palakad-lakad sa thailand

884,637

2006-06-14T11:18:00.000+08:00

sige na nga -

http://kaladkarinparin.blogspot.com/

847,293

2006-04-28T11:30:00.000+08:00

This may be the last entry for a while. In leaving a certain life, you lose certain things. In my case, it’ll be a laptop and internet. Mainly.

There's a lot in Bangkok that I will miss. But then, there’s a lot in Manila that I have missed. I’ll just tell you all about the Angkor trip when I get back. I’m coming home anyway and you are home.

So see you :)

759,826

2006-04-28T11:28:00.000+08:00

Cambodia

759,598

2006-04-28T11:13:00.000+08:00

Thai side of the border

The sound of so many shuffling feet spans the simple cement bridge. From one border to the other, I walk alongside dark, stooped people, dust clinging to every surface of them. Heavy trucks scatter us, rumbling through like huge, hungry bellies spitting out dust as it eats at the bridge. People subbing for oxen pull wooden carts with their families piled in the back.

I'm thinking, If I were going to shoot this, I’d tell the cinematographer to burn the film, make a searing, almost completely whited-out, blinding lightscape.
Then i'd throw hot sand at the audience.

758062

2006-04-28T11:07:00.000+08:00

So i was looking out the bus and i saw this strange road sign - a single deer running, it seems, away from fire.

Still not over that one, another strange road sign rolls past – AMAZING MOUND. Ana naman kaya yun?

And before I can get over that one, an abandoned gas station quickly follows, filled with old-model refrigerators and washing machines. All neatly lined up as if in a showroom, where cars should have been lining up to fill up. How did that happen? Someone left his old ref – oh, we don’t have storage, let’s just leave it at the old gas station - and everyone else just did the same thing?

Times like these I wish I had a digicam.
If only there were a way to rip images from out of your mind.

737,840

2006-04-17T19:14:00.000+08:00

along Sukhumvit

a man sits by his make-shift table of chunky chrome watches and heavy silver bracelets. To appeal to the international mix of passers-by, he peddles a promise that cuts across cultures. "Bling-bling!", he calls out. "Bling bling!"

729,547

2006-04-17T19:04:00.000+08:00

On Easter Sunday, I finally make it to a catholic church with an English mass. How’d I manage to find it despite reading the map wrong? At the BTS station, I heard a woman go “Ay, anak ng tipaklong naman o!” No kidding. So after that, I just followed the Filipinos.

+++++++

And my 2046 moment

You know what they say, go to a far-away place and whisper your secret into a little hole. I did that today, Easter Sunday, with my first confession in quite a long time. I always come back, for some reason, on Easter. I find myself singing happily on easter morning, sharing in the joy of redemption.

Today, I am redeemed because I finally admitted it. In this situation, I can save my self and reach for my own joy. So now, I feel redeemed/reborn and have finally come to a decision. My next steps will take me home.

(Well, after Angkor Wat, Chiang Mai and the Andaman Coast, haha.)

See you in 5 weeks! : )

728,178

2006-04-17T18:32:00.000+08:00

Wat Pho, peace, security and the stay-put Buddha

At Wat Phra Kaew, you see the utmost expression of the Thai fondness for jewels and gold leaf. At Wat Pho, you see their fondness for embelishment and, er, swimming pool tiles. Four stupas at Wat Pho are tiled, foot to pinnacle by ceramic tiles and roses. It's prettier than you'd think.

As opposed to the Grand Palace, walking around Wat Pho was pleasant. Lacking huge, blinding structures, it sprawls rather than intimidates. And the air today was more like a fair than a tourist show. There's lots to do for the Sunday worshipper - create mini sand stupas and top them with roses. Line up for a blessing from a monk seated on a high chair.
One mother approached and whispered something to the old, robed man. He looked away, seemingly thinking really deep. Then started to fumble around in a secret pocket. It took quite a while for him to extract whatever it was, so a small crowd gathered to find out what he'd reveal. Finally, he carefully slipped out a..business card, and handed it to the mother, pointing out certain things on it. Could that have been the number of a good stock broker? Is that what they meant by getting a secure and peaceful life? Should i have lined up as well?
Anyway, one could also sound a gong, meander from food stall to food stall, pour oil on the Buddha of your choice or just sit back and enjoy the canned music in the air.

I chose to see the enormous Reclining Buddha.
To impress talaga, all you have to be is reeeaaallly huuge. You can't just be big. No, that falls short of inspiring awe. You have to be 153 feet long and 50 feet high. Then you have to be lying on your side. Like a senorita about to siesta. That way, it's like you don't care. And so people get even more impressed. I of course thought, well, a big man must have big feet. So i took a look. Well, yes, they were big. Inlaid with mother of pearl too. But intact. Which means he doesn't walk around much. Pah.

What grabbed me was a constant many-clinkings sound coming from somewhere in the hall. It turns out, behind the Buddha, there is a line of 100 black bowls. There was a line of people parallel to the bowls, dropping a little coin into each one, careful not to skip. I joined them. I had no idea what it was for, but it was nice and therapeutic. I felt part of a community. I felt an affinity for everyone in my line. So much so that when the girl in front of me used up her coins I offered her some of mine. I liked the thought that I was contributing to the sound of many little coins falling into many little bowls.

725,621

2006-04-17T16:31:00.000+08:00

Welcome to the Royal Grand Palace

So i finally joined the parade of tourists filing in.
I used up a roll of film. I squinted up at the sparkly pillars and walls. I shuffled in to see the Emerald Budhha (725,688). I elbowed through the mildew-smelling throng.

It was ok.

On my way out, i saw a Tourism Authority of Thailand poster touting a tour of nine city temples. Their enticement - if you go to a temple, you get a certain blessing. As I'd been to Wat Phra Kaew already, I apparently got purity and an enhanced mind. Thanks!

Tamang-tama, I was on my way to Wat Pho. So I'd be getting a peaceful and secure life. Just what I want right now, haha.

And maybe tomorrow - Wat Arun, for prosperity. Always was low on my priorities.

725,234

2006-04-17T14:52:00.000+08:00

you're walking down a street in a strange country.
a policeman yells at you in a language you don't understand.
he waves you behind an invisible line. when you walk forward, he signals 'stop' firmly, with an open palm.

you look around.
there are a lot of other policeman herding people into a dense crowd along the sidewalk.
you ask "why?" aloud. stupid. they can't understand you.
so you step up to the front of the massed crowd. is it a goverment-sanctioned drive-by shooting? are they hosing down dirty tourists? will they pick out random human specimens?

oh.
a beige(:S!) rolls royce drives by. silence. the policemen salute. a few thais wave feebly. a glimpse of black hair. it drives past (the car not the black hair, although the black hair was in the car). the crowd disperses, unmoved. long live the beige rolls royce.

710, 894

2006-04-15T19:02:00.000+08:00

Little Lebanon again

at a busy corner, who would've thought that mulitple layers of sounds and scents and images could not end up as noise? but rather, as a rich, pleasant accompaniment to dinner.
(lentils - yum!)

+++++

on a different note, it's so common to see elephants on the street now. i'm still surprised at each encounter. they're like creatures who escaped from lucid dreams, disappearing into little alleys or emerging from behind a crowd. they are still wonders for me too, but now i see instead, how sad they seem - slow-moving against the cars, standing among gawking tourists. They are somewhere they don't belong. And who can't relate to that feeling?

700,280

2006-04-15T18:15:00.000+08:00

Wat Maha That Ruins, Ayutthaya, Central Thailand

Point of discussion:

So when Pinoys want to look to something - a concrete site, a built place or object - to imbibe pride in their race, their history, their culture, what's to look at?

Off the top of my head, Intramuros - but doesn't it just remind us of 300+ years of Spanish colonization?
The Banaue Rice Terraces? Possibly. But somehow I can't relate because I'm not Ifugao (i know, mababaw).
Angono cave paintings? But everyone did that!

