to your morning. Cash only, closed Mondays.

Terminal 21 Nears Completion

Posted on 29 March 2011 by christao408

In November 2009 I first wrote about the construction of a new mall at the northwest corner of Sukhumvit and Asoke roads called Terminal 21. I visited the subject again in February of this year as part of an entry about the profusion of malls being built along Sukhumvit Road. In the weeks since, I’ve stopped by the site, which is easily visible from the outbound platform of the Asoke BTS Skytrain station, to view the last steps of construction.

Since the mall is literally right next to both the Skytrain station (elevated) and the subway station, it should benefit from easy access. But, in a city with strong sunlight, heavy rain showers, and lots of traffic, the more convenient and enclosed you can make that connection, the better.

Because of that, one of the things I’ve been observing and thinking about is how the main entry area (shown above) will connect with the two rail stations. You can see the long concrete deck that will be the main entry area, wrapped in green construction netting. One entrance is on the left, outlined in red metal beams, and the other is at the right end where there is a bit of a canopy being constructed.

On the west end of the deck, I can easily see how a bridge might be built to connect to the Skytrain station, which has blue-covered stairs seen on the left of the picture. In this picture, taken a few weeks ago, I anticipated the potential bridge with orange lines.

Sure enough, by last week they were pouring the concrete reinforcements for the bridge and I imagine in another week or so they will be laying the beams for the bridge. This will lead directly to the entrance of the Skytrain station, which I fear is a bit small to deal with the amount of passengers that may be passing through the space.

The more uncertain question is what they will do with the other entrance to the mall. In the picture shown above, taken a few weeks ago, they were demolishing the sales office for the mall and I anticipated (in orange lines) that maybe a bridge would be built connecting to the escalators that descend to the subway. The escalators are in the building with the bright blue roof that has one red segment. While some re-jiggering of the wheelchair ramp in that area would be necessary, it seemed to be an easy way to get people directly to the subway, short of a tunnel leading into the station itself.

After they demolished the former sales office and finished off the edge of the entry deck, it is no more clear what they will be doing. Certainly it will be some sort of bridge, but how it connects to anything else remains a mystery. Complicating matters further, there is a narrow alley you see in the photo above. This space contains a small shrine that belongs to the Asoke fresh market, located in the building with the dingy white-washed wall. Any bridge connecting to the escalators to the subway would have to cross over this alley. I guess there is little to do but wait and see.

One other thing that caught my eye: there seems to be a “moat” built around the edge of the mall. The other day there was quite a bit of water flowing down it. Not sure if this is part of the drainage system and will be covered with grilles or what.

The other night while waiting for the train after my Thai lesson, I noticed they had the interior lights on for the first time. It may be a bit hard to tell, but the interior is largely finished. They are laying the tiles on the main floor and most of the shop entrances are decorated already. I think they will be open in the next few months.

Not that far away from Terminal 21 – in fact, just two subway stops north along Asoke/Ratchadapisek Road – There is another mall being built. This is Central Plaza Rama 9. There is an additional development that is supposed to happen behind it – a large four-tower condo complex. In fact, the developer was floating the idea of building a monorail that would go down Ratchadapisek Road (to the right in the picture above) and connect with the Airport Rail Link terminal at Makkasan.

The view above is looking east from atop Fortune Town IT Mall, with the Thailand Cultural Center off to the left and Rama IX road following the bridge on the right. Pardon the inexpert job done stitching three photos together to create this faux fisheye lens effect.

A Profusion of Malls along Sukhumvit Road

Posted on 10 February 2011 by christao408

Is it perhaps some sort of sibling rivalry? Listening to the leaders of Bangkok, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were feeling a little bit of envy of their better manicured regional sibling, Singapore. Like listening to a youngster who both admires and despises his older brother, I chuckle each time an idea is mooted that seems to be chasing after Singapore: Let’s build a giant Ferris wheel by the Chao Phraya River! Let’s relocate street vendors into clean, well lighted facilities! Let’s build an endless chain of malls from Siam Square to Sukhumvit!

Not that there is anything wrong with these ideas – well, except the Ferris wheel – but it seems that our civic leaders should find the confidence to just say what we all know to be true: We’re not Singapore, we never will be, and that’s perfectly fine. After all, if we were so much like Singapore, we would lose a large chunk of our tourists: the Singaporeans on holiday from their overly-staid city state.

One area of the sibling rivalry in which we are making progress is the building of malls. Singapore may well have its Orchard Road, but we have our (admittedly difficult for visitors to pronounce and often taken over by protesters) Ratchaprasong Shopping District, stretching roughly from MBK and Siam Square on the west to Central Childlom on the east.

