My first week in London

There are still a lot of times when I couldn't believe I'm actually in London. I've been here a week and still there's something surreal about being in a place I've always dreamed of visiting. Until about three months ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be here.

The past week had been tourist mode. My aunts had been amazingly kind to show me around. My first day alone we were hopping from one bus to another until midnight just to see the basic sights, e.g. Oxford Street, Harrods, Kensington Gardens, and Tower Bridge.

The highlight of my first day here was watching "Billy Elliot", a treat from my aunt. I wish I have the words to describe the musical, simply put I was completely astounded by it all. I was listening to the songs a few weeks before I watched the show but the music still moved me on performance night. The choreography was of course flawless.

The following days were more touristy stuff, such as the Olympic Park, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, China Town, and Covent Garden.

The next day, I met an Oxford-based Pinay Fairy ("Lady Chatterley") who brought me to the National Gallery. It was stunned when I saw my first Van Gogh, my reaction was summed up into a loud gasp. And then there were a number of Cezanne, Monet, Klimt, and Turner, among others. I'd definitely keep on going back there.

Last Thursday, I met two Pinay Fairies who showed me around Soho, supposedly one of London's gay areas.

Yesterday, I went to the British Museum, which was packed with tourists, so I have to visit again on a quieter day. I then hopped on a bus and walked the Millennium Bridge to reach Tate Modern where I saw a handful of Picassos (yet again another transcendental experience) along with some Matisse, Rothko, Pollock, and Dali. That was such a dream!

Today I went to Harrods to attend the book signing of Scott Schuman's new book, "Closer". Garance Dore was there as well to sign the pages where she appears. I was shaking the entire time I was in front of them. Yet another surreal moment right there.

Oh, I also dropped by the venue of London Fashion Week last Friday. I just hung around outside the tents, watching those fashionable people snapped up by street style photographers. It's a bit amusing to observe the fashion scene, but that's all I could do.

So that's basically a rapid rundown of the things I've been up to over the past week. There are still so many impressions of London I want to write about but that's for next time.

Five Years in Thailand

Today marks my fifth year in Thailand. When I arrived here I knew for sure I'd be staying for a year as my first work contract stated. And then when my first contract expired I was given two years and then another three years. (My current contract expires in 2013.)

It's surprising how the years piled up, and true to the cliche, I hardly noticed time passing by. Probably it shows how much I like my life here. Well, I can't complain about most of my experiences and I owe it to Thailand that the past five years had been nothing short of great.

Everyday I still find many fascinating things about Bangkok... its small streets, its ever changing landscapes, and the kindness of the people... basically the same things that have enamored me since I arrived in Bangkok.

Art is in the Details

The 57th National Art Exhibition has been on show at the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre for several weeks now. The exhibition is also an art competition. The first time I went there I was very much awestruck by the pieces, so I went back there yesterday to take photos, which I'm sharing here.

By the entrance of the exhibition is Phanee Phoudom's 'Society of Consumerism'.

Also near the entrance is Sittichoke Wichian's 'Kite and Bond No. 2', a mixed-media installation employing traditional kite techniques.

This massive piece is entitled 'Woods (Painting Embellished with Glass No. 2)' is by Kajondet Niwyin.

This is my BF's favorite, a very intricate, and presumably tedious, drawing on canvas by Jiratchaya Pripwai called 'Meditation Therapy No. 1'. The piece is huge, so you can only imagine how much time was spent on this amazingly executed drawing.

My favorite, on the other hand, is Suporn Kaewda's 'Formation of One Thing Lies on the Deterioration of Another No. 3', a 2.5 x 3.5 meter oil pastel on canvas. I believe this is the Grand Prize winner. The ripples of the water are very mesmerizing as they are, but if you look closer the ripples are in fact made up of detailed drawings of mythical aquatic creatures (at least that's how the figures look to me).

I was mainly drawn to the paintings that were heavily detailed, such as Attapon Seetrongprasert's 'Heritage No. 1', which looked like it was made of ancient hieroglyphics.

Also intricate is Hathairat Rodkeaw's 'Southern Path No. 2', which used acrylic tempera on rubber. The "leaves" have drawings of monks, fish, and other cultural aspects of Southern Thailand on them.

There's also something raw about the Wiwat Jindawong's 'Agricultural Way of Life No. 5', a drawing measuring a massive 2.6 x 2.95 meters.

Equally massive (1.92 x 3.5 meters) is Pradit Tungprasartwong's 'Panna or Wisdom: Means of Survival' (oil on canvas). I guess this is also one of the winning entries, but I find it somewhat gimmicky for my taste.

Not as big (only 1.83 x 1.11 meters), but with heavier impact on me, is 'Self', a digital print and hand-cut paper by Kamolpan Chotivichai.

Among the sculptures, of which there are many, Surasok Sannung's 'Sustainable Happiness No. 1' made a very good impression. It used local pottery techniques.

I was also struck by the rigidity of the angles of 'State of Surrender', a fiberglass casting by Pangsak Nateetornmongkol.

My favorite sculpture there is Yutthasilp Siritap's 'Suffering from Malignant Disease'. The size is stunning, rendering it so much power. The subject of fierce dogs and hungry crows tearing apart a man's body into pieces has such a visceral impact on me. It was placed near the end exhibit, a fitting conclusion to a celebration of the talent of Thailand's artists.

And some more photos....

How to be an Angel

I visited a few galleries last Saturday with Miss Bubbles, so here I am sharing some photos (no, I'm not yet a photo blog... puhlease).

Our first stop is Kathmandu Photo Gallery, a few steps from where Bubbles lives. Kathmandu is a charming shop-house that had been converted into a gallery, and is close to the Hindu temple in Silom.

Luke Cassidy-Dorion is currently showing his photographs of Ramkhamhaeng University in an exhibit called Ram.

A few blocks away from Kathmandu is Silom Galleria, perhaps one of Bangkok's premiere locations of art galleries. (But what do I know, I haven't exactly explored the other galleries in the other parts of town.)

What I like about Silom Galleria is you can see a good number of galleries in one stop because it has about a dozen contemporary art galleries interspersed with jewelry stores.  I haven't visited the place in ages though so I thought it's time I drop by it again.

On our visit last Saturday, however, I noticed that some galleries have shut their operations while others are simply closed temporarily.

Among the open galleries, I was very struck by the exhibit at Artery. There was a sprawling painting that was somewhat a parody of The Last Supper as well as some other works that seem to play with classic masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to ID the artist as the exhibit has yet to open (in about two weeks' time, I guess).

I was very impressed as well with these black and white oil paintings from another artist.

We then moved to another gallery. I forgot its name though but they had good collection of eclectic pieces.

As always, one of the highlights of any trip to Silom Galleria is a stop at the Thavibu Gallery, which specializes in contemporary art from Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma. There's a nice lady there who's always cheerfully giving some background information about their exhibits even if it's quite obvious that I could never afford any of those pieces that run up to half a million baht.

The current exhibit called How to be an Angel is by Vietnamese artist Truong Tan. Using the traditional Vietnamese lacquer painting, which I heard is a painstaking and time-consuming process (but the output is always divine!), most of his pieces, I noticed, are homo-erotic.