Tag Archives: Thailand

Raising the Sidewalks of Krungthep

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As layer upon layer of asphalt gets added to the streets, the distance between the road surface and the footpaths steadily diminishes.  Once the torrential showers of rainy season arrive, this means ever more flooding that dampens the ankles of residents.  The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, in all their wisdom, is addressing this issue by raising the sidewalks.  In the case of Sathorn Road, a main business artery, sidewalks have increased by about a foot (30 cm).

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Here you see a raised section abutting a section of the footpath that is at the old height.  The new section actually gains additional elevation behind the fence.  The green metal poles are a new addition, too, designed to prevent motorized vehicles (except motorcycles, I suppose) from driving on the footpaths.  They are still wide enough to allow street vendors’ carts to enter, though.

The problem is – and you can probably anticipate this as it is common to metropolitan governments the world over – the construction crew responsible for raising the footpaths isn’t responsible for raising any of the objects along the footpaths such as street lamps, signs and bus stops.

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The net effect is that bus stop seats that used to be at a comfortable sitting height are now at a squat.  Sure enough, another contractor is following the first one, tearing up the new pavers (which, a first for Krungthep, are actually on a cement base rather than just floating on a layer of sand and dirt), then digging out and raising the benches, shelters, signs, etc.

If I didn’t know better, I would think this inefficiency was an intentional way to spread a little largess.  Wait a minute…  would they do that?  Nah…

 

Lentils are Nice

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It has been a strange week full of lots of errands and events.  A friend was in town and his visit came to an unexpectedly abrupt end, so we had to get involved and help sort that out.  A trip to the old city to buy coffee beans from Mari Green Coffee early Sunday morning ended up with our car having a Denver boot put on it, requiring a trip to the local police station to pay a 200 baht fine.  Another friend was having troubles in his love life, the type that are so typical between people of different cultures but, despite being typical, are still heart-wrenching.  It has just been one of those weeks.

At my recommendation, a guest stayed at the Windsor Suites Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 20.  This hotel is owned by a friend’s family, so I’m biased in my recommendation, but I find it to be a clean, comfortable, reasonably-priced hotel that is in a very convenient location.  Several of my visitors have stayed there and all have been pleased.  This guest’s room had a sweeping view which I stitched together from three pictures, below.  I know the stitching job is terrible – I didn’t use any fancy software for it- but the view itself was fantastic.

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On the weekend, while running our errands, we were sitting in some traffic in Yaowarat  (Chinatown) and, glancing in the side mirror, I spotted this man driving a motorcycle with an incongruous choice of stickers decorating it.  Playboy and Ghostbusters?

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Needing a quiet evening at home after several nights dining out, I prepared a caprese panzanella salad – the Italian style tomato, fresh mozzarella and bread salad – using a recipe from Joanne’s Week of Menus blog and a dish of Italian sausage served with lentils with fennel and asparagus.

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Both were very tasty and I thankfully have leftovers for lunch today!

 

Tattoos in Native Tongues

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You’ve seen them, those tattoos that people sport featuring words or characters in a language other than one in which they are fluent.  You may even have one yourself.  I’m telling you, though, that’s a mighty dangerous path to tread.

Leaving aside questions of cultural appropriation and exoticization (and there is some potentially rich academic soil to till about this issue), what I’m talking about is the plain and simple, practical reason to not get a tattoo in a language you don’t read: It may end up being incorrect.

Now, I know someone to whom this happened.  Because of that, I realize that bright, intelligent, thoughtful people can make that mistake.  And because I know that readers of this blog are equally bright, intelligent and thoughtful, I’m providing you this warning: Don’t get a tattoo in a language you don’t read!

Don’t believe me?  Let’s consider this object lesson:

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My friend Jack is a Thai who lives in the American midwest.  Note that this is not a picture of Jack’s back.  While he was on holiday, Jack spotted a young caucasian man with this tattoo and curious, asked him about it.

It seems that the young man, a native of Springfield, Missouri, was a basketball player and he went on some program to Thailand where he played ball with Thai high schoolers and spoke to them about basketball and life in the U.S.  Returning to Springfield, the young man decided to get a tattoo, using Thai script.

So far, so good.  Glad to hear that Thailand made such a positive impression on him that he wanted to immortalize the Thai language on his skin.

The problem is two-fold:

First, there are two spelling mistakes.  The words ไม and อยาง are both missing accent marks  They should be ไม่ and อย่าง.  As a tonal language, the use (or absence) of a tone mark can often alter the meaning of Thai words.  In this case, the misspelling does not change the meaning but simply makes the words incorrectly spelled.

