fragile things at dib bangkok

Dib, its name drawn from the Thai word for “raw” or “authentic,” grew out of a long-held dream of Petch Osathanugrah, the late father of Chang. A collector, musician, and heir to an energy-drink empire, Osathanugrah spent nearly four decades assembling a collection of more than a thousand works from across the globe, alongside an equally enduring desire to one day build a museum where these pieces could finally breathe in public. Eventually, the Dib International Contemporary Art Museum was realized. 

Among the works we encountered on February 7, one stayed with us long after leaving the gallery. It was “Incubate” by the Indian artist Subodh Gupta. It features a stack of twenty-five oversized eggs made from stainless steel kitchen utensils, beneath five elaborate chandeliers. The materials are unmistakably domestic and humble but are arranged in a way that feels tense and loaded. As one friend puts it, it feels like our ordinary working-class lives are always beneath or at the service of the elite and opulent. 

All of this is housed in The Chapel, a cone-shaped, acoustically engineered space appended to the main structure. From the outside, it looks like a tower of a power plant. But inside, it is a vessel for something even more powerful and profound.

[ more photos here ] 

louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 2

The third section of the Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys exhibition in four parts is called Icons. It highlights pieces shaped by other designers. This  seamlessly flows into the fourth and last section Collaborations, which celebrates partnerships with artists like Yayoi Kusama. 

That part, especially, felt serendipitous because just two days earlier I had encountered an original Yayoi Kusama painting at the Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok. It felt like she was following me around the city! The journey ends with a free souvenir from the museum to take home.

That day, February 6, reminded me all this was an entirely foreign world for me. What felt oddly familiar, though, was the persistence to create, to go against the unimaginative, and how history can turn something as ordinary as a traveler’s bag into one of the world’s most luxurious objects.

[ more photos here ]

coffee, tea, or...

Just the right dose of coffee at Pieces Café & Bed in Song Wat Road, Bangkok, Thailand to power through a long, long day. A welcome bonus that this might be one of the best cups I’ve had so far this year. 

[ more photos here ]

louis vuitton visionary journeys, part 1

Last February 6, after the hubbub at Song Wat Road, my K-pop-fanatic friends happily disappeared into a G Dragon Übermensch merch wonderland and a VR concert. I went to the nearby Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys instead, an exhibition unfolding in four parts.

Here are its first two parts. It opens with Trunkscape, a tunnel made of 96 classic LV trunks, the very object that started it all. This is followed by the segment Origins, which traces the brand from 1854 to the evolution of its now-familiar monograms, bags, luggage, and couture. On a separate occasion, because LV locks were long marketed as “unpickable,” I learned that the brand once invited the famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini to break one open. He declined.

No matter how effective that marketing is, I still have zero plans of buying a bag worth half a million pesos. 

[ more photos here ]

food trip, street-style

Just wandered through Song Wat Road and its web of alleys leading to cafés, galleries, boutique shops, and restaurants tucked into old, weathered houses.

And the food. Let’s talk about the food. Thailand rarely disappoints the palate. Tried the buns and shumai from Michelin-recognized Gu Long Bao, coffee from Goútes, and so much more. And there’s the street food in between, of course. Going home at 75 kilograms is no longer a joke.

[ more photos here ]

changes this christmas

I’m on Day 17 in this foreign land, with 1 day or 24 hours left before Christmas (which also happens to be my mother's birthday), and just 7 days before I welcome another year in this lifetime. It is a privilege to be here, to be in new light (the sun springs out of the shadows at five in the morning and hides back in darkness only at nine in the evening), to be thousands of kilometers away from a country that does not seem to run out of emotional upheavals, political grievances, personal (ir)responsibilities.

It is, at the same time, bittersweet to be away from my family, relatives, the usual culprits who I’ve spent many holiday seasons with in the past. Never have I been so faraway that my skin tingles at the thought of ice-cold winds in a sunny summer alone. It is like living in Baguio or Tagaytay—only taken several notches higher.

But “change” is the word that is incessantly heard all throughout this year. Like a bell that never stops tolling, it demands to be noticed. It insists to be as relevant as ever that it now verges on a kind of desire or an ideal that seems so close to our reaches but always slips out of our hands. Perhaps this time it didn’t slip, perhaps this is the change that the universe has afforded me.

It is not without hesitation though, this change of scenery. Coming here brings a baggage that is not easy to carry, both figuratively and literally. When you live in the now, there is no denying that the past is close to the present, that yesterday is just a stone’s throw away to the next day. Hence, despite the overwhelming expanse of this country, one would never know when the ugly head of the unexpected goes peeking out of a corner.

Nevertheless, the past few days have been kind, have been brimming with beautiful possibilities. Fluctuating temperatures, jet lag, and change of time zones be damned! Some people have asked me, a genuine worry in their voice, if the place is too quiet for me. I gladly respond it is what I need: Peace from all the noise of this world. From Hamilton to Matakana, from Mission Bay to Royal Oak, from Matamata to Onehunga, from Tauranga to Ngatea, from Western Springs to Rotorua, from Queen Street to Bay of Plenty, so far so good. I have the say the travels are eventful. There’s more to come, and the season’s cheers and excitement are already feeling like close to home. Christmas is here to stay, in our hearts, and I will enjoy the holidays no matter where my feet take me to.

Happy Christmas, everyone!