Eating in Bangkok, Part I

More specifically, in this case, eating at home. I can remember, as a teenager, that my Aunt Rochelle blew me away when she casually mentioned that she often made Chinese food in her kitchen. I must have held on to that, because now I really want to make Thai food in my kitchen. Here was my first go at it:

To cut, or not to cut... The age-old debate rages on in Thailand

Thai spinach

I still have irrational fear of buying fresh (still flopping) fish at the market.

What panang curry is all about!

It actually came out good - not a bad 'farang' version of Thai food

Where We Live: Sukhumvit Soi 24

Our driveway at 46-48 Sukhumvit Soi 24, complete with saluting crossing guard

We're on the 8th floor of this 18 story tower

Wood floors that *don't squeak at all*

View from one of our three balconies

Another balcony, every evening at 6pm

Leaving out of the driveway, looking right

Theoretically, folks drive on the left here. On the actual street. At least it's calm.

Sukhumvit Rd. is crowded, but amazingly calm. The motor scooters here make far better time than the cars - they just snake their way up to the red lights. Every traffic light change sounds like a massive motorcycle revving party. Loud and hot, but not too dirty or smelly (usually).

Ok, I'm Better Now

I am sorry that I've made no entries in two weeks. No photos for this very brief post.

We'll put it as Howard Cosell might once have:

"After three solid weeks mired in a classic defensive battle, the score remains Buddha's Revenge 2, Glenn's Constitution 1. We'll see how Beth's daily yogurt-for-breakfast strategy plays out this week!"

Next: Much more fun, but no less significant, things to talk about!

Chatuchak -- What A Scene!

On Saturday, we went to the extremely large and crowded Chatuchak Weekend Market. It gets its own Wiki article:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatuchak_Weekend_Market

This was, hands down, the highlight of the weekend. We took the Skytrain, and then the subway for two stops, but it was totally worth the schlep. We saw a tiny fraction of one section of this behemoth. I think you would have to visit this market every weekend for ten years to see the whole thing once. This is where common Thai folk can cheaply buy their stuff. All their stuff. We came home with three large bags…

A tiny fragment - perhaps one billionth of the whole market

She was a charming performer; note the car battery for her amp

Ah, some of my all-time favorites, right in front of me!

 

One area in our little section of Chatuchak was for selling framed art/paintings, and some of the artists there moonlight, quite literally, as amateur musicians, right there in the market. 

Watching them play music together during down-time, it didn't take long for me to get invited to hang out with these folks and join them. We could barely talk with each other, but they kept giving us food and drinks; we stayed until past 10pm.

They repeatedly invited us to another artist gathering next weekend. We finally were able to convince them to stop feeding us and to let us go home because the Skytrain stops at 11:45, and I don’t think they wanted us to become their charges. We stumbled home in proper mass-transit Bangkok fashion...

They're all gifted artists, mostly painters

Congas with sticks (?) Well, when in Thailand...

Plenty of eating/drinking next to the music-making

They were all so open and welcoming to us

Sukhumvit - Freshman Orientation

It's now about 10am on Tuesday. Beth left for work at 7. As I sit inside "True Cafe", I sip on an iced green milk tea with a bowl of fruit and yogurt. There's free wi-fi, and my laptop has about 3 1/2 hours of battery left. I suspect I'll spend a few hours a week like this.

Beth and I live off of a main city artery called Sukhumvit Rd:

We drive on the left here, sometimes *on* the roads

Since the 1970s, this particular street has emerged as a haven for tourists and expats, both Western (mostly UK, Aus, NZ, and US) and non-Western (mostly Japanese). Still, I see no more than about 1/6 non-Thai folks when I walk around. So, non-Asians aren't exactly all over the place, but we're a very familiar sight and do not draw attention. That is a very nice aspect of Bangkok. People in general here are pleasant when you engage them, comfortable in their own skin, have no big urge to engage you, but might if you seem approachable.

Off the main arteries are side streets (still subtantial) called "sois". We live on “Sukhumvit Soi 24”. If you want some context, go to Google maps, and just look at the city of Bangkok, Thailand. After seeing what a maze it is, enter "Sukhumvit soi 24 Bangkok". You are now zoomed in to our immediate neighborhood, on the SE side of the city center. The gray rectangle contains many buildings, including Asa Garden, where we live. 

It also houses The Emporium:

This is a large, upscale indoor mall for folks with money who crave shopping. Still, it’s mostly Thais who are in there. It also has a really great food court where you can get about a million kinds of dishes, actually cooked fresh in front of you, for about half what you'd spend in the US.

Another important place for me is the Phrom Phong BTS SkyTrain station:

It’s a 6 minute walk from home, and it takes one to many, many places in the city. The SkyTrain is great; it’s totally modern, cheap, fast, and crowded on weekends and rush hour. It stays cheap because a zillion people use it every single day. They've been expanding the routes and it’s still growing. Just like the rest of Bangkok, Thailand, and SE Asia in general.

Thailand has been booming in USA 1950s style for the last fifteen years, and (if the gov't can demonstrate a handle on flooding in the next few years,) I see no sign of slowing. There's a big push to raise the minimum wage, Myanmar next door is starting to open up, and with almost no unemployment, there's a general feel of vibrancy, including among the regular folk that live meagerly.

