Creativity Soothes

Flood wall along Rama IV

Flood themed painting on a wall near Khao San Road

As I walk along the sandbagged and barricaded streets of Bangkok, I love seeing images like those above. Instead of seeing concrete flood walls as a barrier or a hindrance, some people see them as an opportunity to be creative.


For me personally, when times are tense and everything seems to be going wrong, I always seem to find solace in being creative and expressing myself. My form of expression usually turns to something fiber related, and this time was no exception. 


During the height of the flood, I would sit in my apartment, constantly checking Twitter and other news sources about flood information. Knowing that I needed a break from that, I spun the yarn below. The methodical focus needed to spin the yarn helped me relax and take my mind off everything that was happening.  It's brown, blue and green colors remind me of the river that so drastically changed my life.

I call it "Screw You, Chao Phraya"

Only One Wish

This year, as I released my krathong into the pond at Benjasiri Park I made only one wish, that Thailand would recover quickly from these devastating floods and that one day Eric and I would be able to return to Bangkok. (Ok, I know that is technically two wishes, but math was never my strong suit)

Happy Loy Krathong!! And as the song says:

Each one with this krathong,

As we push away we pray,

We can see a better day

To better days ahead!

Breakdown

Well it's finally happened- I've had my first breakdown/freak-out as an expat in Bangkok. The kind that leaves me crying uncontrollably, unable to move from the couch, cursing everyone and everything, etc. The cause of this breakdown- the fact that we have to leave Bangkok.


Ever since the floods hit Ayutthaya and the Rojana Industrial Park, our future seems to be changing so quickly and nothing seems to be under our control. Eric's company kept changing their mind about what they were going to do with the expats here in Thailand, but finally they've decided to move everyone back to the United States. 


This is not how I imagined our transition back to the US would go. I though we would have plenty of advance warning to prepare, both mentally and logistically. 


I focused so hard on making Bangkok our home, that having it ripped away so quickly makes my heart hurt.

Floodpocalypse!

Well, it is starting to sound like the flooding of Bangkok is inevitable and that the only question is how bad will the flooding get. Everyone in Bangkok seems to be in full crisis mode:

Buying stores out of food and water. It is pretty much impossible to find any bottled water in the city. Eric and I stopped at Tesco Lotus in Pattaya before we came back to Bangkok earlier this week, and even they were running low on water. The stores today were packed full of people stocking up on supplies.

It's a bad sign when the overpriced imported foods are almost gone.

Scrambling to find parking for their cars. Our condo parking structure which is usually mostly empty, is packed full of cars. People are even using the elevated expressway as a giant parking structure, which is really hampering the evacuation of some areas in outer Bankgok.

Yes, those are cars PARKED on the expressway.

Building extensive sandbag walls. Last week, very few businesses in Bangkok had sandbags in front of their buildings. Now it seems like they are ALL working to protect their property from the impending flood.

Same wall in front of Silom complex from my last post

I am not too proud to admit that I've also gone crazy this week preparing for the floods. I think it's the inner Girl Scout in me that worries about not being prepared. So during the last few days I've done my best to cover all of my bases:

Stockpile of non-perishable food including dried fruit to prevent scurvy:

Check

ALL the essentials...

Bathtub full of water to use for washing and flushing toilets:

Check

Every possible container filled with boiled tap water:

Check

Purchase a butane stove and plenty of fuel canisters:

Check

I think that my paranoia about not being prepared also stems from the fact that I am now in Bangkok alone. Since the manufacturing plant where Eric works is currently under three meters of water, he is now on a plane back to Wisconsin to help the manufacturing plant there ramp up production. So, I have to deal with the floods on my own, but I think I have enough supplies and support from friends to make it though this. 

This is going to be an interesting weekend I think...

Batten Down the Hatches- Preparing for Floods in Bangkok

Bangkok is currently in preparation mode as flood waters from the north move closer and rain continues to fall. In our neighborhood, life seems to be going on as normal, with a few exceptions:

Shop owners building a concrete wall in front of a shop along Rama IV

Lumpini MRT station with new steel gates on the windows

Pile of sandbags outside the Silom Complex 

Nearly empty shelves at the local grocery store

While things may be deceptively calm here in our neighborhood, we are still contemplating going south to get away from the floods.

In a related note, the manufacturing plant where Eric works is currently under six feet of water. The flood waters broke through levee after levee and inundated the entire industrial park. We are still not sure what that exactly means for us and our stay here in Thailand. Hopefully, we will have some answers soon.

Image from The MacLeod Thaimes

If you are the praying type, please pray for all of the families that have been affected by these floods. Entire cities are currently underwater and the devastation is so immense, it is kind of hard to comprehend. 

If you are looking for up to date news about the flooding in Thailand and you are on Twitter- @RichardBarrow and #ThaiFloodEng are great sources of information.

