Charotera't Payatolang Mermaid

Recently I renewed my pool membership, which means I've been seriously swimming for fitness for a year now. Just two days ago, for the first time I swam for 30 minutes straight, or a total of 22 laps in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Not bad at all, considering my fitness level was practically zero when I started a year ago.

Also a year ago my goal was just to swim for 30 minutes without resting. I used to envy the other people in the pool who could do just that, and being a competitive person I worked hard to reach the same fitness level as the best people in the pool.

I chose swimming because it's the only sport I can bear. I don't enjoy it. Swimming is not fun. It's not supposed to be fun anyway. It's something I do because I need to.

Late 2010 I saw my hips growing wider, my waistline getting thicker, and my belly growing at a rapid rate. Oh, those were traumatic times. The worst I've EVER felt in my life! I decided to do something about it instead of using it as an excuse to buy new clothes.

Anyway, so I started swimming and strove hard to improve my technique. I watched Youtube videos and followed the tips on swimsmooth.com. I don't have a coach, so most of the time it's really trial and error for me.

I'd like to compare swimming to dancing. In both, it's important you have coordination, rhythm, and precision. You have to know when to breathe and how to position your head when doing so. You have to be mindful of hand to shoulder alignment and coordination. You have to know when to kick and rotate your body. Oh, so it's also like sex, no?

Apparently, there's no absolute perfect way to swim. We all have a way of finding our own rhythm and form according to our body type, temperament, and purpose. You have to find your own style, noting however its fundamentals (e.g. making your self as streamlined as possible).

Swimming is a way of looking inward and improving body awareness (something that yoga also teaches). Also, swimming for me is a meditation of sort. The sound of the water and my breathing have a calming effect and the more I swim uninterrupted the more relaxed I become.

But then I don't swim to relax, although sometimes I have lazy days when I prefer to swim slower. Most of the time, however, I swim like my life depends on it, focusing on speed and maintaining fluidity.

I get frustrated when I don't improve as much as I want to, which is often. I don't have a real motivation other than losing weight, but aside from that, I'm continuously pressured to do it perfectly, otherwise, what's the point, chai mai?

So did I eventually lose weight? Yes, absolutely yes. I don't have a swimmer's body (please, far from it), nonetheless, I have managed to keep my weight down, that's all that matters to me. Sure, I can always lose another 10 kilograms or something. But you know, at least now I can walk around Bangkok knowing I'm not as big as a tuktuk.

Oh, how can I discuss fitness without talking about dieting, no? I promised in the past that I wouldn't talk about food and such, but it's a new year (I made that promise in 2011, dahlings).

Well, I just want to talk about my diet here, after all my friends ask me about it, who knows who else is interested, di ba?

I only have two main rules in eating: eat the right food and eat at the right time.

My diet is basically this: I don't eat carbs, first and foremost. I eat a big breakfast of muesli at 9am so I don't get very hungry by lunchtime. For lunch I eat four servings of fruits (coconut and papaya). I eat four more servings of fruits (pineapple and watermelon) at  3pm. I eat a banana at 4pm. (Insert swimming here.) I eat a cup of peanuts and almonds at 6:30pm. And then nothing after that. Absolutely nothing. I have major hunger pangs before midnight, so I just drink chamomile tea. And then repeat the next day.

I also drink lots of water but not soda and fruit juices. I eat meat for dinner sometimes, but still no rice. Okay, I eat rice for lunch on weekends. I avoid beer and cocktails if I can, instead I drink crappy house wine at the bar.

This diet plan leaves me hungry like shit most of the time (that's why I'm almost always irritiable). But it's a kind of hunger that's satisfying at the same time.

Maggie's Back!

Well, well, well... look who is in town?

Yes, it's my sister from my Chinese mother... Maggie Cheung. She lived in BKK for six months last year for an internship at my office. During that time she and I were hanging out together like crazy. It helps of course that she is into shopping and partying too!

It has been a year since she went back home but we had kept in touch through these months. Maggie is nearly finished with university and is trying to embark on a career in her native Macau.

Despite her busy schedule, she took the time for a holiday in BKK. She came with her BF, Kenneth. We had the chance to catch up last Tuesday at an Indian restaurant.

Right now, Maggie Cheung and Kenneth are enjoying the sea and sand of Koh Samet.

It's definitely wonderful to see again an amazing friend.

Weekend Report: Useless Tofu Adobo

Some good-old weekend report...

