Jerm in Thailand

Still don’t know if eliminating the odor could make it good.  The Durian war rages on.  Credit goes to Abe for this link.

The things we take for granted!  I had a craving for Rice Krispies Treats last week but couldn’t find marshmallows. 

In class the other day I noticed Aun had a bag of something and was passing it around.  It looked like those little colored after-dinner mints, but as the bag got closer to me I noticed it was a bag of flavored, Jet Puffed marshmallows.  He said Eh had purchased them at Villa market.  I thought to check there but I had three strikes against me with results. 

Villa is basically an import store with food products and toiletries from around the world.  But every time I want something and look there, I have no luck.  Dr. Pepper, oh sweet nectar!  How long I have been without thee!  Then I wanted some Kosher Dill pickles one morning.  Nothing.  I’ve settled with Pantene Pro-V since I can’t find Finesse anywhere either.  So I was mad at Villa.  I had no faith in it.

I swung by after work (Villa is on the way home) to check out the goods.  And there they were!  Jumbo, flavored mini, and regular mini.  I picked up some Australian butter and two boxes of Rice Krispies (I could down a whole box in one sitting easily.  Tiny little things!) and headed home to construct my beloved concoction.  It was about $9 to make one batch!  But, they were beautiful.  I don’t have a cake pan but I have a square skillet that is fairly deep and served the purpose nicely.  I ate a few then decided to take the rest into the office.

First of all, how can any civilized country be without knowledge of marshmallows?  Hardly anyone in the office knew what they were, or Rice Krispies for that matter.  They asked me what I did to the rice to make it look and taste like that. 

The batch was gone the next time I turned around.  They were impressed with my “cooking.”  I tried to explain the simple nature of the “formula” (recipe isn’t really a used word) but they were still impressed and showed proper reverence to the mighty power of those sweet cubes of krispied joy.

I know I keep saying I’ll get better about writing and then I don’t.  I will try to post at least a little something every other day at the least.  Now you’re getting four posts in two days!  I will answer your work and Star Wars questions too.  That will give me something to write about when I don’t have something to write about.  Thanks for your input, if anything else comes up, begging your curiosity, let me know. 

This last weekend I took a little trip with some friends to Bang Saen beach.  It’s not the prettiest beach in Thailand, although you wouldn’t be able to tell it from the pictures.  There is trash floating in the water and the water itself is filthy.  But it was only 1 hour away and the food was good.

Well, most of it.

You have to stay away from these “mangdaa.”  There are two kinds of them and one kind is deathly poisonous and you can’t tell the difference.  People eat the eggs that you can see nearby in that plastic bag.

We ate at a Thai restaurant that was right on the beach as well.  The above is the view from our table.

The food was excellent.  Wish I would have taken some pictures but like I’ve said, I feel weird now taking pictures of food around Thai people.  I don’t like feeling like a tourist.  “Pom yuu tiinii” (I live here.)

For those of you who do not trust my taste due to my dislike of green jello salad, cottage cheese in general, that breakfast pie stuff that mom used to make, and…well I guess that’s pretty much it, I have further evidence that I am not alone in this evil fruit’s analysis.  That’s right, I am not alone in my dislike for the ungodly abomination these people call a Durian.  Jen posted this as a comment, but I wanted to make sure everyone got a look in case you don’t happen to see that it was a new posted comment to an older post.  Just click the blasphemous word below to check it out.

Durian.

And here is my original Durian post if you missed it and are too lazy to go find it.

Wow!  That’s one way to sum up the annual staff party we had last weekend.  DSTi rented the ballroom of the Conrad Hilton (one of the nicest hotels in Bangkok (just ask LeAnne, they put her up there when she came over)) and went all out!  We had an international buffet with some of the best food I’ve eaten.  Ever.  Duck, lamb, pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, everything in a variety of stir fried, grilled and curried dishes.

Just look how happy Ryan is and how stacked his plate is.

The theme of the evening was “Starry Night” with thoughts of the Oscars so everyone came in formal wear. 

