The Aftermath

And violence erupted in Bangkok once again. Twenty-one people are dead and scores are injured as the government decided to disperse the crowd in the old part of Bangkok.

Early in the afternoon of Saturday, the tension was already palpable. Riot police in full gear were gathering not far from the demonstrations and indeed some skirmishes took place near the UN building, with teargas and fire trucks supposedly used against the crowd. Reading this on the the internet, I thought it was as bad as it can get. For months now the demonstrations had rather been not violent.

Later in the afternoon, however, I noticed a couple of helicopters hovering above my area (again, I live not far from the main site of the protest). I also heard what sounded like firecrackers.

I learned much later on that the helicopters were dropping tear gas and that riot police fired rubber bullets at the crowd. The epicenter of the clashes was around the Democracy Monument as well as the tourist enclave of Khao San Road.

For the entire evening, I sat in front of the computer being fed mainly by Twitter updates of journalists, eyewitnesses, and tourists. It turned out to be a bloody confrontation between the government and the demonstrators, with deaths and injuries on both sides.

Within the evening, photos of the injured red shirts were posted on the internet. One young man had his head blown off. His corpse, along with another man, was brought to the main stage of the demonstration for everyone to see.

See one man's coverage of the violence in the videos below.




Last night, Bubbles, E, and I visited Khao San. Anyone who had been to Khao San before knows very well that as the center of cheap guesthouses in Bangkok, the area is always teeming with tourists. Backpackers from all over the world constantly spill over its streets and stalls of souvenirs, food, books, clothes cram the already crowded street in an atmosphere of blasting music and a cacophony of a dozen languages spoken by scruffy travelers.

What we found last night, however, was a relatively quiet street of shuttered stores and a few tourists drinking in the handful of bars that managed to stay open. It's definitely not the Khao San that we used to enjoy.

We walked all the way to the end of the road towards Dinsor Road intersection, one of the clash points last Saturday. A barricade was set there. The once 24-hour Burger King was closed, together with most of the businesses in the area. The street was unlit. Glass shards, wood, rocks, slippers, and shirts were strewn all over the place.

Going around the barricade, we came upon people gathering around what looked like two shrines (for lack of a better term) for the dead.I'm not sure if it was the actual site where two people died, but it was decked with candles, incense, food, shirts, flowers, and photos.

Around the intersection, barricades were still set up. Some of them were guarded by the red shirts. I even found this boy, perhaps not more than ten years old, armed with a baton and a shield.

As of today, the political impasse continues. So much uncertainty hangs in the air. As a resident of Bangkok, I could only hope that no further violence takes place. In spite of the staunch political convictions of the parties involved, the loss of lives is never justified.

Tomorrow, celebrations for the Buddhist New Year, or Songkran, officially starts. I wonder if anyone has the wherewithal for any festivity after the bloody turn of events.

Meanwhile, as everyone tries to escape from Bangkok for the week-long holidays, Bubbles and I are heading to Khmerlandia to meet the queen... Fuchsiaboy!

On a Chilly Friday Evening

As it had been strangely humid middle of last week I thought that Thailand's "cold" season was finally over. Little did I know that the weather could drastically change. Since last Friday the weather has turned chilly instead, which was welcomed by BangCock's denizens, moi included, with layers and layers of sweaters and scarves.

So on a cold Friday evening, the primera maricones of Las Islas Filipinas headed off to Chinatown for our weekly roundup. It was my idea to spend it in Chinatown, away from our regular meeting place in Silom.

I've always been fascinated with BKK's Chinatown (which I've wrote about here) and I've long planned to see it in the evening as supposedly it is one destination for a good meal.

With Liwayway, Bubbles, and Nida Blanca, we found ourselves in the middle of the chaos of Yaowarat, the main street of Chinatown. The streets were lined with stalls selling noodles and Peking duck, together with some fruit and chestnut peddlers.