I had the temerity to cook adobo for Lara Stone last Saturday. We met at the supermarket in Silom and we got some tofu in lieu of chicken or pork because Lara is a vegetarian. I could have ran to the nearby Filipino store for Silver Swan soy sauce but we did not have time for it.

Instead I used some Thailand-made soy sauce, which was too light for my taste. I ended up pouring a whole bottle of soy sauce into the pan of diced tofu. Of course we know how salty that would get. I poured out some of the soy sauce from the pan and added loads of sugar, which helped little in the salty situation I was caught up in.

But that was not the only cooking emergency that evening. The red rice we were cooking in the rice cooker had too much water, it was nearly porridge-like. I had to scoop out some of the water while it was boiling.

I don't know why I braved cooking for him that evening when I know very well that I'm not exactly a kitchen diva. I don't even like food, period. I tried to be the hero of course by refusing Lara's offer to help in the kitchen (what does he know about Filipino food, aber?). Instead, I left him on the couch watching a football game between The Netherlands and Japan. The result of the match surely made Lara happy.

Back to dinner. I served the dinner with trepidation and I even warned Lara that it was not how I wanted the adobo to taste like. But Lara was kind enough to eat the adobo tofu. He said in fact that it wasn't as bad as I proclaimed it was. And we all know he was just being polite.

I swear the tofu was uber salty. I even ended up dousing it with copious amounts of vinegar, which all the more made the adobo taste despicable. The rice was good though and we ate most of it and left the salty adobo alone.

Time to say goodbye to my dream of becoming a housewife.

The evening progressed to us watching 500 Days of Summer. It was a choice between Cinema Paradiso and the romantic comedy. Obviously we chose the right film. Hahaha.

I always wake up an hour or two earlier than Lara. Yesterday I took that time to read the first chapter of Miguel Syjuco's Ilustrado, which my sister gave me for my birthday.

When Lara woke up we had breakfast, after which he started massive cleaning of his apartment while I sat on the floor sorting out DVDs. The cleaning took the most part of the morning and we eventually treated ourselves to some laps in the pool at about noontime. I'm proud to report that I've significantly improved my freestyle. London 2012 here I come!

We took a ride to Little India in the afternoon to get some fabrics to drape his couch with. We decided to use three colors of fabric to give the living room a much-needed burst of color. I've never done fabric shopping before and it was quite a delight to rummage through rolls and rolls of dusty cotton.

Lara, I discovered does not like purple. I don't get it; tell me what's wrong with purple, aber?

Sabado Lafangan

I had brunch with the beautiful Pinays of Bangkok at Minibar Royale in Sukhumvit last Saturday. I don't normally go all the way to that side of town as the distance is tantamount to taking an out of town trip from where I live.

But the treat at Minibar Royale was courtesy of a prize I won from BK Magazine. So off I went with my primera amigas to a four-hour brunch in the warm and elegant atmosphere of the restaurant

They welcomed us with a bottle of champagne, which was infused with orange juice. Well, what better way to start brunch with such a fun company but champagne? Hahahah. Dahling, we don't have this in Surigao! Chozzz

After the champagne, we had some proper brunch consisting of some toast, bacon, and a seafood platter. I honestly could not recall now what those combos were called, but they were simply scrumptious.

About a couple of hours of chikahan later, tea commenced. We asked for some pomegranate tea and later on we had rose tea. They were diviiiine!!! I could actually get used to it. Choz! Tea was accompanied with bits of chocolate balls and a few sandwiches, which were all equally fantastic.

Warm thanks to the staff of BK Magazine and Minbar Royale for making our Saturday pretty special.

Apres brunch we walked to Emporium, one mall I hardly visit as well owing to its location, to watch Sex and the City 2. Every self-respecting bayot and their fag hag need to watch the movie, chai mai? Well, forget about the story of the movie, we were there for the clothes and the fabulousness of the girls anyway.

A short taxi cab later, we found our selves at a Filipino restaurant in Soi Pridi. On the cab, we were quite delighted to see another side of Bangkok, particularly the Sukhumvit side.

Whereas I live in the old part of town whose streets are lined by crumbling shophouses, what I saw in Sukhumvit were tall, glitzy apartment buildings instead (we saw an ad for an apartment costing 90,000 baht per square meter... I don't even own 90,000 baht!). The area was littered with bars, restaurants, and furniture shops, among other expensive venues. The traffic was also horrendous in that part of town ha. Even on a Saturday afternoon. Jing jing!

