None of your Business

Morning Noodles in Phra Khanong

2012-01-18T07:16:00.012-05:00

Mornings are the coolest when you have a neighborhood to hang out in.
I woke up this morning and went out for breakfast, which is the only way I ever do breakfast these days (not as bourgeois as it sounds, I promise) and which usually means either Burmese noodles or Nepali roti chole. I'm not avoiding Thai food—I love it—but there's a large Nepali-Burmese immigrant minority in my neighborhood and I just dig their vegetarian options a lot, and have gotten to know a lot of the shopkeepers.
So I was around the corner, eating to hpu nuy [sp?] (bean soup noodles) at a Burmese place, and I had a small language triumph. A Thai guy walked into the shop and asked them for miang (เมี่ยง), by which he meant (I'm pretty sure) maak (หมาก), which is betel. Miang is a thai dish wrapped in leaves, a lot like the way betel is wrapped. I thinks that's what he was dumbing down for the shopkeeper, but the point is that she had no idea what he was talking about, and so I got to be the farang who could tell him that they made it a few shops down and then later explain to her that the guy had wanted kun-ya (betel). This is a long story for a small event, but it made me really happy, so you guys are going to just deal with that. After that I was just on a neighborhood high. My apartment building is in the Phra Khanong market, and so I went out and bought a shirt from a vendor, and when I admired the banged-up old motorcycle side mirror he had repurposed, he told me where I could buy one, but then remembered he had another one, and just opened up his junk cabinet, dug it out, and gave it to me. Good people around here. Met the woman who irons my work shirts (yes, that part IS as bourgeois as it sounds, I guess) and chatted with her, and just exchanged a lot of pleasantries with neighbors about my broken wrist, which is a conversation I am getting slightly better at having. It was a good morning in a good place.

A bit about the pictures: up top is a Burmese shop. You can see their daily pile of samosas out there. They're not my favourite samosa spot, but I pass them every day, so sometimes I go for one anyway. Down here is the morning soy milk and you tiao cart. They do this Chinese breakfast food here in Thailand too, but the family that runs this cart is actually Chinese. They just moved down here from Yunnan almost exactly a year ago, so they and I both get to be new to the neighborhood. End of story: I'm settling in pretty well. Send postcards and/or come visit.

-Matthew

September Update from Bangkok

2011-09-10T01:20:00.002-04:00

If you're on Facebook and you don't see a video here, click: http://youtu.be/IfSud-cSN_8
Rise Up Singing as it continues: http://www.youtube.com/user/matthewvaughan

Accordion Bus in Beijing

2011-06-14T06:44:00.000-04:00

A Horse in Xiao Xi Tian (小西天) Beijing (北京）

2011-05-01T06:40:00.000-04:00

The Beijing Subway

2011-04-30T06:37:00.000-04:00

Beijing Update One

2011-04-29T08:37:00.000-04:00

Exploring Phra Khanong

2011-04-28T09:17:00.002-04:00

Hey! I am in China. I was in Laos, now I'm in China, and my vacation is going to be over in a few days and I'll be back home in Bangkok. But let's time-travel for a second back to a month ago, just before I left on vacation with my brand-spanking-new camera. This is a video I made around my neighborhood (and others) in Bangkok. En-joy. I'll tell you about China soon.

I Shake my Fist at you, China

2011-04-07T21:26:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I do HAVE updates, but I'm in China now and Blogger remains blocked, as well as YouTube and Facebook. Also, they've made it impossible for foreigners to use internet cafes, since registration with a Chinese identity card number is now mandatory. Can I just say?: lame. I'm doing this on a very fiddly proxy site at a hostel that let me use their computer. Lllllllllame. But I'll probably figure out how to post you a video soon. That one from back in BAngkok I was talking about. Also, I lost my camera! My new one. Just so you know. These things happen.

Last-Minute Travel Advice

2011-03-31T03:57:00.003-04:00

Just news, you know. I'm almost gone, although up next is a video from Bangkok that I took a few days ago. Hopefully, I'll actually be posting it from Laos. Don't get too confused.

I'm leaving for China

2011-03-30T04:58:00.006-04:00

I've taken a few new videos with this new camera in the last two days. I'll post them either today or when I get back from the heart of Asia. That's a trivia question. Do you know of a place that claims to be the geographical centre of Asia? I do, but really I have no idea if I'll go there. We'll have to see what I feel like a few weeks into travelling. I only have a month, after all.

(On Facebook, click here for the video)

Chinese Embassy Tout

2011-03-29T00:34:00.004-04:00

So, if it's not clear from the circumstances of the video, I've decided I want to make my way to China for vacation. You all have permission to laugh at me, though, if instead of going to China, I end up having to spend the next month at home in Bangkok 4,500 baht poorer and applying for a new passport.
(On Facebook, click for video.)

No Durian Allowed

2011-03-28T18:23:00.003-04:00

Everyone loves noting how culturally quirky it is that in Thailand signs like this are required. This one appears (and is standard) in the Bangkok MRT (subway), but on the BTS (skytrain) I don't think I've ever seen one like it. As someone who really likes durian, though, I have ridden the skytrain with plastic bag full of durian, and I definitely saw a lot of sideways glances and uncomfortable shuffling around, whether or not it had been posted as banned. I figured if I didn't make eye contact with anyone, no one would have the gumption to actually say anything, and my theory held. How else is one supposed to get home with one's durian, I'd like to know?

Chinatown Shoes: a Montreal Christmas Post

2010-12-26T02:53:00.002-05:00

A video of me and rue Mont Royal in Montréal. Visiting home is nice.

As always, Facebook won't show this. So click to the blog or just close the tab and call it a day.

Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

2010-12-13T09:40:00.000-05:00

Bendigo's a cool place. I spent a good 6 days there, mostly indoors recording music, but it was worth it. Kangaroo Flat is a real place. So is Dead Dog Gully, apparently. Crazy stuff.

Australia's Great Ocean Road

2010-11-20T10:01:00.003-05:00

As always, if you're on Facebook, just click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX9eJop4EO4

Singapore

2010-11-08T06:03:00.002-05:00

My 10 hours in Singapore. If you're on Facebook, the video won't show. Go to http://miaowmatthew.blogspot.com/

Melbourne

2010-11-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

The Stars in Bendigo

2010-10-12T19:35:00.002-04:00

So here's something that seems like a non-sequitur, but my life has been an unbroken series of events, I swear, so it's not. It's just the rarity of my updates that make it seem that way. I'm in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. I still live in Bangkok, I'm just here on vacation for a few days.