I envy the Thais their ruins. Not because it's a major international tourist attraction that earns them a lot of money, but because they have a quick reminder of their struggles as a race, and what greatness their ancestors - and so they - are capable of. Imagine, to have built these wonders in the 1400s. What were we doing then? Not that our culture failed to flourish through our own fault (yes, blame others, haha). but i realize that it's not just now, as i've already noted, in infrastructure, malls and international act concerts where "napag-iwanan tayo." Even then it seems, 600 years ago, our Asian neighbors were ahead.

Ack, this is a depressing thought. I'll stop now.
So we're a young, evolving culture, there are advantages to that. Right?

698,224

2006-04-15T17:35:00.000+08:00

Baan Kun Phra, Ayutthaya, Central Thailand

If, like me, you are a sucker for
big, old bedrooms with four-poster beds, dark cabinets and antique lamps
balconies overlooking the languid river
lazy, luscious meals shaded from the sun
the sound of bare feet padding on waxed, teak floors
Norah Jones wafting through the shut door
(and anonymous oil portraits, haha)
then you must absolutely stay overnight here if you need a couple of days to see the ayutthaya ruins.

While we whiled the hot afternoon away, there were children laughing-tripping into the river, monks talking among themselves on the opposite bank and some unidentified bird pecking away at the sun-washed floor.

the restaurant had equally tasteful furniture and food. i had the yummiest, most delicate-flavored chicken and galangal in cocounut milk here. and the rice came star-shaped, haha.
plus, just to show the attention to detail here, the shared bathrooms had hot water, a mirror that makes you look thinner (love that!) and free body wash and shampoo. a generous touch for a hostel.

i know that i have a tendency to romanticize things. but this place, well, it really is just so lovely.
(but alright, fine, nobody's perfect. pray na lang that you don't get noisy next-room neighbors.)

++++++++++++

And my Mathilde moment

If he comes in by “shoot the moon”…
And he did, right smack in the middle of the song :-)

671,729

2006-04-06T17:58:00.000+08:00

double cheeseburger evilness

i'm ashamed to admit this, but really, this has been my most satisfying meal in ages!

the tastes of home talaga take many suprising dimensions, i didn't even know i'd missed this. and for all the flack this American franchise gets, i'm thankful that there's a Mcconstant in wherever strange country i find myself in.

one of my frustrations with being uprooted is not knowing where to fulfill very specific cravings. like where do i go for good burritos? Or a good old filipino breakfast like adobo and fried egg? Or even just a simple olive-oil pasta?

however, there will always be only one place for fried cholesterol patties with pickles, onion and cheese. and for that, here's to you pasty-faced, red-haired, scary clown man!

kitakits! :)

670,521

2006-04-06T17:43:00.001+08:00

the thing about being a grown-up is when you break something, you have to fix it.

the good thing about being in a serviced apartment is when you find somehow break the shower, you just have to dial a number, whine, then someone comes and fixes the thing for you.
You pig out and dirty all the dishes. And someone cleans up after you the next day.
You leave incense sticks to crumble to icky ash. And the next day someone brushes it off the table for you.

E’s car got towed today. And she had to get it back herself, pay for it herself, drive it out herself. (Well, she parked it in the wrong space herself, that’s why it got towed, hehe). D’s bike got a flat kilometers from home and he fixed it himself, re-chained it himself and biked it all the way home.

When nobody knows you in the office, you can not show up for internals, not come up with ideas, heck, even not go to work. And nobody holds you accountable for anything.

Accountability, it’s such a grown-up concept.
And no fun.

618,701

2006-03-27T17:27:00.000+08:00

the steps of the khao luang caves

never mind having feared getting lost in the forest, thoughts of dying following the wrong trail racing through my head, or the fear of being attacked by, oh, i dunno, snakes (? haha) and taking out my pepper spray at some point. the khao luang cave was worth it.

just seeing the ancient staircase leading down into the cave - ohmygod! it was perfect. it was like an LOTR set - but buddhist! ;p i have never wished for a digital camera more than at that moment. (ok, that could be an exaggeration.)

you take the ancient steps down until you alight on the upper cave floor. once you're down there, the air changes - as with any cave anyway, except, the smell of incense hits you too. as you approach the huge hall the large cave creates, you can almost see elephant shapes in the stalagmites.

you take a few more steps down into the cave hall. and for all the Buddha statues you see, the monks and offerings, it's almost like you're in a regular wat. except that, a few feet above the Buddha heads, bats snicker. shadows cast the rock walls into dark. huge tree roots reach down through the holes in the cave ceiling. and if not for that hole in the ceiling, sunlight wouldn't be able to find its way through.

as always, i wandered farther off and found myself on a path to a smaller alcove. here, watching my steps, the old cobble stones the ancient monks lay on the cave floor show through the packed earth. it got darker and colder and the bats were snickering louder, until i found myself in a dark niche were just one eerie-looking statue sat at the end. the air was heavy, like someone had died there. the smell of incense was overpowering. there were no lights apart from the lit sticks.

to the right, an even older staircase climbed up. it led almost straight up to this alcove's only distant source of light - a hole in the ground above our heads. the staircase was blocked off because it was decaying. but what was striking about it was that the stair handle was shaped into snake heads.

this place was amazing. but also, as truly amazing things are, frightening.

616,245

2006-03-27T16:16:00.000+08:00

khao banda-it caves. the intermingling smell of guano and incense. strangely, not that bad.

Only an ignoramus like me would waltz into a Buddhist temple and demand to see caves. Buti na lang, when you’re a tourist, you are allowed mistakes. (Slaps self on forehead.) My apologies to the confused monks. Sayang they couldn't speak english. They could have said something apt but profound, like "What you are searching for is not here" or "Turn back to where you have come from" or "Do not ask where to find 'it', ask first what 'it' is" :-D All in stereotypical breathy-chinese-monk-accent of course. (Never mind that they aren't chinese! I want my cinematic illussions!)

But then, buti na lang din I walk into open doors of any sort. Because behind one door, i found some dubious-looking steps (a dog was lying there blocking the way pa) that led to a cave with golden Buddhas lining the walls. Shafts of afternoon sun slipped through a hole in the ceiling, laying timid fingers on one particular golden statue. And while i took a picture, a monkey straddled the hole's chicken wire cover, casting his shadow on my shot.

I wish they'd left the cave alone. Let it be lit by sunlight rather than flourescent. Let the packed earth lead you to the hidden niches instead of cement. Let the smell of ancient earth and guano and incense be your only companions in the dark. But anyway, despite these attempts, if you let your mind reach back to where this must have began - a line of monks in flaming orange, their robes lit by torches as they watch their steps, descending into their cave sanctuaries - if you imagine it all without the chicken wire and the flourescent and the cement, as it was, the first time someone had been enough of an ignoramus to step into a cave and find a golden buddha illumined by a shaft of sunlight, imagine it then and there is magic.

(oh, and the monkeys were cute too!)

613,939

2006-03-27T15:17:00.000+08:00

BTS Asok station

i found myself looking into someone else’s apartment.
It looked warm and cozy. There was a low shelf of books standing haphazardly about. It was all yellows and browns, with flashes of blue from the TV. The sliding glass doors were open, letting the breeze lift the white curtains tentatively. i could imagine just lying by the windows, whiling the friday night out.

looking into someone else's aparment, i found myself looking inwards into the memory of my own little lungga in salcedo.

looking inwards into the memory of my own place, i found myself wanting so much to go back. i missed my book shelf, i missed my rusty yellow fridge, i missed my bike gear gathering dust in the corner, i missed my anorexic sofa-bed, i missed the sun hitting the curtains on slow saturday mornings, i missed the park, i missed by blind ceramic piggy bank, my lunchboxes, the feel of my feet on the floor, the chimes. i missed you. i missed all of you.

next steps

2006-03-23T18:43:00.000+08:00

Omigosh! I found it!!
Have you ever thought of going to any of these countries? Ever wished you could just go and find some farm where you could just help and they'd give you food and a place to stay? I found it! I found the way! Even better than those "volunteer" programs where you pay to work.