Second, the phrase doesn’t say what he intends it to say.  Based on the cross, I guessed he wanted the Christian phrase, “You will never walk alone.”  When I asked Jack, he confirmed that this was the young man’s understanding of how the tattoo read.  Jack, being Thai and characteristically too polite to embarrass someone, didn’t tell him that the tattoo says something else entirely.

The phrase reads khun ja mai duhn piang yang diaw, which means “You will never just only walk” – in other words, you will walk while doing something else at the same time, perhaps chewing gum or humming or whistling.

No word on how the young man managed to get this incorrect translation.  My guess is he thought it would be cool and asked someone he met in Thailand – someone who doesn’t understand English well enough – to write the phrase in Thai.  Given what I’ve learned while living here, I can see how “alone” could have easily been misunderstood as “only just”.

So let this be fair warning to you, your friends or family members.  If you or someone you love is planning on getting a tattoo, stick with a language you can read so you are 100% certain that the tattoo says what you think it says.

That’s today public service message.  Cheers.

 

Shh!! There’s a Queen in the House

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“Shh!!” reads some graffiti located on a rooftop adjacent to the Siam BTS Skytrain station, the interchange station between the two Skytrain lines and home to blaring TV advertisements all day long.  Of course, in this city of seven or eight million, there are few places where noise isn’t a problem.  Even at many of the temples, tape recordings of sermons or Buddhist songs play throughout the day.  If a denizen of the Big Mango was ever left alone with the silence of his or her own thoughts, they might freak out!

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Above, the view from the station platform to the adjacent building.  This is without using much zoom, so you have some idea of how close the building is to the platform and tracks.  It is a business, though, not a residence, so you wouldn’t expect the noise to be as much of a concern.

You know how I always say that I don’t leave home without my camera. Well, yesterday I did leave home twice without my camera, both times missing opportunities to photograph blog-worthy things.  The first was when my friend Paul and I went out for lunch at a tonkatsu restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 39.  The building maintenance people were caulking a seam in the car park.  Unable to reach it, one worker balanced on the shoulders of the other while applying the caulk, a scene straight out of Cirque du Soleil.

Thankfully, Tawn had his Blackberry with him and was able to take a picture of the second blog-worthy thing.

We attended the opening night of the 11th Bangkok International Festival of Music and Dance, featuring the Ekaterinburg Opera Theatre from Russia performing Verdi’s La Traviata.  It is common for a member of the Royal Family to attend these events (although being an opera, there were already plenty of queens in the audience… Ha ha ha!) and sure enough, there was an unusually long delay as we waited for the guest of honor to arrive and the show to start.  While we normally see one of the various princesses, we were honored to have Her Majesty the Queen present.

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During the first intermission, we stepped outside for some air only to see Her Majesty’s yellow Rolls Royce limousine and the twelve identical cherry red Mercedes that drove her entourage to the Thailand Cultural Center.  Very impressive rides!

 

Filming a Dramatic Rooftop Chase

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Sorry – the video was locked on YouTube.  I have fixed that and you can now view it.

Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see something while I’m out and about that is worth shooting.  That’s why I almost always have my camera in my bag.  Case in point, after having lunch with Tawn the other day and walking up to the Ploenchit Skytrain station, I noticed some very bright lights on a rooftop.  Sure enough, they were filming a scene from a movie.

Turned out to be some sort of an action movie, based on the appearance of the main actor probably an Indian film.  Our hero in the dark suit was chasing across a rooftop, firing his revolver wildly at a thuggish looking Asian gangsta (go stereotypes!) holding a machine gun.

Quite a crowd gathered on the station platform and surround car parks to watch the action.  It looks like the filming was being done by a remote camera that slid down some cables (pictured below) from an adjacent building while the actors ran across the room, producing a sweeping shot.  A lot of work just for one shot that lasted a few seconds.

Over the next few days, they shot a few more scenes at the same location – or at least filmed different takes of the same scene – but nothing so dramatic as this.  I shot some footage and edited it down to a 90-second bit for your viewing:

I hope you enjoy it.

A Different Type of Fifth Wheel

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A fifth wheel is a type of coupling device used for towing campers, trailers and various types of recreational vehicles.  More broadly, the term “fifth wheeler” refers to recreational vehicles.  In the category of “bringing another vehicle with you”, I saw one of the stranger entries while walking down Soi Thong Lor 13 on my way home from the market last Friday:

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What in the world is this guy doing and why?  I have one particular answer in mind, but I want to see what you think the answer might be.