At any rate, there are many more stars visible here than either in Bangkok, Montreal or Melbourne (to which I've also been introduced) and although this is my first time in the southern hemisphere (!) and I'd like to be able to talk about how amazing it was to look up at the night sky and see the different (or upside down) constellations in the southern heavens.... the truth is that I don't know the constellations in the north well enough to notice the difference. So, I admit it, the stars look exactly the same to me down here :(

Book Shopping in Vientiane

2010-09-21T00:45:00.004-04:00

I'm back to old purchasing habits, it seems. These make up only a little more than half the language books I've bought in Laos in the past 3 days. I bought these on my first night here (Saturday) when I was wandering around looking for an Indian restaurant I'd eaten at over a year ago, on my last visit. Instead, I came across a Chinese bookstore, which was stocked with mostly DVDs, actually. In the back, however I found the jackpot, and bought:

a used Chinese-English dictionary
4 leveled Chinese writers, for schoolchildren (and me) to practice writing their characters, and
a Chinese-Laotian phrasebook! Awesome! A Chinese-Laotian phrasebook!

My other books are a secret for now, since I'm not going to dig them out to remember what they are, and since one of them's a gift. Oh wait, no, I remembered:

A Laotian alphabet book (my second; those are always fun)
A Laotian songbook (more exclamation points probably belong here, but I'll explore it first to see if it lives up to its promise), and
two secret books. Also bilingual.

Vientiane Visit September 2010

2010-09-20T22:30:00.001-04:00

Matthew in Vientiane. The nitty gritty.
If you're on Facebook, click "view full note -> view original post" to see the video.

In the Airport (The Only Living Boy in New York)

2010-09-18T19:15:00.001-04:00

Recorded in Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok. That's a really badly Romanized word. Suwanapum is more like it. Or Soowanapoom, if you prefer the double o for the "who" o-sound.
Now I'm in Vientiane and they have different but perhaps even worse romanization, I don't know who decided to put all these x's in the words (perhaps the French?) but s's would have done just fine. It's an 's' sound, guys. What's an x supposed to sound like anyway?

Sept 18 2010 Going to Lao PDR

2010-09-18T11:43:00.000-04:00

Post-Crisis Vacation

2010-05-21T02:19:00.003-04:00

Going on a weekend vacation today, now that the violence is over. The obvious choice may have been to get out of town during the violence, but I think the connoisseur's choice is to be around for the interesting stuff and then relax during reconstruction. Pranburi is just a few hours south of here by van from Victory Monument, and it's supposed to be a-nice.

Bangkok the Morning After the Crackdown

2010-05-20T07:56:00.000-04:00

This is what I woke up to this morning. It was all refreshingly normal, actually.
Hey tourists: come to Thailand. I mean, buy travel insurance, yeah, but please come. NO ONE WILL HURT YOU. You'll have a good time snorkeling, lying on the beach, visiting temples, and helping revive the economy of the country. Really. I can vouch for it.

Long story short:
"Is it safe to travel to Thailand?"
Yes.
"How safe?"
Safer than Brazil, probably safer than New York City.
"Will anything bad happen to me?"
You may get overcharged for a taxi ride. You may even get a sunburn. Take precautions (SPF 30 and you're good to go).

Sex tourists need not apply.

My Life in Bangkok: May 19 Protests Update (High Resolution)

2010-05-19T19:54:00.000-04:00

Today was a pretty rough day for downtown Bangkok. A lot of things got lit on fire. I don't have interesting video of that (sorry to disappoint) but it's all available online here and there if you're inclined to search for it. This is what I was doing this afternoon before the curfew went into effect (after which I was at home being a good curfew-abiding citizen*, of course).

*I'm not a Thai citizen, although that would be kind of cool.

Bangkok Burning Update

2010-05-19T07:53:00.000-04:00

Well only PARTS of Bangkok burning, really. Even more precisely, things being burnt in parts of Bangkok. believe it or not, I'm going out to Ekkamai to watch a movie now. Ong Bak 3, with Tony Jaa. If they start burning the theatre, I'm coming home, though.

Bangkok I'm Doing Ok Update

2010-05-16T07:21:00.001-04:00

If you're on Facebook, you'll have to click to the blog to find it.

A Bangkok Update

2010-05-15T11:50:00.000-04:00

Matthew and a Dusky Langur

2010-03-19T22:36:00.001-04:00

They do ok without opposable thumbs, it just looks weird.

Like a Monkey in a Zoo (Bonus)

2010-03-18T04:54:00.000-04:00

Written by Daniel Johnston
Covered by me

D A G - ////
except the bridges, which both begin with "And it could happen to you" and go:
G - - - / D - - - / G - - - / A - - -

I'm chained to the wall
 I'm nothing at all
 And my eyes look into the sunset  thinkin' of better things to do,
Like a monkey in a zoo

  The days go so slow
 I don't have no friends
Except all these people  who want me to do tricks for them
Like a monkey in a zoo

G - - - / D - - - / G - - - / A - - -
  And it could happen to you
You could be in my place
 No it wasn't always like this
But I never saw it coming

I'm so alone
 But this is my home
 And the bars that surround me  keep me from knowing any better,
Like a monkey in a zoo

Throw me a peanut
Laugh and make jokes
But I've had enough peanuts  and I'm ready to choke
Like a monkey in a zoo  

You come to look at me
You seem so amused
But things would look different  If you were in my shoes

I know its my fault
But I want out
And when I cry out  nobody seems to understand
 Like a monkey in a zoo

  You say I'm cute
You don't know how much that hurts
 You don't know how it feels  to live in your own dirt
Like a monkey in a zoo  

G - - - / D - - - / G - - - / A - - -
And it could happen to you
You could be in my place
Don't let yourself slip
Don't keep egg on your face

  I used to be happy
 I cant remember those days
'Cause I sold my freedom  for free room and board
 Like a monkey in a zoo

Saturday in the Park

2010-02-19T12:12:00.003-05:00

I changed jobs 4 months ago. Changed from a language school with an evenings-and-weekends schedule to a high school with a 7:45-3:35 Monday-to-Friday schedule. It's much nicer in that respect, as well as a few others. Language school work did have its perks, but that's yesterday's news. Speaking of yesterday's news: I went to one of Bangkok's larger parks last Saturday (since I now get those off) and had a really lovely time. I forget the name of this park, but it's on Asok, just south of the Asok Skytrain station. The park is quite big, but what's wonderful is that the larger part of it is taken up by a man-made lake. A big-old rectangular one. Nothing too fancy, just lots and lots of water. Bigger than either of the lakes in Lumphini park. I sat for a while on the promenade reading the book above left (good book) then I took a canoe out on the lake for half an hour. It was a terrible little canoe. The paddle was maybe 3 feet long and had no grip. It was like trying to J-stroke with a rake. I later noticed one of the park attendants out in a canoe, and even he was paddling one stroke on the right, one on the left. It looked, as Ben (my brother) put it when I told him later, pretty pathetic. Then on the way out of the park I found these two lovely bits of flora. The frangipani flower is ubiquitous in Thailand, and smells fantastic, the branch with little seed pods is an alien species to me. I left by climbing over the fence. They have an annoying habit of fencing in all the parks here. The end.

Spécial #6

2010-01-19T05:02:00.003-05:00

I'm translating under deadline and listening to music. Not the most productive way to do it. I just heard the line "l'hiver était frette en calvaise" and missed home. It's on "Spécial #6" by Les Cowboys fringants. Every time I hear it I can't get over how good it is. "Le soleil s'est couché sur Repentigny..." it's so slurred and poignant and rocking.