ALGERIA + ARGENTINA + BELGIUm + BELIZE + BRAZIL + BULGARIA + CAMEROON + CHILE + COSTA RICA + CROATIA + DOMINICA + ECUADOR + FINLAND + FRANCE + FRENCH POLYNESIA + GREECE + HOLLAND + HUNGARY + ICELAND + INDIA + ISRAEL + KENYA + LEBANON + LIBERIA + MALAYSIA + MOLDOVA + NICARAGUA + NIGERIA + NORWAY + PANAMA + PERU + POLAND + PORTUGAL + PUERTO RICO + REPUBLIC OF IRELAND + ROMANIA + RUSSIA + SENEGAL + SINGAPORE + SOUTH AFRICA + SPAIN + SWEDEN + THAILAND + UGANDA + VENEZUELA + WEST INDIES

Sounds kinda baduy when you read through it. But heck, what did you expect? Some 5-star hotel brochure? www.wwoof.org.
can't wait!

++++++++++++

on the opposite end of the mood pole, before i found wwoofing, was researching on that freelance backpacking travel guide idea. it's been done. and it's failed. i could still hope though...

597,713

2006-03-23T11:41:00.000+08:00

Just a bit over a month left.

So Bangkok, what have I gotten out of you?

592,144

2006-03-23T11:11:00.000+08:00

Soi Cowboy

I remembered what it is i do,
and after a long while, walked a route
i haven't yet.

so i ended up at this strip i'd find still
awake the many 2 a.m.s and 3a.m.s
that i am too.

from my window, it seemed like just a few
neon signs, but down here, feet on
asphalt, it was a revelation.
on the pretext of dinner shopping,
i stood by a bbq stall and watched
the parade.

women in knee-high stilleto boots,
tight cheongsams, bikinis, pekpek skirts,
fishnet blouses, all-white outfits.
cowgirls, school girls and well, bar girls. hehe.
too bad it wasn't my thing.

they milled about in groups
in front of their respective haunts.
they eyed passing men and passing men eyed them.

in the middle of the street, there was woman
who looked older than most of the girls there.
she was seated on a bar stool, a placard framed
between her elbows and knees.
she was wearing too-red blush on and too-red lips.
and she didn't look to happy. i didn't see her
smile at anyone once. i guessed her to be about
50+, and i hoped to God she was a mama-san.
Unless she was just too old to be a prostitute,
so they used her as a signboard na lang :S

585,078

2006-03-21T11:16:00.000+08:00

There should be multivitamins to strengthen your immune system against discontent. i mean really, it's like a cold. it comes out of nowhere just when you're vulnerable. and sticks to you like, well, bile in your throat. ugh.

i mean, there you are just walking “home” one night. you think you're fine.
then you pass a noodle shop lit by sickly red and yellow lights. a chinese-looking woman is bent over her noodles. and suddenly, you're in a scene in 2046. You're Tony Leung’s character - surrounded by beautiful things, but pining for the memory of something else.

sniff

571,333

2006-03-18T10:30:00.000+08:00

i suprised myself today
and woke up early to head for the pool. the sun, i realize, whether in pools in bangkok or on the shores of bora, casts the same effect on blue water after all. i took a deep breath, and dove in as far as i could, swimming in the silver net of light. Then, straining for the surface, i break out of my funk, gulping clarity and oxygen. finally.

565846

2006-03-18T10:12:00.000+08:00

I finally get some cash. So the first thing I do is splurge on fried noodles by the roadside. 25 baht.

A gracious man, maybe in his 40s, motioned me to the makeshift sidewalk table. He had matrona blond hair and the aplomb of a maitre’d in some snooty French restaurant. How could I refuse?

While the sidewalk maitre’d goes behind his stove to prepare my noodles, his daughter, maybe 14, sits behind him and reads mangga. Apparently, her role in this family enterprise is bus girl. As after he fries my noodles, she serves it to me on a plastic plate. Later, he reminds her to give me some water too. (Thanks, i was kind of gagging on the chilis there.)

So i enjoyed my authentic pad thai and enjoyed the view from my VIP table - a man in the middle of the street scrounging in his bag for something, the sky train trundling above us, the indian restaurant inviting people in for Happy Hour, the white dudes looking to get lucky, the thai GROs looking to get luckier.

And after i finish my meal, i manage to fake it that i'm thai.

"Pi ka, thao rai ka?"

and he answers in some thai phrase i of course don't understand.
Haha, i managed to squeeze out two firsts despite this busy week.

560,158

2006-03-16T19:04:00.000+08:00

this is bangkok after all,
and in the office, there's this man who
dresses and acts like a woman, and it's
quite common knowledge that she's
already had her peepee cut off.
(note: i used the pronoun "her" without thinking.)

anyway, i just passed her in the comfort room.

and i thought to myself,
"well, that answers my question."

494, 183

2006-03-13T17:32:00.000+08:00

i think i'm ready for india now.
7 hours in the 3rd-class coach of a rapid train in mid-day, high summer heat, and you start to doubt your own hygiene.

the americans i was eavesdropping on yesterday said it was the hottest part of summer here in thailand.
and looking desultorily out the train window now, i see it's true. the plains outside are barren and stubbly at best, cracked at worst. guess the people in the train aren't the only ones the heat got to.

the ride is oppressive, so rather than meaure time by endless minutes, i measure passage by the repetition of visual themes.
i know a train station's coming once i see a huge, gold or red wat.
at every other hill, a giant Buddha emerges on the rise.
vendors walk through the aisles in varying combinations of the same elements - larg woman with iced drinks, thin man with rice meals, old woman with dried fish, male child with fruits. (To vary: large woman with fruits, old woman with iced drinks, thin man with fish, etc...)

limestone cliffs break the monotony sometimes, a lone motorcyclist zooming through a plain of green grass, birds swooping across the sky, the occassional idling herd of anorexic cows. but for the most part, the train just keeps dragging itself through the parched land, its engines going hmm-mooo, hmm-mooo.
too.

487, 970

2006-03-13T17:30:00.000+08:00

hehe. those climbing lessons come in handy
when you have to scale the guesthouse wall
at 6am so you can catch an early train to bangkok
without having to wake up your hosts.

487, 864

2006-03-13T00:38:00.000+08:00

Wat Saphan Hin
(This makes 9 times struck by awe. Well, after taking a bicycle down a highway, terrified of getting side-swiped, and trekking up a 200-foot stone staircase, I’d better be.)

I imagine an old monk more than 700 years ago in the town of Sukhothai. He looks up from his prayers, looking all the way Northwest into the mountains, in the direction of Wat Saphan Hin. And he is assured, despite his worries - the coming warriors, the weakening king, the religious treasures, the women and children - by the image of the giant Buddha, both palms stretched outward, looking out over the kingdom, dispelling all fear.

482, 469

2006-03-13T00:28:00.000+08:00

Wat Sri Chum, Sukhothai Historical Park, Sukhothai

Is it possible to be struck with awe so many times over a weekend? Shouldn't one die of awe-overload? I’ve counted eight times since I left Bangkok. Can I be so lucky?

Anyway, sobrang awe-inspiring ng feeling of passing though the narrow mondop passageway and looking up at a Buddha so huge, he looks down at his nose to look at you. And so, to express my awe at him, I knock on his knees – the only part of him I can reach.
They were hollow. Hmm.

P.S. He had huge hands, and if only there wasn't a sign saying "Defense der Monter. Do not climb monument.", i'd have done precisely that and imagined i were Anne Darrow in KingKong. You know, in that scene where she sleeps in King Kong's hand? The one before Big-nose Brody comes to 'make them gulo' and makes the bats attack the ape. Because Buddha in Wat Sri Chum's sitting in exactly the way KingKong was sitting there. Except, well, Buddha's in pedal pushers.

435,872

2006-03-13T00:21:00.000+08:00

River Guest House, New Sukhothai, Sukhothai Province

I have the same awe for amazing ruins AND for cozy, little guesthouse rooms.
My room is all I could want from a spare, teakwood house.
Dark wood room, high ceiling, a wide enough space.
Just a plain all-white mattress lying squarely in the middle. Not too soft, not too firm.
Soft, comfy linens that smell clean and fresh.
A quaint kulambo hanging from the ceiling.
A view of the river when I look out the window.
Children laughing in the morning. Monks humming in the evening.
Run by a young and handsome French man..AND his lovely Thai wife.

