Krabi Vacation

So, this past weekend we experienced some of the pleasures of Thailand's western coast along the Andaman Sea, staying at Le Passe-Temps, a boutique bungalow resort run by two French gentlemen, one of whom practices Taichi with Ellen here in Bangkok. They had a chance to practice together out in the surf our first evening there.



The bungalows are out in Ao Thalen, on the western outskirts of Krabi, are truly out of the way, surrounded by tropical trees and jungle foliage. A walk along the beach will find you surrounded on one side by thick mangrove trees, with the deep blue ocean on the other. During low tide, you can walk far out onto the flats, even wading out to the local weirs, if you are up to it.



Just down the road from Le Passe-Temps is a sea-kayak rental and tour company, where we took a breathtaking tour of the mangroves. A kayak or similar craft is required to get into the mangroves, you should go at high tide, and you'd better have a guide or you could easily get lost. The walls of the karst cliffs towered over us, providing views that you only ever see in movies and nature documentaries.



Dappled light falls down through the broad leaves of the mangroves and the towering limestone walls, upon which are inscribed enigmatic paintings from travelers long since past. Within various walls and crevices are stashed the remains of some of those travelers--the sea gypsies who would journey up and down the south-east Asian archipelago.



The trees themselves were teeming with life. From birds, to lizards, and monkeys deep in the mangroves. There are even gibbons, though they are usually too high up the cliff walls to see well. The monkeys--long-tailed macaques to be precise--will actually jump on the boats as they pass by, searching for food. Of course, that's better than the monkeys at our next adventure, where they will jump on you!



The macaques at the Tiger Cave Temple were quite brazen, jumping on people and doing whatever they could to get food, water, or just something shiny. With the steep steps up to the top of the mountain, you are always at eye level with one or more of them, though they do scatter if they see you act dominant. They have, however, learned that young Thai women are easy prey, and seem to figure most other women fall into the same category.



The thieving monkeys can hardly stop you from enjoying the view from the steep sides of the mountain, though. Unfortunately, I only made it up about 3/4 of the 1200+ steps before night began rapidly descending. Ellen had stopped even further below. I wouldn't mind trying it next time, just starting a little earlier. After all, here is the goal:



See the golden spire at the top? From the gray spire at the bottom to the gold stupa at the top--that's the goal. It is supposed to be an impressive view, especially at sunset.



The next day, we got up early. A walk across the flats really can bring you right up to those nets, as you can see here. The birds (I think they might be sea swiftlets--the ones that make the edible nests) also seemed to like to partake of these vantage points.



Walking along the beach, one of the dogs at the resort decided to follow us. Robert enjoys exploring the beach, and really seemed to enjoy digging for crabs.



Of course, once you find it...



...what do you do with it?



This really was a wonderfully relaxing vacation... the only problem is the stress of leaving it all and coming back home. Oh well. The coconuts, the oil palms, the rubber trees, and the mangroves--and everything that makes them their homes--will still be there when we return.

A note about voting!

So last night, Josh and I voted in the 2008 US Presidential Election. We were very pleased at how easy it was, actually-- a week or so ago, we each received an email with instructions on how to print and mail our absentee ballots! It was simply a matter of printing the ballot, filling it out, and wrapping it in the second "envelope" sheet of paper, which then had to be signed and dated and witnessed. Pop it in the APO mail, and voila! (Before leaving the US, we had filled out change-of-address forms and overseas voter applications...it's funny, I don't remember giving them my email address, but I guess I did!)

For some extra fun, the Democrats Abroad in Thailand have come out with a couple of Obama T-shirts: one says "Obama" in Thai letters, and the other says "Bangkok for Barack" in a very Thai (and red, white, and blue) style. Awesome!

Everyone else, remember to vote in November!

Long time no blog!

So once again we've failed to update for a while. We've certainly been busy! Josh has been traveling in Australia and New Zealand, where he got to cuddle a koala (the pictures are on our Flickr page) While he was gone, I met up with some Internet friends and enjoyed some of the activities surrounding the World Gourmet Fest in Bangkok (I need to put up a post about that).

Some of you may have seen in the news that the political situation in Thailand is heating up again: on Tuesday there were a number of clashes between anti-government protestors and the police, and a number of people were killed. Although we definitely want things to be settled, Josh and I are not in any danger-- the protests are confined to one small area of town near Government House, and that is unlikely to change.

More later!

Mad Science + Budo

Well, been traveling and I need to get some posts up (I know... I sound like a broken record) but I thought first I'd share a small project that took up much of the past three days.