You could logically extend the shopping district along the same street (which confusingly changes names from Rama I to Phloenchit to Sukhumvit along the way), bypassing the rather frightening Nana district and ending up at Asoke and Phrom Phong, which are seeing the development of their own new malls.

Let’s take a look at some of that development.

Phloenchit Area

In the Phloenchit area, which stretches from the Chitlom to Phloen Chit Skytrain stations, there are three new developments. In addition to these new developments, the reconstruction of Central World Plaza, which suffered severe fire damage in the wake of protests that were broken up on May 19 of last year, looks to be proceeding on pace for reopening by year’s end.

The largest new project, long discussed but finally announced this week, is Central Embassy, built by Central Retail Corporation, owners of the Central World Plaza and Central Chidlom properties, among others.

Central Embassy

Built between Chidlom and Phloen Chit stations on nine rai (14,400 square meters) of land bought from the British Embassy, this 37-story multi-use development will contain 70,000 square meters of retail on eight floors along with a 222-room luxury Park Hyatt hotel. Its design will feature a unique “twisting ribbon” that should add another landmark to the city’s skyline.

A view of the Central Embassy project property looking west towards Central Chidlom (white tower on the right and the shorter brown and green building to its left). Buildings on the British Embassy grounds are in the lower right of the picture. The angle showed here is equivalent to looking at the model in the previous picture from the far right side of that picture.

When it is complete in late 2013, the Central Embassy project will have an integrated facade with Central Chidlom, including a bridge connecting the two. Central Chidlom will reportedly be renovated so the two properties have a consistent look, giving Central Retail Corporation a second large mall (along with Central World Plaza) in less than a one-kilometer stretch of Phloenchit Road.

Also in this neighborhood, not 100 meters to the east, is a large stretch of empty land next to Phloen Chit station. (Pardon the poor job stitching two photos together.) This property has undergone fitful attempts at development over the years, with constructions workers coming in from time to time to clear the land of vegetation and put up construction fencing, only to do no further work.

This week the process started again with the clearing of an old building at the front of the property which had served as the sales office for whatever project had initially been started before the Asian economic crisis more than a decade ago. No signage has been posted yet indicating what the development will contain, but based on the neighborhood and size of the property, it seems likely that a mixed-use building with retail, office, and possibly condominiums or hotel rooms will be built.

Directly across the Skytrain tracks from this property is the Park Ventures Ecoplex, a combination office building and 33-story hotel that will be finished this year. Once all these properties are complete, all the free land at the Ploenchit-Witthayu (Wireless Road) junction will be developed, baring the demolition of any older properties.

Sukhumvit Area

Follow Ploenchit Road east a few Skytrain stops and you get to the middle of Sukhumvit Road, an area populated with expats and well-heeled Thais. Since 1997, The Emporium, owned by the Mall Group (part-owners of Siam Paragon), has been the main shopping center for this area. In fact, it was the first mall to have a direct connection to a Skytrain station, something that has helped it continue to be popular even in the wake of the explosion of malls around Siam and Ratchaprasong.

The Emporium’s retail monopoly of the mid-Sukhumvit neighborhood is set to end this year as the new Terminal 21 project (previous entry about it) finishes construction at the junction of Sukhumvit and Asoke Roads. Featuring a nine-story mall including a cinema and 40,000 square meters of retail space, the project will also have 145,000 square meters of office space and a 20-story serviced apartment.

In the last few weeks, another challenger to Emporium (and the Ratchaprasong-centrism of Bangkok’s retail scene) has appeared. Directly across the Skytrain tracks from Emporium, construction has started on an extremely large property. No signage has been posted indicating what will be built there, but given the location it is hard to imagine that it won’t include a large amount of retail along with either a hotel or condo, or both. (Edit: I just heard today from two reputable sources that this will officially by an expansion of Emporium’s footprint, colloquially called “Emporium 2”.)

There is also another large project two stations to the east at Ekkamai. Edit: this will reportedly be an IT mall.

Rama IV / Sathorn

The final development, retail-wise, is that the Lumpini Night Bazaar, a popular nighttime shopping area located across from Lumpini Park, has finally closed. This property, owned by the Crown Property Bureau, is slated for a multi-use development by the Central Retail Corporation. If you look on the first map in this entry, you will see that the Lumpini development is just down the street from the new Central Embassy project.

The closure and development of the Night Bazaar was tied up in legal action for the past two years, but after the calendar turned to 2011 its doors were finally shut and the bulldozers have moved in. Look for another large mall project to appear along this stretch of Rama IV Road in the next two years or so.

