Golden Phoenix Rice

Me cooking dinner at home in Bangkok. A brief pre-Christmas video update.

The Vegetarian Festival and Old MacDonald

Some news about my evening, the vegetarian festival, then a kid's song. This actually belongs over at http://riseupsingingproject.blogspot.com , but I'm cross-listing it.

Montreal has stupid T-shirts just like Bangkok!

Montreal has stupid T-shirts just like Bangkok!
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

Actually, they're significantly stupider in Bangkok, although that horrid "Game Over" design can sadly be found in both places.

Flickr set

Montreal Respect

Côte des Neiges
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

I'm really glad to be back home to Bangkok. I'm happy here, and it's by far the first place in the world I want to be. Still, look at this photo I took three weeks ago while being driven down Côte des Neiges: I love Montreal.

And in case you missed the link three weeks ago, see the rest of my Montreal visit photos here.

New Bangkok photos or video coming tomorrow.

Me and Saila by l'Oratoire Saint Joseph

Me and Saila by l'Oratoire Saint Joseph
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

Tomorrow is my last day in Montreal. Yesterday I saw Rina and her baby Saila and we visited Saint Joseph's Oratory, a Montreal landmark I love. I've taken a ridiculous amount of photos just walking around today. They're all here for the browsing.

3 Montreal pictures from today

Flowers by the Westmount Library

The skyline from the new(ish) Lachine Canal bike path

A graffito near Vendôme metro
Why is Montreal so photogenic? I don't know. I do wish I had longer than 5 days here, though. Already I'm having to cut good and close friends off my list of people I'll have time to see, and I feel really bad about that. On the other hand, I'm also really eager to get home to Bangkok. So perhaps the timing is all right, all things considered.
Flickr. Click for more.

Montréal / Mont Royal

Parc Mont Royal
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

I'm visiting my hometown of Montreal and it's awesome. My memories of it are pretty rose-coloured to begin with, but when I return for a visit, it seems like they consistently fail to do it full justice.

Note: My hometown is Saint-Lambert. Montreal is only my hometown like you say New York is your hometown but really it's Hoboken, you just moved into the city after college.

Flickr pictures here

Step Falls

IMG_0607.JPG
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

I took a trip from camp to Step Falls today, near Newry, ME, and Grafton Notch State Park. Check out the pictures from there and from the rest of family camp so far here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewvaughan/sets/72157622039400309/

Eastman's Farm

IMG_0482.JPG
Originally uploaded by miaowmatthew

I'm at Family Camp in Maine. Some of us took a trip to the Chester Eastman Homestead, a.k.a. Eastman's farm, run by the Eastmans, who are friends of the camp. Here's a link to the photos that came out of that, below is the video, and here's the link to the same video on YouTube.

Kuwait City Airport

I found they have free wireless in the Kuwait City airport. So that's where I'm posting this from. I didn't expect to be able to do anything internetty for at least another day. In an hour I board my next flight, which is Kuwait to New York (JFK). The Bangkok-Kuwait leg was painless, all told. Kuwait Airways is no Cathay Pacific in terms of luxury, but it's perfectly adequate.
Flying low over the little bit of Kuwait that we did, coming in from the ocean, the view was exactly what you'd expect if you weren't trying too hard to be creative. Lots of sand and not much else. Trucks and low buildings. Everything seemed sand-coloured or dirty white. There were long straight and seemingly interminable highways, a few olive-coloured trees, huge tanks that look like the kind of thing one takes surveillance photos of, and towers with flares burning at the top. I don't know what those flames are called. Oil flares? I think they burn there on purpose. They must, but I really don't know why.
I chipped my guitar somewhere along the way, I'm not sure how. Doesn't matter. The book all fuzzy down there is "Jésus le Dieu qui riait" by Didier Décoin. I've been halfway through it for going on three years now and so I thought I might finally finish it on this flight.

Getting Thai Iced Tea

This is the man from whom I buy iced milk tea in a bag almost daily. Having eaten at lot of Thai restaurants in North America and having always relished their Thai iced teas, I was intrigued to see what they would be like in Thailand, or if they were even a common Thai thing. Turns out that iced tea (and coffee) stands are a ubiquitous thing in Bangkok. I don't know if the teas themselves might fairly be called better, because truth be told, they're pretty much the same thing you get in a restaurant in New Haven, CT, which is great, because those are delicious. They are, however, much, much cheaper in Bangkok, which makes them definitely better overall in my book. As I said, I buy iced tea from this guy only almost daily, but I drink an iced tea from somewhere every single day, I think. The yellow sign on his cart says "everything 10 baht". That's cheap and no mistake. Even in Thailand, that's a good price.