Having seen some parts of upscale, not to mention chaotic, Sukhumvit, I feel pretty lucky to be living on the side of the old city.

Anyway, on to dinner at the Filipino restaurant, where we were joined by the Pinay bakla contingent living around the area, namely, Miss Georgina Jones, Madame Rexona Gomorrah, and Binibining Martina Negra, whose lives appear in the wildly hilarious blog featuring their debauchery, Gossip Girl TS.

For those unfamiliar with Pinoy food, allow me to give you a lesson, dai mai? Dai!!!

We start of course with the adobo, the de facto national dish of Las Islas Filipinas. Adobo is a common household dish, a great reminder of home-cooked meals for us living away from home. There's a variety of styles for this dish (dry or saucy), but its main ingredients are vinegar, soy sauce, loads of garlic, and bay leaves. Adobo is mostly made of chicken or pork, and honestly, I haven't heard of any other meat used for adobo. It's safe to assume that every Filipino knows how to cook adobo because it's quite simple.

Let's proceed with dinuguan, which in English is called pork blood stew. Yes, dahlings, you read it right... it's made of pig's blood and is one of the best dishes in Las Islas, although of course not a lot of non-Filipinos can grasp the idea of eating pig's blood (despite the fact that many other dishes worldwide involve pig's blood). Swimming in the thick sauce of blood are tiny slices of pork intestines, liver, and heart, among other internal organs or parts of a pig.

 

Next is pancit. Any dish that's made of noodles is called pancit back home. The type we tried yesterday is called pancit bihon that uses thin, transparent noodles. Pancit is the quintessential birthday dish because the long strands of noodles supposedly represent the long life one wishes for the person celebrating his/her birthday. Pancit is usually a mix of sliced vegetables, some tiny bits of meat, mushrooms, and chorizos.

Lastly, we also had this dish of more strips of pork organs... from what I can tell it's made of liver and lungs, but there could be more in it. It's my first time to hear of such a dish, and have forgotten it since then (can someone help me ID this dish?). I guess we don't have this in Surigao yet again. But this is one other divine Filipino dish, which I believe is best eaten as pulutan (or finger food) to beer.

So there, that's my introduction to Filipino food for you, although don't believe everything I say coz food and cooking are the least of my interests. I hope though this somehow piques your interest in Pinoy cooking.

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." -- Kate Moss

I've been keeping this secret for quite some time now, but I guess it's time to let my publique officially know: I'm now plus-size, which we all know is a euphemism for obese. Yes, I failed you all. I'm totally disgraced.

All my jeans and pants are just tight these past months. I first discovered this last September or so when I realized I can hardly breathe every time I wear some of my favorite pants. I thought I was just bloated and was hoping it was only a passing phase. I also thought my posture was not right, hence I tried tucking in my tummy, which of course leaves me even more breathless.

So when those two strategies did not work I changed my diet. I eat a heavy breakfast of muesli and soy milk in the morning, some lunch (which is not really much considering how minuscule food servings are in Thailand) together with loads of fruits, and then I grab a snack of whole wheat bread with peanut butter in the afternoon.

I see to it that dinner is not later than seven in the evening (ideally 6 pm) and I only eat a cup-full of nuts (almond, peanuts, squash seeds, cashew) and a glass of fresh fruit juice. I've sort of sworn off soda drinks as well, along with ice cream, cakes, bread, and all things supermodels don't eat. Ask Naomi...

And I exercise for about two hours, three times a week. The routine is twenty minutes of yoga, ten minutes of planks, twenty minutes of crunches, forty-five minutes of weights, push-ups and lunges, and then thirty minutes on the elliptical machine (I don't exactly know how that thing is called).

The latter bores me to death, I would not wish it on anyone, but I simply have to do it because it's the only decent cardio exercise I can do. Well aside from walking, which I do quite a lot of whenever I go to the mall (hahahaha... does that count?). Let's ask Natalia...

But to no avail really. Increasingly the pants just became tighter and tighter until I had to give up wearing nearly all of my pants, including the pekperk shorts I soooooo love wearing when prancing around the streets of BangCock.

If I have to wear some of my jeans, I open the top button whenever I sit down otherwise I'd asphyxiate to death. Also I'd get cramps on my legs coz I could hardly move them considering how tight they are in the thigh and crotch areas.

