Be Cool

Public paranoia continues is Bangkok, but our neighbourhood seems to overlook everything. Everyone's marching on with their daily routines. Fri, Sat and Sun I teach in the heart of everything, and getting home after rubbing shoulders with the protesters is...well, a huge relief.
Come to think of it, this is Little Thailand for me, the land of djai yen yen (keep a cool heart).

Busted!!!

Long time no post guys but, hurray!!! We're back!...we've had some rough times with the net, rushed over to get my Vietnamese Visa, went through some serious heat stroke evenings. All good now.

It's getting dangerous taking photos these days in Bangkok. There's some political unrest in Thailand, no sense of getting into it, but basically having a camera in your hands means you're with the press, and the protesters are after you. The peaceful locals in our neighbourhood even give you the eye like you're there to dig up the dirt. And today, we got busted!:)

The plan was to take some photos at the train station near by, but instead as soon as we arrived there the ticketing officers told Ake that photos are prohibited! What the heck! Since when? I saw trouble, so, while Ake was peacefully negociating our way out of it I stole couple shots.







That was the story of our 5 min photo trip. My hands were shaking with despair. Eventually, I had to resign my self and turn off the camera while monks were passing by, some cool looking indian women were leaning over train windows and the Thai kids were glacing at me from behind corners.




Well, you can't have it all!

We've found a great Photo Album today just roaming around in one of Bangkok's bookstores (Kinokunya - Paragon, if you're in Bangkok) - Mei Mei, shootings at a Chinese Orphanage. What we really liked is that it showed kids laughing, crying, wipping buggers, playing ball, toes poaking out through socks....all black and white with a great human touch. I hate it when things are showed one-sided amplified to bring the public to tears.

Back again to the photo challenge of the week. Ake's work this time :)...I begged him to put on both versions...I'm partial to the Sepia...but Ake preffers the Dual Tone.

Reach
(Dual Tone)


(Sepia)

Antz "barking"...

Well, another day, another photo experiment.
"Trees" Photo Challenge -> see Photo Sharks link for other photos on the same theme.
...short story here: grabbed Ake's close-up lens + my Nikon D50 and ran for the first tree. Found a good looking old one that was just wonderful. :)

Photos: Carmen

Brrrr...

Did I mention it's boiling hot over here? So, naturally, all stores, shopping malls are cracking up (or down?) the aircon to a brrrr freezing 18 C. That's how I end up carrying a sweater with me ALL THE time. We're back our Thai Summer 45 - 18 game.

Forget about seeing a movie without a blanket/sleeping bag (I'm the one with sleeping bag). I know people that prepare in advance for movies. I'll be going: "Ahh... Dana, wanna joins us for movies?" ; the honest reply comes: "Sorry, socks, gloves and jumper are at home!"

That's also how everyone has a cold/sore throat while dripping into their slippers. That's Thai summer in Bangkok for you! All over!

Nikoniada - Nikon Days In Bangkok

A great weekend for us here...Nikon put on a 4 day show. In the spotlight one of their hired photographers, HOW (that's his name - ironically it means YAWN in Thai :)) that gave talks and presentations on shooting, post processing, cracked jokes and entertain a hall full of photo lovers. Check some of his photos from his last, Incredible India trip.





Now, here's a job which all you photo lovers might fancy : being paid by Nikon to travel around the world and take photos. You make your own schedule, but you put on a show after 2-3 months of traveling. Ake's a faithful reader of his stories (Thai only), but skip that and How's gallery in well worth it. The guy's on horseback riding training for his next assigment: MONGOLIA. Rats! :) Some people have it all!



Also, as it turns out, one of the managers at Nikon Thailand is Ake's photo professor at the university. Great guy! How do you think we got the 400 euro discount on Nikon D200? Our guy knows a guy who can get things...:)))

Naturally, no show is complete without the mini skirts chicks parading around with compact cameras in their hands. It all part of the fun.

