bangkok pt. 2

after our busy first morning and afternoon in bangkok, we headed over to see our new friends at eat me restaurant, which is near the red light district, patpong. jay's friend travels to bangkok several times a year and introduced us to our friend darren there who runs eat me. he and his partner and their friends were our bangkok guides, and they really made our trip in so many ways.



eat me comprises several floors of a former apartment building on a quiet alley. after ascending the candle-lined stairs to the second floor, you're greeted by staff and escorted into an inviting dining area, or a patio just beyond. plans call for a bar to be installed on the third floor. among the highlights of our two nights dining there: a fantastic nacho plate, comprised of fried tortilla strips, a smattering of melted gruyere cheese, and a thick spicy salsa; strong martinis, garlic mashed potatoes; scrumptuos duck; a giant prawn; and spicy chicken. truly an international menu, which leans a bit toward darren's home country of australia.

this was a relatively sedate night compared to what awaited us later in the trip, since we didn't leave the restaurant until late. we ended up in the fire trap of soi 2, where the gay bars are clustered. it's a fairly young thai scene there, with a mixture of somewhat older westerners. we stayed until the 2 am closing time, when the "parade" began - the exit of so many club-goers packed into the alley's bars.

on saturday, we made a beeline for the paragon food court, where it seems nearly all of asia's culinary offerings are represented, behind clear glass that shows you all the delicious food as it's cooked. there's plenty of western options too, but you can hit several of the asian places for just a few bucks each and really get your noodle and rice fix. after a fine mango and sticky rice dessert, we were back on the sky train to the famous chatuchak weekend market (pronounced jatujuk, so it's "jj" to the thais) north of downtown. rows and rows of vendors, inside and out of huge tented areas, selling all kinds of clothes, housewares, trinkets - you name it. while we're not big shoppers, we were able to appreciate the vastness of the place, and there are certainly good deals to be had if you know where to look.



after all that walking i loosened up with a massage at a place on convent st., near eat me restaurant, that darren recommended. this city is known for its cheap but excellent massages, and an hour and a half with oil was only $20 or so. i left feeling refreshed for our dinner at thang long back on langsuan near our hotel. this was a terrific vietnamese restaurant, also gay-owned, that had a cool vibe and some delicious food, including some light fried spring rolls.

we walked back over to eat me and noticed lots of folks hanging out in lumpini park on the way - they were awaiting the last night of fireworks celebrating the king's 80th birthday. the king is very highly revered in thailand, and there were posters of the guy all over the city. darren's thai boyfriend toey led us quickly to tawan, a gay go-go bar in patpong (WARNING: SEXUALLY EXPLICIT DESCRIPTION FOLLOWS. DON'T CONTINUE READING IF YOU'RE NOT UP FOR READING ABOUT A BANGKOK GAY GO-GO BAR), where the fuck show was about to begin.

ok, this was unlike anything i've ever experienced in my life. toey seemed to know the mamasan of the place, a ladyboy who keeps the boys in check. we sat next to her and watched the conclusion of a drag show, which included some very convincing ladyboy dancers, followed by some drag queens who were purposely made to look ugly for some reason. tawan specializes in very muscular thais, and these were next, flexing on stage for the mixed asian/western audience. they were soon followed by the first nudes of the night, most of them... standing at attention, including one hanging a large red furry christmas bell from his penis. it was surreal to watch one thai after another strut by, each with these huge, fat, black units. they strutted around the stage for a bit, and two remained on stage as two effeminate thais came out and proceeded to service them - which was no easy task given the sheer size of things involved. yet that didn't stop them from assuming different positions around the stage, even swinging in the air via hanging rings as they continued their show.

that went on for a few minutes, then several more thais came out for a jerkoff contest. since most of these employees are straight, they watch straight porn on monitors above the stage. it must have been good since it only took one guy about 20 seconds. anyway, the group went four for six, which is not bad considering the circumstances. we topped off the visit by fulfilling someone's request from the states (they will go unnamed here) for the undergarments of a ladyboy, a request the mamasan was glad to fill for the right price. after all, they're probably hers.

