An ordinary life in an extra-ordinary place
Archive for September, 2008
The occasionally vigilant government department that monitors what can and cannot be sold in shops, has decreed that certain products, emanating from China and possibly containing melamine, should be removed from shelves. These products include Snickers (one of my favourites) M&Ms, and Dove milk chocolate.
Given that the decree is not mandated, it is likely that all the shops will ignore it; and sure enough, a nearby store had racks of Snickers and M&Ms for sale. I didn’t know that they made these things in China, so I bought one to check. Sure enough:
So there you are, Snickers are bad for your health. Of course I had to have the wrapper flat to photograph it, so I opened it up and ate the chocolate bar; all in the name of research you understand.
Rose is out on a SUP and I really want to capture an atmospheric image, straight into the sun with the water sparkling and Rose in shadow against the water, but with some detail coming out of the board at the bottom of the shot.
Several attempts using different exposure settings and finally I get one, with “bum island” nicely positioned in the background.
I don’t get many shots that I am truly pleased with, but I do like this one.
Photographing Craig, and out of the corner of my eye I see two girls jumping by the edge of the sea. Swing round the camera and catch a quick shot; composition is not perfect, but it’s fun.
Well, not actually, but it’s big enough to qualify for requiring the assistance of a pilot in certain ports.
It’s a racing SUP, designed to cover long distances at speed. But as Craig didn’t have any long distance events available to him this afternoon, he amused himself by catching the waves outside the club.
Once the waves died, he amused himself by trying to race the local boats and generally dicking about.
He also spent some time trying to teach me to catch waves. It appears to be more than an art than a science and involves sensing where you should be to catch the wave; not something I am able to do yet although I did manage a couple of semi-surfs. One day….
Back to catch the Strongman competition and luckily there is a young lady occupying the stage, doing exercises which I think she who must be obeyed would benefit from.
Then two guys stage a mock fight which ends with one of them falling heavily and limping off the stage. Everyone clapped.
Finally, out came the strongman competitors, rippling muscles and bulging flesh. Took a couple of shots, then felt that poking a lens at semi-naked oiled men was not really my thing; had to rush out to the car park for some fresh air and a vain hope of meeting a pit girl to photograph.
For those of you who are visiting to view reports on the SUP trip, here are the links to the individual reports, to save you trawling through all the other junk on this site:
The trip to the river
The first day
Rubber Boy and Captain America
The second day
I am in the privileged position of having sufficient funds to put food on the table, maintain a roof over my head and have some left over for little luxuries (but not enough for that new Leica DSLR; bugger).
But there are many in Pattaya that are not in such a fortunate position. People for whom the next meal is a constant financial challenge, who share a room in a meagre hovel and who only have enough cash for the latest mobile phone and a furry carrying case. I genuinely feel sorry for such people and understand that sometimes they have to resort to theft to maintain their humble existence.
Take Khun Witawat, down on his luck and out of cash, he rightly targeted a French-owned supermarket to obtain some fundamentals of life to take home to his desperate family. Sadly, he was caught in the act and his haul of goods were put on display by the police: some household tools, a pair of shoes, facial cream, and a bumper sticker; all the basics of a civilised life brought together in a single shopping basket. Perhaps they will let him keep the bumper sticker, he can use it in prison.
The country bubbles to the left of your screen has generated considerable intellectual debate. Devious, but not at all surprising, was an assertion by the French that their balls were too small because their minimal colonies had been allocated their own spheres.
In a similar vein, I receive today from an English gentleman, a more realistic calculation of the medal scores from the recent Olympics:
My history is rather weak so I was unaware that we had actually occupied Ukraine; does a tour group count as occupation? Anyway, it was sent by an English gentleman, so it must be right.
Bravo British Empire!
Always on the look-out for unusual events to photograph, I had previously noted a strongman competition taking place over the next two days; so off down to Royal Garden Mall to catch the action. I get there to discover no sign of any competition. I rant internally; bloody typical, they publicise things and then cancel them with no notice, this is no way to run a tourist resort etc etc. Then I check my calendar and see the event is actually being held at Big C Festival. Oh.
At Big C there is a stage but no sign of any strongmen. When does it start? I enquire and am told 1500. Deep down I know this not going to be true, but I head off for a Pad Thai lunch followed by a sticky choc chewy artery clogger from Svensens. At 1500 a voice requests, nay pleads, for people to enter the competition which is planned to start “around 1600″. I know what that means, and leave. Will try again tomorrow, sometime after 1800.
On the way home I pass by the Bali Hai kart track and point the lens at a couple of karts. Try the slow shutter speed blurry shot and the higher shutter speed option with low depth of field. Decide I like both.
With our visit to Malaysia imminent, she who must be obeyed decides it is time to take control and informs me that we will be embarking on a mission to wrap the presents this evening, and I should have all intended gifts marshalled at a single point pending her return from work at 1830; thence we will sally forth.
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