It's Election Time!

It is election season here in Thailand as the country gears up for a general election on July 3rd. Unlike in the US, the amount of time between the announcement of elections and the actual elections is only a few months, so instead of being bombarded for a year with election ads, here in Thailand we only have to endure it for a couple of weeks. Luckily for me, since I am a) not a Thai citizen so I can't vote and b) I can't speak or read Thai, I am able to block it all out, with one exception...

It seems that the preferred method for the hundreds of candidates to get their message to the masses is to use huge posters that they attach to every tree, lamp post, powerline or flat surface available. Obviously this makes walking down the sidewalk even more of an adventure than normal.

It's a Thai version of Ross Perot!

While most of the political posters are boring head shots of the candidates, I actually came to an abrupt stop and had to do a double take when I spotted these posters. 

I have no idea what they are for, or which political party is responsible, but whoever created these posters definitely has a sense of humor.

A Good Night for a Fight

One of my favorite sports memories is going to see a University of Wisconsin-Madison hockey game in high school. I didn't really understand the sport or the rules but the thousands of college students in the stands chanting and dancing combined with bone crushing action on the rink created an awesome atmosphere that overrode the fact that I had no idea what was going on on the ice.

I experienced a similar night recently when I attended a night of Muay Thai at the Lumpini Boxing Stadium. This time I REALLY had no idea what was going on because everything was in Thai, but I wasn't about to let that spoil the adventure!

Muay Thai is a combat sport similar to kickboxing except that fighters are also allowed to use their shins, feet, elbows and strike each other both below and above the waist. It is a really intense sport and I wasn't too sure that I wanted to go watch a match. However, I decided that since I was living with in a 10 minute walk from one of the most prestigious Muay Thai stadiums in Thailand, I had to at least watch one match.

Our Muay Thai adventure began with attempting to purchase tickets at the Lumpini Boxing Stadium. As soon as we turned the corner outside the stadium, we were accosted by two ladies who really wanted to sell us discounted tickets. Even after we repeatedly told them we weren't interested, they continued to pressure us all the way to the official ticket office and wouldn't stop until we actually had our tickets in our hands. I am not sure if these women were selling legitimate tickets or not, but I will give them credit for being for being so tenacious.

Outside of the stadium plastered with promotions for upcoming fights

After a quick dinner at one of the many food stalls right outside the stadium, we made our way inside. The fights had already started and we could hear the crowd chanting and yelling as we handed our tickets over and found our seats.

The rest of the night was a blur of fighting, music, shouting crowds and ringing bells. I think my favorite part of each match was when each of the fighters would enter the ring wearing marigold garlands and proceed to stretch and dance around the ring. Each school of Muay Thai has their own style of movement. The two fighters are also wearing a sacred headband which they take off before the fight and sacred rope around their biceps which they keep on during the fight. 

Once they are done stretching and dancing- the fight begins!

Lumpini Boxing Stadium, as well as other Muay Thai boxing stadiums, are the few places in Thailand where gambling is legal. In this final video you can see the crowds frantically making hand gestures. This is how bets are place on the fights. I have no idea how they keep track of all those bets, but I am sure there is a method to the madness.

If you listen closely, you can also hear the band that plays during each round to provide the fighters with timing. Each fight is usually five rounds (it's shorter when there is a knockout) and at the end of the fifth round, the referee collects the votes from three judges sitting around ring and a winner is declared.

All in all it was a great night and I am so glad I took a chance and stepped out of my comfort zone. I will definitely be going back for another fight night!

Roast Duck Extravaganza!

The very first night that we met our friends Brock and Josh, we were sitting at the beer gardens by CentralWorld asking each other the typical questions that expats ask when meeting a fellow expat for the first time, such as; "How long have you been in Thailand" ,"What do you do","Where do you live" etc. Eventually the discussion came around to eating and cooking (as it usually does) and when we casually mentioned that we had an oven in our apartment, Brock immediately exclaimed " I am going to roast a duck in your oven!"

Fast forward five months, and we finally got our act together for the roast duck extravaganza. The adventure began with a trip to the Klong Toei Market to pick up a duck as well as the ingredients to make the duck sauce.

After wandering through the market for a while, we made our way to the duck section. There we found a booth with duck and duck parts as well as live ducks. I assumed that we would get a duck that was already dead- but boy was I wrong. The adorable girl running the duck booth, after hearing Brock's request for a whole duck, proceeded to pull a live duck from a cage and tried to hand it to us. After some very disturbing pantomime, we finally got the message across that we would prefer the duck to be deceased. We were afraid that she was going to kill the duck right in front of us, but luckily she took it away and came back with it all wrapped up in a plastic bag.