after that once-in-a-lifetime experience (well, make it twice - the next night at future boys bar included the classic smiling quote from our friend, "do you think we should invite number 30 down for a drink and a chat?", and a ladyboy actually falling off the stage), we headed back to soi 2, where dj station was absolutely sardine-like inside. but this is the most popular gay bar in bangkok, and it was a saturday night. fortunately there's a bit more breathing room upstairs, but toey had to get up on stage in the main room and show off the gym body. it was fun being a full foot taller than almost everyone else in the place, but we were out of there at a reasonable hour before all the available oxygen was gone.

on sunday we wandered over to the sukhumvit road area where lots of westerners hang out. there's also a lot of indian food in the area, which we enjoyed for lunch. however, the area was a bit boring so we headed back to our paragon food court for dessert. i had a few hours before our next big night out, so i cabbed it (most cab rides in the city are in the 1-5 dollar range, but beware of the horrific traffic) over to the "best gay sauna in the world", babylon. the place is huge, with an outdoor pool, a bar, a restaurant, a gym, and lots of saunas, showers and private rooms. it's also full of thai guys who are into westerners. it was tough to tear myself away but we were meeting darren and toey before our river cruise for drinks at the millenium hilton bangkok, which offered incredible views of the city from its top-floor lounge; the hotel sits across the chao prayha river from much of downtown.

darren's friend derek runs the loy nava river cruise, on a re-creation of a traditional thai rice barge. we raced down to the boat after hearing they'd been waiting for us at the hilton's dock. within minutes our table was full of thai food and we were enjoying graceful thai music and dancers.



derek pointed out various sights along the river as we dined and drank. various other boats passed, all lit up like the loy nava. obviously the drinks were hitting me since i hadn't even realized when we'd turned around. we ended the cruise and walked over to the scirocco rooftop bar, 64 floors above the city. the views are absolutely spectacular from up there, and it's a bit scary when you look over the edge. off to one side there was a jazz band playing on an elevated stage area, and it was like they were playing to the skyline, not to the audience below. scirocco was another perfectly unique experience in bangkok.

the aforementioned second go-go bar visit ensued, all awash in a haze of alcohol. we finished the night chatting away in front of a starbucks, after which we were dropped off at our hotel yet again by derek and his friendly thai partner oat. by this point we were fairly exhausted, but is there any other way to be in bangkok?

more to come, including our last day in bangkok, and the wonders of angkor. again, pics of our trip are up on flickr.

the new lotus tower: less phallic, more fillling

the proposed shapery lotus tower has changed again, probably to appease the anti-penal forces rallying against it. it's still pretty radical by downtown's boring architectural standards of late. from the developer's site:

Shapery Lotus Tower is a proposed 40 story condominium/hotel and residential tower in downtown San Diego containing 90 hotel/condominium suites, 30 one bedroom condominium suites, 42 two bedroom condominium suites, one penthouse condominium suite, a spa/health club, pool, 40th story restaurant, roof top bar served by a glass elevator, ancillary commercial space and 164 parking spaces located in the project parking garage.

Shapery Lotus Tower sits on the western half of a substandard block (200’X 108’) bounded by Russ Blvd. on the north, A St. on the south, 11th St. on the west and Park Blvd on the east .

and i thought the condotel concept was done in downtown (see the setai, for example). there's an interesting article on sandy shapery, the developer, in the UT from a while back. he's the developer of the iconic emerald shapery with the neon hexagonal towers, which has gone from a wyndham to a westin. now if some other architects would show some cajones with their designs...

speaking of which, jay and i were in hillcrest the other day and the new atlas hillcrest is a bit disappointing style-wise. the side facing fourth avenue is finished, and there's nothing particularly interesting to look at:



strangely, the fifth ave facing side still has a ways to go, and that's the more high-profile street.

