Thai foodie

Our recent trip to Thailand was a real treat to the foodie in me. Our host, Dr. Maria Laosunthara and the staff of the International Relations Department of Srinakharinwirot University saw that we get a sampling of Thai food by taking us to some of the best restaurants around the Sukhumvit area, where the university is, like Baan Kanitha and Wanakarm, and international franchise S&P, that has a branch along Chao Phraya river. In photo are the shrimp cakes in sweet-sour sauce by Wanakarm (right), and S&P's version of the famous pad Thai noodles.

We also had lunch in a riverside restaurant at Ratchaburi province. The food there was more local and inexpensive compared to those in Bangkok. Our best bet was the crisp fried fish that was bigger than the plate and deep fried squid rings.

But the best food experience was at Chang Mai, when we enrolled in a cooking course at Baan Thai, a homestyle cooking school featured in Lonely Planet. There were six of us in that afternoon class, a couple from UK, a swimwear model on vacation from the US, a college graduate from the Netherlands, and the Philippines was represented by UP graduate and beauty queen Marnelli Sales and myself. Our teacher was a young chef named Boom, which according to her is Thai for "dimples."

World's best tom yam by me, of course

We agreed to cook tom yam, fried cashew with chicken, Panaeng curry with pork, and green curry with chicken. To save on time, we skipped the marketing part of the class and agreed instead to prepare our own green curry paste. Preparing the curry is an experience with herbs and spices, not to mention the laborious method of pounding the ingredients into paste.

From left, my version of Panaeng curry with pork, green curry with chicken, and fried cashew with chicken and young corn

We voted our official most popular food in Chang Mai the Kao ob saparod or pineapple fried rice with shrimp served at our hotel's restaurant. The Kao pad thai with crabs is generously topped with thumb-sized crab meat.

Pineapple fried rice by Huen Luang Prabang restaurant at Chang Mai

My new book

My latest book UGSAD KANG KINARAY-A (The Rise of Kinaray-a) will be off the press next month. It shall be my second entirely Kinaray-a book, after AGI, AGI MAY PUTAY SA DAHI. This is part of my Kinaray-a for the Karay-a book project, because I believe that for the Karay-a to show his/her emancipation from colonial consciousness he/she must seek and produce knowledge in his/her native tongue.

The cover shows me reciting poetry during the Antique Arts Festival 1999 in Casa Madrangca. Thanks to Hermie Beltran for this beautiful shot, capturing the full moon screened by blossoming madre de cacao trees. And see me a hundred pounds ago. I had reservations about using this picture for the cover (True!), but the portrait of a young poet howling to the full moon his poems is such a romantic and apt metaphor to the struggle of Kinaray-a literature. So, to hell with modesty.

UGSAD KANG KINARAY-A is the Kinaray-a and expanded version of THE RISE OF KINARAY-A published in 2003. The book will be available for orders online at www.bookoto.com. Orders within the Philippines may be made through email at datulubay@yahoo.com.

Thailand again

Am leaving for Thailand (again!) next week. We will be there for 10 days. This time we are going to Chang Mai, and that's what makes this trip exciting. But before that we have some work to do in Bangkok, like meeting students at Srinakharinwirot University. I was told the university's International Affairs office has lined up a full program for us in four days. Whew. Exciting. And I heard we will be watching the Jo Louis theater (seen that before) and the Siam Niramat (this is new). So, maybe this would be another exciting trip.
I haven't posted most pics from my Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand sojourn in May, with Ed. Been very busy, or lazy. Will try to make up for it when I get back.
Meanwhile, am seeing the final proof of my book "Ugsad kang Kinaray-a" this weekend, before we leave, and I hope this comes off the press in September, or October at the most. I have to move on and work on the next project, you see.
Ciao.

Beers of Asia

Am not a beer drinker, but in our recent trip to the Angkor temples, Eduard and I tried these beers. Angkor is Cambodian, of course. Beer Chang is Thai and is quite an icon. My friend Poks got Beer Chang singlets (sando for us Pinoys) at Chatuchak in our recent visit. Thailand has another brand called Singha. We ordered them at a restaurant in Chang Mai. Tiger is Malaysian or (Singaporean?) - anyway we tried Tiger in Penang during our vacation there in 2006. While in Patpong, Bangkok, we went to a gay pub and ordered San Miguel Light for me, and Pale Pilsen for Ed. The winner is... San Miguel Light, of course. Oh, there's another we tried in Penang, its in a green bottle called Sin To or something, it's Chinese, though. I saw it at a 7-11 in Manila too. Notice the Cambodian tuktuk in the background.

My new stories

I think I am in my most productive this time. I am in the middle of finalizing my fourth book "Ugsad kang Kinaray-a", to be launched in October, and I have written four stories in a span of two weeks. I need two or three more to complete another collection of stories. Yehey!

I finished "Library", which I started writing in July 2007. I stopped halfway through it, because I did not know where the story is leading to. Last month I saw the unfinished story and decided to finish it. Right there.

Then one night I could not sleep. I opened my notebook and started typing anything. Then I remembered a story idea that a friend gave me three years ago. This is how "Trip-trip" got written. it's meant to be a short, a quickie, because it really is. But I don't want it to be a simple soft-porn story. It's actually about how young people now are ready to get what they want, and willing to pay for it too.

Another night, I could not sleep because I was hungry. So I ate. It was past midnight. Then I recalled Scarlet O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." (As god is my witness, I shall never go hungry again!) So, after eating, I got my notebook again and started typing. I didn't finish the story because I felt really sleepy, but in the morning, I did not report to work. After breakfast, I said I will finish it. Before lunch, I had a story called "Gutum."

So I went to work, and while going over my folders in the computer, I discovered I have an unfinished story called "Imelda." I have managed to write a monologue to begin it, and a synopsis, too. That helped me a lot in recalling what I wanted to do. It was an idea I had after visiting Tibiao. I saw how people are very hardworking, and I thought I would write about it. It is about a woman who lost all her children and husband, but never loses the zest for living.

I have two more stories in file - "Tamawo" and "Sag-ub". These are actually the first stories I have written, but I did not include it in "Agi, agi may putay sa dahi" collection because they don't belong. Actually, the first story I wrote was "Flores de Mayo" published in Hiligaynon Magazine, like twenty years ago. I wonder if I could still find a copy of it.

So my next collection would include these, and the two or three more I am going to write. I hope I don't lose this momentum.