In conclusion, I've just turned the music off. Back to work...

Fruits and Vegetables

2010-01-12T09:16:00.001-05:00

Today's post is a video. You won't be able to see it on Facebook. Serves you right.

Day 4

2010-01-11T12:20:00.002-05:00

Man, blogging every day is hard. Today, I...
...jumped in the pool. Twice.
...went to Chinese class, at a language school which isn't far from the high school where I teach.
...did three sit-ups. Just for fun.
...gave my students that vocabulary retest I was talking about. They did "just so-so".
...cleaned the heck out of the little kitchen in this apartment. More is needed. There are cockroaches.
...appreciated the sun and the sky in this tropical country.
...talked to Douglas in China.

The End

Test writing, teaching

2010-01-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

Ok, some mundane news just to keep the blogging ball rolling. Tonight I'm writing a test for my students. They're in mathayom 6, which is their last year of high school. The test I'm writing is a pretty dry use-this-word-in-a-sentence vocabulary test, and it's a retest of one that most of them bombed just before Christmas. They do more or less okay at remembering the meanings of words, but if I ask them to make a sentence with it I consistently get nasty surprises like:
1) worthwhile: "Global warming is the worthwhile problem."

I get sad when my students don't know stuff. Next year I'm going to throw so much more mud at that wall...

Pool Pictures

2010-01-07T11:05:00.002-05:00

This is day two of me blogging everyday. These are just some pictures I took a couple of hours ago down on the 4th floor, where the pool is. I'm taking baby steps with the blogging here. A pool picture or two today, maybe something else tomorrow. Goodnight, friends.

Blogging every day, Rain in Bangkok

2010-01-06T08:13:00.003-05:00

I'm going to blog every day for a little while.
Today it rained heavily. In Bangkok. I'm still living in Bangkok, for those of you who haven't been following. I forgive you, since there hasn't been much to follow - here, anyway. I do (usually) reply to e-mails, so you can always keep tabs on me that way if you need to. It makes me feel loved too, so please don't hesitate to break out the old web-based e-mail client and send me some love.

But back to the rain. It rained heavily, which was wonderful. I opened all the windows and doors in the apartment and let the fresh and heavy and blessedly cool tropical air sweep through this little place. It's nice to remember that the air is, by definition, tropical air in Bangkok, even on the days it feels like dirty old hot city air. Today it felt like gloriously fresh tropical storm air. It's not the rainy season here in Bangkok now, so rain is pretty rare. I went out and walked in it with an umbrella, but I got all wet anyway.

The end. Please feel welcome to check back if you're interested. I really will blog every day for the next little while.

-Matthew

Golden Phoenix Rice

2009-12-12T10:30:00.001-05:00

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

The Vegetarian Festival and Old MacDonald

2009-10-23T12:01:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-09-26T16:09:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-26T16:06:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-05T03:36:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-02T23:17:00.007-04:00

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

2009-09-01T23:09:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-27T22:45:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-21T16:58:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-15T00:06:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-14T11:04:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-13T12:10:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-12T03:45:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-11T00:11:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-09T14:17:00.001-04:00

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!

2009-08-08T10:59:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-27T07:51:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-19T14:25:00.007-04:00

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

2009-04-30T16:31:00.002-04:00

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

2009-04-16T07:24:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-13T08:49:00.001-04:00

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

Bangkok Songkran and protests + a song

2009-04-13T01:43:00.001-04:00

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

2009-04-12T09:30:00.005-04:00

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

2009-04-09T22:45:00.006-04:00

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

2009-01-20T12:39:00.008-05:00

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

2009-01-17T09:42:00.004-05:00

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

2009-01-05T10:23:00.005-05:00

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.

Christmas Pageant in Bangkok

2008-12-25T04:31:00.005-05:00

Megan brought me yesterday to Mater Dei the all-girls Catholic school she teaches at weekday mornings. They were having a "Christmas party", which actually turned out to be a Christmas pageant, followed by a Christmas ballet, no mingling or punch-drinking, or any of the things normal for an event you might refer to as a party. Still, it was interesting and festive. They had the school choir singing "O Holy Night" and "Let There Be Peace On Earth" and the pageant narration was all in Thai, but it wasn't too hard to follow, it being the nativity story and all. The ballet that followed was "Sleeping Beauty", we were told, although you wouldn't know it from the performance. They had brought in one guy to dance the part of (I assume) the charming prince. At one point during the nativity pageant, all the kindergarten girls Megan teaches hopped out on to the stage wearing bunny suits and did a little hopping dance to an instrumental version of "Let it Snow", if I'm not mistaken. See pictures below.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I'll post pictures of more festive stuff tonight or tomorrow.

Christmas in Bangkok 1

2008-12-23T06:32:00.003-05:00

This Sunday evening, Dec 21st, Megan and I went out to the Anglican church in Bangkok to attend an evening hymn sing they were having. Neither of us is Anglican (Episcopalian, for you Americans), but the carols were lovely, and it was really great to have a Christmassy religious service to go to and a carol sing wrapped into one. On Christmas eve, we'll probably be attending that same church's midnight communion. I've done that a few times back in Saint Lambert with some of my brothers on Christmases past. One time everyone was called up for communion, but we were told that if we weren't baptised we could just put our hands palms-down when it came our turn, and the minister would just bless us instead. My brother Richard apparently missed the memo, though, because we all went back and sat down afterwards and was like "hey, that was a good wafer".

It was funny at the time. I do miss Christmas in Quebec, but Christmas in Bangkok is actually shaping up to be a pretty lovely substitute, so far. See my other blog for all the carols I've been singing lately.

Postcard from Richard

2008-12-22T04:24:00.005-05:00

A Christmastime postcard from one of my brothers. Thanks, Richard!

Montreal

2008-12-13T00:12:00.005-05:00

Je viens de Montréal. De la Rive Sud, c'est à dire. Des fois ça me manque. Ça, c'est la vue de mon ancien appartement sur Papineau. On peut même voir la Rive Sud. Aujourd'hui, l'hiver, ça me manque.

Noises in the Night (Protest at the Airport)

2008-11-30T15:16:00.004-05:00

Monday, Nov 31, 3AM.
I just heard an explosion of some sort as I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep. The PAD protesters have been occupying both airports in Bangkok for some days now, and pressure has been mounting for the government to clear them out, so while the noise could have been anything, my first thought was of the airport. And I realized as I thought of what might be happening right now (tomorrow's news will tell, but it doesn't change the point) that I need to embrace the protesters more in my thought. I've been thinking of them as, in a sense, spoiled: anti-universal-suffrage activists (authoritarian royalists) who have been running wild in the city with almost no police intervention, and now on the 4th or 5th day they've been holding the airport, as the country has been losing truckloads of money in tourist revenue every day because of them... well I'd been eager for the police to break it up. I felt like in any other country in the world they would have been evicted by force on the first day, and that at very least a little tear gas would be an extremely restrained and appropriate response. I realize now though, that what's important is that I be praying for the safety of the protesters and the police and the army all together. And to do that I need to let go of my feelings in any direction on the protesters' actions, and remember that not a hair on the head of a single person at that airport needs to be harmed for this to be resolved peacefully*.

Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד

*Also, I should remember that Thai politics is none of my business, but praying for humanity is mine and everone's.

Lime-aid

2008-11-23T06:06:00.003-05:00

I know this picture is fuzzy, but I think the subject is clear. I'm making agua de limón just like back in Guadalajara in 2003. (I studied there. Host family. Lots of lime-aid.)
It's great to be living in a place with an abundance of limes. And papayas and mangoes and the nasty-looking custard apple and jackfruit, even though jackfruit is kind of gross, truth be told. Definitely edible, but just a little on the gross side if I have more than a piece.

The Great Divide: Rise Up Singing Gets Its Own Blog

2008-11-12T11:28:00.003-05:00

Ok, I've decided that it's weird to be posting a song a day (so far so good!) from Rise Up Singing on my "None of your Business" blog. I mean, what if strangers come because they want to learn songs and then they see my heading and news about living in Thailand and stuff. They'll think "Am I in the right place? Who's this guy?"
So, to avoid people asking "Am I in the right place?", I've just made a new 'right place'. From now on, the right place to go for songs from Rise Up Singing and nothing else is here, at the brand new Rise Up Singing Project blog:

http://riseupsingingproject.blogspot.com/

Everything else in my life, you know, all the stuff that's "none of your business", you can still get right here. I've got a post about toilet paper in the works which I might hit you all with tomorrow.

R.U.S. Bonus: Follow Me

2008-11-12T04:46:00.001-05:00

This bonus song isn't from Rise Up Singing, but I've written down the lyrics in my copy of Rise Up Singing because that's how much I like it.

Words by Dennis Lee
Music by Philip Balsam
Performed on Fraggle Rock by Gobo and Uncle Travelin' Matt

FOLLOW ME

Every day the world begins again
Sunny skies or rain
Come and follow me
C - F / C F / C G -

Every sunrise shows me more and more
So much to explore
Come and follow me

Chorus:
Every morning, every day
Every evening, calling me away
F C F C / F C Am G

While the sun goes 'round I'll still be found
Following the sound
Something's calling me

When the world goes drifting back to bed
Memories in my head
Wonders follow me

Chorus 2X

Rise Up Singing: Episode 6 - There but for Fortune

2008-11-12T04:24:00.002-05:00

Words and music by Phil Ochs
Rise Up Singing chapter: Rich and Poor, p.186

Rise Up Singing has:
C Fm C Fm / C Am Dm G
C Am F Dm / Em C Dm G C (Fm C -)

I use:
C Fm C Fm / C Am D(major!) G
C Am Dm G / C Am D(major!) G C (Fm C -)

I've tried both, they both sound good. I feel like Phil Ochs does this pretty rocking, and I try to rock it when I do it too, because otherwise it just sounds soooo mouuuurnful.

I wrote to Annie Patterson (co-editor of Rise Up Singing) 3 days ago now to ask her if it was ok that I do this, posting chords and all, and she hasn't written back yet, so for now I assume everything's ok. And here's her daily plug:
If you want a serious learning resource, you can buy the complete Rise Up Singing teaching CDs at Annie's website: www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . So go check it out. Then, once you know all the songs, come back here to YouTube and help me learn them by posting your versions!

Rise Up Singing: Episode 5 - My Land is a Good Land

2008-11-11T00:52:00.002-05:00

There'll be a new president in the United States soon, and even though I'm from Quebec and live in Thailand, that's meaningful to me. So here's a patriotic song. I'm pretty sure it's about the US, even though it doesn't name names, but I like that in the lyrics "my homeland" is nameless. It could be Canada, and if I don't feel comfortable with that, it could be just Quebec, or Thailand, or anywhere. That's an "I love China" T-shirt I'm wearing, by the way, and I really do. Love China.

(Can't see the movie? Click here. )

Words and music by Eric Andersen
Rise Up Singing chapter: America, p.3
F G C Am (2x)/ F G C Am / / F G C -
You'll notice that when I play the song I prefer leaving out some A minors, so it's more like this:
F G C - (2x)/ F G C Am / / F G C -
Also I say "rainbow blades" not "rainbow waves". I think that's what Pete Seeger says, although I my have just imagined it. Either way, I like the word contrast in "rainbow blades" more, so that's what I always go with.

This is day 5 and song 5 for me.
I'm trying to learn and record all 1200 songs in the Rise Up Singing songbook. If you're interested, you should help out and make your own video.
If you just want to know the songs a.s.a.p. though, Annie Patterson (co-editor Rise Up Singing) recorded and sells CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . So go check it out. You can buy the set, or individual CDs at 12$ each.

Rise Up Singing: Episode 4 - Pretty Saro

2008-11-10T02:57:00.002-05:00

Arr. and adap Jean Ritchie
Rise Up Singing chapter: Mountain Voices, p.149
D Em D A ////
I like to switch the second D for a G:
D Em G A ////
On the video I play it in the key of G, so:
G Am C D ////
It all works.

This is song 4 for me. I'm trying to learn and record all 1200 songs in the Rise Up Singing songbook.
If you're interested, Annie Patterson (co-editor Rise Up Singing) recorded and sells CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . So go check it out. You can buy the set, or individual CDs at 12$ each. I'm going to keep trying to do it song by song though, free and easy (and slowww).

Rise Up Singing: Episode 3 - River

2008-11-09T06:58:00.006-05:00

(If you're reading this on Facebook, you'll be wondering where the video is. That's Facebook's problem. You'll have to click on "view original post" and get over to my blog to see it.)

Words and music by Bill Staines
Rise Up Singing chapter: Time & Changes, p.226
Verse:
D - G D / - - A - / D - G D / - A D - ://
Chorus:
D Dmaj G A / / G - A D / G D G D / G A - G - D

My version (in G)
Verse: same as above, transposed to G
Chorus:
G - C D / / C - G - / C G Am Em / C D C↓ G

As you can see, there's a little difference between my version and the book's, but not too much. You can play the song with the same melody either way, so it's just a difference of taste. That, and Rise Up Singing seems to draw out the last line of the chorus more than I do. No big deal. Still, if someone else knows the song more precisely the way Bill Staines does it, please post it up too for comparison.

This is the third song I've recorded from the Rise Up Singing songbook, with the end goal of recording all of them. I'm most interested in the ones that aren't widely known these days, and the problem there is that in most of those cases, I don't know them either. So I'm simultaneously trying hard to dig up recordings, and learn the songs as quickly as I can.