Conclusions

What do all these developments mean? It seems safe to say that the dominance of the Siam-Ratchaprasong area in the shopping scene will be challenged as development moves eastward on the Sukhumvit Skytrain line. If anything, this should help ease congestion, both in terms of the number of people as well as the number of vehicles, that crowd that already crowded area.

The real, and as yet unanswered, question is whether Bangkok needs so much retail space. Tourism growth has slowed over the last few years thanks to political instability and other concerns. It would seem that the local population’s buying power has limited ability to grow, too. If that is the case, one can only imagine that we will be awash in a glut of malls and in that, we will be able to proudly hold our own against Singapore.

Unexplained Landscaping

Posted on 3 November 2010 by christao408

Sukhumvit Soi 53 (“soi” is Thai for an alley or small street) is one of the nicer sois in Bangkok. There are generally walkable footpaths on both sides of the soi and several trees provide shade. So it was a surprise when, in a flurry of unexplained activity, green Bangkok Metropolitan Authority trucks descended upon our soi, removed footpath pavers, and planted hedge rows and new trees the entire length of the soi.

Not that I mind the extra attention and new landscaping, although it is rare to see government landscaping that is actually set into the soil – potted plants seem to be the norm. But this landscaping project doesn’t seem to be happening anywhere else, just on our already better-than-average soi. That seems suspicious.

Tawn and I spoke to the workers in front of our condo, who didn’t know much other than they were following directions from their superiors. This shot captures both the full range of landscaping being added – tall hedge rows in the back, trees in the middle, and short hedge rows in the front – as well as the asinine lack of planning resulting in some areas in an entirely blocked footpath.

“What could be going on?” I wondered to myself.

In some stretches of the soi, such as this barren patch, the new landscaping was a welcome addition. You can see where pavers have been removed near the curb in order to add hedge rows. The irony is that a few weeks later, these trees and the hedge rows in front of this house have been inexplicably removed.

In other areas, trees and hedge rows were being planted right in front of properties that already have very lush foliage. This seems a bit wasteful to me. The tall trees you see in the distance of this photo, the ones on the left-hand side, are pine trees. Some of them have been cut down as part of this process.

While we were viewing the planting, a neighbor came up and shared some gossip with us. The landscaping has been done because a very important person is moving into the soi. So important that, because of Thailand strict lese majeste laws, I can’t tell you who.

It has been three weeks since the landscaping and I haven’t seen any signs of the pomp, circumstance, and police that one would associate with that sort of VIP. But it seems likely that this one-off landscaping which isn’t happening anywhere else in our neighborhood, must be the result of someone important.

We’ll see if the rumors come true. Perhaps more importantly, we’ll see if the landscaping lasts.

More Dining on Sukhumvit Soi 38

Posted on 11 September 2010 by christao408

More than a year ago I wrote about Sukhumvit Soi 38, a small alley near the Thong Lo BTS Skytrain station that is lined with food shops that are open only at night, at which time they spill out into the street. Soi 38 offers a lot of variety, freshness, and affordability, even if “fancy” isn’t on the menu. The other evening we went there for dinner and I thought I’d share a glimpse of the tasty dishes we enjoyed.

Guaytiaw kua gai – Stir fried wide rice noodles with scrambled egg and chicken.

Guaytiaw kua gung – Same as above but with shrimp.

Yam woon sen talay – Vermicili salad with seafood, dressed with a mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, and chili.

Bami giaw moo krob – Egg noodles with wontons and crispy pork

Noodles in Thailand always come with condiments – the final seasoning is up to the diner. The four most common condiments, usually served is a container with four glass or ceramic jars, are soy sauce (in this case, served in a Coke bottle!), sugar, crushed red chili flakes, and fresh chilies in vinegar. Also notice that the egg noodles, which I ordered “dry” (they could also come in a broth) are served with the broth on the side.

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.

Construction Continues Unabated

Posted on 10 June 2010 by christao408

This week I spent about six hours over the course of two days dealing with the Ministry of Labor, renewing my work permit. That, about US$100, and the non-immigrant visa I received last summer while in the US, was enough to clear my way for another year of legal residency in Thailand.

I guess in the big picture this is a small price to pay to live with my husband, but it seems to me that people shouldn’t have to jump through so many hoops on an ongoing basis in order to live with their spouses. Jumping through hoops initially for immigration purposes, I can understand that. But every year from now to eternity? Rubbish.

Anyhow, at least I received a full year on the work permit instead of only ninety days at a time, which is usually the case. However, with the type of visa I have, I still need to do a border run (leave the country) once every ninety days, despite having a full year visa. Try to figure that one out.