We settled in one of those street-side eating places while continuously bombarded by the fumes and pandemonium of cars and buses. The throngs of people eating in those makeshift "restaurants" indicate that none of these matter to them, especially coz the seafood in the area is indeed divine.

Apres dinner we took a cab to the nearby flower market, Pak Klong Talat, close to the Pahurat district.

Since our cab was stuck in traffic, and I was already building up a tantrum (oh, I've always been a legendary diva), I forced the maricones to hop off the cab while we were still blocks away from our destination. This proved to be a blessing (charing!) coz we had the chance to check the street market in the area.

Such a discovery! And I actually thought I've conquered all shopping spots in the city.

The flower market was as vibrant as I last saw it (see previous here). A profusion of roses, gardenias, tulips, and whatnot were before us as we walked down the narrow pavement.

There were many fascinating blooms but these did not interest Bubbles and Nida Blanca much whereas Liwayway went on a high when she found her favorite tube roses.

Hopping on yet another cab, we capped the evening by heading to Khao San Road to have drinks at our regular street-side "bar" that's managed by one Burmese hottie (I desperately want his babies!).

We each had a bucket of cocktails while enjoying the chilly breeze and watching scruffy backpackers and fashionable locals traipsing down the street in various states of intoxication.

Performance Level

We put aside the "Top of 2008" list for now and make way for the obligatory weekend update. Obligatory talaga di ba? Charrrrriiiing!

Anyhoot, I had a wonderful Saturday with the vivacious Maggie Q who is visiting BangCock from Saigon. We started at Khao San Road where we scoured the second-hand bookshops. Since I am on a self-imposed book moratorium, I had to hold my self from snagging anything from the shelf. Pleae congratulate me for my legendary self-restraint, bitches.

We then had some Beer Lao in one of those crowded drinking places. Oh, maybe crowded is not the right term to describe the scene in Khao San coz there was hardly any crowd to speak of during this supposed peak season. That's quite sad really.

Inspired by those inked folks streaming all over Khao San, Maggie Q and I talked about getting a tattoo, which I have been planning (make that obsessing) for months now. I already know where I'd place the tattoo but honestly I only have a vague idea of the design. I have to decide on it soon coz I'm DEFINITELY getting it this January. (More on this tattoo thing next time.)

Apres we finished our beer, we took the boat from Phra Arthit and cruised towards Saphan Thaksin. The boat ride was relaxing as always.

We then found ourselves in Lumphini Park for the Bangkok International Street Show. I did not expect the crowd to be that big, ha. Those little creatures, popularly known as kids, were all over the place. Ugh!

A dozen or so stations were set up all over the park where the performers entertain the crowds. I saw a mime and a juggler. The juggler from New Zealand kept on dropping his balls and batons though. Ooops, I made that sound so naughty, no?

My favorite was Hanger Man, who I think is Japanese. He mostly does balancing acts and a few juggling here and there. He is quite a crowd-pleaser not only with his antics but with his energetic personality too. He charmed the local crowd quite well with his Thai phrases spoken in a rigid Japanese accent.

From Lumphini Park, Maggie Q and I strutted our pretty asses to Central Chitlom to catch this French troupe, Les Passagers, dancing on a canvas wall. The event attracted quite a large crowd and it started with a sleep-inducing group called Blue Men (sounds pornish, no?) pounding on drums.

Mixing acrobatics and dance, and with the help of meters and meters of cables and ropes, Les Passagers entertained the crowd with mid-air routines.

I especially took note of the Dries-Van-Noten-ish and Calvin-Klein-ish costumes of the performers. The music was likewise enthralling. The troupe started painting on the canvas and by the time the show ended a giant holiday card was right before our eyes.

The performance was a bit lackluster, to be honest, although I don't undermine how difficult it could have been to mount such a show. I was expecting, however, for a more dynamic and energetic performance.

