All Day at the Aquarium of the Pacific

Posted on 14 August 2008 by christao408

Saturday was aquarium day. I coordinated meeting two sets of friends, one from the North County of San Diego and the other from Culver City. Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific seemed to be a great meeting place as it is central and appeals to children, which both sets of friends have.

Unfortunately, coordinating the timing didn’t work quite as well as it could have, so I essentially did two tours of the aquarium. That’s okay, though, as it is a surprisingly good aquarium and when seeing it through the eyes of children, you can always find something new to enjoy.

Danielle and Ian drove up from San Diego in the morning and were waiting for me outside the aquarium with their children, Piper and Devin. The last time I saw them was in July 2005, when Piper was only about a year old. (Trip report here on airliners.net that covers the First Class flight I took after that visit from LAX en route to BKK aboard Asiana) Needless to say, she has grown quite a bit in the meantime. Very well mannered, she shook my hand and said hello. Devin also was very outgoing. Right: Ian watches as Piper and Devin get up close and personal with the sea lion tank.

The most popular parts of the aquarium were the two petting tanks. One for the sharks and another for the rays. Below: Danielle, Devin, Ian and Piper at the shark petting tank. Remember, we use two fingers to pet the sharks, not our whole hands.

From the upper outdoor level of the aquarium, you get a view of the Queen Mary in the harbour. Quite a view and somewhere I should visit one of these days.

The aquarium was fascinating for me just because all of this sea life amazes me. Especially the jellyfish. How in the world do these things work? It seems impossible. Plus, they are amazing to watch. Put on some ambient music and just stare at them for hours.

A bit after lunch, Piper and Devin were starting to tire so Danielle and Ian got ready to pack them up and head home. Perfect timing, too, as the second wave of friends had arrived so there was a few minutes of introductions and chit-chat.

Below: We pose beneath a blue whale that is suspended in the aquarium lobby.

With that, I started my second round of the aquarium, this time with Lalima and Aaron and their son, also named Devin. Lilian and Samantha flew down from San Jose to join us, so it was a high school reunion.

Below: Lily, Samantha, Lalima and Aaron observe the rays at the ray petting tank. There was one very playful ray who liked to swim right along the edge and flap his wings and splash people. Such a character!

After a quicker breeze through the exhibits and a search for Nemo and Dory in the tropical fish section (we found them), we headed out for a mid-afternoon lunch at The Corner Place, a Korean BBQ restaurant in Cerritos. This, according to Samantha, is one of only two restaurants she knows of on the west coast that serve dong chi mee kuk sul, a cold rice noodle soup with a vinegar/ginger broth, garnished with green onions, julienned cucumbers and a slice of tomato, pictured below.

A refreshing summertime specialty, the restaurant is so jealous of its recipe that it won’t even sell you a to-go order of the soup. In fact, Samantha was once apprehended trying to sneak some of it away in a plastic container! They are serious about this soup.

If was enjoyable, reminding me a bit of khao chae, the jasmine-scented cold rice soup that Thais enjoy during the hot season. Not so much in the taste or flavor but just in the idea of a refreshing cool dish to eat when the weather is warm.

In additional to the soup, we enjoyed beef kalbi, the typical Korean grilled beef with garnishes, shown below.

What most amazed me was that Devin, all of two years old, was so adventurous that he would try each of the different varieties of kimchee that were on the table. Spicy? No problem. Sour? No problem. If he didn’t like a flavor, he would chew and swallow his mouthful and then politely decline any more. No spitting out his food.

It probably helps that several months ago his parents brought him to Bangladesh to visit Lalima’s extended family, so he’s been exposed to a lot of different types of food. But some of it must be personality and he’s just a very easy-going, open-minded sort of child.

Below, Lalima and I wait patiently for our food.

After a few hours of napping back at Bill and Alex’s place, I drove to Culver City to join the gang at Aaron and Lalima’s house. We had a very nice barbecue dinner sitting on the patio. The menu included grilled shrimp and pineapple with roasted squash and a tomato and avocado salad. Dessert was Lalima’s famous homemade peppermint ice cream. Delicious.

It was a bit late when dinner was finally ready – nearly ten o’clock! – but Devin was a trooper and stayed up to eat with us, conking out just as soon as he had finished eating. Below: Aaron, Samantha, Lalima, Lilian and Devin.

Poor Devin suffers from a mother and two aunties who like to take lots and lots (and lots!) of pictures. He must have the strongest cheek muscles of any child his age from all the smiling he’s asked to do.

It was a really fun Saturday in SoCal and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see this friends.

Torched Saba at Musha with Curry

Posted on 12 August 2008 by christao408

Friday was a day of reunions and a lot of good eating. Sounds like the same story as every entry when I’m on vacation, doesn’t it?

First there was a lunch at the Shoreline Cafe in Long Beach with Aaron and Jose, former colleagues from my days working at AMC Theatres. Aaron had just moved to Los Angeles two days earlier, after living abroad with his partner in Mexico City for the previous two years. Having followed similar paths, we have had a lot to talk about and I’m glad we have stayed in touch. Hopefully now that he is in LA, he’ll find the next path that he needs to follow.

Jose is someone I haven’t had any contact with in years, and he was able to give me the low down on the universe of former AMC colleagues (a few of whom actually still work for AMC!). My days working in the motion picture exhibition industry were formative. One of these days I’ll write more about it, to try and capture just how much fun and how difficult running a movie theatre is.

