happiness in a glass

Blended iced avocado with palm sugar, here shown in Puncak. Sounds weird, and I know it’s green, but tastes so good that I have had to get a daily shot for the week we were in Indonesia. More travellers tales coming up, including a special rare report from the province that gave BHP Billiton part of its name!

very thai

What does Thailand mean to you? White beaches, mouth-burning curries, ladyboys, muai thai or thai silks?

The sweet guesthouse we stayed at was such a quiet haven from the madness of Bangkok streets, with lots of personal touches like woven slippers for every guest and a living room with a little library. It was there that I saw this fantastic book, and liked it so much I picked up a copy at Suvarnabhumi. 60 short essays on different aspects of cultural life in Thailand today are accompanied by colourful illustrating pictures.

It helped to explain lots of the street life we saw around us, including motorcyle taxis (and their team uniform jackets), dinner on a stick, poodle bushes and potted gardens at bus stops. It was extra interesting, both from the book and real life, to see what Thailand and Malaysia have in common (drinks in bags, tiny pink (non-absorbent) tissues, roadside fortune tellers, datins/khunyings, blind bands, fairy lights galore…) as well as how they differ (insect snacks, tuk-tuks, both they do, we don’t).

So, same-same, but still very different… and very Thai.

in the army now

Transsexuals to recieve more respect

Wassana Nanuam, Bangkok Post, 19th March 2008

Transsexuals, or katoey, will be treated with more respect when they go through the annual military conscription process. The armed forces plan to amend a regulation to do away with the offensive labelling of katoey as suffering from ”a mental disorder”.

The proposed new term – ”people with illnesses that cannot be cured within 30 days” – has been coined to describe transsexuals, who are exempted from military service, said Lt-Gen Somkiat Sutthiwaiyakij, director-general of the army’s Reserve Command Department.

The term will only be used when the draft process is under way.

On their official Sor Dor 43 conscription certificates, transsexuals will only be described as ”belonging to the third category”, Lt-Gen Somkiat said.

Previously, transsexuals who failed the draft would be referred to as suffering from ”a permanent mental disorder”.

The term sparked outrage among gay rights and human rights advocates who considered it an insult to transsexuals and a blot on their reputation.

With such wording on the Sor Dor 43 certificate, which is essential for work applications, a lot of transsexuals complained that they stood little chance of securing a decent job.

Lt-Gen Somkiat said efforts have been made to amend a Defence Ministry regulation on illnesses that are an obstacle to being a soldier.

He admitted it had been a very touchy subject when it came to coining a new term to describe transsexuals who submitted to the draft.

”Our initial solution is that they will be tentatively called people with illnesses that cannot be cured within 30 days.

”And they will be required to show up for the annual draft for three years in a row. ”If they still appear to be katoey, they will be exempted from service,” Lt-Gen Somkiat said.

However, katoey will be described as ”belonging to the third category” on their Sor Dor 43 certificates, which should sound more acceptable to them, he said.

He expected the amendment to come into effect next year.

The definition of transsexuals will be based on advice from doctors, he added.

The army’s annual draft this year will take place from April 1-12. Thai men who are 21 or were born in 1987 are required to submit to the draft.

New army conscripts will receive an monthly salary of 1,550 baht and a daily allowance of 75 baht.

Assistant army commander Gen Jiradet Khotcharat said the army had set up 154 committees to supervise the annual draft to make sure it is free of fraud and bribery.

Gen Jiradet said the army must be careful in drafting men from the three strife-torn southernmost provinces for fear that insurgent sympathisers could mix with and infiltrate the army.

He said military training would help instil good attitudes into conscripts from the South and help them stay away from insurgents.

This year, a total of 85,760 new conscripts will be recruited into the armed forces. Of these, 1,392 will go to the Defence Ministry and the Supreme Command, 62,323 to the army, 16,000 to the navy and 6,045 to the air force.

More than 20,000 conscripts have agreed to sign up for military service so far

getting high

 

Oh dear, I have been getting lots of complaints about how slack I have been with keeping you up to date. It’s not so easy while I’m on the trot (and have managed to abstain from buying a new laptop). I promise, more updates to com.

In the meantime enjoy the view from Vertigo where we were yesterday, sipping cocktails on the 61st floor, catching up on each others’ news, under a full moon, with all of nighttime Bangkok spread out beneath us.

waking window ii

So different from the last waking window I shared, but every bit as lovely. I’m sorry the updates have been so erratic, but jungle living isn’t conducive to blog updating. Lots to tell though and only more to come. Watch this space!

the rabbi’s cat

I enjoyed ‘The Rabbi’s Cat‘ so much that the first thing I did when I finished the book was to start all over again on the first page. There’s so much to look at in my latest library loan about an Algerian rabbi in the 30’s, his daughter and his cat who eats their parrot and gains the power of speech. This leads to all manner of complications, including if cats can be Jewish, and if so if they can have bar mitzvahs as well (the rabbi’s rabbi thinks not).

The characters are all drawn in lifelike action by the celebrated French artist Joann Sfar (don’t forget to check out his special English page). Of course, the star of the show is the cat himself in all his feline poses and moods. Sfar seems to have a cat hotline, so this book is a must if you’ve ever wondered what your own feline friend is saying to you.

mamak (i’m home)

This time it took a whole three hours between landing and ordering the first roti canai of my trip at our local mamak. With chicken curry to dip into and washed down with kopi ais, it did not disappoint (it never does!). Metal plates, Uri Geller cutlery, plastic chairs and tables and an inky black night all compulsory ingredients. I’m home!

the taxi

Two bicycles, three people, a quarter past midnight, a twenty minute walk home. The Chef gallantly offered his bike as a two-wheeled taxi. Lit-up bridges and skinny canal houses whizzed past, the towers of the Noorderkerk and the Westerkerk loomed overhead. Some of the bow bridges proved to be too steep for two on a bike post-dinner, requiring a hop off the bike, a little trot up to the crest, and speedy reboarding to freewheel down. A couple of close encounters with rare cars on the Brewers’ Canal. Safely home, a vertigonous climb upstairs to the apartment with the view. The fare: a bunch of daffodils. Spring has sprung.

russell peters

I first caught Russell Peters and his fabulous accent talents on Jay Leno’s show while in LA. It took a while but I finally got round to looking him up on YouTube. The clips below made me laugh so much I cried!

How to say hello in Indian

The ‘Um’ word in Chinese… this one requires some knowledge of Mandarin but if you have that I guarantee you’ll never hear it the same way again!

there will be blood

I can’t figure out if there really is a bumper crop of great films out at the moment, or if I’m on some mad cinema-going roll, but there’s a long list of films I’m very keen to see. Our latest attempt to chip into this list was last Sunday when we saw the much hyped, Oscar winning oil rush film ‘There Will Be Blood‘.

That the 2+ hour film went by quickly is testimony to its excellent story telling and pacing. Several minus points though for Daniel Day-Lewis’s speech and delivery, which I found oddly stilted and theatrical, which gave the film a staged, distancing feel for me. Guess Uncle Oscar and me just don’t agree. The orchestral soundtrack was also a little hit-and-miss – a percussion sequence enhanced the suspense of one particular scene tremendously, yet at other times the music seemed to clash badly with what was on the screen.

Overall it was a careful portrait of California in the middle of black gold fever, with thrilling scenes of hitting oil. Also, it made me sorry I never lived in a time or place when one could get a glass of goat’s milk at a bar.