Weather clearing for a while

The rainy season started early this year in Bangkok. Today marked the first evening I could see a glimps of a sunset.

Tomorrow it is back to Bai Pai Thai Cooking School for 2 more classes.

Thai Cooking Class

Today I returned to Bai Pai Thai Cooking School in an effort to receive my diploma. There are 7 classes and I was here for my 2nd class. Tomorrow I will take 2 classes and complete the last three hopefully next week.

One nice thing about these classes is that I meet a lot of people from a variety of locations. Today for example there was (l-r)Johnathan from Kuala Lampur Malaysia, David from Brisbane Australia, and Evan from Cork Ireland. More people joined who came from Australia, Denmark and Gabby, a young "Broadway" style performer who was from California but now lives in the Philippines.

Bai Pai is one of the best schools in Thailand. It has been featured on a few TV Food shows and I really enjoy how they manage the lessons. The teachers prepares each dish, they we have our turn at it with pre-measured ingredients.









Today's lesson started off with Yellow Curry Paste. We then proceeded to make Kra Tong Thong (Golden Cup). These are little pastry cups are then filled with stir fried veggies. This style is known as "Royal Thai" food. You don't find this on the street. I need to purchase one of the molds so I can make this at home. The cups are made from a batter of rice flour, wheat flour, corn flour, eggs, sugar, salt and palm oil. The veggies were all fresh (carrots, sweet corn, peas, onions), but you can use frozen mixed veggies as well. And we all said these little cups can be used to hold pudding or other types of deserts.












Next we made Yam Woon Sen which is a glass noodle (mung bean) salad with mushrooms, pork (chicken can be substituted) and Prawns.









This was followed by Nuea Pad Prik (Beef and Chili). Note, the Chili are not hot. They are large red and green sweet chili.









And we finished the course with Gang Ka-Ree Gai (Yellow Curry Chicken). This dish has a strong Coconut milk/cream texture. To cut that down a bit, the recipe calls for a dipping sauce which you can see sitting upper right of the main plate. It is a mixture of water, vinegar, sugar, cucumber, shallot and Jalapeno chilies. One adds the Yellow Curry Chicken over the rice then pours a small amount of the dipping sauce over it all. To date, this was the most interesting Thai taste I have ever experienced. The curry with the dipping sauce didn't at first seem appealing. But it was awesome.



This was the mildest of all the Thai dishes I've learned to prepare. Of course, one can always add the Thai Chilies later.

I found the Scale

Much to my fear, I found there is indeed a Scale in my apartment. Was it hiding from me?

Had my 6 weeks back in the US put fear into its heart?

I'm so happy to say my weight is LESS now than when I left Bangkok in March.

So my Scale and I are friends once again.

Total loss since January is 10 Kilo.

I must be sick and don't know it - or else Thai Food is the "New Diet" !!

A first - I was hit by a car

Ok, now that I have your attention... no I was not knocked to the ground but it did scare me and made me think about how dangerous it is to walk the sidewalks of Bangkok (see previous postings). The rainy season started early this year. Usually it does not begin until June. But it is here now. This just adds to the difficulty because Bangkok is below sea level. Walking the sidewalks of Bangkok is a challenge, but where there are streams of water running on the sidewalks (which are built extra high due to floods) and streams running in the streets one has even less options where to place their next step.

Food vendors line both sides of the sidewalk, and motorcycles ride up the middle so often times people have to step into the street to proceed their way. And that is what I did. I looked both ways before stepping onto a dry part of the street to navigate past a food cart. Next thing I know my right arm is swinging up in the air. A side mirror of a fast moving car caught me. I had little time to think. I know the driver heard this hit. I could from the outside of the car. Had I the presence of mind I would have pounded the side of the car once I gained control again.

It took me off balance but I didn't fall, nor is there a bruise. But a shock. Pedestrians do not necessary have the same right of way as they do in the states. Well, they may, but the drivers don't always care.

The gentle Thai nature goes out the window when they get behind the wheel.

1:45 AM Saturday and I'm wide awake. I hate this part of the trip. Timezone adjustment. Oh well. I can always practice my Thai. And today marks the begining of my Thai Cooking Classes at BaiPai Thai Cooking School. I hope to complete all courses and return with a Certificate suitable for framing.