After lunch, I continued my way to the west side of LA, making a stop at the pocket park next LAX. Located across the street from an In-n-Out Burger, this park is directly under the short final approach path for runway 25R. This is where many of the large planes coming from Europe, Asia and Australia land. Great spot for plane watching. Notice that I’m restraining myself and not posting any more airplane pictures.

About 3:00, a little Xangan pow-wow began as I met Gary at Cafe Surfas in Culver City, above. Surfas is this combination of a cute cafe and a store that sells restaurant supplies and gourmet foodstuffs. Credit goes to Tony for including this in one of his photoblogs and giving me the idea. Oddly, I got into trouble for taking pictures, so I guess Tony was just more clandestine than I, as he was able to get many beautiful shots.

Below, Gary is shocked by the high price of imported Thai coconut milk. What goes for fifty cents in Thailand (or the equivalent in baht) is three dollars at Surfas! This must be designed for Angelenos who aren’t comfortable walking into a local “ethnic” market, where you could get many of these ingredients at a much lower price.

On the kitchen supply side of the store I found my dream oven: an industrial sized convection oven in which I could cook a few hundred cupcakes at once. This is where a passing employee admonished us to not take pictures. I would have been more favorable in my comments above, noting the broad selection of foreign foods rather than their significant prices, had they not been so camera shy.

We were joined by Steve. Because he doesn’t regularly include any photos of himself on his blog, I made the decision not to include any photos of him in this entry. But he’s coming to Thailand soon so maybe you can encourage him to jump in front of the lens.

After browsing as Surfas, which really does have a great selection of things, especially cookware, we headed to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. This is one of my old stomping grounds. When I lived in Los Angeles in 1995-96, I worked in Century City and spent a lot of time in Santa Monica with friends. Glad to see some things have not changed despite the continual “mallification” of the Promenade. Below, a group of hare krishna perform at the corner of Arizona and Third Street.

How do you know when you’ve really arrived in LA? When, in the course of two blocks, you hear hare krishna chanting at dusk, watch a group of youngsters break dancing for tips, get bored with a French mime doing slow motion sleight of hand, observe a man with his monkey, and are a bit shocked by a pair of books on display in the Barnes and Noble window: The Big Book of Breasts and The Big Penis Book. It is always 74 and sunny here, right?

For dinner, we were joined by William and tried Gary’s recommendation of Musha on Wilshire Boulevard, a Tokyo cuisine restaurant that also has a location in Torrance. Musha is often described as a Japanese-French fusion tapas restaurant. I’m not sure how accurate that description is. It might be better to describe it as an izakaya restaurant, kind of a sake bar that offers more significant food than your regular sake bar.

In the same way that Spanish tapas evolved from small bites provided to bar patrons to keep them from getting too drunk, izakaya serve small plates of food to satisfy customers over several hours of drinking.

Musha has received positive reviews for some of the spins it places on traditional izakaya dishes, as well as some downright non-Japanese food on the menu. We skipped the heavy drinking part (other than a beer that William and I split) and focused on the food.

The interior of Musha is small, with a bar at the front and a dozen tables behind. Lanterns and warm colors keep the space intimate and cozy. Service is friendly and efficient, primarily by a pair of Japanese-speaking wait staff that keep things running smoothly. Other than a noisy group of office workers who gathered at the bar to celebrate something, the volume of the restaurant was tolerable.

Let’s take a look at our culinary tour. We started with a spicy tuna dip served with rice crackers, something fun and tasty:

Also arriving early was duck breast marinated in ponzu sauce (the citrus-flavored dipping sauce common with things like gyoza) served on grated daikon oroshi with Tokyo leeks. The duck was very tender and the ponzu sauce really cuts through the richness of the meat.

The highlight of the evening – the culinary highlight of my entire trip, in fact – was the torched aburi saba. This was mackerel sliced sashimi-style, marinated in vinegar, then torched at your table. Here’s a video:

The finished product was a perfect balance of textures and flavors. Saba is a meaty fish with a slightly salty disposition. It wasn’t marinated too long, so it still had the sashimi texture, but the saltiness was balanced by the sweet tanginess of the marinade. To top it off, the skin was slightly crisp and had a charred smokiness from the torching.

Such a delicate layering of flavors. I’d like to try making it at home, but don’t want to buy an industrial grade torch. That’s a bit too much. Maybe I can find a pipe-fitter who will lend me a torch. Below, a closeup of two individual pieces. Notice the color of the flesh.

Next we had a grilled portobella mushroom and acorn squash with a miso-citrus dipping sauce. A charcoal brazier was placed on the table and we were able to cook our own mushroom.

I wasn’t the only person taking photos. William provides many of the excellent photos that appear on Gary’s blog. I’ve been thinking about this idea – I should have a crew with me when I’m out. Someone to take pictures, someone to take notes, while I just savor the experiences and write about them later. Applications now being accepted!

About this time, Steve had to take off for business. Sadly, he missed out on a number of great dishes that followed. Here are homemade tofu fries with a creamy wasabi sauce and a sweet chili sauce. I’m going to share a secret with you: I think the chili sauce is the same sweet chicken dipping sauce you can buy in large bottles at Asian supermarkets throughout the US. The tofu, being homemade, was very fresh and the concept of tofu fries is very fun.