How & CO

Moving to Antarctica ;)

It's been unbearable these past weeks, to the point where I'm dripping on the way to work, running to the nearest mall for a cool drink, crashing in aircon rooms just to stay alive.





All our mini photo escapades were sold off for icy drinks or ice cream. There we were, coming back at night, once again defeated by the heat and I was playing with the camera as Ake was slaloming among Bangkok's traffic. I quite like the effects on the first lot (landscapes) when I sort of built up some courage, as Ake was prompting me to try new stuff. The second lot (protraits) are my first tries and well, it's good to see where one can start at this.

D a n c e r (Photo Sharks)

An older photo this time of a praying dancer in Bangkok.
Photo : Carmen

Vietnam Trivia


A month from now we'll be having chocolate croissants in Hanoi. I've got ichy feet already, so immediate action needed to be taken. I rushed over and bought the Lonely Planet Guide for Vietnam (2005 edition)...
I really love how it's written! The author is funny, sarcastic at points without being judgemental...and Vietnam looks now even more appealing...

Here's what I found in the HANOI - SALONS & SPAS section:
"Note that many of Hanoi's beauty salons offer - ahem - 'extra servicies' as standard." :))
We'll be skipping massages I see....


Also, apparently, there are lots of Vietanmese who looked down on any Asian that married a white face, and Asian women (not only Vietnamese) get the worse of it...
I'm thinking Ake should be OK or else he'll be kung-fuying his way through. :)


Found out that, just as we land on a Saturday afternoon, we can catch a great water puppet show in Hanoi's old quarter, which is where we'll be staying. As the guide puts it, you get two shows for the price of one, the puppets in the water and the Vietnamese kids having a blast...

More of rice fields, French coffee and croissants later...
Photos: Ake (Old Quarter, Bangkok)

13 Lucky March

It's our 1 year aniversary today...and my last statement on the subject still stands "being married is great!" Sure, we've put on couple of kilos (but, we're working on that :P).


We looked back and had a good laugh thinking of how my dear dad managed to have a heart attack on my wedding day and found himself in room full of Thais and pictures of his heart, then how the DJ at our wedding played "Tonight I'll celebrate My Love for You" - the cheesest song ever - as our entry song, while we requested the "Bare necessities" (that's right- Jungle Book), and how 1 hour before the wedding party we had a french fries party(XXL portions) in the hotel's resturant.

By the end of the day, Dad was back in the game, we were married, our best man was an uncle....and we were absolutely knaked.

c l i c k
More photographic experiments on Office Supplies.:)

Photo: Ake

Life in 24 hours

I got an unexpected call last night. Great news: I'm free on Friday! Naturally, as Thais would put it: "Let's happy!"...:)

We made plans to grab our cameras and run off to Lopburi, the monkey dominated town 200 km North of Bangkok. Checked the train schedule. We had to wake up at 5 am. Auch!
I really really really wanted to. In fact, it was my idea (Carmen), but at 5 am the pillow looked so invinting and I couldn't drag my butt out of bed so, we settled for a movie and a visit at the Nikon center to clean our cameras.

The easiest choice was to catch our dear Butterly Dome again. The little buggers are just gorgeous!

s.h.a.r.p. > office supplies - photo sharks
photo: Carmen

ALL SAVE > Office Supplies Photo sharks
photo: Ake

Wat PHO, Bangkok

We've been terribly lucky. Nikon Thailand had a huge sale, so we managed to upgrade to a mini-monster, Nikon D200. Ake's bursting with excitement ever since. We also sold our Nikon D70 (body only) to a guy Ake talked to on a Thai photo forum. We wanted to sell it with 800 euros (body and lens), but the guy insisted he only wanted the body for the same price, cause he was planning on buying a "bazooka" later on.

It was sort of funny, Ake trying to explain to the guy: "Man, this is not a good deal for you...". He couldn't get through. In the end, he gave up and invested the dow in acquiring our new baby, D200.

Following, Ake's photos at one of my favorite temples in Bangkok, Wat Pho.