They had Thai pop star, Lydia, come and perform…

…and each team of DSTi was responsible for putting on a show themselves.  Thai love music and dancing.  Some teams got very creative.  That is a man on the far left by the way, Thai Backstreet Boys in the middle and part of a medley that our team did on the right.

Rhonda Lepsch the DSTi CEO for Asia was present to speak and Chris O’Kane our local big dog (totally an Irish, Goldfinger, Sean Connery) gave a speech as well.  Then they gave away prizes.  DSTO Kansas City, forget your visors and your pens and coffee mugs and Royals Tickets!  They gave away 4 iPods, a bunch of cash money prizes, washing machines, airplane tickets, DVD players and more.

They definitely know how to throw a staff party and make everyone feel appreciated.

I know there were some questions about the Swiss man who got into big trouble for performing actions against the king.  In Thailand they have a feudal law of lese-majeste, which basically makes it a treasonable offense to insult of criticize the monarchy.

Oliver Rudolf Jufer, 57, a 10 year resident of Thailand, who was living in Chang Mai, couldn’t get more alcohol as bars and shops closed early on December 5 of last year because it was King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday.  He got upset and went and got a can of spray paint from his home that he had purchased to repaint his dog house.  He defaced one large poster of the King near the municipal office and four others near his home.  He is the first foreigner that has been convicted in over ten years, usually foreigners are just deported.  He was facing a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison, but got off with a lenient 10.  There is a 3-15 year penalty for each of his acts so they did cut him some slack.  

Will the Swiss interfere?  (Kind of a pointless question?)  The statement from the Swiss was actually something to the effect that since orderly justice was delivered for a known crime, they would not interefere, especially since he has the ability to appeal.  Jufer’s lawyer told him he thought the punishment was a fitting one.

Anybody have anything in particular of which they would like to see or hear more?  Haven’t heard from some of you in a while.  I’d be glad to share anything you’d like and answer any questions.

Friday evening after work, Ryan and I accompanied several of our Thai coworkers to a restaurant for some singing entertainment.  This restaurant has several different enclosed, nearly sound proof rooms, each with their own big screen TV, leather couch that goes around the entire room, and a really good sound system with two microphones.  So we sit around on this couch and order food and drinks and sing the night away.  Thai people love this stuff!  They kept wanting me and Ryan to sing something, so after awhile I finally gave in.  The problem with Thai karaoke is about 95% of the song selection is Thai and 4.9% of it is horrible stuff from other countries. 

I had to open with “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas, to which John Cawelti had to insult (he’s from California) and with looking at the horrible accompanying video of a bunch of rejects in Texas trying to look cool out on their ranches, I was insulting it with him.  It most definitely wasn’t Kansas, nor was there much dust…or wind. 

I scheduled next in the queue “More than Words” thinking it would be alright.  Nope, remix from some Australian boy band. 

There was a clump of songs from early 90s and I noticed a title “Heaven” among them hoping that it was Collective Soul, since it had no artist beside it.  Nope, Bryan Adams.  (They made me sing it anyway, against my will.) 

So (and this next part I’m going to regret admitting for the rest of my life) to please my fans…I did the unthinkable.  I did it in the spirit of good times.  Unfortunately, I can’t claim drunkenness, one of the few times in my life I wish I could.  I busted out some Backstreet Boys and N’Sync.  Honestly, I think I put those boy bands to shame.  They loved it. 

We finished up with a little “We Will Rock You” by Queen.  Oddly, the video was a loop of a construction worker working on a building or something, I don’t get it.  I put those verses down in true Freddy Mercury style (minus the gayness.)  Finished off with “Kiss from a Rose” (okay there’s the gayness) to which I had to explain the poetic references (wishing I had a fan to open my shirt with and let it blow while I sang) and then “Leaving on a Jet Plane” which I dedicated to Dy.  With all the Thai music in between and me singing my heart out, after five hours I was ready to go home.  Ryan had left me sometime back already (I don’t blame him.) 