We took a distinctly non-Japanese beat with the arrival of a risotto, typical ham and cheese but served from a hollowed out round of Parmesan cheese. Sadly, they didn’t leave the round at the table, but instead served the risotto and took it back to the kitchen.

The risotto was probably the low point of the savory meal. It was tasty, maybe a bit gloppy, but it was just risotto. I didn’t see how it fit into the larger theme of the menu.

Our final savory dish was the takotama. This is a two-layer omelet with chopped octopus, leeks, red ginger and bonito broth. It was very geometrically laid out, so I needed pictures from both sides.

The takotama was tasty, although a little sweet. By this point we were getting quite full and decided to share a dessert. Japanese restaurants aren’t known for their desserts. Traditionally, if you want something sweet you’ll head over to a bakery or sweet shop after dinner. This might explain why the dessert menu was lifted straight from any western restaurant: tarte tartin, creme brulee, molten chocolate cake, etc.

We opted for the molten chocolate cake, which was served on an ice-cold plate. Good for keeping the ice cream frozen but the cake didn’t feel like it had seen the inside of an oven anytime recently. In fact, given the soft exterior, I think it was zapped in the microwave. Not long enough, though, as the interior wasn’t molten by any stretch of the imagination. Molasses moves faster in a Minnesota winter!

The chocolate cake aside – really, what was I expecting of a chocolate cake ordered at a Japanese restaurant? – the meal was really tasty and surprisingly inexpensive. Would you believe that the total bill for all of the above plus a large bottle of Japanese beer, was under $80 before gratuity? A very good value.

Of course, more than anything else, the company was wonderful. Sorry that Steve wasn’t there to see the meal to its conclusion. I did enjoy visiting with Gary and William and look forward to our next culinary adventure together.

SFO to LGB

Posted on 10 August 2008 by christao408

Arriving in San Francisco after that beautiful flight across the western United States, I made my way to Anita’s, dropped off my bags and headed to Union Square to complete some last-minute shopping.

While there, I was hungry and wanted a quick, easy and relatively healthy bite to eat. That desire made me realize another notable difference between life in Thailand and the United States. In the US, if you are out and want a quick bite to eat, it seems that more often than not you end up at a fast food restaurant. In Thailand, you can end up eating something fast, but I wouldn’t call it fast food.

My hunger led me to the only Thai restaurant I went to on my entire trip: King of Thai Noddles, the small San Francisco chain that does a good job of approximating the Thai wok-style street food experience. The surest clue is that the entire staff is Thai – my first time hearing Thai spoken in nearly two weeks. The pad siew, wide rice noodles in a soy sauce with chicken and chinese broccoli, were a flavor memory of Sukhumvit Soi 38’s night dining and a much-needed reminder that home is where the taste buds are.

After completing my dining and shopping, I headed to Newark and dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house. Like many houses around the Bay Area during summer, once the sun begins to go down the onshore breezes pick up, making a sweatshirt or even a roaring fire necessary.

Above, clockwise from upper left: my uncle Dick mans the grill; Cousin Patrick prepares hamburger patties; I try to light a fire while extended family members look on; Cousin Jackie poses with a plate of watermelon.

We had a number of extended family members in town, including my cousin’s cousins (their first cousins through their mom’s side of the family) whom I had not seen in probably twenty-five years as they now live in Arkansas. They were visiting with their respective families and it was interesting to catch up with people whose lives have taken an entirely different path than my own.

I also had the opportunity to meet my cousin Michael’s future in-laws. He and Sara are getting married next summer and this was my first opportunity to meet Sara’s parents and younger siblings. All very nice people and I look forward to them being a part of the family.

As a result of all these new people, we had a lot of young children running around. Jackie decided that smores were the answer to keep them occupied and so, ever the girl scout, she pulled out the smore making gear.

Notice that some people didn’t wait to put the marshmallow between the chocolate and graham crackers, opting to just eat it straight from the fire.

Patrick, ever the chef, made a chocolate chip and tequila bread pudding that was really tasty. The serving was also way too big!

Thursday morning I headed down to San Jose to catch my flight to Long Beach. My decision to fly out of San Jose was based both on low prices as well as a desire to see how the airport from which I flew a great deal as a child has changed. The old terminal still uses air stairs instead of jetways, something of a throwback to an earlier generation of air travel. A new terminal is under construction, threatening to modernize the airport to an entirely unrecognizable point.

Thankfully, though, the outdoor observation deck is still open and I spent two hours watching planes, taking pictures, and getting a sunburn on my forearms. The best of the shots, a Southwest 737 rotating and climbing into the sunny afternoon:

Below, my flight on a jetBlue Embraer E190.

You’ve probably had enough pictures from the air after yesterday’s entry, so I’ll ask that you indulge me with just a few more.

Below, “Silicon Valley” – the San Jose area – just after takeoff, the airport visible in the background.

Smoke from the many fires still visible as we head down the coast, just past the Monterey Bay.

The art deco terminal of Long Beach Airport, complete with palm trees. What could be more Southern California than that?

Since Bill works for jetBlue, he met me at the baggage claim and then took me on a little tour of the airline’s west coast operations center, a nondescript building near the terminal. It is interesting to see how they still have much of the start-up mentality, making it a fun place to work.