So to cap the day, we agreed to go dancing at Soi 2. Bubbles joined us as well. Oh, so it has been ages since the last time I went clubbing. The music, I'm happy to note, had considerably changed from months ago. As usual, the place is packed. I loved staying on the first floor where there was hardly any dancing surface available and one has to use all your strength to jostle (make that wrestle) with them gorgeous boys.

But where are the familiar faces? I'm quite surprised that the usual suspects were not present. Anyway, who cares?

The point is... I had one swell of a Saturday, thanks to Maggie Q. I have one thing to say... pout!

Vanilla Weekend

And I thought this weekend's going to be boring, given the uncertainty in the city. It turned out that I had a blast in the past three days.

To the protesters... fuck you all!

Having vented that out, shall we now go to the much-anticipated weekend update? I know you love me, bitches.

Biyernes... the conference finally closed. We have about half a dozen Pinoy participants who are stuck in BangCock for the next five days or so, thanks to the still yet to be known fate of the international airport, and the office had to put them in a hotel. Oh, sooo not my concern. Instead, I went to get my haircut and went to Central World to catch a Polish film (from the ongoing European Film Festival) with Heidi. We soon found out that Zen had a midnight sale so we traipsed to consumer central. Heidi snagged a pair of boots, or whatever they are called these days, which would be the base of his new, muted look. Meanwhile, I window shopped. Please congratulate me for my new-found self-control, bitches. Let's see how long this lasts, ok?

After Central World, we each had a big bottle of beer, basking in the cool weather of BKK. I fucking love the current weather, feels like snuggling... if only I can find someone worth snuggling with. Where was I? Oh shopping... we went to Suan Lum Night Bazaar at around midnight and was met by its eerie silence. All the shops were closed. I don't know who this blame this to. (Again, to the protesters... fuck you all!!!) So we walked all the way to Silom and had noodles outside Soi 2 while watching gay men go in and out of hedonism central.

Sabado... I had lunch with Berkeley, which was followed by coffee. We mostly talked about his travel plans and mine too. I then met Heidi, Hye Kim Park, and a couple of their friends and we took to the BTS to Ekamai. Ekamai is one of the sois (alley or sub-street) along Sukhumvit, a section of the city that I haven't explored yet. I figured I need to expand my coverage aside from Silom and Siam. I know that BKK needs to see more of me. They do love me!

For our first venture into Sukhumvit we went to Vanilla Garden on Ekamai Soi 12. The place is fab, fab, fab. The furnitures inside are 1960s/1970s (or thereabout)... j'adore its interior. We decided to stay outside though as a couple of us smoked. The garden was an equally lovely Japanese-inspired thing, with a bookstore to boot. And it was a nice afternoon to be outdoors, with a cool breeze and all.

Heidi is out-werqing the people at the table!!!

The group had to disperse for the evening. I went to Central Chitlom for some shopping. Sale, sale, sale all over the place! Gotta love this time of the year. From Chitlom I met Heidi and Hye Kim Park at Paragon for a visit at the supermarket.

Hye Kim Park werqing the Bryanboy pose with a bag from the bakeshop.

Domingo... I met up with Bubbles and Liwayway in Chatuchak where we had noodles for lunch. We then took a cab to the Northern Bus Terminal to buy tickets to Nan. We are heading to the northern province next weekend (there's a long weekend for the King's birthday) to get the most out of the cool weather. The trip is about thirteen hours! It should be fucking worth it, dear God. I read that the temperature in the Phu Ka (I'm not sure if I got the name correctly) National Park could drop to as much as 5 to 10 centrigrade in the evening. Girl, time to bring out those fur coats!

My lunch. I swear I only ate the small leaf and nothing else. Pramis.

Bubbles shows off his new BTS (sky train) card... goodness, ngayon lang kumuha ang hitad after living in BKK for four years now.

Tonight, I met Shanghai Tang to watch a performance in Phra Athit Park, but we were not aware of its cancelation because of the political situation in BKK. As we were already in the Khao San area, we opted to have dinner there instead and talked and talked over bottles of Singha Beer. Again, the lovely, cool weather is just perfect and the company is perfect of course.