First of all, I think many of you are aware that we have one room dedicated as our 'dojo' for budo, tai-chi, and general art projects.



Unfortunately it has been a little small for some practice, which I tend to take outdoors, including battodo. Besides needing space, however, battodo requires one more thing: cutting. While the focus should never be on cutting for cutting's sake, regular cutting practice is an essential part of the curriculum. But where to find material? Contrary to my initial thoughts, there aren't that many tatami in Bangkok. Nor do there appear to be many tatami repair shops. I could, perhaps, pay $120/tatami mat, but that's a little steep. Finally, I got a chance to head out to the local market.



This is what we found: 10 mats at about 120 Baht each--a little under $4/mat. Not too bad, but I suspect the overall cost will be more than using tatami omote. For one thing, these are more like beach mats, though thicker, but I still suspect it will take more than one to give a good target.

I also picked up one wide one.



It was made of the same material, including the colored weave. This is a problem in some mats, as the cheaper mats use a pretty hard plastic, but these mats appeared to just use colored straw.



Unfortunately, I had misgivings once I saw that it was about as wide as the others were long! And it really twisted, even when rolled as tightly as possible.



The shorter ones were more numerous. So I figured I would roll up a couple as doubles, a triple, and three singles. That way I could get a good feel for the mats. Unfortunately, they had the same problems. Though thicker than a typical 'beach mat', they have a loose weave and uneven fibres that makes it difficult to roll. I tried several different techniques, with little success. Hopefully the water they soak up will fill them out some and perhaps make them a little more substantial. I'm already missing my tatami omote.



I'd been saving rubber bands from the street vendors, but apparently our maid figured they were garbage, because I couldn't find any. Instead, I went with butcher's twine, which shouldn't significantly affect the cuts. Quite enthusiastic about the tests, I started them soaking as soon as possible.



It was about this time I realized I was in a dilemma. What was I going to cut them on? I could already see the potential problems of using a table corner, as most of the tables were under the roof on the lower level, meaning not enough room for a good swing.



I decided the best thing would be to go to the local version of Home Depot and see what I could find.



Turns out, HomePro is not really a Home Depot. No lumber at all. So much for a good 4x4 stand. But I did recall that in Japan they had used some kind of pipe. Hmmm... maybe if I grabbed some PVC pipe bits I could build what I needed, but how?



This pole might work. I just stand it up like this... might have to cut it down a bit later. But just stand it up. Carefully... then let go...



Okay, so we're going to need something to keep the pole from falling over. Let's see what we have here.



Several different T-joints, huh? Maybe I could throw something together.



Yes, I think I could do something with these. I just need to figure out what. These definitely have potential.



Not quite what I had in mind.



You're getting closer.



That's what I'm talking about!



First, saw off a few pieces of the pipe to connect them. Not too big, just enough to help hold them together.



Time to get dirty! I can't really read the warning labels on this glue, as it is all in Thai, so I figure I'll take some precautions.



Here's the finished base. By my calculations, I should be able to put four poles as 'legs' and one central pole as the stand. BTW, if you are wondering about why everything is blue? Because it was thicker and heavier than the white PVC pipe. I figured that a certain amount of mass would be helpful.

But what about the peg? I didn't find any dowels at HomePro, but we did have a thin piece of pipe lying around.



A little bit of sawing to add a good angle, as well as a 1" to 1/2" pipe connector and voila!



The great part is that, except for the base, everything can come apart. That means if I want an iai stand, all I need to do is replace the long, central pole with a shorter pole. Of course, blue isn't my favorite color, but what the heck.



Here are all the pieces laid out, ready to be assembled.



Put it all together and see what you get! It is a little taller than I'm used to, but the mats are also a bit shorter. Besides, it feels nice to not have to reach down to cut. Still, I'll eventually want to get precise dimensions to make a stand at the exact height that the Kakuseikai uses so that I can practice with what I'll be using in Japan.



Claude would like to take this opportunity to remind all the would-be sammyrai out there that nobody should attempt to cut without appropriate training and safety precautions. Do not try this at home!



Mats soaked, and with the rain stopped, it was time to go downstairs to try the stand. Spiking the mats was a bit difficult, but not because of the stand. The mats were just too floppy. Once on the peg, they generally stayed put.



Cutting the short mats was definitely easier than tatami omote. At least two mats were required to give the same feeling as one piece of goza or omote. Also, even though they were 'new', these mats came pre-dirtied. I tried to wash them off as well soak them, but it still felt as though there might be some grime in the weave. Furthermore, I think there is some plastic being using ind the overall structure. Still, the cuts seemed good. I may just want to forego using a Nihonto on these mats any time soon.