We headed to their house, just a five-minute drive from the airport in the city of Lakewood. Alex joined us a little bit later and I had a tour of their backyard, which they’ve recently done some work on.

Below, Bill (or Bill’s arm) feeds Alex some wild grapes that grow along their fence. Turns out to be pretty bitter.

After the grazing, we headed to the nearby city of Bellflower. During the summer months they do a weekly Thursday evening block party. The main street is shut down and a combination of craft fair, farmer’s market, and concert takes place. There are many people who show up, especially families, and the crowd shows the diversity that is very much a part of Southern California.

Below, Bill stands by as Alex snaps pictures.

We opted for a barbecue dinner at Johnny Rebs, a Carolina-Georgia style BBQ place that has buckets of peanuts on the table and encourages you to throw the shells on the floor. Despite this, they received an “A” rating from the public health department.

The food is good, although I think Lucille’s – another of Alex and Bill’s favorites that we went to last September – had smokier meat. Here’s what we had:

Bill had the deep fried catfish with hush puppies and fries. The tartar sauce was homemade and the hush puppies were, surprisingly, not oily.

Alex had the pulled pork shoulder, which I found a little dry and not very smoky. The sauce, which is a regional matter, is pretty vinegary but I found it lacked a distinctive flavor profile. Of course, taste in BBQ is very individual. Something that one person loves, another will not.

I chose the tri-tip sandwich. Tri-tip is a unique central California treat and it should be medium rare with lots of juicy pink in the center. Unfortunately, the meat for this sandwich was overcooked and, subsequently, a little tough.

We wrapped up sharing a peach cobbler that we barely made a dent in. Too much dessert and the cobbler itself was a little doughy and undercooked.

Overall, my impression on Johnny Rebs was that it was okay, but it was not the real deal. It was BBQ done Los Angeles style with lots done to make it look authentic but not enough to make it taste authentic.

Back at their home, we stayed up until after 1:00, visiting. I realized as I rolled into bed at 1:30, that I’ve spent too many nights on this trip staying up too late and getting up too early. Something that ended up catching up with me.

Beauty of the West from 35,000 feet

Posted on 9 August 2008 by christao408

My eight days in Kansas City ended too soon. Packing my bags on a wet Wednesday morning, I said goodbye to my nieces and headed to the airport for my flight back to San Francisco. Below, see you at Christmas.

Normally, I save my pictures of airplane trips for trip reports on airliners.net, but this was such a beautiful day for flying that I want to share some of the pictures with everyone. Below, a soon to be vanished sight – Midwest Airlines’ MD-87. In the next few weeks they will be cutting their fleet by some 40%, removing all of these planes from service and cutting their staff by about the same number. Tough times in the US airline industry.

The western United States is a rugged, mostly barren land and it gives some idea into the American psyche: there is lots and lots of room, lots of frontier to be civilized, and always the possibility of reinventing yourself somewhere new.

Some of that land is flat and ugly (much of Nevada, based on having driven it) but much of it has great beauty, beauty carved by the elements over untold millennia. Much of it is hard to appreciate when you are driving across the country, because much of it is hidden. But from 35,000 feet you can see the sheer size of some of these geologic formations, a vastness of scope that is both vertical and horizontal.

Let me share these photos with you:

The Rocky Mountains just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A deep glacial valley on the left, carved into the alpine mountains.

A small town lies in the valley below a mountain, somewhere near Aspen, Colorado.

A river winds through dry lands, cutting across the face of a butte.

Area near Moab, Utah and Canyonlands National Park.

West of Canyonlands National Park, heading towards Nevada.

Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Notice all the smoke from various fires. In the upper-right quadrant is Yosemite Valley. If you look carefully, you can see what I think is Half Dome.

I may be wrong (and I’m sure someone will correct me if I am) but I think this picture – a close-up of the one above – shows Half Dome in the center of the picture about one-third of the way in from the left side. Amazing how much smoke there is.

Hopeton, California in the foreground with the Merced Airport and the city of Merced in the background. This is west of Yosemite Valley where the Sierra Nevada foothills give way to the Central Valley – California’s agricultural engine.

The airport shown below is in Patterson, California, where the Central Valley gives way to the Coastal Range. San Luis Reservoir is visible in the distance.

As we descend over the Coastal Range the path of a high tension power line is visible, a clear swath cutting through the trees.

We enter the Bay Area in the Warm Springs/Irvington district of Fremont, turning northwest towards the airport and flying over the colorful salt evaporation ponds near the Dumbarton Bridge. Moffett Federal Air Field is visible in the background.

As we head for Foster City and the San Mateo Bay Bridge, I spot a United Airlines A319 slowly moving closer to us. It is clear that we will be executing a parallel approach for runways 28 Left and 28 R, something that can only be done in the right weather conditions when visibility is excellent. This is because the runways are only 750 feet (229 meters) apart. Below, the city of San Mateo with Coyote Point Regional Park just coming into view in the foreground.

What follows is an aviation enthusiast’s dream: an excellent view all the way in of another aircraft landing. I captured it on video and am including it below for your enjoyment. Rather humorously, when my seatmate, a retiree who spends her time between Milwaukee and Sonoma, saw the other plane, she announced that she hoped he would pull away soon. She apparently thought we were playing chicken for only one runway.