Where I stay, I realize, is as important to me as where I go.

Nan asks me, “Do you like it?”

“Ooh yes.”

(And so, screw you, charmless Jasmine City deluxe suite. I prefer a charming little, non-airconditioned, cheap guestroom to you. Hmph.)

375,833

2006-03-13T00:05:00.000+08:00

Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park, Old Sukhothai

You need to walk within the ruins so you can feel the scale of it. How small we are when confronted by mankind’s history. How small we are in front of ancient wisdom, craftsmanship and, more importantly, faith.
Noone builds such great monuments to faith any more. These days, we build 'monuments' to commerce, for governments or personalities. When was the last great church/temple built? And yet megapolis', smart towers, superskyscrapers and 6-star hotels are on their way up every hour.

+++

Why do we love ghosts anyway?
Sukhothai is a ghost town after all. 700-years dead, but we build a gate around it and rent out bikes so people can see the farther corners of it. Here lies another late, great human civilization! Come see your own fate.

Only doves now stand proudly like sentinels on top of the weathered laterite posts, or look out from little niches carved out by time. A lone dog bounded past me to settle behind the Wat Mahathat Buddha’s back, looking out into the setting sun.
We marvel at Old Sukhothai, forgetting that these are just skeletons of what it was. Of course, then, it couldn’t have been as quiet as it is now.

On that note however, I have just noticed how many doves and other kinds of birds are all around Sukhothatai. There are so many of them, that really, sometimes their calls escalate into chaotic, scary, shrieking. And at every site I go to, even if I am the only human there – there are always birds about.
And so I therefore conclude that the old inhabitants of Sukhothai, they were all turned into birds. They weren’t invaded, they were transformed! So they could protect all these monuments.
Or maybe, like homesick ghosts, just keep hanging around.

371, 011

2006-03-13T00:01:00.000+08:00

Wat Sa Si, Sukhothai Historical Park, Sukhothai Province, Northern Thailand

My first glimpse of Sukhothai.
The symmetry of the ancient pillars lead your eyes to the giant Buddha
sitting camly in the midst of the lake. And, how apt, I've come late in the day,
but just in time for the setting sun, like a crown of light behind the giant Buddha’s head.

267, 624

2006-03-12T23:59:00.000+08:00

Grrrr! The next country I visit will NOT have squat toilets.

264, 418

2006-03-12T23:43:00.000+08:00

Wat Phra Sri Ratana Mahathat, Phitsanulok

I wanted to be amazed.
So I left the city and headed for the 700-year old ruins of one of Thailand’s early civilizations – Sukhothai

But even before getting there, I sit stunned at the foot of a more contemporary splendor.
I’m glad I saved my first time to enter a Wat for the Phra Buddha Chinarat. It is the second most important Buddha image in Thailand. It’s important because of something about its form. Something about a bursting halo that turns into serpents, haha.
But of course for me, I was just astounded by the look of everything. That it was gold. That it loomed huge, dominating the whole temple. That it sat against a deep blue that set off its golden hue. That black and gold pillars led you to it, after following a marble path of ivory and black.
And to add to the 'cinematic-ness' of my entry – really, whoever makes these Buddhist temples knows how to make a good first impression on a visitor – I swear, a dove swooped towards me. I stopped dead in my tracks and had to stifle a shriek.

Later, sitting on the floor in front of the Buddha, trying to be unobtrusive to the Thais who were actually worshipping, I figure it must be so annoying for them. This having to pray while ugly white tourists monkey around the temple, crack jokes, laugh out loud and take photos complete with flash.

But I guess, being Buddhist and all, they know how to be unperturbed. They must learn, not just from the golden Buddha with the bursting halo, but from the Mae Nam Nan - the river flowing past the Wat. As I walk back out into the morning sunlight (no diving doves this time) and sit under the shedding trees, I see in the river the same serenity the Thais have - their lives flowing untroubled and calm.

261, 413

2006-03-12T23:36:00.000+08:00

Roti Khaeng for breakfast

Since I couldn’t go to KL, I had some muslim food for breakfast instead. Totally serendipitous, I happened on the Pakistani temple while doing my early morning circuit of Phitsanulok. A famous roti-khaeng shop was just a few meters away from it. Both the temple and the shop seemed much farther on the map. Although come to think of it, on a map, everything seems far away. But walking makes everything closer.
OR of course, it could just be that Phitsanulok, like any small town, IS actually small.

I love walking around small towns while it’s still waking up. You see the shops along the (usually) single main road opening one by one. And you see what, to a town, is considered important enough to have its own shop for.

Here in Phitsanulok, they apparently need a lot of cloth. Nothing exotic though, just regular stiff cotton.
Then there are the several optical shops, the obligatory ‘general store’ that carries everything from sandals to sandpaper, a single 7-11 for the whole town, a rice store, a beauty center, a bakery, a few banks.
And as I pass from one food stall to the next, I barely catch familiar scents. From that one by the corner – coriander. From the one just outside the train station – lime. From the one by the market – curry. And a very welcome one over on the left – milk. Going through the market, familiar stalls are being set-up: fruits, meats, vegetables, spices – with their several kinds of dried chili peppers by the bucket.

Then when I sit down to my warm roti, I hear someone - probably the owner’s little girl, somewhere in the back of the shop, doing finger drills on the piano. I recognize it as one of the old ones I used to practice everyday too. This one’s the key of E, over and over again, over and over, until you hit the note strong and true.

I look around, and save for the Thai script in the store signs and the occasional barefoot monk in orange, I could might as well be in Lucena, Legazpi, Camarines, Benguet, or that small town where my piano still sits waiting for me to play it again - Antipolo.

257, 043

2006-03-12T22:59:00.000+08:00

Phitsanulok train station, Phitsanulok Province, Northern Thailand
4:30 am.

Caley said that one thing she likes about Thailand is that everybody just lets you be.
When you find yourself laid out on a bench in the train station at 430 am, trying to catch some sleep while waiting for sunlight, you find that it’s true.
Noone even gave me a quizzical look. So I just slept on that bench waiting for a bank to open and for the right time to explore life in a northern town.

256,956

2006-03-12T22:49:00.000+08:00

Platform 10. Train #8, Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
Car 10. Seat 39.

The train moves almost imperceptibly at first,
slipping away under you.
Slipping away from some unseen hold.
And looking out, nothing but dark shapes
outside the window, there is nothing
but the motion of the train, lulling you into dreams of escape.

++++

P.S. Yey, here i go for my first long train ride.

P.P.S. Animal predators have eyes set in front of their heads so they can keep their eyes on their prey and pursue them through a distance. Animals low on the food chain have eyes set wide apart so they can scan the horizon and keep an eye out for in-coming predators.
Too bad we’re predators. If our eyes were on either side of our heads, then we could look out the windows on both sides of the train (or plane, boat or whatever) at once. And not miss out on seeing anything.

Hmm, but then we’d look like fish…I guess God made us this way for aesthetic purposes ;p

148,132

2006-03-09T19:48:00.000+08:00

45Baht for a quarter-chicken, stir-fried cauliflower and pork, and a pack of deep-fried chicken skin

10Baht for a stick of spicy fish balls

10Baht for hotdog on a stick

10Baht for a silver-blue-pink ellysee

the edible stuff was yummy!
And the ellysee was, is, happy.
Plus with the 1.2 exchange rate, everything was cheaper than Jollijeep even.

i love sidewalk lunch shopping. you literally pick up stuff on your way home.
it's like a drive-through but on feet! hehe.

147, 572

2006-03-09T19:34:00.000+08:00

If only those word problems in Math were framed as
travel itineraries, I think i'd have done better in my tests.

If an express train travelling 60mph leaves
Bangkok HuaLamphong station at 21.30 hours,
and an ordinary train travelling 48mph leaves Sawankhalok
station at 0200 hours, is there a point where a
traveller can get off and switch trains?
Assume they are on parallel tracks.