But I digress. On Friday, Beth 'walked me' to Sukhumvit. Just walking down our soi to get there is a major adjustment in itself. Well, ok, every single activity here except maybe breathing is an adjustment right now. The sidewalks are about 18" wide, many of them have broken tiles, there are frequent curb dips and steps, the steps are steeper than I'm used to, there are frequent driveways for cars and scooters, pedestrians have no right-of-way, and that doesn't include the occasional scooter approaching you from behind (yes, on the sidewalk). I paint an unpleasant picture of walking here, but it's pretty accurate.

For a more pleasant walking experience, we went to Benjasiri Park, a very lovely place indeed:

A big "sister cities" project currently under construction in the Park

King Rama IX, head of state since 1946, loved by the Thais

Big stage show soon?

These are everywhere - can anyone identify?

 

Lots of places to explore, sit, jog, stop and smell the flowers, feed the turtles, and see the occasional park police smile at you. A nod and a smile are common greetings among strangers, regardless of any real or perceived (is there a difference?) social hierarchy.

We walked along Sukhumvit for quite a while. With the non-stop shops, bustling street and foot traffic, and the Skytrain above you, it somewhat resembles 86th street in Brooklyn (minus the honking, surprising enough). Much of the buiding and street signage is bilingual around Sukhumvit, but that changes big-time when you leave the area.

Getting There - No Small Feat

If this had been a trip to Florida, this post wouldn't exist. Traveling twelve time zones really feels different. The first leg took me from DTW in Michigan direct to Tokyo (NRT). I sat in seat 1A on a Boeing 747 -- what a trip that was just in itself. I was served three excellent meals, and a glass of port whenever I felt like having one, which was about five times, give or take.

After watching Beth and her melatonin supplements endure about ten days of jet-lag when she came home after her 'look-see' trip in December, I decided to begin implementation of my own strategy for avoiding this. The strategy is simple in concept: stay awake when it's light - sleep when it's dark. Generally. 

The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was 13 hours. It was light outside the entire time (noon take-off in the US, traveling west, landing at 4pm local Japan time) I stayed awake the entire time. I also watched three movies with noise-blocking headphones, which kept me from hearing the snoring fat guy next to me.

Narita Airport was nice, quiet, and very comfortable. I was only there for about two hours, but my sister asked me to take some random photos for her Pokemon-crazed sons. So....

I'm pretty sure this is good news about my connecting flight

No delay - good news indeed

I'm glad I didn't need to do this

Two useful places

Crowded - good ramen

OK!

After about two hours at NRT airport in Tokyo, I boarded another plane and sat in seat 1A again. This was a seven hour 'hop' to Bangkok. At some point after dinner, my body took over and forced me to sleep about 2-3 hours. That was ok, because it was dark outside. By the time I landed in Bangkok, it was about midnight. My cab got me to our apt by about 1am, and there was *Beth* waiting in the lobby! We giggled like teenagers -- it was so great!! She looked just as I remembered! (Ok, it was only a month, but still...)

I slept through the night like the dead. Good thing, because Beth had her own plans of forcing me to immediately stick to the local clock...

Crunch Time!

I recently responded to an e-mail from a colleague: Well, I'm not exactly soiling my pants about this trip, but I can feel a sense of heaviness inside.

I have spent so much time getting things organized, especially 'just in case' kinds of things. Leaving the country for an extended period is a great opportunity to get all your s*** together, sort of like how having house guests periodically helps achieve a similar re-organization. Stuff like doctor/dental appointments, arrangements with banks/credit cards, various contingency plans, house and yard maintenance, car servicing... And also physical therapy 3x/week for my slowly healing hamstring injury.

On the more fun side, I have become a fervent proponent of FaceTime. Beth and I are able to video-chat pretty much every day - it is so very nice to get to see each other after the work day and/or in the mornings (we're 12 time zones apart). I have also had a nice dose of connecting with our kids, close friends, and Beth's parents before I take off.

I've also found myself engaged in a pattern of divesting. As the owner of many musical instruments, I thought I would lend out some of them to trusted friends who will not merely 'take care' of them, but who will actually use them. I had an eerie thought about that: If I were planning an early overseas demise, this is probably exactly what I would do - but I'm not.

So, it's now all about the actual *packing*. Just where do I draw the line on books and clothes? And shoes?!? Not a daunting or stressful task, but I have little else that needs to be done (which is good, for sure), so it's down to this. On the charge of procrastination, the jury finds the defendant guilty.

Jan 20 - My last day of work in the US

Today I was given a surprise 'going away luncheon' by my staff at school. They got me good. I work with some really great people; even my Superintendent came to wish me well.

I also transferred all my lesson plans, keys, and music teaching responsibilities to my long-term substitute, who has generously agreed to take it all on for the rest of the school year. I feel like my students are in very capable hands (which means I can now focus on the bigger transition in front of me).

I was going to go to a music party tonight at a friend's house, but the snow was getting deep, my tires are old, I was rather enjoying Beth's FaceTime companionship, and my bed was feeling way too comfy.

So, instead, I took some time to take Lesson 1 of Pimsleur's Thai course. There are 30 lessons, about 30 minutes each. If master the first 5-10 before I leave the US, I'll be satisfied. Thai is a hard language.  "Pom kowjai pasa Thai nitnoy, khrap." (I understand Thai a little.)

Still nursing a minor but nagging hip injury, I woke up in the middle of the night and watched "Return to Paradise", a 1998 film I would recommend for those interested in stories of travel -- I'll leave it at that!