Wrapping Up in KC

Posted on 8 August 2008 by christao408

When we last left our hero, he was galavanting around Kansas City after writing a non-chronological entry about ramen soup noodles in San Mateo. After my colleagues left KC, I was able to properly focus on my holidays, spending time with family and friends and just enjoying a different setting and schedule than usual.

One evening, I met up with Jack. He’s a Thai expat now living in the Kansas City area and we connected through airliners.net. Recently, he bought a 70-year old house in the Waldo neighborhood, a funky little area south of the Country Club Plaza. This was my first chance to see his new home, a typical two-story cookie cutter that has four small bedrooms on the second story, all sharing one bathroom!

Since there are just two of them living in the house, the single upstairs bathroom is hardly a problem. And, liking clothes every bit as much as Tawn, Jack wisely converted one of the bedrooms into a walk-in closet, below.

Of course, the “closet” has two of its own closets. There is a small one to the left (which you can’t see in the above picture), which holds the off-season clothes. Then there is the dormer attic space, which Jack uses as a shoe closet, below. I had to take pictures because I know that if we had the space, Tawn would love something like this.

We’ve talked about buying the 32-square meter (330 square foot) studio condo next to ours, tearing a door into the wall between the unites, and turning the whole thing into a closet for Tawn.

After showing off his house and introducing me to his pair of very outgoing cats, Jack suggested we head to the aforementioned Country Club Plaza. The Plaza, the first shopping center in the world to be designed specifically for people arriving by car, is a landmark of Kansas City and really is one of the nicer outdoor shopping developments in the US. While you are seeing these kind of developments more commonly these days, you have to remember that the origins of the Plaza date back to 1907 and it opened in 1923, years before malls and other shopping centers.

The architectural style is very much based on a Spanish/Moorish motif. There is beautiful tile work and many fountains and while those on the coasts may scoff at “flyover country”, the Plaza is a good example of what makes the quality of living in Kansas City quite decent.

Here are some photos, taken later in the day so apologies for the long shadows:

Jack and I ended up eating at Houston’s, one of my favorite chain restaurants. I had one thing on my mind: steak.

Steaks are expensive and imported here in Thailand, and Kansas City is cattle country so I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to try a good steak. Houston’s delivered with a very nicely marbled rib-eye, tender and flavorful. Combine that with their excellent cous cous and a glass of very nice cabernet, and it was a pleasant meal.

The only thing Houston’s lacks is proper dessert choices. There are only two items: the key lime pie and the apple walnut cobbler. The pie isn’t all that great, in my opinion, and they were out of the cobbler, which actually is worth ordering. Of course, most of the time I haven’t enough room for dessert after having eaten there, so that’s okay.

After dinner, we walked around the Plaza for a while, visiting. The weather was a little cooler than normal, still in the low 80s, but just ideal for a summer evening. Wish that Tawn could have been there to enjoy his Houston’s favorite (knife-and-fork ribs) as well as the good conversation.

Tuesday morning I was tasked with taking Emily to swim lessons so Jenn could get some things done and have a little time without youngsters around the house. The morning started oddly cool, breezy and humid, the chance of rain lending a pronounced “fullness” to the air. Jenn decided to try and get the lawn mowed and no sooner had she started then the first big drops started to fall. But they remained very intermittent, so she powered on, moving so fast that she was no more than a blur in the photo below.

Emily and I were unsure whether the weather would force a cancelation of lessons. I called the pool’s recorded line and the last weather alert was for a month ago, so we went with the assumption that lessons were on. I grabbed an umbrella and a magazine and we loaded into the minivan.

We must have arrived very early – ten minutes before class didn’t seem early to me – as there were no other students around. Emily assured me that this was normal and an instructor, a young lady in her late teens, told me that class was still on. Unsure of where I was supposed to go, Emily told me to sit in the waiting area and she headed out to find her teacher.

Below, Emily jumps up and down, trying to make it difficult for me to get a good picture.

Sure enough, about sixty seconds before lesson time a fleet of minivans arrived, divulging several dozen young swimmers. The mothers, a veritable cast of Desperate Housewives, brought their folding chairs and novels and set up shop. Some read (the lady in front of me was reading Michael Pollan’s excellent The Omnivore’s Dilemma) while most gossiped. You would be shocked with what’s going on amongst neighbors in suburban Kansas City!

Since it was raining, the instructors decided it was Safety Day. This is the day when the children at each level learn various safety skills. In the picture below, you can see Emily holding the safety flotation device, about to throw it to “save” one of her classmates.

To avoid distractions, the adults were forced to sit in a confined area away from their children, so I had to use the telephoto feature on my camera. Not too bad, actually, considering how far away I was.

It was a really cool morning and I had on my sweatshirt and was still shivering. The pool is in an exposed area and the wind blew sharply across the deck. When Emily finished lessons she was quite chilly, too, so we decided a stop at the neighborhood Starbucks for some hot cocoa would be a good idea.

That afternoon we had BLTs for lunch. Bacon, lettuce and tomato – what a perfect combination. I should have this in Thailand as all three ingredients are available. But the tomatoes here are just not the same. We don’t do beefsteak tomatoes.

Many insist that mayonnaise is the correct condiment, although I prefer peanut butter. Everything is better with peanut butter. Well, not scrambled eggs, but most things.