Replacing all the pants was a good excuse to shop. Gosh, I recoil in horror every time I have to fit a size 34 pair of pants instead of 31, my waistline ages ago. BUT, lemme note that I'm size 31 in Las Islas Filipinas. The inches in Thailand are obviously smaller than in The Third World; go figure how that happened! How about we ask Lara?

Which brings me to wonder, what's with the recent weight gain? Honestly, I don't think I'm gaining weight per se, you know. I'm still around the 65 kg range. And if I look at my self in photos my face is not exactly getting rounder, in fact, my cheeks are beautifully sunken as they always have been. So there, I'm not gaining weight, please lang.

My body's changing, simply put. Shades of Gemma Ward and Coco Rocha, chai mai? I can tell my thighs are getting more solid, I even have a hint of calves these days. And oh, my bums are not exactly as skinny as they used to be and my hips are, well, slightly wider. That suddenly makes me a Latina, no? Would Kate like it?

I blame it on age. You know, I cannot be 16 forever, can I? I don't enjoy the same metabolic rate that entitled me to mock anyone who does not have protruding clavicles. That's the harsh reality of life. Like I've heard many people say that their bodies changed considerably when they reached a certain age, and perhaps I'm reaching that phase. Gosh, that statement is going to give me nightmares in the coming days.

So anyway, I don't have the moral ascendancy anymore to lambaste my obese friends (and you bloody know who you are!). I'd be a hypocrite if I start talking about dieting, exercise, and all that shit. I had my time and now is my chance to relinquish the crown to younger and, well, skinnier bayots.

For the mean time, I'm ready for the backlash. Bring it on, bitches (*shakes head and buries face in palms*). Please be a bit kind, OK?

Danggit, Bai!

I arrived from Cebu last Friday evening, hence, a travel report is in order, chai mai? I know it's rather late but the weekend was busy as hell, with too many things to do (chief of which was buying a new bed... fucking FINALLY!) and catch up with friends and all.

There's really nothing much to say about the conference, except that it went well in general. I also met a few former colleagues from Manila, and that for me was the highlight of the event.

Oh, a few notes on the hotel. It's lovely but I had higher expectations from such an overpriced resort. I was largely underwhelmed by the facilities, to be honest, although the service was very warm, I have to note. I'm not supposed to complain anyway coz I did not pay for the accommodations.

Evenings, after the meetings, were spent with the family of course. My mom looks way better than when I last saw her last December. She decided to change treatments and the effects are showing. She could walk properly now and her spirit is considerably upbeat. I cannot be more elated.

My brother, on the other hand, is moving to Manille in about a couple of months. Should be exciting for him. It'd be his first time to live with my sister, who is not easy as a housemate, having lived with her for some years my self. Kidding, dahling! My sister is a gem (rolls eyes clockwise). Well, she really is (rolls eyes counter-clockwise)!

I also met a couple of cousins from my mom's side and of course Mansing.

And then I swapped updates with BFF Nikki and Philmar. We even managed to terrorize the hotel with hours and hours of camwhoring. Of course.

The next day, I was scheduled to meet again my mom and brother but they were like late so I had so much free time I decided to buy one shirt. And then the shirts just piled until at the end of the day I also snagged a pair of jeans from Bleach Catastrophe (which was on sale) and a pair of sandals for the summer, among other things. I swear I did not plan to shop, but of course we all know how impulsive I am with these things. Now I have to live on subsistence level for the rest of the month.

Anyhoot, before we left for BKK, my boss asked me to take him to the statue of Lapu-lapu, which is like three minutes by car from the hotel. Lapu-lapu is supposedly Las Islas Filipinas' first national hero after killing Magellan in the battle of Mactan. But what they did not mention in the history books is that Lapu-lapu went to the gym! Damn, those pecs!

We left for Bangkok last Friday, via Manille, where I met BFF Meredel at the airport. She's as divine as ever! We only had about an hour to spare before my flight took off. So we quickly updated each other on who's getting married among our classmates from the university. Gosh, there had been hordes of them getting hitched, and more to follow I learned!

Guess who got a safety pin pendant?
Oh, I brought some danggit from Cebu, what else, aber? I invited Liwayway and Bubbles to my house last Sunday. The kitchen and the office lobby smelled of dried fish the moment we started frying them, which we then dipped in vinegar. What else is there to do but eat with our hands, di ba?