Star Trek comes to Bangkok - not in theaters (yet) but is on the street.

That's right. For 100 THB (Thai Baht) which is currently $2.89, I purchased the new Star Trek Movie (DVD). It cost me an extra $1.25 to take the Skytrain up a couple of stations where the "Movie Vendors" are located. I think all in all I did pretty well.

BTW: Great movie!

New Apartment - no more waterboarding

Blink and I'm back at Oakwood Residence,

Sukhumvit 24 Bangkok.

This time I have "a view". My apartment is located on the top floor (8). You can see my windows just to the right of the Oakwood logo on the building.

It is smaller in size than the last apartment, but it has "a view" and that is good. I get more sun into my life and that keeps me a bit happier.

It has all the same furnishings but on a smaller scale. That's ok, I've lost weight and don't need as much room as before.

The kitchen has a better sink filter - something like I'm used to back home. Remember there are no garbage disposals in Bangkok, so having a good sink filter helps a lot if one wishes to cook. Which reminds me I intend to take the remaining 6 courses at BaiPai Thai Cooking School - and get my certification ! Yea... watch out Iron Chef.

There is even a nifty little cabinet at the entrance to keep shoes.

The bedroom AC unit is opposite the bed. So no chance of getting wet. However I sleep with cold air blowing straight at my face. Water or cold air? I'll take the air

The "Office Desk" is also in the bedroom. And I have to walk between the TV and the bed right in front of cold blowing air. Not bad after a walk from the office. But rough coming out of the shower.

The bathroom is close to the same as before. But this time there is a tub with the shower, both behind a glass wall.

And there is no scale - I like that !

And there is the "Iron Maiden" Washer/Dryer unit that takes 5 hrs to process 1 pair of socks.

Oh yea, THE VIEW. Taken from the Bedroom window. The last pic shows the entrace to Oakwood, where I took the first pictures showing the building and my apartment.

New Business Class Configuration - United Airlines

United Airlines is upgrading the accommodations in their fleet. During my last trip in January on the way to Bangkok, I upgraded to 1st class. I had the opportunity to see the new configuration. When I took a walk during the flight (can't sit too long), I passed by the Business Class section. I really didn't see that great a difference.

This trip I was afforded the new Business Class configuration on the leg between Japan and Thailand (6-hrs). One again, thanks to my travel agent, I was in the upstairs bubble of the 747. The seats are a little closer together than the old configuraqtion, but they recline to a full 180 degrees, so I was able to get some sleep (something I don't normally do on airplanes).

Aside from loosing some elbow room the 15" monitors didn't afford privacy as they do in 1st class. Fortunately there was no one in the seat next to me. But had their been I would have been able to watch what they were watching in addition to watching my own program.

The two attendants on this flight were incredible. I have never had such good service from a US company. They reminded me of the service one receives when flying on Thai Airlines and these two (Joy and Bill) were Americans based in Japan. I was so impressed I asked for their UA ID numbers so I could reference them by name on the United Airlines "on-line" survey.

I hope to see them on my return flight from Bangkok to Tokyo.

Layover in Japan

After passing the health inspection I made my way to the Business Class Lounge at the Narita (Tokyo) Airport, for a 1.5hr wait.

It is a bit more crowded than the 1st Class Lounge, but I find it more impressive.

Koi pond paintings on canvas, and rows of porcelain Sake pots make me feel like I'm in a museum.

Everywhere one looks there are expressions of Japanese art.

Including the Men's Room. I've mentioned before the pics of the Sumo Wrestlers that line the wall in the Men's Restroom.

After so many trips thu this airport, I was finally able to take a few pics using my Cell Phone camera.

Japan and Swine Flu

Somewhere over Alaska we were told that the Japanese Health Ministry requests all inbound flights from Pandemic Infected Countries (i.e. USA, Mexico etc.) be screened before anyone is allowed to depart the aircraft.