I spent a fair amount of time my final few days in KC working on a photo scanning project. My grandmother made the effort several years ago to organize their thousands of photos into binders, usually by child. Many of the photos have names, dates and locations, which is a good start.

A few years ago, I decided to start scanning these photos and collecting them digitally. Then I can post them to the family and ask people to add more details: stories and memories that will bring the photos to life. Eventually, I’d like to create and print photo albums for the various grandchildren and, eventually, great-grandchildren like Emily and Ava.

During this week, I managed to scan and document about four hundred photos, just a scratch in the surface. Future trips will have to include more scanning, so I know what I’ll be doing this Christmas.

In a future post, I’ll include some of those family photos, to see if you can trace any family resemblances.

After one day of scanning, Jennifer and Emily stopped by to pick my up at my grandparents’ house. While there, Emily went upstairs to check on the progress of my grandmother’s sewing projects. Among other things, she wanted to take measurements to make a dress for Emily. Amazing that my grandmother is still working on projects like this at her age. But then, both my grandparents keep incredibly busy. They have more on their schedules than I do!

Finally, on one of my final evenings in Kansas City, Jenn, Emily and Ava tried on the matching pink pajamas that Tawn bought for them. There was an evening of peace and calm as we read bedtime books together, no fussing, crying, or tumult. What a perfect evening!

Saturday Daytime

Posted on 23 July 2008 by christao408

There’s a little bit of repeat here since I didn’t have pictures ready to go a couple of entries ago.

Saturday morning Anita was still down in the South Bay so I woke up to an empty house. After pulling on a sweatshirt I walked several blocks to Tartine, the Delfino-owned bakery and cafe at 18th and Guerrero.

I previously mentioned about the French visitors who occupied a pair of tables next to me and helped my sympathize with Tawn. The food was so good on the first visit that I made a second trip on Tuesday morning. I’ll combine the pictures into this entry.

The interior is always crowded and there is a large communal table that people – as the name implies – share. Instead of numbers, they use letters. Interesting, huh?

First dish: zucchini and tomato quiche

Follow-up dish: morning bun on the left and bread pudding with peaches and olallieberries the size of your thumb on the right. Remember – this was over two days, not at a single meal.

Later in the morning I headed over to Oakland to meet Bruce and Howie for lunch. The destination: Zachary’s Pizza. Celebrating 25 years, Zachary’s deep-dish stuffed crust pizza is an amazing, amazing thing to eat. Below, the College Avenue location, about two minutes away from Rockridge BART station.

The pizza in question – double crust stuffed with spinach and mushrooms with a spicy tomato sauce on top.

Moments before we dig in. Bruce on the left and Howie on the right.

Afterwards, we enjoyed the sunny afternoon for a bit before driving back over to the City. What a treat!

Next entry… Saturday evening and GAPA’s 20th Anniversary Runway show.

News from Tawn:

Tawn arrived in Paris Saturday morning and was enjoying his first day in the city of lights. While Ryeroam was working Tawn explored the city and enjoyed a little petite dejuener at a sidewalk cafe.

Posted on 19 July 2008 by christao408

Here in SF. The flight over was smooth, touching down at a very chilly SFO at five minutes past eight, Friday evening. Once again, I am impressed by EVA Airway’s value. Elite Economy has extra room and good comfort for the money. Here’s a picture of me after boarding in BKK.

Immigration was surprisingly swift. I literally walked up to the agent with no wait in line. Fortunately, I was a bit ahead of much of the crowd so some of that is just good luck. The agent stamped me in before even scanning my passport; guess I no longer look like an illegal alien.

By 9:30 I had arrived at Anita’s house. She left her key with Corey, her downstairs tenant, and so I had no problems getting in and getting settled. After freshening up, I headed down to Martuni’s, a piano bar cum karaoke lounge, to hear Anne Marie sing. More on this later as I have some nice pictures and some good video footage.

Afterwards, very hungry, I stopped at It’s Tops, a diner on Market Street that dates back to 1935. Had two eggs over easy, two links of sausage, and three buttermilk pancakes that were so much better than any pancakes I’ve had in Khrungthep!

Saturday morning (as I write) I am at Tartine, a cute little cafe on the corner of Guerrero and 18th in the Mission District. I am sitting outside even though it is a little cool. In a moment of supreme empathy with Tawn, who I assume has arrived safely in Paris, I am drinking my latte from a bowl and eating a slice of tomato and zucchini quiche. To top it off, a group of French people (along with their local host) have arrived and are chatting in French and eating croissants at the tables to my left. Tres chic!

One Week and Counting

Posted on 11 July 2008 by christao408

Exactly one week from today – 4:25 pm next Friday – I’ll depart Khrungthep for sixteen days back in the US. The last time I was there was in early October for Alex and Bill’s wedding. Is that a long time between visits? Maybe not. Roka just left this week for a month back in the US, her first visit in three years. That’s a long time.

There are many people I know who only get back home once a year or even less frequently. My feelings about how often I should return are shaped by my childhood. My father worked for United Airlines his entire career so we flew on employee passes. Lots of standby flights, hours and days of waiting for available seats, and lots of flying first thing on Christmas morning, Easter morning, Thanksgiving morning when the flights were less crowded.

Despite those inconveniences, we were still able to travel frequently. Unlike my other cousins (Alex and her family) growing up in the Bay Area, I saw my grandparents in Kansas City at least three or four times a year pretty much every year until my travel privileges expired after graduating from university. So for me not to go back and see my family at least once or twice a year seems pretty strange.

