Hold Eeeeeeeat!!!

making sense and nonsense of my travel photos

31 Dec 2011
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Happy New Year!!!

A new year starts. Depending on where your are this year is 2012 or 2555 in Thailand. I am just amazed how enmeshed technology is with the celebration of the New Year.

I spent the eve having dinner and a very hearty conversation with some very close friends while keeping a close eye at my ipad2 just in case it will ring at 9 pm Bangkok time. By that time my sister who lives in Brisbane would have celebrated the coming of the new year. But somehow the lines got crossed. She sent me a text instead. So by 9:15, I peer through my ipad and checked if there was any call for facetime. There was none. So I dial my sister’s contact and we were then greeting each other and having a conversation complete with video. Time flies when you are enjoying your company. Before long I had to make a quick exit at slightly past 10.

Next time stop will be 11 PM Bangkok time. The Philippines enters the new year at this time. A few minutes before 11 pm, I get a message on facebook from my Kuya that they are ready for our skype session! With a few key strokes we are connected. The connection is a little bit choppy perhaps because of the load. The greatest experience was to be able to do the New Year countdown with my nieces and shouting with them Happy New Year as 2012 is ushered in! I even saw what they are having for their midnight meal. If I had not been very full from my dinner earlier in the evening, I would have been hungry again. It does not end there, my brother showed me the fireworks from the window of my Manila Condo and am very amazed how nice it all looks from the window of the Condo. ( Another reason I can chalk to why a city view is preferrable than the more expensive bay view.)

With technology, even if I am here in Bangkok, my sister is in Australia and my brother and his family is in the Philippines, I felt that I am celebrating with them. I cannot believe how much more advances internet technology had reached making physical distance less of a reason to be apart from each other. It only takes a few keystrokes to get in touch.

I would like to wish everyone a great start for the new year!

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22 Dec 2011
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Hogalidays: From Inside Looking Out

It is a sad footnote that this building was burned down during the red shirt riots in May of 2010. Whenever the train passes by this area, I can see that the rebuilding is making so much progress that the building is close to being rebuilt.

Yesterday, I was reading a New York Times article on Carine Roitfeld. Carine Roitfeld was the editor of the French Vogue. She was responsible for freshening up the look of the magazine while she was editor. Early this year for some reason she left the magazine. What she did afterwards was very interesting. She basically went on to do what she loved doing the most and that is putting together looks and styling. She was still being seated in the front rows of the major fashion shows in Paris and New York. She seem to be having the best time of her life!

So how are the two stories related? In both cases something was destroyed. Time passes. As time pass we have a choice of moving on and looking at the future with all its possibilities and build again. Our other choice is to wallow in defeat and just let the destruction overwhelm us. This is one important learning that I personally experienced this year. I had chosen to welcome all the exciting possibilities that the future holds for me! I had learned to appreciate the good things that come my way with each and every day.

footnote: If you are interested in the Carine Roitfeld article, look up “The 9 Lives of Carine Roitfeld” written by Eric Wilson, published December 21, 2011 at the New York Times. But then as with all things, it might be gone after a few days so you can take your chance by googling the article of Eric Wislon.

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20 Dec 2011
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Holgalidays: Christmas Balls as Fountains

I do not know if this is still up this year because most establishment opted for a more simplified decorations this year. But then they looked huge these christmas balls and they looked pretty real too. I remember these balls when we used to decorate the tree when I was little. The decors were so interesting to look at and as a Kid, I thought these were toys. Later, I would find out that mercury, the material being used to coat the inside of the glass balls are are actually very very toxic! It was the spirit of family with parents and kids gathering together to help decorate the tree. When Ugly Betty was still being shown, there was an episode where they were showing the Ramirez brood decorating the tree with trims that were made by the different members of the family rather than the store bought things. As such, all the things that they hang on their tree has a special meaning for them. I do not know what the significance of the tree and all the things that they put on the tree as it relates to Christian traditions. Today, I saw an article written in the Bangkok Post about how odd it is for a Buddhist country to be so taken with the christmas celebrations. The writer decried it as crass commercialization. For the record they also started going for halloween as well. For whatever it is worth, Christmas is a good time for families to get together, it is also a good time for people to share.

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16 Dec 2011
29 Comments

Post No 150: Weekly Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

Several years ago, while travelling to Sukhothai, I did a self portrait using the traffic mirrors. This was the time that I was using film and was learning how to develop film and make silver prints. I was learning from one of the best photographers in Thailand who specializes in teaching Ansel Adam’s zone system.

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16 Dec 2011
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Holgalidays: Water Cooler Bottles as Christmas Tree

This was taken a few years ago when there was a huge push towards sustainability and the protection of the environment. Petroleum prices was soaring and all sorts of technology on alternative energy were being featured prominently in the media. Recycling, reusing and scaling down of dependency on fossil fuel was the order of the day. Even in the stores and groceries, organic became a favorite word. So it is in this spirit, this particular tree was designed.