We also had some calamansi juice, dried mangoes, and otap!!! It was a perfect Pinoy brunch. Liwayway also brought some white wine, hence, we were on the table for hours.

The Kawadjan Cardigan by Don Protasio

BFF Donita a.k.a Fuchsiaboy visited BKK last weekend for a seminar and he surprised me with the coolest thing ever. I'd talk about that later, but lemme share first the camwhoring that we did, as the practice is whenever Donita is in one of his royal visits.

We mostly went around the shopping malls in the Siam area, going inside Balenciaga, Club 21, Longchamp, etc. I don't usually dare drop by these stores; you know me, I consider Khao San and Chatuchak t-shirts as high fashion. So it's nice to be dragged inside the real high fashion stores whenever Donita is around.

Donita wore a Margiela AIDS Tee and I wore the Don Protasio reworked t-shirt he gave me last month.

Last Saturday evening, we also went all the way to the neighboring province of Nonthaburi to visit the restaurant of my friend. Sitting on the bank of the Chao Phraya River, the place is called Baan Rabiang Nam (or River Tree House; official website here).

Despite its rather out-of-the-way location (it's more than 30 minutes drive from the city... without traffic), apparently it's still quite a popular restaurant, particularly among Thais. The restaurant was full when we arrived there at nine in the evening. It had also been reviewed by Bangkok Post recently (see the review here).

It's indeed a very charming place and the food is sensational. My friend who owns the restaurant also offered us a very generous discount. Tres nice of him!

Yesterday, I met Donita again for more shopping. For the first time I wore my meggings (men's leggings) as well as the Don Protasio cork necklace.

To my horror, many people stared at me while I was walking around Siam Square and Paragon. I really felt a bit self-conscious and I wonder why people were giving me the head to toe sweep. Do the meggings look weird to you?

And of course some dinner just as rain pelted the city. Donita likes eating. I only ate tissue paper.

Finally, here's the surprise that I mentioned above. Donita named a cardigan after me!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the Kawadjan Cardigan by Don Protasio.

I'm just thrilled like I had a major orgasm to beat all orgasms. I. Swear.

This is as historical as Marc Jacobs naming a bag after Bryanboy, non? No, make that BIGGER... Oh, here... it's like having an airport or a street in Surigao named after moi, di ba?

This cardigan is part of Donita's spring-summer collection, which he will present in the upcoming Philippine Fashion Week later this month.

He also named shirts after fellow bloggers Kiks and Lyka Bergen, among a few other bloggers (tama ba ako Don?).

Anyway, look how this cardigan can be draped in many ways. I love playing with it and I could not wait to werq it around Bangkok, especially now that the cool season is fast approaching.

Donita Rose Mary "Baby" Arenas... salamat, salamat, salamat for this HUGE honor.

Talking About a Weighty Issue

When I went home to Las Islas Filipinas a few months back, one of the first things many of my friends told me was how skinny I've become. Make that perhaps 90 percent of them.

I know talking about weight is really impolite and sometimes crass. You know, it's one of the few "un-mentionables", like, I don't know, money and whether you like PGMA or not.

Perhaps among friends weight-talk is all right. BUT not on the first second of meeting each other after more than a year, chai mai?

Let me remind you however that this is Las Islas Filpinas where most people have a BMI of... OK, let's just say that we really have a different weight standard. To be healthy equals being plump.

In the Tercera Mundo of Las Islas Filipinas, having a skinny frame is tantamount to being unhealthy. So when my friends first saw me the follow-up question would always be: nagkasakit ka ba? Or, kumakain ka pa ba?

I always tried my best to stop my eyes from rolling when this happened. I didn't even tell them what they actually needed to hear, which is: Look at your fat ass, dahling.

(Hi amigas, I love you all, I really do!)

Meanwhile, when I first came to BangCock one of the things I immediately noticed was how skinny people here are. At that time I was already considered freakishly thin in Las Islas but in BKK I realized I was pretty, how shall I say this... obese.

One of my first undertakings then was obviously to lose weight, which I was successful in.

Achieving a slim figure in BKK is really easy coz meals here do not constitute heaps of carbohydrates say compared to Las Islas Filipinas where people eat horrifying quantities of rice and bread.

After all, Las Islas is the biggest importer of rice in the world. Need I explain further?