Getting Drinking Water

This is the drinking-water dispenser in the parking garage of the apartment building I live in. It's where I get water. Watch the video if you're that interested in the details. On Facebook? Yeah, that's why you can't see the video.

My Shelves

This is picture 3 of my picture-a-day week, which will be over before you know it. Mostly because it'll be only a 5-day week. Sorry. I leave Bangkok on Saturday at 3 a.m. (Friday afternoon EST) and won't arrive in Maine until Sunday evening EST. So that's that. These are some shelves in my bedroom.

There are postcards on there from Cameron in San Diego, Forrest in Peru, and the corner of one from Lizzie in the British Virgin Islands (so much classier than those American Virgin Islands, really).
Also:
a 500-kip bill from Lao P.D.R.
a pink women's polo sirt I bought in ChongQing, China
a yellow "Michigan" t-shirt given to me by Molly Menschel
two fox 40 whistles from my lifeguard days (black and red)
a bottle of rosewater, brought by a friend in India, which is labelled "Ayurvedic Medicine"
a spiral-bound Raffi Singable Songbook
nail clippers
clothespins which I mostly use for hanging things to dry on the balcony
a scrap of paper on which I was practicing Thai (รอสักครู means "one moment, please")
my rainbow necklace
a copy of "A Century of Christian Science Healing"
a free map of Bangkok
a recorder / flûte à bec (in its case)
a business card from the TubTim resort on Ko Samet (Samet Island)
a money card from one of the food courts in the mall I work at

Monitor Lizard in Bangkok

I never go to Lumphini park without seeing one of these guys. On this day I saw seven of them, and I didn't even go into the park, I was just jogging along the fence outside to catch a bus to work (and stopping to take photos for my blog, obviously). For pictures of these guys, go the same Flickr set as the photos on yesterday's post.
I'm off to work.
Love,
Matthew

Sunday Mornings

Every Sunday I do two things: go to church and go to work. These are some photos from the first part of my Sunday. The photo above was taken from my balcony. The street to the right of the building under construction is Rama IV. Right down that way lies Sathorn road, and the Bangkok Christian Science Society.

I walk out my apartment, round the corner and wait by the 7-eleven. 7-elevens in Thailand really deserve their own post. They're everywhere.

This is the 71. I don't tke the 71. I don't know where it goes, either. I take the 22, the 45, the 46, the 115 or the 116. Today, on the other hand, I had made myself late by dawdling with picture-taking, so I had to take a taxi and I was late for church anyway.

Left to Right: Anchalee, Markee and Mayurie. They're basically half the congregation right there. It's a cozy little group, as you might have guessed.

A wealthy Chinese resident of Bangkok was asked by the King at the time to build this canal. He did it, and so the canal was named after him. Not after his Chinese name, though, but after an honorary name which the King gave him after he'd built it: Luang Sathon Racha Yuk (หลวงสาทรราชายุกต์)

Sathon Canal. And Sathon Road. It's a busy road, a famous road, and gives its name to an expensive business district, but it's not the most awesome place just to hang out. Still, there are good things nearby, like Lumpini park (see below). If you for some reason need to know more specifially where on Sathon the Christian Science Society is, you can click the photo to take you to my Flickr set where it's explained.

Bus stop by the Rama IV gate to Lumpini Park. This is how I get to work after church. The route takes me right by my apartment building, but I never have time to stop off there. For awesome monsters of Lumpini park, see tomorrow's post. And that's my Sunday morning in photos.

Projects!

I'm about to post my two 282nd entry on my Rise Up Singing music blog (riseupsingingproject.blogspot.com) which I began about 282 days ago. By contrast, I haven't posted on this blog for months now. What I'm learning from this is that projects motivate me. So here's a small project to get this blog going again.
Picture-a-day.
For the next week, I'm going to post one picture daily of something in my life. It could be anything, but it'll definitely be a little piece of my life here in Bangkok, rather than some random scenic photo. I'll write about it a little, too. You know, for context.