Looking at this picture right now reminds me of my empty drinking water bottles I had while the flood crisis hit Bangkok. While my apartment was thankfully spared by the flooding, the drinking water company’s company was inundated and had to suspend operations for almost 2 months. Drinking water became a precious commodity that the groceries had to impose a ration of only a few bottles per family.

It was good a friend had their own filtered water system and they kindly helped me out. Most importantly, it gave me time to visit them and catch up on the news about the flooding.

So somehow, the issue comes full circle because I think flooding is an issue related to the environment. The recession has a way of bringing down the price of fossil fuel and once again the cost of alternative energy sources is becoming more expensive. I do hope that one day real sustainable clean energy is going to be used because if there was one positive thing during the last flooding, the air in Bangkok cleared up for a while because there was a huge drop in cars plying the roads of the city of angels!

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13 Dec 2011
6 Comments

Holgalidays: Holiday Spirit

It could be the cold weather or it could be the festive decorations. To be young and to be in love is something nice to look at.

Over lunch the other day we were having a discussion. Somehow the discussion veered towards, whether or not young couples should consider having children while their careers are moving on an upward trajectory or would it be more preferrable to have pets instead?

There was a clear divide in opinion when this matter was laid on the table. I was for having children while young because they will have all the energy to rear the child and they will experience the joys of parenthood. Another friend who is of the same age seem to agree, adding that if she was to do it over again, she is going to have more children.

Your priorities do change as you advance in age. Somehow people I know who were hesitant in having kids changed their tune once the kids came along. Initially, perhaps it is because of fear of being responsible for another human being that could cause the hesitation. It was a surprise that those that you would have thought would become unsuitable parents turned out to become the best parents to the kids they have.

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12 Dec 2011
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Holgalidays: Snowflakes

It does not snow here in Bangkok. We do experience Thai winter but at its best it is probably equivalent to a good summer day in Sweden. This picture is the closest we have a chance to see snowflakes, gigantic representation of the real thing. Sonwflakes are always part of the symbolisms of the Holiday Season, a concept that is so totally foreign here. At the worst, there may be frosts in some northern provinces in Thailand but it never snows. November till February are the best time of the year to visit Thailand and enjoy the place as well as the very mild cool weather.

I am getting the itch to travel once again. Right now I am thinking of visiting Mae Hong Son, a place up in the mountains where the long neck hill tribes reside. Originally, Mae Hong Son is considered a hardship posting for officials in Thailand. But then during the last few years it has become an interesting place for people to visit. I want to do this while the weather is cool. Keeping my fingers crossed for this one!

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11 Dec 2011
13 Comments

Holgalidays: Big Christmas Tree

I had a great Sunday! In the middle of last week a friend invited me to her birthday barbeque party. I am so full now because of all the good food. But I am fuller because of the good company of the people I spent time with. Time passes quickly when you are enjoying yourself. It even passes quicker if you are enjoying each other’s company. Conversations ranged from the mundane and the sublime. There were a lot of familiar faces that I had not seen for a few months and there were quite a few people that I just met and there are friends that I had known for over a decade. The weather is mild and the slight breeze was bringing some chill but it is nothing that the warmth of the conversation cannot counter. In a previous posting cocomino commented that “friends are treasure” and I think that is quite right, good friends are to be treasured because these are the people who know you and like/love you anyway, warts and all! Another festive day to the festive season!

The picture was taken with my favorite Holga camera using a bulb exposure of 2 seconds several Christmases ago. It was at a time when I was just learning how to use the camera and was experimenting on how to use in for night shots. I still love the Holga and should really make more effort to take it out and use it.

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10 Dec 2011

Yes, it is a wonderful world!

Seeing this video of Sir David Attenborough makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It is nice to find this on a Saturday afternoon when I have time to spend for myself. So many images here reminds me of all the beautiful things around us which was the reason why I pursued photography as a hobby. More importantly it gave me a chance to remember all the beautiful places I had visited and the wonderful people I met in the travels that I have made. Have a great weekend everyone!

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09 Dec 2011
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Holgalidays: HM the King of Thailand

In 2007, I took a series of Holga pictures showing the holiday decorations in various places in Bangkok. This picture shows portraits of HM the King on one of the buildings. We start our holiday season here with the birthday of the King. This year is a special year because the King marked his 84th birthday marking the completion of his 7 cycles. Every 12 years is a cycle because there are 12 animal symbols in the asian astrological calendar. December 5th is also celebrated as Father’s day in Thailand. So far this holiday season is off to a good start. The weather had become much milder and it has not been raining. Best of all, the flood waters in the different areas affected by the flood had started to recede with some villagers starting their clean up. Of a lot of relief for me is that my drinking water supplier finally started delivering drinking water again. So things are going back to normal little by little and this is something to be very thankful for.

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