There, that's my weekend report for now.

Uhmmm... that's all, bitches.

Did I Miss Anything?

Whoa, where do I start... lots of things happened during the past days so I might as well dump all of them here.

First, the office had some symposium on heritage tourism last week and obviously I was away from my desk for a few days (arrrghhhh... soooo missed reading blogs and checking Milan fashion week!).

I met my good friend Heidi who spoke at the conference. I'm talking about the real Heidi from Cagayan de Oro (see her blog here) and we used to work in the same circle in Mindanao three years ago.

The symposium went quite well and now that it's over I wonder what I'm doing at the office for the coming weeks. How about checking more blogs?

Despite the tight schedule, I still managed to squeeze a few films in the ongoing Bangkok International Film Festival.

Bitch here got lucky to get a guest pass, using my charms and my sexual prowess (I wish!), so I had two free tickets each day. Friday afternoon, I watched three films, one after another, until my eyes bled!

I caught a Singaporean film, Money No Enough 2, which is a satire of present-day life in the island state. The obsessive control of the government over the people's lives was obviously one of the main themes of the films, together with how the citizens are grappling with making more money and meeting family obligations. However, the script was a very cheesy and obvious, it ended up looking like a messy soap opera.

I also caught Elite Squad from Brazil. I can only describe it as City of God from the police's perspective. And just like City of God, this movie about Rio's slums and its drug trade is very violent and raw.

One of the best films I saw lately is this documentary called Up the Yangtze about the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the ordinary Chinese. The last minutes of the film shows the river slowly swallowing the house and farm of a poor family. The story is so engaging and heart-wrenching that after the screening I wished I had someone to discuss the film with.

A number of Filipino films, I'm happy to report, are in the film festival as well. I think there should be at least five of them. Even Lav Diaz, who I saw a couple of times inside the cinema, is one of the jurors this year. I managed to catch a couple of Pinoy films.

First is Tirador by Brillante Mendoza, who shows two films in this festival, the other being Serbis.

Tirador is about the inter-connected lives of the slum dwellers near Quiapo. The film opens with an earsplitting night-time raid of the slum. This gritty and chaotic opening sequence is pretty much carried throughout the movie. People screaming, fighting, crying, laughing, arguing... this cacophony of emotions was the single element that tied the numerous characters together.

Of course, the hardship of poverty, and the odds one has to take because of it, is presented with amazing sensitivity, without justifying any of the crimes many of the characters participate in. The film does succeed in giving us a good sense of what Manila is all about.

I also caught Jay by Francis Xavier Pasion (who was present for a Q&A during the screening yesterday). Basically, the movie is a satirical presentation of "journalism" back in Las Islas Filipinas.

Despite the technical problems during the screening (there was no sound for minutes on end in some sections of the film), the audience, which has a sizeable Filipino composition, was still laughing on the right spots.

The film, by the way, is in competition for this festival. I wish the it gets some credit somehow coz it's honestly one of the best Filipino films I've seen recently.

I wish I can still catch a few films until the festival closes on Tuesday. My goal really is to watch as much Southeast Asian Films as I could but there were just too many good films for such a short festival.

Ok, on with the hedonistic pursuits this week... oh dear, where do I start? Last Thursday, I dragged Bubbles to Club Culture for the Donna Summer night. I was expecting lots of gay men in the club but it turned out rather empty, except for my friend Martha Graham, who is in every BKK party anyway.

Bubbles and I decided to head over to Silom, which I haven't visited in probably three months already. I thought I'd miss the place as Bubbles and I used to go there every weekend. But then I was honestly indifferent to the club already. It's the same bloody music and same sleazy crowd.

The next evening, Bubbles and I went to the party of Martha Graham's friend near Khao San Road. There we met a few gay men who then dragged Bubbles and me back to Silom (ugh).