 

Saab Bor Hok – the Sixth Grade Test

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Settling back into the routine here in Krungthep, I’m reminded why I carry my camera with me most everywhere I go.  There is always something interesting to see.  On Wednesday I had to run some errands.  I drove to the Ministry of Labor to retrieve my work permit book, the address of which I had modified to reflect the “annex” unit we bought next door to our condo.  Then I continued to the post office to mail wedding thank-you cards.  Next I headed to UOB Bank to drop off some paperwork.  Finally, I stopped at Emporium mall to have some pho at Little Hanoi restaurant.

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While sitting in traffic on Sukhumvit Road, I noticed something odd about the cement truck in front of me.  Dangling between the rear wheels was a dirty pink stuffed animal, akin to an Ugly Doll but probably not a branded one.  I’ve seen this before.  In fact, about a year ago I was noticing this on cars and trucks of all types here in Krungthep.  To this day, though, nobody with whom I’ve spoken has an explanation.  Why would you tie a stuffed animal at the back of your vehicle?

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From the carpark at UOB Bank (the Sukhumvit 25 branch), I snapped this picture of an unfinished hotel.  This is supposed to become a Crowne Plaza property at the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 27 but the developer halted construction about six months ago, ostensibly in response to the lousy tourism market.  It is very well-located, just a few blocks from the Asoke/Sukhumvit junction and the Skytrain and Subway stations there.  to the right of the picture you can see the Windsor Suites hotel, managed by our friend Ben.  Very nice hotel and also well-located.  If you’re looking for a place to stay in Krungthep, I recommend it.

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Tawn was very inspired by our trip to New York, taking careful notes on the styles and looks he saw on Manhattan’s busy streets.  Above is one of his work outfits that he put together as a result of his inspiration.  What do you think?

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Speaking of New York, I returned from my 24-day trip to the US only to discover that a Dunkin Donuts kiosk has opened underneath the escalator connection from the Asoke Skytrain station to the Sukhumvit Subway station.  See, the Big Mango is just like the Big Apple!

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Since my return, I’ve resumed my twice-weekly classes with my Thai tutor, Khruu Kitiya.  For the past two and a half years, we’ve been meeting at the same place, a small coffee shop and restaurant called Bitter Brown, also close to the Asoke/Sukhumvit junction.  They make cute latte art, like the flowers above.  After having been gone for nearly a month, the owner was a bit shocked to see me again.  “We thought you must have graduated!” he said, upon seeing me.

No, I haven’t graduated.  Although, Khruu Kitiya is suggesting it might be a good idea for me to take the government administered “Saab Bor Hok”, or Sixth Grade Examination.  While it isn’t a requirement for me, this examination represents the level of linguistic skills the government expects for certain types of visa holders such as missionaries or those applying for permanent residency.  The test, which lasts about five hours, has four parts:

  • Dictation of questions and multiple-choice answers, in which you have to indicate the correct answer on an exam sheet.
  • Reading of questions and multiple-choice answers, in which you have to indicate the correct answer on an exam sheet.
  • A writing section composed of two parts: Dictation of paragraphs which you have to correctly write on the exam sheet, and then the composing of a short essay based on a question or subject given during the exam.
  • An oral section in which you have to engage in a ten-minute conversation with an evaluator.

Khruu Kitiya’s assessment, with which I concur, is that the first two parts would be very easy for me, the writing section would be challenging (the essay would be harder for me than the dictation), and the oral section would be a killer.  This is because the one thing I don’t spend much time doing is actually speaking with Thais, since I work from home and my work is in English.  As she has suggested before, Tawn and I should probably start using Thai as the spoken language at home.

Contrast this with Jon, a 19-year old Canadian with whom we had dinner Thursday night.  Jon first contacted me through this blog more than a year and a half ago, when he was on a one-year Rotary Club exchange program here in Bangkok.  He finished that program and returned to complete his senior year in Edmonton, with the plan of returning to Bangkok after he has his university degree.

Jon spent most of his year here immersed with Thais – Thai students, Thai friends, living with a Thai family.  Then on this current two-month trip, the circumstances have been the same: all Thai, all the time.  Needless to say, his spoken Thai is way beyond mine and I was humbled by the ease with which he and Tawn were able to converse.  Clearly, there is still some work for me to do!