For those who have a little bit of cash and want to bypass this process, Annie Patterson, who co-edited Rise Up Singing, sells her own lovingly-made CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . I hope if I direct you to her site, she won't feel like I'm trying to undercut her business, which, in all honesty, I wouldn't ever want to do. There you can also find out how you can help get Pete Seeger nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. So check it out. I'm still going on with the project, though. I have a high enough chance of failure and a low enough quality index that I don't think there's much danger of me cutting in on Annie's turf.

Rise Up Singing: Episode 2 - Hobo's Lullaby

2008-11-08T11:40:00.009-05:00

Words and Music by Goebel Reeves
Rise Up Singing chapter: Lullabies, p.133
D G / A D ://
or, as played in the video:
G C / D G ://

This is the second episode in my project of recording all of the songs in the Rise Up Singing songbook, which was conceived, developed and edited by Peter Blood and Annie Patterson, illustrated by Kore Loy McWhirter, and given a lovely introduction by Pete Seeger.
I have a well-cherished copy bought by my mother, and I'm a big fan, even though I occasionally find myself frustrated when the chords they give for a song I know don't seem to fit the way I expect them to. I can't really complain. I just switch them up and play them like I feel like. And so should you.

Also, if you know any songs in Rise Up Singing, you should record them yourself and put them on YouTube! It doesn't matter if you can't play an instrument. Rise Up Singing has the chords and lyrics, all you need to do is hum the tune. Or whistle, or anything. The more versions of good folk songs we get on up on the Internet, the richer the slice of musical culture we spread. Otherwise hard-to-find albums from a few decades ago are still not that hard to order online, but that might not be the case 20 years from now, and these songs shouldn't stop getting sung because no one wants to pay to publish them anymore.

ALTHOUGH....... here's an update:
I just found out that Annie Patterson, who co-edited Rise Up Singing, sells her own lovingly made CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . I hope if I direct you to her site, she won't feel like I'm trying to undercut her business.

Rise Up Singing: my project

2008-11-08T11:26:00.006-05:00

Because All Men Are Brothers
Words by Tom Glazer
Melody by J.S. Bach ("Passion Chorale")
Rise Up Singing chapter: Unity, p.238

F Dm G C Am E Am - / /
F G F C F Dm A - / G Am D G F G C -

This is the first video in my project to learn and record all the songs in the "Rise Up Singing" songbook, so that everyone can learn the tunes and teach the songs. Priority will be given to hard-to-find songs over still popular songs, although exceptions will be made for songs I just happen to like best. I'm not sure if there's trouble with copyright law ahead. Let's hope not.

Update:
I just found out that Annie Patterson, who co-edited Rise Up Singing, recorded and sells CDs of these songs here at www.quakersong.org/teaching_discs/ . So go check it out. You can buy the set, or individual CDs at 12$ each. I'm going to keep trying to do it song by song though, so stay tuned.

The New Bangkok Digs (and mailing address!)

2008-10-29T05:54:00.004-04:00

This is a photo from the new apartment. Megan and I totally sprung for a building with a pool. It just kind of screamed "quality of life", you know? Also, I had to remind myself when making the decision, that, unlike in Québec, in Bangkok you get 12 months a year of use out of a pool. It's endless summer, baby! I mean, there's a rainy season and a hot dry season and right now it's officially the cool dry season (winter) in Thailand, but as far as I'm concerned: it's all summer by any other name.

So far I've been in every day. The building has two residential towers, and the pool lies between them on the 4th floor. Our apartment is up on the 9th floor and we look down onto the pool.
It's right near the skytrain, which is Bangkok's modern and beautiful elevated train system and the quickest way to get around downtown in a city with probably the worst traffic I've ever seen. So all told: I'm pretty much living it up. Now I've just got to start paying for this place. Stay tuned for how that works out. In the meantime, anyone who wants to make me feel more at home by sending me some mail (only 58 days 'til Christmas!) might want to write this down:

1414/257 Floor 9 (Tower B) Sukhumvit Plus
1414 Sukhumvit Road
Prakanong, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Thailand

Lunch with Tito

2008-10-11T12:25:00.005-04:00

On Friday I had lunch with Tito, a Chilean friend I rarely see. We met in 2005 in Havana when we were both on vacation there, but we haven't gotten together since then, since he's been in Santiago and I've been in Chengdu. He travels a lot, and we had a missed connection in 2006 when he actually visited Quebec and I had already left for China. So this past month he was travelling through Japan and Southeast Asia, and I got the chance to have lunch with him here in Bangkok, to meet Álvaro, his boyfriend, and they both got to meet Megan. We ate at Mai Kaidee's, a vegetarian restaurant in Bangkok with 3 locations and Thai-owned, but frequented almost exclusively by foreigners. Vegetarian food is vegetarian food, though. I'd give an exclusively vegetarian restaurant my custom even if the food was mediocre (and have) but at Mai Kaidee's it's delicious.
It was good to see Tito, good to finally meet Álvaro, and wonderful to have lunch with a friend, since Megan and I have been too busy job-and-apartment hunting to make any new friends yet.

News Flash: protests in Bangkok continue (to not affect me)

2008-10-07T01:04:00.007-04:00

Apparently the protests are continuing, although you wouldn't know it from where I'm sitting (in a hostel in kind of a quiet neighborhood by the river).

Still I thought I'd give a little update to those of you who, like me, like to feel like they can at least fake knowing what's up in the world.

News: Apparently, some tear gas was fired.
Then again, pepper spray was fired inside Concordia University to disperse rioters when Benjamin Netanyahu came to speak. It smelled bad, but I got out of there quickly through a corner stairwell. Take home message: pepper spray works on me, I guess.*

And here's your mini-briefing. The three most recent Prime Ministers of Thailand are:

Thaksin Shinawatra (unseated in 2006 coup. The PAD** don't like him.)
Samak Sundaravej (tied to Thaskin, the PAD don't like him.)
Somchai Wongsawat (related to Thaskin, guess what: the PAD don't like him.)

Now you're informed. Go be know-it-alls.

*Not that I was rioting, but take home message # 2 is that pepper spray doesn't discriminate, I'm pretty sure.
**People's Alliance for Democracy. Google it.

Bangkok: some more protests

2008-10-06T10:18:00.007-04:00

Background: There were widespread anti-government protests in Bangkok before I arrived. At one point a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency. All that was over about a week before I arrived, however.

Anyway, applying to an English school today, I picked up a newspaper and saw that negotiations between the PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy) and the Thai government had broken down, because two senior PAD leaders have been arrested. Taking the 72 bus back to the hostel tonight, I saw a protest happening on the royal plaza. (Outside the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, to be more specific.) A protest complete with riot cops. Peaceful, though. The riot cops weren't doing anything - they were just there. I assume it was PAD protesters, because that's what I expected given today's news, and because they had the same yellow headbands I saw on the news before coming to Thailand. But really, I don't know, do I? So, uh, I guess I'll keep an eye on that while I'm here. Updates to follow if this affects my life in any way. Otherwise, you can just read the paper like everyone else, I suppose.