Well, things went to a naughty direction with this guy who calls me moi cheri (the bayot from Surigao pukes) and one thing led to another... and I will stop right here.

My Saturday schedule was ruined when it was not until one in the afternoon when my "guest" decided he should leave already (is it not a rule that you should leave as soon as you can?).

I rushed to Central World to catch Jay, after which I had to attend the Thailand Tourism Awards (zzzzz...). I sneaked out of it after a few minutes and had a haircut.

Dead tired, I went home early only to be invited by Bubbles to a party in Central World (again!). We met up with his yoga instructor and rushed to some Heineken party. Some free beer and lots of gorgeous people.

Bubbles then dragged me to faraway Otokor, that popular strip of gay bars near Chatuchak market to meet yet one of his friends (the bitch has lots!). The last time I was in Otokor was a year ago and I thought it was a good time to once again visit this all-Thai gay hang out.

Fuck, I felt so old in the company of them young, stunning kids.

I wish the social welfare department would not arrest me for doing some quick, naughty stuff in the toilet with this kid who practically looked fourteen!

Today, Bubbles and I went to Chatuchak to do some shopping. I got three shirts, a pair of trousers, second-hand jeans, and a vest.

Will werk them in the streets of BKK soon.

I was hoping I still had energy to catch a few films at the film festival after Chatuchak but I was seriously exhausted from this weekend of debauchery so I decided to have a quiet evening at home.

Some Random Stuff

Well, yet another weekend report, if anybody is interested.

Friday was pretty much spent on anticipating the opening of the Olympics, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. I know that lots of people like it, but for some reason the show did not connect with me. I was not thrilled nor awed; in fact, I nearly dozed off. I did not bother with the parade of athletes and only tuned in again during the lighting of the cauldron (or whatever that thing is called). I fell from my chair at the absurdity of the athlete with a torch in hand running on the rim of the stadium. What exactly were they thinking?

I discovered Project Runway Australia through FuchsiaBoy, and I watched its first few episodes on Youtube in the afternoon of Saturday. When my eyeballs were ready to pop out, I scampered over to CentralWorld to read at the bookstore, a weekly pilgrimage I'm trying to maintain.

I found these young Thais dressed up like anime characters outside the mall. Aren't they just cute? I especially liked the guy in the kimono... I've always wanted to wear one (the kimono, not the guy). And yeah, the guy is pretty, dontcha think? I wonder where you buy those cheekbones...

From CentralWorld, I crossed over to Big C to watch the sunset. Oh Heidi, I still insist on wearing my striped, blue moneyboy shirt. I caught my self in the mirror at the mall and gasped at the moneyboy looking back at me. I know that shirt is hideous, but somehow I like it coz it's quite controversial. Hahahaha.

I met up with Snejana Onopka and the plan was to watch a film, but it turned out that we did not like the schedule. Thank god, he changed his mind about the film coz I don't want to waste my time and money on Journey to the Center of the Earth.

We decided instead to hop on a tuk-tuk for Khao San Road. We ended up in this street-side "bar", if we may call it, that serves cheap, but strong, cocktails. He had gin tonic and I had vodka with pineapple juice, costing only 150 baht per bucket (not a even a glass, dear). I'm SO becoming a Khao San Road regular from now on.

Today I met Nida Blanca in Silom. I paid him the tickets for Udon Thani (for my Lao PDR trip) coz he has a credit card (goodness, credit cards and me are not compatible). He also gave me the copies of Twisted 8 and Soledad's Sister, which I asked him to buy for me when he went home to Manila a week ago. I'm still currently reading Catfish and Mandala, a novel about a road trip through Vietnam. I wish I can read faster coz I really have a serious book backlog.

There, another weekend's over. Back to the drudgery of work tomorrow. Tuesday is a holiday in the Land of Smiles as it is the queen's birthday and also mothers' day. Looking forward to lunch with Pinay friends on Tuesday.

Have a nice week ahead, bitches.