The good news is, the “Saab Bor Hok” isn’t until the end of November, so I have time to prepare for it as well as time to decide whether or not I even want to take it at this time.

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View from my balcony on Friday late afternoon.  We’re in rainy season and there were some spectacular storms this week.  The best part about it, in my opinion, is the way these awesome (and I mean that in the original sense of the word) clouds form: huge, complicated things that build into dark, angry towers.  They are amazing to watch.

Lots of cooking to update you on in the next entry.

 

Another Trip to Amphawa

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Sunday morning after a breakfast of homemade buttermilk biscuits and French Press coffee, Tawn, Bob and I set off to Samut Songkhram province, some 90 km southwest of Krungthep, for a visit to Ajarn Yai.

You may recall that Ajarn Yai (literally, “Big Teacher”) is the retired director of the small elementary school where I volunteered as an English teacher back in 2006-2007.  Because she was so welcoming both to me and my family and friends when they visited, I have stayed in touch with her.  Every month or so she calls, eager to tell me that while she was out and about she saw a farang (foreigner) and thought of me.  (The truth is, all of us white people really do look alike!)

One thing she really wants is to take a visit to the United States.  As a young lady, she was accepted to study at a university in Michigan, but her parents felt it was too far to send a woman to study, so she instead attended school locally.  She now has three Master’s Degrees, including one in Special Needs Education, and even in her retirement serves as a mediator for the local courts and also as part of an adult vocational needs training program in this rural province.

She still asks, though, when I’m going to take her to the United States to visit my family.

After a nice seafood lunch at a small, riverside restaurant, we drove to the community of Amphawa, where a popular weekend floating market is located nearby the birthplace of King Rama II.  This market is supposed to be a nighttime market, but due to its popularity, by early afternoon the boats were out and tourists (almost exclusively Thai) were strolling along the crowded sides of the canal.

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The area of the market has been expanded to the north, opening up more space for the overflowing crowds of tourists.  Dozens of weathered buildings have been unshuttered, turned into restaurants, gift shops, homestays and boutiques.  While this is good economically for the town, the crowds threaten to make the quality of life less pleasant and relaxed.  Signs, both in English and Thai, have been put up warning people to be aware of pickpockets.  Amphawa, at least this small section of it, may end up being a victim of its own success.

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The heat was intense and muggy, no rainstorms in sight to offer so relief, so instead we ducked into one of these new cafes and enjoyed a shaved ice dessert.  You could choose three “add-ins” from things like corn, Job’s tears, kidney beans, hearts of palm fruit, etc.  These were topped with a mound of shave ice, a drizzle of flavored sugar syrup and, if you like, sweetened condensed milk.

Cool and sweet and tasty and refreshing…

After a bit more visiting we dropped Ajarn Yai off at her home and headed back up the highway to the Big Mango, glad to be in the air conditioning.

 

Eat Woys Crackers

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Returning to the subject of Thai culture, there is an interesting series of print advertisements running in the BTS Skytrain stations.  These are for Woys Crackers, a cheese-flavored cracker sandwiched with a butter-like spread.  The ads have some clever wordplay, which is a common feature of the Thai language.

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These are the cracker’s normal packaging.  It shows a group or friends or siblings laughing.  The script reads “Woys: with creamy butter” and “creamy butter” is actually a phonetic translation of the English words.  If you want to sound Thai, accent the second syllable of both words: “Cree-MEE But-TUH”.

As their spokesman, the manufacturer has hired the biggest movie and TV star in Thailand, a comedian named Petchtai Wongkamlao (pictured below) who goes by the stage name Mum Jokmok.  His nickname, “Mum” (หม่ำ) is a funny word for “eat”, kind of describing how a child might eat food. 

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Mum Jokmok is the hardest working man in Thai showbiz right now, producing an endless stream of films.  He has a very expressive face and a gift for physical comedy.  Playing off the meaning of his name, the ad reads “Mum Woys” – both his name and the name of the crackers, as well as “Eat Woys”.

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The series of billboards continues in a spoof of the original packaging, in which he plays, with the help of some clever photoshopping, all three of the characters in the photo.

That must answer the question – they are siblings rather than just friends, right?  But how does the mother look?

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That question is answered in another billboard, where we see that the mother is another actor and Mum is the father as well as the children.  The tag line: “Eat Woys together with the family.”

Thai advertising is generally clever (although prone to a bit of base humor) and this is a good example of it.