One sign that life is back to normal in the City of Angels is that construction continues unabated. In the picture above, you are looking northwest at the Asoke Road / Sukhumvit Road intersection towards the new Terminal 21 mall. I wrote about this construction project in November, when they were laying the ground floor after a year of work on the foundation and understories. Six months later they are on the ninth floor, which is as high as the mall portion will go.

Another view from the Asoke Road side. Pretty soon the street will be shaded in the afternoon, once they add just a few more stories. The back portion of the property will have highrise component which will include a service apartment complex and office space. Do we need another mall in this city? Probably not, but at least it is further east than most of the malls, which are in the Siam Square area. This provides an option for those of us on the Sukhumvit corridor to avoid going all the way into the city.

I’m actually surprised by the amount of construction going on in this city, especially new condos. A few weeks ago I drove from our house at Sukhumvit 53 to the Nissan dealership at Sukhumvit 101/1. This is about six stations down the Skytrain line, only three of which are currently operational, the remaining ones scheduled for operation at the end of 2011. Around every single station, both the current and future ones, there are three or four large construction sites where highrise condos are being built.

Can there be that much demand? It must represent investors’ confidence in Thailand.

From highrises to sidewalks, inane utility work continues in Bangkok like it does in much of the world. Why is it that there never seems to be any coordination among respective agencies? A new sidewalk is built and neatly paved and then as soon as that is finished, a utility department comes along and digs it up.

The same is true along Asoke at the entrance to Soi Cowboy, where there was a large backhoe parked on the sidewalk for several days (anyone want to walk in the gutter?) as about five meters of the sidewalk was dug up and water mains were repaired.

I felt bad for these guys, the ones doing the actual work. What a messy job. As you can imagine, there’s not much rhyme or reason to the way utilities are laid out in this city. Sometimes they don’t even bury them, but lay them on top of the existing sidewalk and just spread some asphalt over the top, a snake running along the sidewalk, waiting to trip you.

Raising the Wall

Posted on 24 May 2009 by christao408

At the mouth of our soi, right next to the Thong Lo BTS Skytrain station, is a nice large property. This area of town is “old money” and decades ago was considered to be out in the countryside. Many of the larger properties here started out as weekend homes for well-to-do families in business and politics, whose homes in the heart of the city could feel suffocating once they had enough money to buy a weekend home.

Over time the city grew and this area became indistinguishable from the rest of the urban sprawl. Khlongs (canals) were filled in and paved, rows of trees were felled to widen the streets, and decades later an elevated train put the “countryside” just ten minutes from the heart of the city.

Yet some of these large estates still exist, large gardens and mature trees hiding them from the march of progress that knocks at their walls. And, so, the answer is to raise the walls. At least this was the case last week for the large property next to the Skytrain station.

Walls that used to be about six feet tall, topped with another two feet of iron work, have been increased to ten feet of concrete block. During the day and early evening, some vendors park their carts along this wall, selling coffee, food, vegetables and, in the evening, magazines and books.

Above, looking over the wall, there is a large pond and several trees. The house is set back about 150 feet / 45 meters.

Of course, I don’t mind that they want to increase the wall. It is a busy street and their privacy is their right. Hopefully, though, they will do something nice to finish it, so it doesn’t end up looking like a miniature Berlin Wall.

…

Sometimes in these tropical environments, it becomes hard to tell where man-made ends and nature begins. While sitting in traffic one afternoon on Sukhumvit Soi 31, I noticed this interesting wall.

More precisely, this interesting wall-utility pole-tree combination. Why don’t they just cut down the tree, you ask? My first guess would be that the tree is holding the rest of it up. But for a better guess, a good clue would be the faded ribbons and jasmine garlands on the tree.

Thais have a healthy dose of animism running in their hearts and they generally believe that all natural things have spirits in them, particularly the land and trees. Old trees like this often survive for a long time and have offerings at their trunks precisely because the locals believe that the spirits of the developed lands are now living in the tree.

That would be an interesting strategy for western environmentalists to employ!

Last Entry from Asoke Place

Posted on 1 December 2007 by christao408

Sunday morning, 7:31 am – the Asoke Place apartment is largely empty, the sound of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald echoing like the sound system in a tuna can factory. I’m sitting cross-legged on a Jim Thompson floor rug, next to the DSL router as Tawn gets ready to head to his parents’ house. His aunt, who is versed in these things, decided that the auspicious time to “move in” (officially) is 8:30 am this morning. Tawn’s father has selected a Buddha image to give him (as his father gave him one when he moved into his first house) and we need to officially move it into the house.

