I was just doing a bit of surfing at DJ Chuang's website/blog today and came across info that he'll be hosting the 2nd Asian American Emergents Skypecast this Sunday, August 27th at 9pm EST (8pm Central / 6pm Pacific / August 28 10 am Bangkok).

Having chatted with DJ Chuang (a good year or two ago now!) about this, I'd really like to converse with him and others some more on what's going on and how Asian-American/Canadian churches have responded and explored these issues. Has our orthodoxy and praxis become more Christ-centered in imaginative ways (that is really what emergent movement is all about, anyhow)?

I do feel that I've been out of the loop having been away from "home" for a while now (3 years this week!), however, I believe the leaders at my church in Bangkok are also grappling with east-meets-west issues somewhat similar to what I've observed within Chinese churches in the Greater Toronto Area.

Anyhow, this is a bit of fortunate timing, as Dan Stine, a good friend of mine and I are considering starting a group to read through some emergent books and prayerfully discuss orthodoxy and praxis.

I hope the word is spread and more people join in. There are 3 questions and 1 article that is the conversation starter on DJ Chuang's post.

Technorati Tags: Asian+American, Asian+Canadian, emergent, emerging+church, skypecast

Writing about Bangkok traffic, complaining about it or otherwise, is like saying "green is... green", or something obvious. Come to think of it, there are probably many reasons to measure traffic in other cities against Bangkok traffic. I'm pretty sure Bangkok is a good metric, since it's such an extreme case (although some colleagues tell me of worse - and personally, I think Jakarta traffic is pretty bad, as well.)

I now live some 6 km away from work, but it's not unusual to take 30 minutes to get to work. And yes I'm thinking of cycling - I've even mapped out a bike route using the Gmaps Pedometer (Thanks Tim - and a possible route here).

One time, the work commute was so bad I had to Google "bangkok traffic flow analysis" as soon as I arrived in the office (this was triggered from a conversation with a colleague who  mentioned that the World Bank had done some studies in Bangkok a couple of years back). Unfortunately, there isn't much academic research done in Thailand (western-style research doesn't seem to be very strong here - I think it's a reflection from ingrained Thai cultural and social values), but one of the papers noted that Thai values of "jai yen" (cool hearted) and Buddhist concepts of suffering and fatalism (a bit extreme, but you get the idea) has been a major factor of how slow the government has been  attempting to improve traffic (and never mind the relative corruption). Anyhow, I thought that was some good ethnography at work there - and there are many other factors at work that infuriates a westerner like me (at heart).

Well, tonight, I was heading to a gym at Siam Paragon, and it took me 45 minutes (this was the readout under "time spent under 5 km/h" on the taxi meter) to go some 4-5 km. I probably should've walked instead!

Anyhow, I know complaining does squat. However, I really hope there are more studies and real substantive work done towards alleviating the insane traffic in Bangkok. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Technorati Tags: Bangkok, traffic

A new pair of Timberland TravelGear shoes I recently purchased have given me horrendously painful blisters, almost rendering me unable to walk. These shoes are a replacement for a pair of slip-on GEOX work shoes that have stretched too much (perhaps from unsuccessfully navigating flooded Bangkok streets). Those shoes replaced another pair of shoes lost to the gods of Bangkok klongs (canals) as detailed previously. Although the convenience of slip-on shoes are obvious, the changing weather (combinations of sometimes wet, usually humid, and almost always hot) slip-ons get significantly stretched.

So I know shoes need to be broken into, but this was by far one of my more painful experiences. I also realize that the TravelGear line of shoes are nowhere to be found on Timberland's website, or in North American stores, apparently. Even though it won raves, design awards and good reviews from an acquaintance of mine, I really wonder not only why it was taken off their website, but I can barely find any more information about the line. They're still being sold in South-east Asia, however.

So tomorrow, we're heading up to Pai and Chiang Mai for an extra long weekend (Monday is a public holiday) for a much-needed R&R break from (killah!) work. And we'll be doing photography, hopefully some good stuff for our wedding website. My blisters gotten better (after spending much of last night doing heel triage) and I hope they'll be gone by the end of the weekend.

Technorati Tags: timberland, travelgear, blisters, Pai, Chiang+Mai

After having bought a Schwinn Mesa GX from a friend of mine about a year ago, I haven't had the opportunity to ride in and around Bangkok. Apparently there are a bunch trails around this area called Phra Pradaeng, but I haven't ridden there yet.

Last time Ben came to visit, he bought me a set of Crank Brothers Mallet C clipless pedals. Of course it took some time to install the clips on my shoes, since the hex tools I bought here were quite useless. The upside of these platform pedals is that I can use it street shoes.

I went for a quick ride, trying out the clips and getting a tour of my neighbourhood. At one moment, I didn't managed to unclip and fell right over in front of a car (that was thankfully going very slowly). I really need to get used to clipless pedals again, since it's been a long time, and it's quite embarassing to fall clipped in.

Distance: 3.05 km
Time: 13.33 minutes
Average Speed: 13.6 km/h
Max Speed: 29.9 km/h

Wedding preparations have been going on for quite a while. We've taken care of the big things (venue, date, cards, etc.), but the devil is in the details - which are slowly being taken care of. Our wedding website is being worked on, but before releasing it to the world, I need to learn the ropes of the content management system (Joomla).

However, our TravelWiki is up, so please feel free contribute to it.