News Articles:

Elections in Bangkok: Metta Temchamnarn

2008-10-04T06:57:00.006-04:00

It's election time for the governor of Bangkok.*
I was in the fairly quiet neighborhood of my hostel (Thewet) eating some fried corn balls on the street the other day when I got my hand shook by candidate #3: Metta Temchamnarn. He wasn't dressed in all those military whites up above, though. He was pretty much exactly as he looks in the bottom-right corner, complete with scarf, cap, and jazzman shades. The jazzman shades alone are almost enough to make me wish I could vote for him. Also wearing jazzman shades was his M.C., chatting up the passers-by, just hanging out the passenger side of the campaign ride, tryin to holla at me. For all I know, every candidate has an M.C. riding shotgun in their truck, but I seriously doubt that they're as cool as this one. His man is also clearly getting blessed by some kind of fairies (see above), and has a dragon over his shoulder where cartoon characters usually have the good angel whispering advice. So again, clearly, he's the candidate who gets advice from a dragon**. (Sweet). Unfortunately, after reading up a little on the elections in the Bangkok Post, it turns out that, sadly, he's still a minor candidate. I just don't get it. What's not to like?

*Bangkok Special Administrative Area has a governor, not a mayor. I know it's hard to accept, but apparently that's just how they roll around here.
**And a phoenix?

Bangkok, Thailand (day 7)

2008-10-01T06:44:00.011-04:00

China is over for now. I miss it, and, I'll be back, and I'm still practicing my Chinese when I need to procrastinate on something, but there's no use hiding the fact: I've moved to Thailand. It's not much more than a puddle jump over Laos, really.
The earthquake happened in Chengdu. You'll remember me posting news about that. Then a summer vacation to XinJiang (see below). But after that: nothing. Under your radar, here's what I did:

-Left China (Got out just before the Olympics.)
-Visited my family in Montreal (also: Alexia, Brendan, Stephs)
-Went to Family Camp (...totally rocks; totally rules. Let's get serious.)
-Visited Laura in Brooklyn (late summer and culinary delights.)
-Visited Santa Barbara (my first time to California. There were dolphins!)
-Moved to Bangkok.

Now I'll be posting from Bangkok. If you know any super-useful Thai phrases, please let me know in the comments. I have some books, but I'm way behind the curve on actually studying them, since I also have "find a job" and "find an apartment" on my short term to-do list. For the moment, I'm in the Sawatdee Guesthouse on Si Ayutthaya at 400 baht/night. I'll let you know how things proceed.

Back in XinJiang on Vacation

2008-07-21T07:16:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone, I'm in XinJiang again. The last time I was here was 2006, around this same time of year. I've taken a vacation from work down in Chengdu and I couldn't be happier to have done it. XinJiang is really pretty paradisaical in the summer. It's cold, and I'm sure beautiful in its arctic way (much like my own Montreal) in the winter, but in the summer it's all blue skies, hot deserts, vineyard oases, tall mountains, clear blue lakes, pine forests, tall minarets, dusty clay mosques, gleaming white mosques, sweet grapes, squashed-looking peaches and everyone speaking all sorts of languages you've never heard before like Uyghur and Kazakh and Mongolian. And a lot of Chinese, as always. The Chinese isn't what I'm here for, though, I get enough of that and love it back in Chengdu.

Here's an excerpt of an e-mail I just wrote to my mom, and then forwarded to the rest of my family because I figured it was a nice 'n' concise little update.
====

I'm in Turpan, a major grape-growing city in XinJiang, about 3 hours from the capital, Urumqi (Oo-room-chee). We spent the last 3 days at Tian Chi (Tee-en Chur) - Sky Pool, a high mountain lake north of Urumqi. We stayed in a yurt with a group of Kazakh families who run a little extra-rustic bed and breakfast type operation up there. Kazakh as in Kazakhstan, although they live in China, of course. I learned a few words of Kazakh, but that's it. Anyway, the mountains were beautiful. Megan and her parents said it reminded them a little of the Sierras in California. It was all open meadows and lines of pine trees running up and down the steep slopes. Lots of eagles and hawks. We saw some ibex too (ibexes?).
Now, in Turpan, I'm going to try to learn a little more Uyghur (wee-ger). I'm at 4 phrases so far. Unfortunately I lost my only Uyghur textbook over a month ago in ChongQing, just after I'd cracked it open to try to get a head start on the language for my trip up here.

P.S. A lot of people translate Tian Chi (天池) as "Heavenly Lake", but I think that's lame. I stand by "Sky Pool".

Disaster Intermission: Manicure

2008-05-28T12:42:00.002-04:00

While I did volunteer and I did mourn and just couldn't have done otherwise than to take the last two weeks' events very seriously, I did engage in at least* one irreverent activity, which was to go get my nails painted with Megan (American) and Shirley and June (Chinese), three coworkers of mine. I've never had a manicure anywhere else, so I can't compare and contrast for you, but it was fun. Megan and June got plain old clear polish, Shirley went for bright red and I asked for rainbow. I had some discussion with the ladies working there about what exactly I meant, and in the end there was still confusion, because they gave me stripes and I had wanted solid colours. Oh well. They gave me the extra stripes underneath each main one as an afterthought, really. Next time I'll be more clear. For the moment, I'm fashion** enough for me.

*Uh, at very least

**fash·ion /ˈfæʃən/
-adjective [origin: Chinese English (Chinglish)]
1. Fashionable, stylish, attractive, in referring to clothes, accessories or the people wearing them.: Your new shirt, I think very fashion!

Aftershocks fizzle

2008-05-22T22:21:00.003-04:00

There was a panic of sorts on Monday night because the provincial Seismological Bureau (rightly) issued a warning about expected strong aftershocks in the quake zone. That night I got call after call and text message after text message from worried Chinese friends (and one French friend) saying that I should sleep outside. I didn't. I was a little worried about it, though, since these were trustworthy friends telling me that it wasn't a rumor and they had heard it themselves on the news, repeatedly.
Anyway, they weren't lying, but they were wrong. The next day the Seismological Bureau had to issue a clarification to the people of Chengdu saying, once and for all "Chengdu is not in 'the quake zone'. Stay in your homes."

Anyway, I'm fine. I did have a pretty cool dream that night though, about the building swaying back and forth like one of those ducks or horses in playgrounds that are each on a really huge stiff spring, that then kids get on and rock back and forth. A lot of people are still sleeping outside. Far from a majority, I should say, but a lot. Tents are still up on almost every available patch of grass or empty lot in the city. There's really no more danger, so my theory is that since the weather's so beautiful, they just decided that since it was so fun sleeping outside, and they took so long setting up a little tent complex with tarps and mattresses and all, why not a few nights more?