Why only one week? Because one week from today I'll be on a plane from Bangkok to New York City via Kuwait, of all places. I'll be spending two weeks at my favourite place in the world (camp), and one more week in my second-favourite place (Montreal). All with my favourite people in the world (various). I'm sure to get lots of post material from that, but I also don't want to be under a daily obligation while I'm on my whirlwind North America visit. So: a week of Bangkok dailies, then we'll see.
This starts tomorrow. For now, I have to finish the post on my Rise Up Singing blog. So goodnight, guys.

Perfect Temperature in Bangkok

I just walked out on the balcony in my swimsuit and it was the perfect temperature. There was a room-temperature wind blowing, and it was just warm enough to be nice for sleeping outside and not to wake up sweaty. Or so I imagine; I didn't go to sleep. A minute later it began to rain. Ten minutes later, it stopped. Bangkok weather is pretty great.

My New Favourite YouTube Channel

I am loving watching the daily White House press briefings coming out on YouTube. I'm not going to go on at length about them, because politics might bore you, and this isn't a political blog. Nevertheless, it's such a great little peek into the world of political reporting. You can watch them bantering, bickering, laughing... it's just fun. And I think the same thing I used to think watching Tony Snow, which is that being the U.S. press secretary is a staggeringly difficult job for the amount of poise, good humour, eloquence and thickness of skin it requires. By the way, haters, I liked Tony Snow a lot. He seemed like a cool guy. I also like the new guy, Robert L. Gibbs. Check him out weaving and bobbing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW37FyUZ11s

Sign up to the White House's YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse

The Dancing Dudes Commercial

This is my very favourite commercial in Thailand. It plays on the skytrain regularly now and I can't help but get pumped up when I see it. You'll be happy you watched it. Only 31 seconds.

Alone in Vientiane, April 2009

I was in Vientiane, Laos april 6th through 9th. I took a plane from Bangkok to Udon Thani (in Thailand) and then a 1hr bus to the border at Nongkhai (200THB), another bus (10 minutes) over the friendship bridge (20THB), and a minivan taxi into Vientiane (300THB split between two people).
I was there to get a non-immigrant B visa at the Thai Consulate, but apart from the 8 or so hours I spent waiting around there filling out a form or two and waiting for various numbers to be called, I got to spend most of my time in the Laotian capital studying Lao/Laotian and practicing it with whomever was around. It's really a short step over to Lao if you can speak a little Thai, so it was a sharp and fun learning curve for those few days. Now I'm back to Thailand. The video is pretty self-explanatory. Vientiane is a lovely town and - as you'll know if you've ever been there - really really quiet for a national capital. It's a great place to hang out, eat good food and learn Laotian. And really, what more could you want in a vacation*?

*Nothing, that's what.

A Songkran Message

I just got back from Songkran festivities. Happy Thai new year, everybody.

Bangkok Songkran and protests + a song

This is a relevant cross-post from my Rise Up Singing project blog.
First I talk about Songkran (Thai New Year's) and the state of emergency in Bangkok, then I play Amazing Grace. (Song begins at 2:37)

Words by John Newton (1725 - 1807); melody, traditional (appears in "Virginia Harmony")
Rise Up Singing chapter: Gospel, p.92
D - G D / - - A - / D D7 G D / Bm A G D
or the way I play it:
D - G D / - - A - / D D7 G D / D A G D

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
(That saved a soul like me)
I once was lost and now am found
Was blind but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
'Tis grace that's brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun

Allelujah (3x) Praise God (repeat)
(I didn't sing this verse)

Amazing grace has set me free
To touch, to taste, to feel
The wonders of accepting Love
Have made me whole and real

State of Emergency in Bangkok

No picture today, because all the pictures you'd need are on the international news. A state of emergency has been declared here in Bangkok. There's a curfew, but apparently the curfew is more of a strong suggestion that one stay home tonight, rather than a warning that you can be arrested or shot just for walking the streets. Given that, I'm still going over to my friends' apartment at Nana, since they say there's nothing at all unusual going on outside in their neighborhood. Apparently Siam and Victory Monument are sites to stay away from tonight, though. I heard there are tanks out there, although you shouldn't believe it just because I heard it.

The state of emergency, if you're confused, is due to the escalation of the UDD (red shirts) protests in Pattaya, and here in Bangkok. Pattaya, 2 hours from here, was the site of the 14th ASEAN summit, until it was "postponed indefinitely" because of the red shirt anti-government protests.