A few weeks after arriving in BKK, I already fit into those uber popular skinny jeans that every guy in BKK wears. For a change I felt quite normal. *Sob.*

-- Cue in "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. --

It baffles me that many people do not still understand that some lucky bitches are just naturally skinny without being necessarily unhealthy, much less having an eating disorder. Blame it on the proponents of "healthy body image" *rolls eyes* who think that a "real figure" is having, I don't know, Oprah's body proportions.

What then do they call our sinuous, cadaverous, emaciated, and gaunt frames: imaginary??? Do we look like celestial beings to them?

No dahling, we skinny people happen to have "real figures" as well. We are as real as your double chin and those rolls of flesh spilling out of your gut. We are as real as your cellulite and stretch marks.

I don't understand why being bony is considered offensive.

Do not blame us if our mere presence makes your self-esteem plummet straight to the core of the earth. *Shrugs fragile shoulder blades.*

It is really not our fault if we have prominent clavicles, is it? Nor can you blame us if we have visible ribs, all eight of them on each side and are named after supermodels.

These days, out of delicadeza, I do not even tell my friends anymore that I buy jeans from the women's section coz nothing, and I mean NOTHING, just fits at the men's selection.

My target is really to shop at the teen's department.

But unfortunately age is betraying me. Well, simply put, I don't have the metabolism of a twelve-year old anymore.

When I turned eighteen two years ago I realized that sadly I cannot just shove anything into my mouth. Those were the good old days. So recently I started to spit instead of swallow.

Ooops, where was I?

OK, the point of this post is not to lambaste people of the, uhm, fleshy kind. In fact I have dozens and dozens of friends who are rather, uhm, plump and I love each one of them as much as my scrawny and diaphanous, bordering-on-the-invisible, friends. I swear!

Also, many of my heroes in life are considerably, uhm, portly, such as Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. OK, maybe not.

How about... uhm... Oprah! Yes, Oprah.

And honestly, I have lately been listening to Adele and The Gossip.

The point of this post is to placate my amigas in Las Islas Filipinas that I'm really OK. Lumpy or gaunt, I'm the same delusional bastard you've always loved.

-- Cue in Bella Flores laugh. --

Nice 2 meat you?

It's the second day of the long weekend in Thailand. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week are non-working days in observance of Buddhist Lent. I was planning to take a trip to some island in the east but alas I did not have anyone to go with.

In the end that proved to be a blessing coz I had more money for shopping. LOL. Today I even dropped by my favorite second-hand store that sells women's clothes. Love their stuff there coz they're all unique and quirky... not to mention cheap too! I ended up with a white shirt with some twisted detail.

Burberry Prorsum isdatchyu?

And oh, I also bought from the same shop that black jacket I'm wearing in the picture below. I love women's clothes!!!

But goodness, somebody please tell me to put an end to buying more and more and more. I'm serious; this shopping "spree" has to stop, it's not funny anymore.

Anyway, BFF Bubbles and I went to yet another night of clubbing in Silom last Friday and then Saturday evening we roamed around the Khao San Road area, basically people watching.

Today we visited the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre, which has become one of my favorite places to hang out in since it opened last year. The space itself is striking, with the interior's shape compared very often to New York's Guggenheim Museum (I only saw the latter in pictures).

The curves are indeed elegant with many of its cavernous halls using natural lighting. It's also encouraging that there are regular shows in BACC and that many people, especially Thais, seem to visit it, thanks to its central location.

They've recently installed this humongous alien-like sculpture in front of the building and it has since caught the fancy of many of BKK's denizens.

There were a number of separate exhibits this time. There's even a show of the Philippines' Baldemor (I forgot his first name, basta it's not Leandro, LOL) in celebration of 60 years of Thai and Philippine diplomatic relations.

There was also an exhibit of Italian and Thai artists titled White Spring (if I remember it correctly). Perhaps the most fascinating piece is by Fabrizio Corneli, who used cut-outs and halogen lamps to cast large shadows on the wall.

A section was dedicated to Australian Brook Andrew also showed some of his works that use a variety of media.

The top floor of the BACC was allocated for a rather irreverent and eye-catching collaboration between a French and a Thai artist titled Nice to Meet You.

Oh, one more thing... we recently discovered this Chinese dumpling store in Central World that has the most amazing sticky rice thingie wrapped in some leaves (gosh, somebody please tell me what this is called in Thai).

I ate there three times this week!

And oh... did I mention we camwhored?