While back, I’ll make stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. An opportunity to visit friends and additional family. Sadly, there are always more people to visit than there is time.

“Why don’t you come over for dinner?” ask friends who live in a suburb well outside of the city.

“Come stay with us,” invite other friends who are equally out of the way.

I’m thankful for such offers and wary of the time they will consume. It is nice to be missed and I love seeing friends again. I’m also on vacation and don’t want to spend all of my time in transit from one place to another, going from one appointment to the next.

Brunch – coffee – lunch – tea – dinner – drinks – repeat.

Some people are super generous. Curry, Paul, Anita – people who make my visits so enjoyable and smooth.

“Stay with me,” invites the friend who has a centrally located house and no expectation to spend hours and hours hanging out with me.

“Let me pick you up at the airport,” offers another friend who is willing to play chauffeur.

“I’m free then; let me be your tour guide,” insists a friend who has already gone out of his way many times over.

“Let me fire up the barbeque for you!” writes Bill.

I’m extremely thankful for these offers, too, because they make it so much easier to visit.

Then there are the people who are way too generous. ZSA_MD suggested I drive over to Quincy, IL from Kansas City so she could cook Indian food for me. I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointed I am that there won’t be an opportunity on this trip to do that. I mean, have you seen the pictures of her cooking!? It would be like taking the I-70 eastbound to heaven.

Then there are the people who can’t seem to be bothered. “You want me to drive all the way to San Francisco? Can’t you come to see me?” asks the friend who can’t be troubled to drive 40 miles even after I’ve flown 8,000 miles to be there. Oddly, if it is a Saturday night and he wants to go out and party, then the 40 mile drive is not a problem.

Sheesh.

Pics from last Sunday’s bike ride with Markus:

A dozen yappy pomeranians try to bark us to death.

Birds are hung out for some fresh air in a quiet neighborhood near Ramkamhaeng University.

I have a long list of things to do this weekend in preparation for the trip.

You fly and yet you write no trip reports

Posted on 30 May 2008 by christao408

As has been pointed out to me by several people who came to my blog by way of airliners.net (including this parody by Stipica), I have been remiss in writing and posting reports chronicling my airborne adventures over the past year and more.

Starting to catch up, I have finally posted the full trip report from the elaborate March 2007 trip Tawn and I took that included long layovers in Nartia, Toronto and Hong Kong as well as official stops in San Francisco and Kansas City. The first part of the trip report is here and the second part of the trip report is here.

More airplane geeky than travelogue, although with additional detail about the stop in Narita town in Japan.

DSCF6605 DSCF6677 DSCF7091 DSCF7155

Crossing the border in Pong Nam Ron

Posted on 27 April 2008 by christao408

Every ninety days I have to leave Thailand. Not because I get my fill of the traffic or som tam, but because the conditions of my year-long visa (and most other non-immigrant visas, for that matter) require it. I can fly somewhere on holiday or even just step across the border and then re-enter: it doesn’t matter so long as I leave Thailand.

Over the past two and a half years most of my border runs have been combined into already-planned travel: Tawn and I take a weekend in Hong Kong, go for a visit back to the United States, etc. So far, there have been only two times when I’ve had to make a border run specifically because I needed to leave the country: the first was a day-long trip to Penang, Malaysia on August 31, 2006 and the second was about three weeks ago.

Above: Me at the border with Cambodia in the background.

There are a dozen companies that help expats and tourists conduct border runs to Laos or Cambodia and border runs are one of those topics that have a place in the mythology and folklore of expats in Thailand.

Down on Khao San Road the backpackers share tips and insights on how to stay here as long as they can, how to work the system, and how to avoid overstaying their visas. For those just sliding by on tourist visas, even with the recent “crackdowns” restricting those who receive visas on arrival to only ninety total days within a six-month period, there is something called the “three thirties, a sixty and a seven” that can net you just over five consecutive months of stay with minimal effort.

Even for those of us who are here legitimately and hold nonimmigrant visas, the topics of what visa type, where did you get it, and how are you handling border runs is still a common topic of conversation.

The Cambodian day trip is one of the most common border runs. For about 2,000 baht (about US$65 but rising fast) you can hop into a van or a bus with several dozen expats and make a nine-hour roundtrip to the border. I’ve been hesitant to make this trip because I’ve heard that the experience is a nightmare. Not only the hours and hours cramped in a vehicle but then at the border you are attacked by beggars, limbless war victims and children, who swarm to the foreigners like so many mosquitos.

It is easy to understand why, in a country that is still so impoverished, people would take this route to earn a living, but it is horrifying to know that giving some spare change isn’t doing anything to alleviate their suffering. Perhaps this is a copout and I’m just a westerner who doesn’t want to come face-to-face with the legacy of genocide, but this does not make for a pleasant day-trip.

When Roka told me about a border run she had taken with a company called Sawasdee Transport and her story painted a very different picture, one that sounded much more promising.

So I emailed the owner, a German named Claudio and he confirmed that there would be room on Friday’s trip. Please meet the van at the Tesco-Lotus at On Nut BTS station at 7:30 am, he said.