finally, could the last two days have been more beautiful in san diego? yesterday was a bit chilly but crystal clear; today i was biking downtown in late december and didn't even need a long-sleeve shirt. some photos from the dog park at petco follow; we noticed that the old candy factory building looks completely restored - all the windows have been replaced, and there's newly-painted trim. hopefully they're able to lease out the space.

bangkok pt. 1

i try to keep this blog focused on san diego but i'd like to share some experiences from our recent vacation in bangkok and phuket thailand, and siem reap in cambodia. it was an amazing trip, my first to asia, and this seems like the best outlet to try and describe it. so bear with me, or bail out and check out some of the more worthy blogs to the right.

a mere 28 hours after leaving my house i was dropped off at 2 in the morning at our hotel in bangkok, the marriott mayfair. while we stayed there because of a family discount, i couldn't recommend this hotel more highly, regardless of the price. it was truly the nicest suite i've ever stayed in. the 25th floor rooftop pool is a great place to cool off after a hot day in the city below. and it was hot - 90's and muggy... but this is the cool season, after all. plus, the hotel is on langsuan, near lumpini park, which puts you near many of the urban centers of the city (there isn't just one downtown in this sprawling place), the sky train elevated rail, and lots of great restaurants on the street itself. all on a relatively quiet street in a traffic-choked town.




jay had gotten in earlier in the day, so we got some sleep and hit the central chidlom mall in the morning, just up the street. there's a brand new upscale food court there called foodloft on the top floor with all kinds of asian food. we enjoyed malaysian food and dim sum. a great start to our stay, and a good introduction to the vast array of foods available in bangkok.

we took the elevated pedestrian walkway over the gridlock below to the erawan shrine just down the street and admired the music and dancing. a peaceful oasis in the midst of a bustling area, with sky trains shooting overhead and streets packed with taxi cabs.



from there we jumped on the sky train to the chao phraya river to the south and dashed onto the express boat heading upriver. we were on our way to the grand palace, and read it was best to get there via the river, since a taxi trip could mean lots of time in traffic. it was well worth it since it was so much fun to hang out on the boat, watching the city roll by, kids playing in the river, and monks catching the express.




the grand palace was unlike anything i've ever seen before. so much gold and bright color, exuberant sculptures and minute attention to detail - nothing like the staid tourist attractions of europe. i'll skip the history of the palace, but there are so many interesting pieces of architecture and buddhist symbols inside that it will make your head spin.




there are many cultural taboos in thailand, like touching someone on the head, and i managed to perform three of them while at the palace. first, i wore my hat inside the wat phra kaew, the palace's temple and most sacred place in thailand (it's also where the small but highly revered emerald buddha hangs out, currently draped with his winter jacket). next, you're not supposed to point your feet at anyone. well, while sitting cross-legged, i reached into my pocket to donate some change. of course, my leg came out and my foot almost pointed at the buddha! ouch. after walking out basically in shame, i later read about how sacred the buddha is. so i returned to get another look - and promptly walked into the entry area to the temple with my shoes on, another no-no. stupid american.

finally, we enjoyed the unique fusion of thai and italian architecture that the chakri mahaprasad hall exhibits:



so, when in bangkok, make the grand palace your top tourist priority. what's great is that there's really not that many must-see sights in the city, so once you've seen this and a couple of the other wats, you're free to eat, shop and party till exhaustion.

near the grand palace is one of the aforementioned wats, wat pho, where the reclining buddha resides. what's funny is that the building it's housed in barely fits the buddha, so you're jostling with other tourists in a fairly narrow area. plus i love its huge feet. not so great: people who stand in the prime spot to take pictures for eternally long periods of time (not the people shown below however):





we took the river express back to the sky train, hanging out in the back of the boat where we could stand and soak in the city. and that sums up our first afternoon in bangkok. more about that night and the rest of the trip to come. meanwhile, a flickr photo set from our trip is available for your viewing pleasure.