Anyway, if anyone wants to hire a freelance backpacker tour guide, call me.

I will handle all the headache-inducing logistics.
I will figure out the route, how to get there, where to stay, calculate
the cheapest options, align train, plane and boat schedules.
I will pack your backpack if you need me to.
Just pay for my fare and accomodations (which will most probably
be shared anyway).

Instead of watching a movie, I spent the night bent over maps,
bus and trains schedules, figuring out how to get to
Malaysia or Cambodia or Langkawi or Ko Chang
from Bangkok on the cheap(est), just so i'm ready to go the
next time I suddenly have a long weekend.
My back literally aches from poring over maps.
And my head was throbbing. But i enjoyed it! I realized,
I could do this for a living and I'd like it!

i think that makes me a travel planning masochist.

143,338

2006-03-09T19:16:00.000+08:00

There’s nothing like A BABY ELEPHANT RIGHT ON THE CITY SIDEWALK (!!!) to make your day - possibly your whole 3-month stay. How could everyone not be amazed?! I wanted to tell everyone “HELLO? Can you not see the elephant right here?! In front of Nuvo Coffee Shop and the digital imaging place? Hello! Everyone! It’s a baby Elephant!!!!”

It was such a perfect set-up. There I was, walking down the BTS station stairs, my eyes down to my feet, mind on the incredibly low prices on the Mac flyer I was reading. And suddenly, there he was. Small but big, and so adorable. His skin was so coarse. It’s like he was a whole piece of rock that was plugged in with big, sad eyes and brought to life. His hair was thick and stood up on its own like a shoe brush. So you couldn’t really pat him. But you know he would like it if you did. He walks towards you with head bowed. His trunk goes to you like arms. And you can't not pay these manipulative, cruel handlers 20Baht to give him a few fruits.

I panicked for a few beats when his trunk raised and started groping the air towards me. Ack! It IS alive, i thought. But he went straight for the veggies. Rather disgustingly, the snout was kind of moist, so you feel like your fingers have been smooched by giant lips. ick. but then, Baby elephant was just too cute. It's been a while since my heart's jumped up my throat.

Besides, he pulled me out. Out of the feeling of routine (and back in Bkk only a day!) and mundanity. Back into a sense of possibility and surprises. And that things extaordinary can still happen as soon as you step on to the sidewalk.

still

2006-03-09T19:07:00.000+08:00

NAIA

1
A kind-looking, chubby, young father was toting two big pieces of luggage and a two year old girl.
They sat beside me to wait for boarding.
She was fidgety at first and didn’t want to walk into the rows of seat.
So to goad her on he said,
“Sige na baby, bibisitahin natin si mommy. Nandun sya.."
Then under his breath "..sa malayo.”

2
In the check-in line in front of me, an old, stooped man
with big, sad eyes, turned to me and asked
“Pwede pa bang lumabas pagkatapos nating iwanan
yung bagahe natin?” I didn’t know
so I asked an airport attendant for him.

He was talking to anyone he could because
he was nervous and excited and sad.
It was his first time to fly.
He was excited to get to Bangkok.
Someone had hired him to be a driver.
He wanted to go out and have a last look at everything he had left behind.

3
Here I go again.

(for Dad, from whom i inherited restless feet. March 8, 2006)

123,579

2006-02-20T02:19:00.000+08:00

Bangkok 100 Rockfest, day 2

of their ilk, i maybe would have preferred
Everclear. but it's ok, Placebo got me
dancing and arching my body back and
forward, banging to their music.
there's the kind of dancing where the
music just makes it seem
natural for your body to be moving.
then there's that kind of dancing, where
it's like your body's being exorcised
of angst. my neck aches now.

but prior to that, listening to snow patrol
under a clear sky of stars was excruciating.
but lovely.
it got OA at times, but really,
music made from aching for someone?
they should make it some sort of prescription drug.
a dose of it at the wrong time
can be lethal.

112,964

2006-02-19T14:59:00.000+08:00

Bangkok Rockfest, Day 1

that pedometer read-out
includes steps and jumps
taken while dancing to "Take me Out",
"This Fire" and "Do you Wanna"
under the night sky
with Franz Ferdinand performing live :-)

also, i am now reserving
the words "astig" and "lupet"
only for rock stars who can still
be considered cool even if they're
slapping a tambourine.
the only rock star so far
who falls into this category
is liam gallagher.
wooohooo!

you can really tell when true
rock stars have taken the stage.
you feel the anticipation all around you.
there's so much energy just waiting to
burst. and suddenly, a figure walks on-stage
and the crowd climaxes with cheers
and adulation coming from every side of the venue.
behind you, in front of you, to the side.
you can't see it, but you hear and sense it.

and how many songs later,
tired and raw, still so many voices
shout back to the stage,
to the sky -
"...Need a little time to wake up, wake up
Need a little time to wake up
Need a little time to rest your mind.."

you wonder if this whole audience, if we all
sing this song so wholeheartedly
because we really have felt this way,
or because, those persons on-stage have the
power to lead us even to places other than
where we were all standing then.

95,452

2006-02-19T14:51:00.000+08:00

are we even on the map?

CONVERSATION 1

RUSSIAN GIRL: You have those weird eyes, are you thai?
Where are you from?

ME: Oh, I'm from Manila.

RUSSIAN GIRL: Manila? I haven't heard of that place at all.

ME: The Philippines? You know, South East Asia?

RUSSIAN GIRL: No, haven't heard of it.

CONVERSATION 2

CALIFORNIA GIRL: So..you're from the Philippines right?

ME: Yup.

CALIFORNIA GIRL: So..do you have your own language there?

ME (in my head): Damn! Sa tingin mo ba ganun kame ka walang
kultura na even language - a cultural aspect so basic even the
smallest communities have their own - is absent from us? grabe, do you
really think so little of us or are you just sooo ignorant...(goes on to further
irate thoughts)

ME (out loud): Uh..yeah...

92,242

2006-02-19T13:55:00.000+08:00

Ko Samet, Rayong province, Thailand

as with all firsts,
it had its doubtful moments, grumbly
bits and fleeting scares,
but in the end you realize,
even just for that bend in the road -
when you turn and suddenly there's the sea!
- even just for that first glimpse,
it is always worth it.

of course, i can't help but compare.
for me, Ko Samet ranks between galera and bora.
with a bus ride and a boat ride, it's as
easy and inexpensive to get to as galera.
but when you get there, the sand
is boracay white and powdery.
somehow the water doesn't sparkle though.

but the long and wide stretch of beach is
lined by clutches of fancy, lounge-on-the-sand
resto-bars and no-frills grilleries.
in one end, a bar put low tables and
soft lights amidst the flat rocks.
so you get your own cozy,
little niche between rock and sand.
so nice!

it's peak season, but there weren't that
many people. and there are pockets of beach
where you can separate yourself from the
mostly white tourists.
the cottage i ended up taking
stood against the hills, so close to
the water, with lounge chairs on the
balcony so you could just sit there
and look out for hours. sigh :-)

taking my first meal of the day
right on the beach,
the blue water stretching away,
the wind swinging the lamps in the trees,
the sand under my feet,
i couldn't help but smile to myself.
this is indeed a great escape.
my first in thailand :-)

i now know one thing about me
that doesn't change wherever i go -
quiet mornings on the beach make me happy :-)

88,782

2006-02-19T13:03:00.000+08:00

Rayong province, South Eastern Thailand

so the konductora for the sangthaew (thai version of a jeep)
called out for passengers.
we waited for a few minutes,
then she took out the placard over
the window, got in
and drove! :-) haha, nice.

anyway, again, i find myself thankful for
the kindness of strangers.
i think i survive only through this.

when i got off the bus from bangkok,
a tout approached me immediately
saying "holiday? ko samet?" repeatedly.
then he led me to his pick-up,
motioning for me to get in.
i'd already read that these private
transports to the pier cost so much
more than a sangthaew, so i said no
and walked away.
but he kept following me and (ugh, i hate
it when people do this) made me kalabit (sorry
for the taglish, i've thought long and hard
for an english equivalent pero parang wala).
motioning to his pick-up, he kept saying
"ko samet! you go ko samet!".

but i kept walking away, totally clueless as to
where the heck the sangthaews to the pier are.
all the signs were in thai.

finallly, one sangthaew with passengers
pulled up in front of me and the driver
asked me something in thai.
i assumed he was asking where i was going
so i just said - like an idiot - "Ban Phe, ban phe".