From the Chengdu International Women's Club:
In an interview this morning on Sichuan television, an official of the
prediction office of the Sichuan Seismological Bureau said that the
warning last night was for the central earthquake zone and that
Chengdu does not lie in the aftershock danger zone. Any aftershock
that reaches Chengdu will be much weaker than the original quake.
Chengdu people, long as they are not living in a weak structure, have
nothing to worry about, said the seismologist. In fact people running
out in the streets might be hit by something that fell off a building,
he said. He showed a map of the aftershocks, adding that 4000
aftershocks have been detected since the May 12 quake. The map shown
on TV of the May 12 and aftershocks lie in a rectangular box running
from the southwest to the northeast with a centerline just west of the
western margin of the Chengdu plain. A similar map is on the USGS
website earthquake.usgs.gov at http://tinyurl.com/5loy9c

Volunteering at the airport

2008-05-19T00:48:00.014-04:00

Donate to earthquake relief here: http://donate.ifrc.org/

On Saturday I went with Megan, Shirley (a Chinese coworker) and 闫小红, an ex-military friend of Shirley's, to volunteer in disaster relief. This isn't something special, by the way. Everyone in the city seems to want to volunteer. Of course, what the humanitarian agencies really want are volunteers with medical training, engineering expertise, or search and rescue experience. The high schools haven't resumed classes either, so a lot of older kids are volunteering to do whatever civilian work needs to be done. Anyway, 闫小红 being a former soldier, he took us to the airport, where Shirley knew there was help needed, and ask a police officer to drive us to the site, which he did cheerfully. We spent the rest of the day at a cargo bay, where we and a couple of hundred other volunteers were needed unloading incoming relief supplies shipments and packing them onto trucks bound for Wenchuan, Beichuan, Deyang, Dujiangyan, or other hard-hit towns.
It seemed as organized as you might expect, although we still ended up spending a lot of time waiting around between shipments. It was amazing to see the planes coming in close to us and know that many of them were loaded with supplies sent from all over China. Most of it was medicine, medical supplies and water, although one train of pallets was full of hurricane lanterns. Everyone was clearly happy to be helping, happy to be doing something small but concrete, making human conveyor belts just to get everything sent on its way as soon as possible. Together with the labels on the boxes showing they'd been sent with love from Tianjin or Shenzhen or Beijing (faraway cities) it all gave a really strong sense of solidarity and selflessness.

Saturday. Donate here: http://donate.ifrc.org/

2008-05-18T14:32:00.009-04:00

Friday I went for a walk around town to go get some work done at an ice cream shop. Down on Hong Xing (Red Star) 红星 road in the Chunxilu 春熙路 shopping district there were volunteers collecting for the Red Cross 红十字会 and loading donated supplies onto trucks destined for the disaster zone. Everyone here, in the province, in the country, seems to have been pulling together really well. That includes the government, by the way. No haters. They've been really on the ball and are clearly making concerted efforts, maybe as much as could be expected of any government, to get help to those who need it and information out to the rest of us.
There's been a wonderful sense of community in the city since the earthquake. It started with everyone just sending text messages to everyone else (calls weren't going through) asking if they were ok, their familes, if they had a place to sleep, etc. and it's continued since then. The blood banks filled in two or three days, because people from here to Beijing were lining up to donate. There have been lots of other little closenesses too, like seeing friends again for the first time, volunteering together, being glad we're alive together. It's nice. The whole city feels very homey (and safe).

By the way, injured and homeless survivors are being brought here to Chengdu and Mianyang for treatment and shelter. If you can, please donate something to the Red Cross http://donate.ifrc.org/

Friday Aftershock

2008-05-16T01:45:00.008-04:00

It's Friday afternoon in Chengdu now, the earthquake was Monday afternoon. So almost exactly 4 days later, we just got hit with another aftershock. It lasted maybe 15 seconds and it was small. Quite small but clear, and it probably felt stronger up here on the 17th floor. I really can't imagine this fairly new 19-storey apartment high-rise tumbling down now because it swayed a couple of inches, but it is a little stressful to still be feeling aftershocks days later.
Now be aware that I don't know anything about plate tectonics, but it's still worrisome to think that the aftershocks we feel here must be quite a bit stronger 62 miles away in Wenchuan 汶川, at the epicentre. I had thought that everybody was sleeping back inside by now, since the masses of people crowding out the streets and sidewalks on Monday night have long since dispersed. In talking with friends the past two days, however, it seems there's still a significant number of people here in the city (including a few of my friends) sleeping on sports fields and in the amusement park for fear of strong aftershocks.

Rumours and lies (earthquake)

2008-05-14T09:07:00.003-04:00

Ok everybody, don't listen to a thing I say! I'm just spreading rumours, that's all. There is NO water shortage expected. Everyone did go and stock up like I said, and the stores were empty of water bottles and such, that's all true. The original water-shortage scare, however, was based on faulty information.
The real story, from the same Chinese friend who gave me the original story, is (appaaaaarently) this:
There was no chemical plant explosion that contaminated the water supply. There was a fire in a plastics factory, and people were worried that it might cause contamination, but that was ruled out as a possibility. Not ruled out quickly enough to stop the rumor mill, though, it seems.

Anyway, my apartment now has 12 bottles of grapefruit juice, 13 bottles of sweet jasmine tea, 6 packets of wet wipes (for water-free hygiene) and every available watertight container, including the blender, filled with tap water for the long and hard and , uh, arduous... uh... yeah, there's no water shortage. Everything's still fine. Goodnight.

(P.S.: Not everyone's ok. Still send money to the Red Cross.)

Wednesday Earthquake Update

2008-05-14T02:41:00.006-04:00

The most recent news from my apartment here in Chengdu is the water should be going off sometime today for an indefinite period of time. I heard beforehand from two of my Chinese friends (who get a lot more news through the text message chain than me) that we should go stock up on water because it had been announced on television that a chemical plant exploded today (hearsay) and that that might cause water shortages in the next few days. Then it was announced outside my building. I have to admit, I didn't understand most of the message, though. It was garbled through a megaphone, my Chinese is still poor, and I was 17 floors up, but they said something about water. So there.
I went and dutifully stocked up, but the stores were already sold out of drinking water, so people were just buying drink boxes, Pepsi, milk, whatever they liked and was available. I went for bottles of sweet jasmine tea and grapefruit juice.
It's a beautiful sunny day. The water is still on, for now. I feel stocked up and calm - happy, really. Rescue efforts are continuing in the nearby counties. If you want to help (not me, obviously, the people in Beichuan 北川 and Wenchuan 汶川 counties) you should donate to the Red Cross, as they're the NGO leading the aid charge for the moment.