coldest sd december since 1931?

sure, it's december, but it's not supposed to be this chilly. so far this month, the maximum daily temperature has been 61.4 degrees. we haven't hit 65 since 12/5 and the high temp for the month, 67 on 12/4, was actually the historical average high for that day. so we've been at or below normal for the past 21 days, including 11/30.

while it's our second coldest month (tied with february and march; january is the coldest) december should have an average high of 66.3 degrees. so we're nearly 5 degrees below normal, which is quite difficult to achieve in our moderate climate. in fact, it hasn't been this far below normal since the icebox years of the early 1930s.

barring any great warmup, we're on pace for the third coolest december recorded in san diego. fortunately i missed a big chunk of it in warm (90's) and muggy thailand and cambodia. unfortunately, i'm headed to upstate ny next week. i'll be begging for a 60 degree day by the time i get back.

UPDATE, 01/08/2008: the final average max temp for the month of december was 61.6 degrees, so it was the coldest december (by max temp standards) in san diego since 1931 (61.3) - which is second only to 1916 (60.2).

almost back from bangkok

the unexpected six-hour layover in tokyo is almost over and we're about to board our flight to lax. it's been a great 11 days or so in thailand and cambodia and i'm looking forward to sharing some of it in the blog. in the meantime, here's a shot from inside the grand palace in bangkok, a truly unique place in an incredible city.

invasion of the lame-ass galleries

on my weekend bike trips downtown i liked to stop by the old cafe bassam on market st. and 4th after lunch, since i knew i could always grab a table in the sun and drink one of the wide variety of teas that they offered - even iced. but after the building it resided in was bought by a new owner, they were unceremoniously tossed, along with the other tenants. while i commend the owner for fixing up the building, and i understand that rents needed to be more in line with standard rates downtown, that doesn't ease the pain of realizing what was once a relaxing, unique fixture of downtown has now become just another touristy art gallery. actually two - shorelines gallery and sticks, but you can pass between them once you're inside. seriously, i've never seen this much overpriced tourist crap outside of seaport village. i'd be hard-pressed to put a single item i saw there in my house, but then we all have our own taste when it comes to art.

unfortunately, this is one of the negatives related to downtown's improvement. rising rents end up pushing out some really cool places that helped define the area. gaze across the street at hooters, or walk up the street to rock bottom brewery, and you can see the writing on the wall: the gaslamp has become all about visitors, and not locals. and that's ok, since there are other options nearby. strolling through east village, you can see all the potential it has as a very livable area, with its own set of unique businesses. east village tavern and bowl was packed with a mixed crowd watching football, and we grabbed the last table in the new zanzibar nearby, well after the lunch hour. not one cheesy gallery in sight however.

cafe bassam has moved to moved to hillcrest/bankers hill, it appears. downtown's loss is uptown's gain.

balboa theater re-opens in january

the historic balboa theater has nearly completed its 26 million dollar renovation and will open in january with public shows jan 11-13. the grand opening will occur later that month. we walked by today and they're still working on the lobby and ticketing area.

it will be interesting to see how the renovated theater - which is listed on the national register of historic places due to its ornate interior design - will compete with two other very distinguished theaters downtown, spreckels and copley symphony hall. spreckels is the oldest of the bunch, having opened in 1912, while both balboa and copley (named the fox theater at the time) were opened in 1929 (incidentally, someone should compile a list of just how many buildings were completed in the last year before the depression in san diego). both are quite active with their bookings, so are there enough events to support three theaters of this size, plus the various larger nightclubs downtown (house of blues, 4th and b)?

for 26 million, it appears you can seismically retrofit the balboa and preserve much of its history. the link above has plenty of pics of the theater's interior; i'm excited to see how it merited its historical registry status. plus the location of the balboa, right there on 4th as you enter horton plaza, couldn't be any closer to the gaslamp action. just one more cultural resource in a downtown that keeps improving.