Please nobody hate me too much for my music selection, because I really would have chosen something else personally.  The ones I picked were the cream of the crop if that tells you anything.  And I really don’t think anyone wanted to hear me sing “Bitch” or “Like a Virgin” (myself included.) 

Hi.  I am still here.  Haven’t been writing lately because I really haven’t been doing anything that exciting over the last couple of weeks, figured I was boring everyone.  All that I would end up writing is video game and movie commentary (which I know could spur comments from a few people), but maybe that’s better than nothing?  I could write about how a baby elephant was blocking my way up to the BTS on my way home from work the other day, but that’s no good without pictures.  I guess I could express my frustration of myself blowing up more household appliances because of this 220V electricity over here as opposed to the U.S. 110V, but I didn’t start this thing to communicate my stupidity.  (No comments on that please.)

In my defense, I’ve been fairly busy with work lately.  Dyan is also on Spring Break from Northwest, and most of my free time has been spent on Skype talking to her during the evenings.  I haven’t been sleeping well either.  For once in my life I can’t fall asleep when I want to.  I’ve never had to lie in bed for hours until I finally drift off, especially after I only had a few hours of sleep the night before.  But, I guess I could have stopped a minute and written something on the blog, so here are my apologies.  I have pretty much stopped the tourist activity and have settled into everyday, routine life.  Guess it had to happen sometime.

I have found a fairly decently priced cereal provider and have been having most of my breakfasts with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Cookie Crisp.  Was dying for a large serving of Rice Krispies treats last night, but I can’t find marshmallows.  Plus, it would take a few boxes of Rice Krispies just to meet the 6 cup amount needed for a bag of marshmallows…if I could find them.  I’ve found a few bakeries with some muffins that were pretty good but really expensive, so I still want some when I get home, Rach.  Blueberry or those Apple Cinammon.  Throw in a tray or two of Rice Krispies Treats with that too, okay? 

We have a catered lunch at the office from a hotel, available everday for about $1.30.  Their dishes range from decent to terrible and usually are lukewarm, but edible.  Been compensating at night with the recent Buy 1 Get 1 Free pizza offer from the Pizza Company.  It was only supposed to go until March 17, the deal must have worked out for them because they’ve extended it until April 1.  Thin crust, double pepperoni.  Very tasty, close but still not quite like home.  I still say ordering pizza online is one of the best uses for the internet ever, especially when you don’t speak the language.  Tried to post the internet ad here, but I’m having trouble getting pictures to upload.  I will consult Chris to smooth that out.  Until then here’s the link for the Thai Pizza Company if you want to take a peek.  The TV commericals are pretty terrible.  But there isn’t much (if any?) Thai TV that isn’t.

Starting to make the place feel a little more at home.  I mentioned the lamp a while ago.  The one I purchased was just a shelf size lamp. 

I like these things.  They have many varieties patterns and colors. 

In the picture it’s sitting on my new shelf.  I found it at the Home Pro near Phloen Chit BTS station just a block away from my apartment.  They weren’t going to be able to deliver it for a week and a half so I decided to take it home.  The box was fairly heavy, but I had Ryan with me.  We kept asking them at the checkout if we could borrow the dolly, and the cashier finally went and got a manager to allow us to take it…with the help of one employee.  So Ryan got off easily as the Home Pro boy and I took the thing down the uneven, horrible Bangkok sidewalks.  In all fairness, Ryan did carry the dolly down the stairs of the station…when I went back up and helped him.  He did carry the sheets I bought too.

Anyway, this shelf is pretty sweet.  It’s hinged in the middle so you can put it around a corner, in a corner, or straighten it out completely.  Each layer that’s set to rotate has this nifty little plastic circle with small ball bearings in it.

The finished product looks great.  I wanted it around the corner but there’s an outcropping there and it doesn’t fit between the windows and it didn’t look quite right at a forty-five degree angle.  Unfortunately, it also doesn’t fit all my games and movies, so I’ll have to find another smaller shelf for the opposite wall of the living room to hold the remainder.