Sri Lanka 2 (Train Ride)

The amazing train ride from Colombo to Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka 3 (got to Kandy)

Took the first train leaving out of Colombo, which happened to be to Kandy. Unexpected, but I'm glad I went.

Arriving in Sri Lanka

Mor Lum Dancing (Paradise Bangkok)

This happened in February at a club called Sonic on Soi Ekkamai in Bkk. Mor Lum is a style of music from Laos (the country) and Isaan, which you could say is culturally Lao. The band playing is a reunited mor lum band that apparently had a lot of success in the 70's. I wasn't in Thailand (or, uh, born) at the time. I wouldn't really call it a mor lum dance party though, since, while there WAS a lot of dancing going on, most of the crowd didn't really know how to do any mor lum dancing per se. It was a lot of Thai Bangkok hipsters and farangs, hipster or otherwise. That's the kind of venue it is. That the farangs would be out of their element is obvious, but there's also a pretty big cultural gulf between your upcountry Isaan cool kid and your urban (part-time graphic designer) Bangkok hipster kid. The woman on stage, however, was a different story. Watch her go. You'll learn something.

Performers: "Wong Dontri Molam Theppabutr" (8 piece molam band from Isaan/Northeast Thailand)

Featuring Saksiam Petchchompu, Pimjai Petchplachai and Chamnapa Petchplachai

From Paradise Bangkok's promotional material:

"To celebrate Paradise Bangkok third anniversary, Zudrangma Records H.Q. is proud to present the original king of the raw country molam band formed in 1973, 'Wong Dontri Molam Theppabut' have recorded with dozens of key luk thung isan and molam artists such as Dao Bandon, Saksiam Petchchompu, Thepporn Petchubon, Banyen Rakkan as well as on countless productions by molam pioneer Theppabutr Satirodchompu. This will be an exclusive one-off show of raw, authentic molam live and direct from the North East. They will be joined by Sombut Chimla, the king of experimental khaen, Kummao Perdtanon the original phin player of Theppabutr band and the Isan legendary vocalists Saksiam Petchchompu together with the molam duo Pimjai Petchplachai and Chamnapa Petchplachai."

Morning Noodles in Phra Khanong

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

Canada Visit, October 2011: Tree Climbing in TO

I visited home in October, which usually means Montreal. This year, though, I have a brother and a good friend (Montreal transplant) living in Toronto, so I flew in to Toronto to catch some time with those two, and then bused it to Montreal for the rest of my visit. And how did we spend our time in Toronto? Climbing a tree. Also playing a game called "Miniature Tanks", which is a-mazing, where you get down curled up on elbows and knees (on grass, preferably) and then pretend you're a tank and basically play bumper cars.

September Update from Bangkok

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

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