I’ll be riding my bicycle over to the new place, since it needs to be moved anyhow and Sunday mornings are a nice time to ride. Hopefully, that will symbolically set the habit of bicycling more as the mid-Sukhumvit area has many small sois that are bicycle friendly.

The major part of the move was completed yesterday, although we did spend Saturday night here. Our contractor’s son and three of his friends did our move, two loads in a pickup truck to Tawn’s parents for storage and one load to Raintree Villa.

Things moved pretty smoothly, nothing was broken. We’ve found a few more challenges: the height of the half-shelves in the bedroom cabinets is several inches too short to hang clothes. Chalk this up to a design flaw that we’ll have to find a way to correct after we move in.

It is feeling cozy, though. I’ll have pictures for you in a few more days.

So, for the final time from Asoke Place, this is Chris signing out.

Deconstructing a building

Posted on 24 November 2007 by christao408

Next to the Asoke Skytrain station, on the north side, sits an empty lot that was the Ford and Mazda dealership until some time last year. The dealership moved and the buildings were torn down and for the entire rainy season, most of the property became a swamp. In the southwest corner of the lot, where Sukhumvit Soi 19 connects with the main street, there is a row of four-story shop houses that contained among other things a nice Indian vegetarian restaurant.

It looks like construction on whatever is going to be built there, is going to start soon. They shop houses are being demolished this week, an interesting process of literally deconstructing, or un-building, them.

Below: From the platform of the Skytrain station, looking towards Sukhumvit Soi 19, you can see workers have already dismantled the top two stories of the building and are now working on the floor between the second and third story.

Above: Workers use sledgehammers (one worker has only flip-flops on to protect his feet) to break away the concrete, which falls through the re-bar to the floor below. Notice that they have to balance on the re-bar.

Below: Another worker then uses a welding torch to cut (or at least, weaken) the re-bar so it can be cut into smaller pieces that workers then manually carry out. I’m curious why he’s not at risk of the re-bar just giving way under him as he cuts. In the picture below you can see the concrete pieces that have fallen through.

In other rooms, workers are clearing the concrete and re-bar and a small Caterpillar with a jack hammer is breaking away the interior walls between the load-bearing columns.

Above: A few days later I passed by again and saw that they were now close enough to the ground that they could tear down the structure using this back hoe.

I’m curious to see what will be built here. It is a very large property so a complex of several towers could easily be built. Good place for another mall, right next to the Skytrain station and the Metro subway at the corner of Asoke and Sukhumvit. Because that’s just what we need – another mall!

Below: Just to the other side of Asoke, on the northeast corner of Sukhumvit, is the under construction Interchange 21 building. Here’s an update photo of the construction progress from this week:

As you can see, there is just lots of fun civil engineering stuff going on here in the City of Angels. There is also a elevated walkway being built that will connect the Skytrain station directly to Interchange 21 and, I would assume, to the Exchange Tower that is on the southeast corner of Asoke and Sukhumvit.

Above: In this photo taken from the Skytrain station ticketing platform looking generally east along Sukhumvit towards Asoke, Exchange Tower is visible in the upper center with some just-visible True Fitness purple signs over the ground floor windows. The elevated walkway will sit underneath the track viaduct and there will be a long span across the Asoke-Sukhumvit intersection. You can see work progressing on the foundations for the support columns.

Below: Taken a few days after the above photo, the photo below shows the support for the walkway where it will go around the concrete column. Note that the support structure for the walkway does not connect to the concrete column so the walkway does not impose any additional load on the track viaduct.

In this picture, you can see the Honda Jazz starting to turn right into the Asoke-Sukhumvit intersection. The steel structure that will span the intersection will connect to the structure you see in place here. Construction workers will hoist the steel span into place from 1-5 am on December 9th. I’m thinking about getting up early (or staying up late) to go down and watch that and take some pictures.

In the final bit of engineering updates for today, there is a project going on along Asoke Road, which is prone to flooding, to raise the sidewalks by several inches (and centimeters, too).

The construction process involves jack hammering the existing curbs (all done at night – here is a photo of the workers the night they were working just outside our building… all night long), building new curbs, removing the paving stones and raising up the ground level, then pouring a cement sheet and laying new paving stones.

As of yesterday, much of the block we live on looks like the photo below. We have noticeably higher curbs but nothing has been filled in yet. Notice also that the covers to the sewers have been raised and new steel and concrete doors have been poured. The doors have a space for pavers to be added to them, too, so they match the rest of the sidewalk.

Hopefully this project will be wrapped up soon as it is a pain to walk on the sidewalk and dangerous to walk in the street. And that’s this week’s civil engineering report. Back to you in the studio.

christao408

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

Tag Archives: Sukhumvit