Queen of Silom Soi 2

Today, my mother and I had the pleasure of going out to lunch with my dear aunt Pah Maliwan and her friend Pah Naruhnee. I have known Pah Naruhnee ever since I was little as she has been best friends with my aunt for decades and I have always known that she was the landlord of a small commercial area in central Bangkok but it was always very vague to me. We dined at Grand San Yord, which is famous in Bangkok for its tender and sweet roast duck, and being the Ah Mahs that they are, both aunties told me to finish the last prawn dumpling.

Pah Naruhnee said 'Eat this and you'll end up with a beautiful wife', to which I replied 'But I don't want a beautiful wife'. Without missing a beat, Pah Maliwan said 'Eat this and you'll end up with a handsome husband'. While I have never really discussed my sexuality with older relatives so much, it has been an open secret for a while now but in that moment, for my mother's elder sister, a woman that I have always been very fond of, to acknowledge, without making a big deal out of it, this part of my identity...well, it really moved me. It confirmed what I have long believed to be true; that my relatives in Bangkok love and accept me unconditionally, just as I am.

After lunch, my mother and I dropped off both aunties. Pah Maliwan was going to her Private Members Club to meet up with my cousins while Pah Naruhnee was heading home. My mother drove us to Silom and as we went past Bangkok's infamous Patpong district, I realised that we were approaching the hub of gay nightlife in Bangkok, Silom Soi 2-4, which turned out to be Pah Naruhnee's turf! She is the landlady for all the bars and clubs patronized by any gay person who has ever lived in or visited Bangkok, locals and expats. As we pulled away, I commented to my mother and aunt that these two alleys owned by their friend are full of bars and clubs. Both of them casually replied, that's correct, gay bars! Good times! Think I might have to visit Pah Naruhnee's hood before I leave Bangkok in a few days. It won't be my first time there and certainly won't be my last!

Madonna goes Gangnam!

Oh, my lord - can Psy's 'Gangnam Style' get any bigger? The answer is yes, apparently! Jumping on the dance pop sensation's bandwagon a few months after it became a viral sensation (the tally for views of the official music video currently stands at over 722 million views and rising!), Madonna had the K-Pop phenom make a surprise appearance at last night's performance of her 'MDNA' tour at Madison Square Garden and it was fucking awesome! Man, all we got at the London Hyde Park show that I went to four months ago was a bit of rain and one half of LMFAO...shaaaaaaaame!!!

Allahu Akbar - Obama wins re-election!!!

I woke up in the middle of the night to check the latest news on the US presidential election. This outcome is so sweet, especially after such a tight race in the popular vote. What is disturbing, but not surprising, to me is that Romney even won as many Electoral College votes as he did! Do the majority of the people who voted for him not realise that he will not look out for their interests? To reference and paraphrase James Carville's strategy for Bill Clinton's campaign back in 1992, 'It's the economy, stupid' and the only economic interests that a victorious Mitt Romney would have served are those of people like himself, the so-called 1 percent. All of these Republicans talking a lot of ignorant bullshit about how they are worried about the state of the economy, unemployment, Obama's 'communist' values (like they know what communism truly is) need to wake the fuck up and re-educate themselves...but that can wait until tomorrow; tonight is the night for all to unite and celebrate the democratic process!

Knee-deep in history

This year, I have taken several day trips, for work, to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Canterbury in Southeastern England. Today was probably my last trip there so I was determined to make the most of it. On previous trips, I would get so busy and snowed under with work that I wouldn't get a chance to visit its most famous attraction - Canterbury Cathedral, home of the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury. I have been aware of the significance of this monument ever since high school, when I studied Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales', which is a series of fables told by various characters, all making their pilgrimage from Southwark to the crypt of Thomas Becket, arguably one of the most famous martyrs in the British history, for the way he clashed with Henry II and his murder at the hands of the king's knights.

My colleague in our Canterbury branch Michelle decided to accompany me there. We told them that we worked in the old city centre and that got us free passes. I wonder if this is not simply out of the goodness of the Church's heart but because we already pay so much in another way that free admission was the least of privileges that they could have rewarded us. After all, the Church is probably our landlord, as there are underground tunnels that connect the Cathedral to all the buildings in the vicinity, including our office. It was genuinely eerie when Michelle and I went to visit the crypt of Thomas Becket, known as the matyrdom, where he fell at the swords of the king's knights. All sounds terribly Da Vinci Code, doesn't it?

It might seem like an obvious realisation that I live in a country with such a rich history and it is all around me. I don't even have to go looking for it. I just have to stop, take a moment, observe and absorb it. Amazing!

A call to paradise?

Yesterday, I was invited to my cousin's wedding in Mauritius in May. When I say invited, I mean, she messaged me on Facebook to tell me about it. Seriously, I hope that we haven't evolved in this digital age to the point where a message on a social networking site constitutes as a legitimate wedding invitation. My cousin is from my mother's side of the family so, like me, she is of Chinese Thai descent. It's terribly exciting that she has met a person that she wants to share the rest of her life with and even more exciting that he is from a totally different part of the world and of a different cultural background (he is Muslim and of South Asian descent). 