Anyway, I'm fine. Have a good evening.

More Protests! And the Day off Work to Boot

I've been in Laos for 4 days, but more about that later. What's more interesting is that when I got BACK from Laos into Bangkok last night the anti-government protests had escalated and Sukhumwit Road was blocked by "red-shirts"* right in front of my apartment. They were friendly - I walked right through - and it didn't feel dangerous or uncomfortable, but it did help me understand why it had taken the van I was in twice the normal time coming from the airport. Sukhumwit (Sukhumvit) Road is the major thoroughfare of Bangkok, so blocking it is a big deal, although given the traffic conditions in Bangkok (especially on Sukhumwit) on a normal day, one might be tempted to say it wouldn't make much of a difference. Here's a pretty boring video.

They're just hanging around, cheering, being spoken to through a bullhorn, and generally being peacefully disobedient to the public order. I could hear them from up on my 9th-floor balcony too. I'm not sure if they're still out there this morning, but my boss called at 9am and said not to bother coming into work, so I guess wherever they are, they're still doing a pretty good job of disrupting things. Apparently the prime minister has actually called an official holiday today, too, to ease the situation. On the one hand, even more protests are bad for the economy (particularly tourism) but on the other hand, I do kind of feel like it's the red shirts' turn, to be fair. They oppose the "yellow shirts", who shut down the airports for a long time in November and December. Now the party supported by (though not directly affiliated with) the yellow shirts is in power, and naturally the red shirts want to make their own disapproval known. Shutting down the city is an unfortunate way to do that, but it's true that the yellow shirts set the precedent. To sum up: I have the day off work. Yay!

*The red shirts are more properly known as members of the U.D.D.: "United front for Democracy against Dictatorship". The yellow shirts are members of the P.A.D.

Watching The Presidential Inauguration

Did you guys know that 'inauguration' is 'assermentation' in French? Well dig it. Now you do.
I'm in my apartment in Bangkok. It's after midnight, early Wednesday the 21st of January, and I just finished watching Barack Hussein Obama's inauguration.
Some good quotes:
From Barack: "...but we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." (I forget exactly to whom that was addressed, but you get the picture. It's a nice image.)

Poet Elizabeth Alexander, sadly, seems to be one of those poets who reads her own poetry pretty badly. I thought she was pretty bland, anyway.

The benediction by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery was pretty awesome.
"...I'm equally certain that we will continue to pray for justice to roll down as waters, and for that day when there will be peace in the valley, and for that day when every man and every woman will sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none will be afraid, and for that day when black will not be asked to get back, brown can stick around, yellow will be mellow, the red man can get ahead, man, and white will embrace what is right!"

Hahaha. I liked him a lot. Happy inauguration day, United States of America.

I was surprised when one of the commentators of Fox News (that's right, I watched it on Fox. MSNBC also, but their video was less smooth) anyway, when he said that Obama was actually going into the White House directly after the inauguration to continue working. It made me think of this Onion article: Black Man Given The Nation's Worst Job. Seriously. Ouch, Barack.

In musical news, I've decided to do an entire inauguration-themed week over at the Rise Up Singing Project. Today's offering is here.

Just Hanging... Blogging Elsewhere

I'm sorry I haven't been posting here more than once a week, but I'm just that into my new blog: riseupsingingproject.blogspot.com

I know it's not personal enough for those of you who don't like singing or playing guitar and just want to know where I am in the world and what I'm doing, but... well, no excuses. I understand. But that's the way it is. It's taking up a lot of my blogging time. I do ramble about personal stuff over there once in a while too. It's not like you couldn't stalk me a little from those videos. You'd just learn songs too.

For those to whom that's a really undesireable prospect, here's a simple update. I'm still in Bangkok. I live here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. So there's no need for messages being all "Where in the world are you these days??" I'm in Bangkok.
1414/257 floor 9, tower B, Sukhumvit Plus, Sukhumvit Road, Prakhanong, Klong Toei, Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Just hanging at home. Being a homebody. Learning songs in Rise Up Singing.... riseupsingingproject.blogspot.com

I'll be around here from time to time. In the meantime, guys, seriously? 2009 is going to be the best year ever. Remember that.

Christmas Present: The Frog

I didn't get many Christmas presents this year, but what I did get was more than enough. Here's a favourite, from David, in Santa Barbara: the grows-in-water frog.