It wasn't until we arrived at our apartment that we discovered that they neglected to gut and clean the duck. Luckily, the internet was there to save the day! It's amazing what you can find on YouTube. Athough watching men say things like "You don't want to rupture the gall bladder cause that will taint the meat." is not really the most enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning.

After watching a few videos about how to gut a duck, Brock tackled the disgusting task. I don't want to talk about the disgusting details too much, but I was amazed at what came out of that duck! Needless to say I was impressed with how well we were able to keep our gag reflex under control, although I think Brock almost lost it when the metal I.D tag on the duck scraped the cutting board and it sounded just like a duck quack. 

Brock carefully making the first incision

After the disgusting part was done, we worked on prepping the the bird for it's 4 hour roast in the oven.

Removing pin feathers

Cutting strategic slits to make the skin delicious

After hourly flips and basting with an orange tamarind sauce, the duck was ready to be served to the hungry masses who spent hours drooling as the smell of roast duck filled our apartment. I don't really have any details on the recipe used or the specific techniques, but perhaps Brock will write about them on his blog.

After this successful duck roasting, we've already started planning for our next cooking adventure, so stay tuned!

Who wants some duck?

Our New Favorite Holiday- Songkran

For the past three days all of Thailand shut down in order to celebrate Songkran. Traditionally Thailand's new year celebration was a time for Buddhists to make merit at local temples and for the elders to sprinkle water on younger people as a form of blessing and tribute. Included in this blessing was the application of white paste or clay to the face, arms and torso as a sign of protection and to ward off evil.  

The modern Songkran celebration has evolved (or devolved depending on your point of view) into a three day water fight. In Bangkok, two of the most popular areas to celebrate Songkran are Silom Road and Khao San Road. In both areas, they close off the streets and people armed with waterguns, buckets, water bottles and firehoses wage a water fight free-for-all. If defending yourself from water attacks weren't enough, there are also people walking around with bowls of white clay that they will smear on anyone and anything.

We decided that we wanted to experience the party at both of these locations so on Wednesday we headed to Silom dressed in old clothing and armed with a waterproof camera.  As soon as we exited the MRT station at Silom, we were hit with a wall of sound and water. Each side of the street was packed with vendors who were selling food, water guns, and clay. We spent hours wandering the up and down Silom and Patpong with Megan, being bombarded with water and clay.

A before picture

Looking down on Silom towards Sala Daeng BTS

 Clay and water for sale

On Patpong, they busted out the fire-hoses

Doesn't seem like a fair fight.

Fun for all ages!

Megan looking gangster with her Pooh water gun

The aftermath- covered in clay and soaked to the core

On Thursday we headed over to Khao San Road to meet a group of friends. There were fewer people on Khao San Road than there was on Silom, but that meant there was more room to fire your weapon of choice. This time around, we bought our own water guns so we could participate in the craziness. 

We spent most of our time on a street that runs parallel to Khao San Road because we were able to find a street side bar where we could launch sneak attacks on the crowd passing by. After an hour or so of this coupled with our 10 minute water fight with the table next to us, we got kicked out of the bar! 

They didn't allow clay on Khao San Rd, so people discarded their bowls

They even had official signs!

These girls were ruthless. I think they hit us 5 times with ice cold water

Guy prepares his Doremon water gun

Disturbing doll attached to an ambulance- not sure why...

I love my new water gun!

Launching an attack on the crowd

Mike and Guy refill their guns for the next attack

Eric and I have both decided that Songkran is our new favorite holiday. How can you not love a holiday where you hang out with friends and spend all day at the world's largest water fight. Can't wait until next year!

Playing Tour Guide

Last week we had our first official visitors! Eric's parents, Tim and Becky, flew over from Wisconsin and we spent 10 days together. It was their first trip to Thailand and our first chance to play tour guide and to show off how well we've adjusted to living in a huge city. 

Since Eric's parents were only in Bangkok for a few days, we tried to fit as many must-visit tourist sites as possible into that time. So we visited:

The Jim Thompson House:

Wat Pho and The Grand Palace:

Standing in front of the giants at The Grand Palace

It was hard to resist taking these cute kittens home with us.

Wat Arun- The Temple of the Dawn:

Climbing down the scariest steps EVER!

A long tail boat ride through the khlongs (canals) in Bangkok:

While in the planning stages of their visit, we repeatedly warned Tim and Becky that they would be visiting during Thailand's hot season and to be prepared to be drenched in sweat every day. We thought that the best way to beat the heat would be to spend 4 days on Nai Harn beach in Phuket. So of course that means they arrive during the coldest and wettest March that Thailand's had in years! We refused to let the rain spoil our fun and it's amazing how empty a beach is when it's raining out.

Toasting to vacation. We wouldn't see the sun again for 4 days.

Beached sailboat. It took them hours to get it free

Nai Harn Beach in the rain