Oh, and as I rather thought, the tall mat really didn't work too well. Too soft, and not enough mass to really support itself. It wouldn't go on the peg until it was cut down to size.



After that it cut more easily than certain commercial wara I've tried. Even bad cuts went through effortlessly, while the shorter double did a fairly decent job of showing me where my angle was off on my blade, and wouldn't let me get away with a truly awful cut.

In the end, it looks like I've found something to cut, even if it isn't the best. Hopefully I'll be able to keep in practice for Japan. Still need to find other people to practice with, of course.

Hope this has been enjoyable. Next time I'll try to tell you about the Taj Mahal. See:

The Royal Anthem

Not much has been happening here recently...a lot of rain (it IS the rainy season, after all) and hanging out at home. We need to post some info about our recent trips to Singapore and to the beach here in Thailand (Cha-Am, about 80 miles southwest of Bangkok)-- the pictures are up on our Flickr page, if you want to look at them!

One thing I did do today was walk the block-and-a-half over to Bumrungrad Hospital, for the 2008 "Living in Thailand" Fair. This is an annual event geared to expatriates living here, at which exhibitors from clubs, schools, companies, restaurants, etc. all set up booths and stand ready to ply you with flyers and free gifts. It's like a trade fair, only where the trade is being a foreigner. Fun!

(Plus, it serves as advertising for the hospital. I believe I've posted about this before, but all of the major private hospitals actively market themselves much more like five-star hotels or even getaway destinations rather than a place solely for fixing what ails you! We got a brochure in the mail inviting us to join Bumrungrad's "Healthy Living Club", which gets us discounts on inpatient rooms, medical supplies and lab tests, and health screenings, not to mention items at the hospital gift shops and meals at the numerous restaurants. Yes, I said restaurants: we have actually gone over there to eat dinner on a couple of occasions! It's a bit out of the Twilight Zone...)

Anyway, one of the events as part of the fair today was a series of performances by various music groups, including the Bangkok Music Society choir and the Orpheus Choir (which, I believe, serves as the chorus for the Bangkok Opera). Directing these was Somtow Sucharitkul, who I have mentioned before on this blog: he's the artistic director of the Bangkok Opera and a prolific composer AND sci-fi/horror writer. (I got to meet him, which was fun!)

Which brings me (finally) to the title of this post: one of the pieces that all the choirs performed was a new arrangement of the Thai Royal Anthem by Somtow. You can see a recorded performance of it (from another event) here. This is the King's anthem, and it's played before all performances, including movie showings...so we have heard it a lot, probably more than the actual Thai National Anthem, which is played at 8 AM and 6 PM daily on public intercom systems, radio stations, and many TV channels (I guess we just aren't tuned in at the right times for it). That's fine by me, because I think the Royal Anthem is a very nice piece of music- Josh and I find ourselves humming it in unison on random occasions!

(If you're interested, here's the Thai text and English translation for the Royal Anthem.)

Thai protests-- a note

Some of you may have seen news about the protests here in Thailand over the past several days. I wanted to assure everyone reading this blog that we are fine, and not in any kind of danger from this.

Thailand is going through an interesting time right now politically, centering on the figure of the former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra-- he was the one deposed by the military coup in 2006, and he has now fled back to asylum in Britain to escape arrest. The People's Alliance for Democracy, the organization currently occupying Government House, is calling for the resignation of the current PM, Thaksin's supporter Samak Sundaravej.

(ETA: An online acquaintance who has lived in Thailand for over 10 years now posted a link to this CNN blog, which from everything I've heard is an accurate summary of the current situation.)

It's a complex issue and I'm no expert on the situation, but we are all hoping that one way or the other, democracy will prevail-- and no one gets hurt.

Back from Singapore!

Okay, so I'm back from a few days in Singapore. All in all, it was a fun trip-- I got to see the Orchid Gardens, some museums, and Chinatown, and Josh and I went to the zoo and the Night Safari together-- but I was more tired than I expected. I'll put up some photos here later on (they are already on our Flickr page).

For Labor Day weekend, we are off to the beach! Specifically, we are driving down to Cha-Am beach on Saturday, just about two hours outside of Bangkok:


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We are going to be staying at the Alila Resort there, which I am very jazzed about: it's brand-new and has gotten a lot of press because of its cutting-edge design.