We were all given the form to fill out. We were told everyone had to fill out the form completely and correctly before any of us could deplane. I was walking around the plane thu economy section, for exercise when I heard the flight attendant tell someone "no I do not have a pen, that is not my responsibility". I thought to myself, 'so...I'm going to have to wait on this plane because this guy doesn't have a pen and United Airlines is too cheap to have pens onboard?" Then others said to the attendant, "we don't have pens either". She paid no attention. I reached in my pocket and gave the man my pen. It was one of my favorites. An American Century Investment pen given to me by my wife. I gave the man the pen saying, "keep it... its my investment for a quick exit". Would you believe about 2 hrs later the flight attendant came up stairs, found me and returned my pen. She said "they all say thank you for the pen." I thought should I touch this pen now? Who knows what I might catch? Funny how the mind works. I then felt Karma would be on my side and I would get off the plane quickly after landing. Not quite, but you'll see I passed the test.

We landed and everyone sat still. The Health Minster representative came on over the loud speaker and explained the process. We were told to close the window shaded and not to take any pictures. I obviously paid no attention to that last bit of info and captures these photos with my cell phone.

I was sitting upstairs just behind the cockpit. A troupe of Medics dressed in their surgical gowns, masks goggles gloves and shoe covers marched up the aisle in format "hut, hut, hut....." and stood behind the closed cockpit door. The door opened, and they inspected the crew. Then it was our turn. A man with what looked like an old Polaroid Camera pointed the device at each of our foreheads, working his way back and forth down the aisle. "This will be quick" we all thought.

Then came the man to check the form. The form had two sides written in rather poor English. It was difficult to determine if every question needed to be answered or if only some questions needed to be answered if you were going to stay in Japan. So everyone who was just passing through failed to put their next destination on the form. The man read each form and then for most had to write on the form our next destination.

Of course, he didn't have a clipboard, so he would have to walk back up to the front of the plane, place the form on the wall and write down every one's next destination. I caught on and wrote my next destination myself.

I received the coveted "all clear" yellow form that said I was 'not infected'.

60 minutes later we were allowed to leave the plane. I later found out that two people were ill, but not for reasons of Swine Flu. I also learned that if anyone did have symptoms, that person and that section of the plane would be placed in 10 day quarantine.

Needless to say I was glad to pass. But as I was walking down the stairs to the main level to exit the plane, I sneezed. Some people looked at me. I panicked fearing someone would yell out "who did that?" I lowered my head and quickly walked out of the plane.

Crossing the International Date Line

If you look in the map you'll see between Alaska and Russia a line marking the International Date Line. The line is a bit tricky. It extends between the North and South Polls rather straight until it needs to pass over land. For example, it extends east to include all of Russian, then back to a vertical alingment, then it extends west to include the Aleutian Islands that extend from Alaska, then it returns back to a vertical alignment with the polls. This continues as you follow the line. So in I crossed the line 3 times.


Our flight crossed at the western V just off the Aleutian Islands.



This is what it looked like - facing north towards Russia. Not very impressive, but you can say you "saw" the International Date Line.

On the way to Japan

My flight from Chicago to Tokyo is usually on a 747. United has its First Class in the nose of the plane and business class is divided between the main level and the upstairs.




My travel agent always gets me upstairs where it is less crowded.






I'm including these two pics of the standard Business Class because on the way from Tokyo to Bangkok, the plane was fitted with the new Business Class configuration and I wanted you to see the difference.

Made it to Chicago again

I was not looking forward to this trip - at least not the travel. 27 hrs from my front door to my apartment in Bangkok just seemed extra long this time. But fortunately the airports both KC and Chicago were quiet.

A few weeks ago while visiting my Grandchildren I saw a globe at their home. I showed the oldest, where Thailand is located. I remember being her age riding 8 hours to Dallas to visit my mother's relatives. That trip seemed so long. When I saw Europe on the map, I imagined how long it would take to drive there (I didn't know there wasn't a bridge across the atlantic). I had a concept of "space and time", but I was not sure if my Granddaughter grasped just how far away Thailand is from home. So I called her before leaving KC. I will call her when I arrive at my apartment in Bangkok. That will be a 20+ hour difference between the two calls. I hope that will give her a sense of distance.

Meanwhile I have about 45 more minutes to wait for my plane to leave Chicago for Japan. The Business Lounge is a ghost town. To make matters worse they TV Bar is showing a Bill Dance Fishing show. The only thing worse would be a Golf Show. The soft spoken announcer would put me in a coma.