Arriving about 7:15 at the large parking lot, I was at a loss as to which van I was looking for. White and silver Toyota passenger vans are even more common here than street-side food vendors and since On Nut is the terminal station for the Sukhumvit line, dozens of vans transport workers from the parking lot to destinations all around the eastern side of the city.

Spotting another farang I approached her and asked if she was waiting for Claudio, too. She was and in just a few minutes Claudio came pulling up in his car and pulled into a space next to three other vans. A large group was going today, so there would be a total of these three vans plus Claudio ended up having to drive his car to the border, too.

Of the three dozen or so passengers, almost all were Filipino laborers. I have one Filipino friend here in Khrungthep and didn’t realize just how many people the island nation exports to Thailand. Our van had a British national, the Canadian-Belgian dual citizen I had met a few minutes before, and seven Filipinos, one of which had a lovely voice and quietly sang a capella nearly the whole trip.

I liked the transparency and honesty with which Claudio did business. The expat community is rife with tales of unscrupulous border run operators who will get you to the border only to discover that your visa or paperwork is not in order and you cannot cross the border that day. Often that is a waste of money and it is always a waste of time. Claudio, on the other hand, thoroughly reviewed everyone’s documents in advance of the trip and double-checked before leaving that everyone had everything they needed.

We headed up to the border, stopping once en route for a toilet break. The ride was comfortable enough and I read a bit and visited with my seat mates. The Canadian-Belgian woman had the most interesting story: she had come to visit her parents about two years ago as her father had set up a company in Thailand six years prior to that. She so enjoyed it that she has spent the better part of those last two years here living with them. Since the limit on tourist visas using the “three thirties and sixty and a seven” is about six months, she just switches passports every six months and then travels for a few weeks in between to get all the way to the six months.

Our destination was the Ban Laem crossing in Pong Nam Ron, Chanthaburi Province. This is a smaller crossing and less popular with the larger border run operators than another crossing nearer to Khrungthep. As such, there is much less traffic and, because of the way the border and the casino are laid out, you don’t have any contact with the Cambodian locals. In fact, it is arguable whether or not you ever really arrive in Cambodia.

As gambling is “illegal” in Thailand, the Thais go to casinos set up right across the border in Laos and Cambodia. At Ban Laem the casino is actually placed before the true entry point into Cambodia. The physical order of the border is: Thai border control office, Thai border guard, bridge over the muddy creek that is the actual border (above), casino compound, then Cambodian border guard. The Cambodian border control office is actually on the casino grounds so clearly the business is there to cater to foreigners doing border runs.

When I say “casino”, by the way, don’t think Macau or Las Vegas. Think of the local chapter of your Rotary Club with one of their linoleum floored halls filled with folding chairs and faded card tables. Needless to say, no cocktail waitresses serving free drinks. No pictures allowed, unfortunately, so let your imaginations run with that image.

Above: Looking from Thailand into Cambodia, the entry to the casino is just behind the white, circular sign. There is a red-roofed shack behind that where the Cambodian border guard is located.

Below: Standing just outside the Cambodian border guard shack looking into Cambodia. Interestingly, the disparity between income on the two sides of the border is amazing. While both are rural and poor, the Thai side has nicely paved roads and some development. The Cambodian side is much worse off. That might be attributable to the fact that the people coming over from the Thai side never go any further than the casino.

We were on the Cambodian side of the border for about an hour. The Canadian-Belgian woman and I tried our chance at the fried rice and then did some duty free shopping. The best news of all was that Cambodia has no duties on imported wine and, as I learned from the British man on the way back, there really are no practical restrictions placed on the quantity of items you bring back into Thailand, even though the legal restriction is 1 liter of alcohol. I bought two bottles of a nice Australian wine for 350 baht (about US$11) each and discovered that at the store here in Khrungthep they were being sold for 1789 baht each thanks to Thailand’s 400% duty on luxury goods.

This alone is enough to encourage me to make more border runs to Cambodia. Maybe I can even bring the car and buy a few cases!

We crossed the bridge back towards Thailand, a blue and white sign in Khmer script saying (I assume) something like “farewell and come again”, right. Who knows, though? It could have been propaganda denouncing the decadent westerners who don’t do much to actually help the lives of everyday Cambodians.

Below: Looking back into Thailand, the new immigration offices on the right hand side. The British man was telling me that just a few years ago, the offices were literally a shack, just like on the Cambodian side. The rickety wooden pedestrian bridge is a remnant of times past.

We were back at the Tesco-Lotus by 5:00, having hit some heavy thunderstorms on the way back. According to the British guy, he has never done this trip when there weren’t afternoon thunderstorms as the area is in the mountains. Talking with him, he has an interesting story. Married to a Thai woman for more than eight years, he hasn’t applied for permanent residency but instead has a working visa sponsored by their company, which makes and exports wedding dresses to the UK and other parts of Europe. They have recently started to do made-to-order dresses online, so if you are interested in having a wedding dress (or, I suppose, any other type of dress) made to order and then shipped to you, I’m sure you could find some good deals on their website. Not an endorsement, by the way, just something I picked up on the trip.

All in all, the trip was fairly painless and a convenient way to do a border run without having to plan and pay for a trip somewhere outside Thailand. As much as I love flying, I can’t fly outside Thailand for much less than 6,000 baht given the price of fuel these days. For that, I can do a Cambodian border run and buy a dozen bottles of wine.

christao408

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

Tag Archives: travel