"Ban Phe?" then he points to the opposite
end of the terminal.
satisfied with this, i started heading in that direction.
but he even gets off his sangthaew,
shouts out to a conductor while pointing to me
"blablabla in thai..ban phe ban phe.."

So this other guy the driver shouted at
walks towards me, smiles, then walks me to
the right sangthaew. and only after making me
bilin to the conductor of this sangthaew,
and making sure i get on does he leave! :-)

thank you God for nice people.

i remember when Ana and i went to Baler.
after getting off the bus, we had to ask several indifferent
people where to get a ride to the town itself.
and also when we were looking for a beach in Batangas
and hit Matabungkay first,
the people who were being "kind" to us
were tricycle drivers or cottage owners
who kept pressing us to rent boats or
take a room in cottages that give them commissions.
tapos the tricycle driver stiffed us pa.
PLUS, they would make kalabit too.
grrrr!
really, people with ulterior motives are everywhere,
but thankfully, kind and simple people aren't rare here.

78115

2006-02-19T12:30:00.000+08:00

BTS, Sala Daeng station

i am usually the late one, so i am hardly
ever the one who waits (at least, when
it comes to appointments, haha).

not being used to standing
outside the rush hour mob,
i see now how transits
are a frenzy of anonymous faces.
people flit in and out, dashing past you
before they even make an impression.
scanning from the periphery,
you wait for someone to surface
out of the crowd, out of your past,
to be relevant to you again in the present.

74,511

2006-02-15T19:01:00.000+08:00

my first tuk-tuk ride! :-)

wala, para lang syang mas-streamlined na tricycle.

74,383

2006-02-15T18:43:00.000+08:00

ProClimber Bangkok

running late for my first ever wall climbing lesson,
i hopped on a cab and said "Soi Chan" as clearly
as possible. syempre, di pa rin nya ako naiintindihan.
so i gave him the map, which he couldn't make sense of.
he had to park by the side of the road and trace
the map with his fingers, all the while with a confused
frown on his face. i figured he didn't understand
english characters.
he'd turn to me and ask some inscrutable question,
and i'd give him some retarded, monosyllabic answer.

so finally, he unfolds the piece of paper where the
map was printed, finds the number of the place
and calls them up on his own cellphone(!) to ask for directions.

aww, kindness! what a great boost to my faith in humanity.
shucks, thank god for smart and kind cab drivers.
not just the polite kind of kind, but the
go-out-of-their-way, find-a-solution kind.
if only there were more of that kind of
kind people in the world, it'd be a much better place.

73,044

2006-02-14T19:50:00.000+08:00

brokeback dance interpretation

ok,
when Pulitzer prize winner Annie Proulx wrote the short story,
and when Academy Award nominee Ang Lee first picked up
Pulitzer Prize winner Larry McMurty's screenplay,
i don't think thai lady boys in cowboy costumes
dancing in the middle of the cinema lobby
was what they had in mind.

64,639

2006-02-13T15:27:00.000+08:00

Hua Lamphong train station

a terminal, for me, is a destination in itself.
I am at home in them -
airports, bus centers, ports.
Where noone is truly at home themselves,
and everyone is just waiting for their way from or to.

so on a quick trip for schedules,
not being on my way anywhere else,
i found myself staying to watch the people who were.

the odd buddhist monk wrapped in dirty orange robes;
big, white people clustered around their big, bulky luggage;
lone backpackers propping themselves up against the walls;
and the throng of thai people - anxiously in line,
bored in their seats, clutching their packages,
watching the departure/arrival board,
standing around trying to figure out all the chaos.

outside, the steets were wet with rain. there was
a gray cast to everything. and once in a while,
we could hear one train, two, trudging off
to somewhere far away.

64,399

2006-02-12T20:47:00.000+08:00

on the Bangkok MRT

"You have reached the end of the line."

Oh no.

62,911

2006-02-12T01:28:00.000+08:00

walking home down sukhumvit
from the underground train terminal,
i passed nine beggars, four 7/11s,
one foot fortune teller.

it makes sense when you think about it -
where's your life going?
ask your foot!

i was sorely tempted.

61,274

2006-02-12T01:14:00.000+08:00

leaving Suan Lum Night Bazaar

after swooning over both
contemporary and traditional thai
house stuff,
being amused by Luis Vuitton tsinelas
and cutesy knick-knacks,
and admiring young designers' avant-garde
fashion, i leave with a bag of...
pirated music CDs.
classic.

i will support any pirate who deigns
the likes of Belle&Sebastian, Saint Etienne,
the Sleepy Jackson, Cat Power,
even Putumayo and Verve compilations
worthy of being ripped off.
unfortunately for me, there were a lot of
such pirates in Suan Lum.

i hate being poor.

59,061

2006-02-11T21:36:00.000+08:00

getting pissed off generates so much energy, it's unbelievable.
maybe i should get hugely pissed off everyday, so that
i (actually) go to the gym everyday and lose some (actual) weight.

anyway, i was so..hmm, annoyed is too mild a term,
ok, extreemely annoyed, at having to cancel
my long weekend plans because of a meeting
that ended up cancelled too.
grrrr!
i considered jumping up and down on the bed to
let out the pent-up frustration, but as i am trying to be
a (actual) mature, sane, human being, i jumped into gym clothes instead.
(Hmm, possible psych study? Is there a correlation between
regular gym-goer housewives AND desperate housewives?)

So i got on this machine that you stride on. It's
supposed to simulate walking/running/jogging, but your ankles
and knees don't get damaged.
and since your arms are swinging with the handles,
you get an arm and torso work-out too.

There i was, hammering like i could get all the way
to Kanchanaburi on the thing.
Then to give me a false sense of accomplishment at the end of the session,
the monitor read out that i ran 4 kilometers.

really?
but i'm right where i began.

suddenly, it felt like i was in one of those nightmares.
you know, where you're running away from something.
but no matter how hard you try, there's just this strange weight
that keeps you from going any faster,
or even (actually) going anywhere.

57,044

2006-02-11T12:38:00.000+08:00

cinema 5, seat k10

from my bed to a seat in the "state-of-the-art", posh cinema,
it's 2-5 minutes depending on the elevators.
no need to walk out to the streets even,
thanks to secret hallways and VingCard doors (no doubt
for prissy expats who prefer pristine airconditioning).

so thursday night, i accomplished one of my objectives here,
and the one thing i thought i could never do alone -
watch a movie.

Memoirs of a Geisha, like the book, was tepid,
but the whole experience -
quietly reclining into a bucket seat that somehow
manages to adjust in just the right way;
having a whole cinema to yourself, as if it were
your own private screening;
walking through a few doors to get home, like you
were just heading back from the living room -
all that was not bad at all.

XX. INT. apartment. NIGHT

KALADKARIN opens the door to her apartment and slips in.
There's a satisfied look on her face, as if she were
saying to herself: "Well, that was nice. i could do that again."

53,233

2006-02-10T10:51:00.000+08:00

Siam Square

Yesterday, I was a transplanted typical-Luneta-photographer,
holding on to the camera hung from his neck, walking about while looking around.

Today, I was jologz-in-the-mall-who-sits-by-the-fountain.
Well, it was a very nice fountain anyway.

I usually approach malls with disdain, but when you're walking through
lit marble halls, glass and cascading water, crystal chandeliers that make tinkly sounds
and lots of pretty, pretty things (lovely dresses, funky houseware, cute knick-knacks,
well-crafted notebooks, kick-ass sound systems, unbelievable jewelry)
you kind of forget that you're in a mall.