I have never been to Mauritius before and while it is not at the top of my list of dream destinations, I am seriously considering going to this wedding. Obviously, it would be lovely if i could go just to show my support for my cousin. Plus, this island state is a fantastic tourist  destination. It is commonly known as the jewel of the Indian Ocean, with its idyllic, unspoilt beaches, developed economy, cultural diversity and political stability.

However, what draws me to Mauritius above all else is the fact that this was home to the now extinct Raphus cucullatus, more commonly known as the dodo bird. It's strange, I know, but it makes me believe that there is something strange and special to be experienced there...hmmm, it was probably that line of thinking, on the part of 16th century European settlers, that got dodo birds in trouble! It is believed that these almost mythical creatures became extinct once explorers reached the shores of Mauritius, bringing with them cats and dogs, not to mention rats, because they were a flightless bird. Evolution led them to become flightless due to the abundance of food on the island and the lack of predators for a long time. Once predators arrived on the island, they were unable to fly away from danger. The lesson I take from this is that you should never get too comfortable, even if you are living in paradise!

Change is growth and growth is great...

Believe it or not, it has been a year since my last blog entry. I feel really sad that I have neglected my beloved blog for so long. This blog has been such a wonderful outlet for me to express myself and it's about time that I return to it. 

A lot has happened in the past year and while I don't want to turn this blog into some sort of online journal, I have to say that I am grateful for all the changes that have occurred in that time. Change is growth and growth is great. In the past year, I changed jobs and finally got myself on a career trajectory with really exciting prospects. I am a student again, for the first time in years, and as difficult as it is to balance my studies for my professional qualification while working full-time in a very demanding job, I know that it will all be worth it in the end. 

I moved to a different part of London. After being an SE1 boy for over four years, I am now a SW11 boy and it has been, and still is, a bit of an adjustment. London is such a vast city that there is an infinite supply of new experiences to be had in this city. 

I got to see more of Europe, which is something that I have always wanted to do. I traveled to some awesome cities I hadn't been to before. Barcelona was beautiful. Istanbul was intoxicating. Berlin was seductive. Lisbon was mesmerizing. The best part of it is that there are still so many great destinations that await me...I'm thinking that 2013 might be the year to venture a bit furtur...I'm thinking, Cape Town, Tel Aviv or Rio! 

I let go of some heavy emotional baggage and officially moved on from the most significant relationship of my life thus far. It took a long time to get to that point...but time heals all wounds.

The most exciting thing that has happened this year, though, is finding out that I am going to become an uncle for the first time. My future niece/nephew will arrive at the beginning of next year. In a Chandler Bing intonation, could I be any more excited?

Soooooo much change that even I'm surprised as I recall all of these leaps forward. 2012 has been so challenging but so rewarding...and we still have another 10 weeks to go! 

There will be flood

Thailand is currently battling the worst monsoon season in about 50 years. About a third of her provinces has been affected. As per usual, the Thai government's priorities are to protect the interest of the rich and that means focusing on keeping the floods out of capital, at great cost to surrounding provinces. However, since a couple of days ago, Bangkok could no longer fight the inevitable and parts of Northern Bangkok (including Sai Mai, where my mother lives) are now flooded, with the floods expecting to reach more and more parts of the city.

I remember from my childhood in Thailand being really excited whenever there was a flood because it was like living in some sort of fantastical water world but now, as a grown up, all I think about is how scary this situation is and how much damage it will cause, to ordinary people, to their homes, their livelihood and income, to the economy, etc. I worry about my poor mother everyday even though she sounds like she's taking it in all in stride as she prepares for the inevitable. A disaster like this really accentuates what I love about Thai people - their good spirits. They know that it is a dire situation but all that they can do is try to prepare for it, no matter how futile their efforts may prove to be (there is only so much that sandbags can do), and soldier on...usually with a smile.

It's a crisis that some experts are blaming on the myopia and poor planning of water management officials, government-sanctioned deforestation and reckless urbanization. On top of everything else, you have a government that seems completely overwhelmed and ill-equipped to dealing with a natural disaster on such an epic scale, led by the inexperienced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (the first woman elected to this office in Thailand, voted in just two months ago, who happens to be the younger sister of ousted former PM and political fugitve Thaksin Shinawatra).

From watching all the news footage, I feel this sense of pride about the way the people of Thailand are handling this nightmare situation and their generosity of spirit; the way people are looking out for and helping one another, whether they be friends, family or strangers. Nobody gets left behind....not even that poor little puppy in the video below! The full impact of this monsoon season cannot be measured but what I can be sure of is that Thailand will get through this, as it has before with other tough times. Nobody knows what the situation will be day-to-day, let alone week-to-week but in my heart, I pray that Thailand will be able to put this chapter behind her in the next 2-3 weeks, just in time to come together and celebrate Loi Krathong, which is, ironically enough, a traditional Thai festival that has its roots in the practice of paying respect to the spirits of the waters.