Love,
Matthew

Earthquake update 2

2008-05-12T12:38:00.004-04:00

Ok, a further update on the aftermath of the earthquake this afternoon. At 2:28 it was big and very shaky up on the 8th floor in my office. The news says it was a 7.8. Some people ran for the stairs, many of us stood around shaking in the lobby area until the floor stopped moving (mostly), then made our way down the stairs. A lot of plaster had fallen, and there were some crack in the walls, mostly on the inside, though a few were visible on the exterior. The streets, unsurprisingly, were filled with people. We then saw that a man and a woman were stuck in the glass elevator up on the 4th floor. The man was waving at us and the woman was kneeling down and crying. Fortunately some employee managed to get the power to the elevator back on and they came down and out safely. Everybody I've been able to check in with is fine. Some people are spending the night camped out on the street, but boredom and fatigue got the better of me pretty quickly and so I went home and walked up the 17 flights of stairs to my apartment. The elevator, unsurprisingly, is still shut down. Water and electricity are on in my building, I'm happy to say, after being off for only a few hours. So I feel very blessed. Reading the news, you'll see that it's difficult to feel like some people have been blessed by this. I was happy to see a few minutes ago, though, that the hospital next to my apartment has the lights back on and patients and doctors are visible through the windows. At around 9pm the windows were still black and that didn't seem to bode well.
I'm going to bed now. I expect that things will be calm tomorrow and I'll have no need to update you for a while. Love to all of you.
Matthew

Earthquake

2008-05-12T08:08:00.003-04:00

I'm ok! There was a big earthquake in Chengdu, but I'm fine, although that doesn't go for everyone in the city. Most people in the city are still out on the streets, but the power is back on, and I've made my way home and ventured inside to send some updates. I plan on sleeping inside tonight, too. I figure if the building hasn't fallen yet...
Seriously, though. No buildings have fallen.

Anyway, I'm fine, so for those of you to whom it might have occurred to worry: don't.
Lots of love,
Matthew

News Flash: Thailand

2008-02-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

I've left the cold Chengdu winter temporarily to take a month's vacation in Thailand, where I'll be finding out whether real Thai ice teas are as delicious as New Haven Thai ice teas. I had one last night and it was ...only average. But I'm here for a month, so I'm withholding judgement for now.

I've also bought a number of learning Thai books, and that'll be a project to see how much Thai I can learn in a month. Readysetgo. The alphabet isn't easy, but then, it's no Chinese, either. This is day two and I'm floundering pitifully, but give me a break, I haven't even finished learning the alphabet.

So far Bangkok is beautiful, multicultural, civilized, hip (read that however you want, it'll probably still be true), fascinating and relatively clean, nothing to do with the backpackers' ghetto and cesspool of sex tourism we've all heard about. I mean, it IS the former, and I assume it's the latter also, but it's clearly so many other things too that I'm loving it much more than I thought I would.

The Bath House Video

2008-01-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

Drew, Megan, Steph and I went to a bath house in town that has a number of different seaweed baths and hot baths and cold baths and oil massages and foot massages, etc. They're all sex-segregated, so Drew and I soaked in the men's baths and Megan and Steph in the women's. This is us afterwards in our house-issued pyjamas eating the free midnight buffet. We're talking about the best way to cool down a glass of hot water. They only served hot water and we were all still steamy and red from the baths and not in the mood for it, so Drew asked the waitress for some ice (it was a much more complicated process than it sounds, trust me).

Steph was visiting from Montreal. I have some pictures of her visit up on Flickr.

Walking home by the river

2008-01-28T14:39:00.000-05:00

I just got back to my apartment on Jianshebei Street. It's 3:30 in the morning. I watched the movie Philadelphia at Drew and Megan's apartment on the 17th floor and then walked home alone along the river, which was very still and very dark. The picture on the right shows a portion of the river at night, but all those lights go off at around one o'clock, and the riverside road becomes dark and very peaceful. I sang some some hyms and camp songs and some kid's songs and then just walked in silence. It's a cold winter in Chengdu, the coldest in 10 years, one friend told me. Tonight, however, was a good night for walking. The air was dry and so it didn't seem to cut through like usual, and the occasional quiet water sounds from the dark river made it feel like spring. That portion of the river is bordered by overhanging willows which keep their leaves all winter, and they make it feel very cozy and very tranquil.

Consular services/Not going to Vietnam?

2008-01-21T03:23:00.000-05:00

Sad news, sad news, come to where I sleep, turn, turn, turn again...
Vietnam may be a no-go. The Canadian Consulate in ChongQing were very responsive and sympathetic, but unfortunately they didn't have any good news for me.
=====
Mr. Vaughan,

Since January 2006, all Canadian passports are printed in Canada, and the processing time is 15 working days. Therefore, you may get your passport in 4 weeks including posting time.

Once the new passport has been issued, the old passport will be returned to you with one corner cut. The visa on the old passport will remain valid. You must use both passports together until the visa expires.

Regards,
Canadian Consulate in Chongqing
Suite 1705, Metropolitan Tower
Wu Yi Rd, Yu Zhong District 400010
Chongqing, China
86-23-6373-8007
=====
For more on Canadian passport renewal in China: http://geo.international.gc.ca/asia/china/consular/beijing/passport-services-en.asp

My passport's out of pages

2008-01-20T02:26:00.000-05:00

Spring Festival (春节) is almost here in China, and I plan on travelling back to Vietnam (where they call it Tet, instead of 春节). Problem though: my passport is out of pages, and I don't have much time left. Here's the e-mail I just wrote to the nearest Canadian consulate, in Chongqing (重庆). I'll let you know how it turns out (or if you're travelling too, and looking for advice, just e-mail me).
=====
Hello.
My name's Matthew Vaughan, I'm a Canadian citizen, 27, living
temporarily in China (Chengdu) on a 1-year Z visa.
I plan on travelling abroad during Spring Festival, but have just
realized that I have only one remaining blank page in my passport, and
that won't be enough for the required exit-entry stamps.

I know you can't add pages to a passport anymore, so I'd like to know
what the quickest option is for renewing my passport. I can travel to
ChongQing in person in these next few days if necessary. Also, my visa
was just renewed by the PSB this week. If I renew my passport, can the
Chinese visa be switched over, or will it be invalidated along with my
current passport?

Thanks in advance for your advice,

Matthew Vaughan
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
=====

Birthday dinner

2008-01-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

It was my birthday a couple of days ago, and Mark, Megan and Judy took me out for dinner along with our kung fu tutor, Sherry. Although... perhaps I should back up a little here to get you situated.

1. I've been taking beginner kung fu lessons along with Megan, Mark, Drew and Judy.
2. Megan, Mark, Drew and Judy are friends. All English-speaking foreigners (Mark and Judy of Chinese descent). All lovely people.
3. All but Drew appear in my recent video of my Christmas eve dinner party. Drew was over in Chong Qing playing a show with local rockers Proximity Butterfly.

There, now you're caught up. So they took me out to a sumptuous dinner at a place called "Vegetarian Lifestyle" (just the way I like my lifestyles) and gave me a number of sweet gifts, not least of which was an electric blanket! These past two nights have been CO-ZY. Cozy. Electric blankets are the cat's pyjamas (and ironically, allow me to finally ease up on the layers of pyjamas I've been donning every night). Sherry gave me a fan from her hometown in Henan province which I have yet to decipher but which depicts an apparently well-known scene in Chinese history. Afterwards we went roller skating. Roller skating! That was also the cat's pyjamas, pretty much. Sadly, no pictures. But oh, the memories (all alone in the moonlight).
Good night all you sports fans. It's electric blanket time again for me.