And do excuse me for getting impressed by japanese-design lagoons
with actual fish in them (what for, you wonder),
aquariums in the middle of food halls,
huge TV walls and impressive product displays,
and yes, fantasy indoor fountains (mirrors and water and jungle)
that emerge out of nowhere.

i must say, our malls have been very much outdone.
i sat there for quite a while, disbelieving my own wonder.
but alas, a jologz-by-the-fountain, even if
it IS a very nice fountain in a very nice mall, is still a jologz.
and so, i eventually had to get out of there.

52,676

2006-02-10T10:41:00.000+08:00

resistant to it as i am, growing up, i realize, entails making choices and letting go of others.
especially when you have limited resources, like, say, money. time. energy.
you can't do everything after all.
For example, I found myself right outside Siam Ocean World - the biggest fish tank in southeast asia.
Only to turn back because I wasn’t willing to spend for the entrance fee, and let go of a long weekend in the country for an hour in there.

However, I remember the Underwater World in Singapore as the highlight of that whoooole month-long trip (which doesn’t speak well either of that trip or of Singapore). But then, even if you can't do everything, you can save them for later.
So i’ll see you soon for sure, fishies.

So I got to thinking about me – fish out of water? bird spreading its wings?
How, when you're unwilling to make a choice, you end up neither here nor there, not anywhere really.
I'm not being fair to the company when I'm in the office but just corresponding with people back home most of the time.
And it isn’t fair to me either, to be wandering these streets wishing I were somewhere else.

Life being a limited resource after all, I chose to spend some of it here. Now i have to let go.

42,280

2006-02-08T23:13:00.000+08:00

Lumphini park.

yes, a day after your boss tells you that you were brought in
specifically to get cracking and win awards,
the best thing to do is leave for an early lunch, hop on the sky train
and head to - not the nearby park, no -
the far-away one,
and follow a strange bird like a fool, trying to get a picture of it.

i have a feeling i'm the wrong person for this job.

had a nice lunchtime walk though.
wish i could have lingered.

36,511

2006-02-08T19:48:00.000+08:00

you know a country's a global economic influence
when it's found its way into the international breakfast buffet.
representing america - bacon, ham and eggs.
japan - sashimi; steamed rice; breaded fried pork or chicken.
europe (yes, they're taken as a whole) - a slew of breads, fruits and cheese.

and so, the lone Filipino in the whole buffet area has to
make do. i wonder when tapsilog, cornedbeefsilog and daingsilog will
show up on the breakfast buffet table?
sigh.

so anyway, i remembered, as of last night, i've been in bangkok a week.

this morning, someone asked, "are you enjoying it here?
do you like it? personally, i find it isn't a hard place to like.
it's a great place to live."

well, that's true, bangkok aims to be endearing.
ironic for a country that resisted the foreign influence for so long.
am i enjoying it? for the most part, yes.
do i like it? yes.
would i live here? i don't know yet.

i'm rather fond of tapsilog.

31,807

2006-02-07T15:55:00.000+08:00

Old japanese man wearing white shirt saying -

MAKE MIRACLE,
MAKE MERRY MUSIC.

I think i kiiind of get it..but don't.
A few golf claps for his use of alliteration though.

And since we're already on the topic of confounding uses of the English language,
"Lucent" would make a nice name.

24, 312

2006-02-06T13:16:00.000+08:00

my first river taxi ride! and i made a mistake, haha.

oo nga naman, when the boat is marked with inscrutable squiggles
and in parentheses CROSS RIVER, e di that means it's just going to
cross the river. as in go to the opposite bank, haha.

So my first river taxi ride took me to the other side of Mae Nam Chao Phraya - Bkk yai.
As soon as i kinda walked past the pier, i walked back in to get back to the other side.

But my next two boat rides more than made up for my first mistake.
The wind in my face and hair again,
reaching Assumption church in time for Thai mass (mistake #2),
the Temple of the Dawn by sunset,
and a stroll through so-alive Banglumphoo,
tell me that this, my first weekend in Bangkok, is just a quick peek into
everything that is to come.

i can't wait : )

20,685

2006-02-06T13:11:00.000+08:00

Siam in Trade and War - Old Maps of the Nineteenth Century Exhibit

Ooh, there's the Philippines!
In an 1828 map of the East India Isles.
We're all pretty much there. There's Batanes. There's Taytay.
There's the Sooloo Sea.
And an island named St. John's, lying East of Mindanao interestingly marked as "Doubtful".
(Hmm. As in Doubtful it exists? or The people there are Doubtful by nature?)

19, 121

2006-02-06T12:42:00.000+08:00

Jim Thompson House
(at the very end of Soi Kasemsan 2, or just follow til you find where all the white people are coming from)

So this is how white well-off lived in old Bangkok.
A house, actually, six attached ancient teak buildings, right by the river;
two ponds; a manta ray; an art collection and a silk empire.
Then the man goes and disappears in the Malaysian Highlands.
No gratitude i tell you.

What the guides are eager to point out is how J. Thompson bent Thai architecture into forms that pleased his Western tastes.
Like how he brought the carvings on window sill bottoms into the house;
or turned Thai drums upside down and made them lamps.

Actually, even if the guide hadn't said he was American, i would have figured that anyway.
In the dining room, there were deer heads hanging on one wall. Except they were ceramic, haha.
Now that's what i call adapting.

DID YOU KNOW?
- Thais believe that evil can only travel in a straight line, so their doors are elevated, so evil can't "step through"

- For Buddhists, long ears mean long life. That's why a lot Buddha images have long ears. (Probably also why Thais
have a lot of those chunky, heavy, dangling earrings.)

- In maps of old Siam, distances are measured in "days it takes to cross" rather than a set metric system.
The maps were for military purposes after all.

15, 511

2006-02-06T12:13:00.000+08:00

Benchasiri Park

The problem with me is, i keep going to things with low expectations,
then i end up getting amazed by little things. (Wat Arun really doesn't seem
all that it's hyped up to be though.)

Like this jog.
From outside the park gates, Benchasiri seems like nothing but a quiet cluster of trees.
The highlight of the park being the fountain that runs along its front.
Benches line it and people come to watch when the fountain comes alive (ie. starts spurting)
for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.
Sitting there IS quite pleasant. Gray doves alight by park meanderers' feet and feed off tourists' bread crumbs.

So going through the gates, making a few rounds, i was surprised to find clusters of activity around the park.
And a huge lagoon in the center! if i cared to, i could have imagined i was in UP.
Except i think, rather than smooching dormers,
i actually preferred the four old Chinese women gliding their swords into wushu motions,
the first live game of sepak takraw i ever saw (ang galeng! their kicks require tight turns in air EVERY time),
and the thai skater boys practicing on their sad half of a half-pipe.

on the last bit of my first round the park, a little girl twirled about with her sparklers.
and on my very last round, she and two of her friends lit sparklers again and danced around in a circle.
i headed home smiling.

10, 974

2006-02-06T11:32:00.000+08:00

Thailand Creative and Design Center exhibit - DNA of Japanese Design
(preceded by a lecture by the Japanese dude who invented the 1st cellular phone and the 1st fax machine and also, the Japanese dude who had illuminating, but way too many, slides)

again from TCDC, my nth "wow" of Saturday.
i'd almost missed the exhibit because the entrance was tucked away by the side.
(i was wearing glasses so no peripheral vision.)
and as soon as i'd walked in - wow.
again, it just must be that i'm easily impressed. it was after all, just a predominantly dark hall
with glass panels hung low and various desgners' profiles projected on to them.
higher up, long columns of micro-net screens with images of Japan projected on to them.
and all around, objects of Japanese designs on pedestals lit from below. (kaya din natin yan! i suppose : S)

the core of the exhibit though, was the so-called DNA of Japanese design.
the driving principles behind Jap design were extracted, and in the exhibit, given examples of.
like, take the Japanese compulsion to make objects accessible to as many people as possible.
Exemplified by making the 8mm film camera, and later, the handycam (also an example of the
Jap compulsion to make things as compact as possible), which allowed even non-film professionals
to dabble in film-making.

Another Japanese design principle, making objects accessible even to groups not previously diposed to it.
like baby slings and baby hampers were previously seen as too feminine. by inventing that baby carrier
that you can sling on to your shoulders like a backpack, suddenly, (supposedly), it was ok for men to carry a baby around.
there are about 9 principles. i'll go get the exhibit notes if any of you still want more.

anyway, listening to the lecture and going around the exhibit, i realize, i'm loving being a student again.
this whole first weekend in bkk has been about learning it, and so many other things besides.
waking up this morning and seeing all my notes scattered across my study,
a familiar gladness came over me. i'm learning so many things!
i am such a nerd.
(i still don't get aibo though.)

10,005

2006-02-06T10:59:00.000+08:00

The Thailand Creative and Design Center

shares prime real estate right up there with cinemas and dollar-earning boutiques.
it isn't just some token nod to "oh yeah, we need a learning space for design, because you know,
it's important nowadays", but a major investment in challenging Thai designers' and entrepreneurs' boundaries.
It has the biggest Design library in Asia, Material Connexions - an interactive (as in touch&feel, not point&click)
resource for product developement materials and just an amazing, welcoming, encouraging space
for creatives to hang around and expand their minds.
But ok, i should stop gushing. take a look at it yourself - www.tcdc.or.th
(Doofus, i think you'll like it here.)

I'm thinking i'm probably just very impressed because i come from a 3rd world country.
But i guess, the lack of resources like this is precisely what makes where i come from so.
A guest speaker on Japanese design mentioned the concept of "information as environment".
And with TCDC i see how, by putting so much information within reach, they're one step closer
to expanding Thailand's place in the world.

12390

2006-02-03T15:10:00.000+08:00

Sky Train.

"Please offer this seat to monks."

(Will i get a blessing?)

12351

2006-02-03T14:49:00.000+08:00

Little Lebanon.

- decide to have a walk for lunch. head for cheap shawarma. (as opposed to yesterdays which was ingenius - a bit of curry in the tahini sauce, yum! & stuffed in a fat pita rather than rolled in a thin one - and excellent - chunks rather than slivers of tasty beef - but expensive)

- walk 32 blocks to find a tucked-away little area down Sukhumvit

- see rows of silvery steel shishas shining in the sun

- pass a black and white egyptian restaurant

- see Muslim men knelt down in prayer, their heads close to the ground

- see rows of colored glass shishas sitting in the shade

- suddenly worry if it's some sort of taboo for a single woman to be walking around in a muslim area

- look around, am only single woman walking around alone

- head for open shawarma stand, previously empty, now swarming with big, burly men

- decide not hungry

- take BTS back to comfort zone

- comfort myself for being a coward by having ice cream

This morning, i decided to do a video work-out rather than go jogging in the park (Emporium's right beside Benchasiri. huge, fountains and such, doves you can feed. very pleasant).
and last night, rather than going to a Mexican filmfest as i had planned, i watched American Idol (i missed Lost).
i'm afraid i might simply live out the three months just staying in my apartment watching cable every night!
(Bons, tuwing kelan nga ba ang House?)

eep, sana 'wag. good luck na lang sakin over the weekend.

5872

2006-02-02T17:38:00.000+08:00

first lunch alone.

i stumbled into a place i'd already seen. i just love its name - Pita Pan - because the J.M. Barrie classic is my all-time favorite.
of course, don't think the allusion was intentional. they serve Mediterrean food after all.
(hmm, what WOULD a Peter-Pan themed restaurant serve? Capt. Hook's chicken fingers?)

it seems i'm living in the right area to be exploring cuisines.
just walking from the office, i caught sight of so many interesting places -
japanese holes-in-the-wall; thai fusion; of course, street food.
right in our building there's an english pub, and a few meters away, a german one.
there's even good old Subway if i want to be boring.

then walking back, there was a man with long white hair, a long white beard and long white robes sitting on the pavement sculpting squirrels and dragons from hemp rope.
a cart full of bouquets of strawberries lay in the sun. 50Baht for a small, shiny heap.
past them, a couple was putting together a fruit basket in front of a block of fruit vendors.

on the way, i grabbed a cup of Grand'italia ice cream : ) and entered the office with it.
the british copywriter gave me a weird look. i suspect he suspects i'm retarded.
but i don't care, i'm happy.

5138

2006-02-02T17:16:00.000+08:00

rm 4180, Emporium Suites

i'm mababaw and so, don't want much in life.
like, i've just always wanted a balcony with a view, a home entertainment system,
breakfast cooked for me everyday.

thing is, i've hardly ever gotten what i really wanted.
so when i do, i'm suddenly nervous.
has there been a mistake? is this a cruel joke where it's going to be taken away from me?

but well, i'm getting used to it now. my bags are unpacked. my books and CDs are on the shelf.
the pillows are huge, and i so love settling into them, settling into all this.

so tomorrow, before breakfast, i'm finally going to put the Sea Monkeys in their tank.
they'll hatch in their tiny little eggs. grow with me.
and everytime i look up and see my view,
i'm just going to say thank you God, thank you God. no more doubts.

4826

2006-02-02T14:40:00.000+08:00

my new office. 21st floor, UBC II bldg.

people seem nice. such a mixed bag of different nationalities.
like the team i'm currently working with is a british guy who has a thai wife.
been in bkk for 10 years and 3 in hongkong before that.

then the art director whom i thought was thai, turns out to be malaysian.
he just picked up the language (galeng!) because he's been here 5 years.
and prior to this he was studying in hawaii (huh? didn't know they had universities there. doesn't everyone just hula?)

i sit beside a european freelance planner (haven't asked from what country yet).
and already, i'm counting more british dudes than i've ever been around.
i heard a bit of Pinoy a while ago. So that means there's at least two more Filipinos here.

it's very strange really. and i feel very wide-eyed and clumsy.
there, that's it. the past days (it's just been 2 anyway) i've been feeling ungainly and clumsy.
from that first night of arrival, pushing my huge luggage out the bus and lugging it around.
or even little things like dropping my mints or spilling the chili.
in my apartment, it almost feels like i'm a stranger inhabiting someone else's life.
the bath robe is too big. the bed. the window.
i feel like an elephant. lumbering. too slow.
except, unlike elephants, i'm not in my own country.
(and well, unfortunately, i don't bellow.)

3682

2006-02-02T05:58:00.000+08:00

jasmine city, rm 1790. home for the night.

walking home, it starts to sink in.
i am somewhere else.

shreds of a sharper, unknown language snatch at my ear.
an unfamiliar spice grazes my nose, goes straight for the gut.
strange squiggles dance across posters.
and heck, cars are coming from the wrong side of the road!

but it's there now, the sense that i'm about to have an adventure.
right in front of my building, a neon sign in acid green - SIAMESE TWINS (what DOES that mean?);
two Pakistani sitting in front of Aswad's Fish and Chips.
HOW dooo things get thrown together here?
can't wait to figure it out : )

1579

2006-02-01T16:47:00.000+08:00

my journey begins with arriving, and so, there are already many stories to tell.
thank goodness this trek into the unfamiliar allowed me a familiar welcome.

my 1,579th footfall took me to rm2606 in Emporium Suites - supposedly "the ultimate serviced apartment" in Bkk.
Elly opened the door for me and, like a concerned pet owner, let me in and fed me for the night.
i tell her my of painful arrival -
+ the airport bus not stopping at my stop, and so having to lug 40 kilos of luggage several crowded blocks

+ hailing a cab in the middle of the street and struggling to push my bag into the back (thank you strange, kind man who
helped me. that marks the first time i did the "way". and i realize, it IS a gesture that worthily articulates sincere gratitude)

+ arriving at my serviced apartment building craving for a rest, only to be told i wasn't booked a room :-(

+ getting a room only through a guest relations officer's kindness

sigh.
but after a while, recounting all the recent inconveniences fall aside to talking about familiar things.
my despedida, the people we know, our continuing struggles, manila.
i remember what this is all about. and i'm reminded that, after all this, there is always something/someplace/someone to go back to. suddenly, i wasn't in a strange land, but with a friend.
i had arrived.

1

2006-02-01T08:26:00.000+08:00

I chose this.
I have to make this work.