Yesterday was a special day here in Thailand. It was the 60th anniversary of the king’s ascent to the throne. The nationalistic music I was hearing repeatedly in public places was not the national anthem, but was a sort of royal anthem played in honor of the king. In Thailand, the king is a revered figure. Most Thais seem to honestly love and respect him. He’s done a lot for this country, personally attending to the shutdown of the opium fields in the north, and converting them to fruit farms, championing the cause of the poor, and guiding the many passing governments. In fact, it’s actually illegal to say anything bad about him. I don’t get the feeling that many would, though. Even my progressive and American-educated Thai friend Jenny, who is cynical about the state of democracy in Thailand, considers him “beloved.” The king’s status in Thailand raises a number of interesting issues, especially given the current political situation here.

First of all, the king is not well. He’s quite old, and has recently been hospitalized. There’s some doubt as to how long he’s going to survive. Second, there’s this small matter of a military coup that happened here last year, overthrowing the democratically elected government. Military coups are nothing outrageous here in Thailand. In fact, in the 50 years since Thailand has been a “constitutional monarchy” type democracy, there have been 19 coups and 18 different constitutions. I’m not sure about the previous coups, but this one had the full support of the king, because it was ostensibly prompted by the corruption and immorality of the prime minister and his party. I say “ostensibly” because nothing’s been proven in court. The prime minister has been in self-imposed exile in England, I think, waiting this thing out. The military leaders have invited him to come back to Thailand for a trial, but I’m pretty sure that’s the last thing he wants to do. In the meantime, the new government has confiscated the untold gazillions of dollars that he had accumulated running his media and telecommunications empire while in political office. Who knows what’s happening to that money now.

So, like I said, the king being on death’s doorstep puts Thailand in an interesting position that it’s never experienced before. Even though there have been a number of coups in the last 50 years, this is the first time that the ultimate leadership is in danger of disappearing. There’s no clear successor to the throne, because the king’s son has apparently acted in ways not befitting the crown, and would not be happily accepted as the next king. The eldest grandson is only two, and if you know two year-olds, you’ll know he’s not likely to be an effective leader. If the king dies before new elections are held in December, what will the military government do? This is the question that’s on the minds of many Thais these days as they consider the state of their rather loosely defined democracy.

Is it any wonder that thousands are showing their support for the monarchy by wearing yellow shirts? I saw a booth selling them in the mall, and the place was swamped with business. Yellow is the king’s official color. Yesterday, on that 60th anniversary, yellow was everywhere. I took random snapshots to give you an idea about what it looked like.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few months, but I’ll be watching carefully, because of the friends I’ve made here. I want the best for them.

Anyway, the thing I like about random snapshots is the little stories that sometimes get captured accidentally. Here’s an example.

Last night was a lot of fun, and one of my most memorable nights of the month. I took the Thai staff out to celebrate some of our recent successes. We went to a bowling/karaoke place, and had a blast. These guys know how to have fun. One thing I really appreciate about the people in this office in Thailand is that they enjoy each others’ company. It’s not a typical work environment. They’re always laughing, smiling, joking and teasing each other. At the bowling alley, we got a VIP room and some food and drinks. The VIP room meant we had two lanes to ourselves, a big plasma TV and a loud sound system for the karaoke. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a long time. There was no alcohol involved, but you’d never have guessed it by the way everyone was goofing around, finding new and exciting ways to throw a bowling ball, or two at a time down the aisle. I wish I’d brought a camera, because the funniest scene of the night was Miin screaming like a rock star into the microphone, while everyone else was rolling around on the ground and on the couches in agony, covering their ears and laughing. Chaew was smearing himself against the outside of the heavy glass door trying to slide it shut to protect himself from the noise. Miin was oblivious to it all. He is the worst karaoke singer I’ve ever heard, but he loves to sing anyway.

Tonight is my last night here. My flight leaves tomorrow morning, first to Hong Kong, and then to Toronto. I’m ready to go home now, but I’m going to miss stuff like this. Thailand is a great place to end a trip. The people are endlessly friendly, happy and polite, even in bad times. It’s built into the culture. For instance, I can tell when I’m asking Chaew to do some very difficult work, because his smile keeps growing bigger and bigger, and then he starts laughing. Then he nods and says, “Ok,” and does the work. Jenny told me that Thai people will always smile when things get tough, because what else can you do? At least you can be happy.

I was finally in the mood to take pictures again today. That took a while. Getting out there in the heat wasn’t easy though, since it’s comfy and air conditioned inside. It’s mega humid here, as usual. Feels like about 35C. If you don’t walk extremely slowly, you’ll be soaked with sweat in no time. Of course the Thais are running around with sweaters on. Crazy.

Anyway, I headed down to the weekend market. It’s an outdoor market at the end of the subway and skytrain lines that sells all kinds of stuff, from skewers of chicken to living room furniture. Of course, I started with the food pictures to warm me up. There were a bunch of adorable kids selling Band-aids to raise money for their school. I found a Buddhist shrine surrounded by layers and layers of t-shirt vendors. Then I re-discovered how fun it is to shoot from the pedestrian overpasses in Bangkok. All of the cabs in Bangkok must have gotten recent paint jobs. They look like candy.

Later on, I went to the other end of town, where there was a Hallowe’en celebration in full swing.

I’ve been getting to like the 50mm lens. At home I have practically no use for it, but out in the wild, it comes in handy. It’s inconspicuous and fast. The 70-200mm behemoth is a bit attention-grabbing, and weighs a ton too. I’m not sorry I brought it on this trip, but I haven’t used it as much as I have in the past.

Anyway, here are some pics from my day.

Friday night in Bangkok was kind of interesting. A friend introduced me to a Thai girl named Pui, who was my tour guide for the evening. We went out for dinner at an upscale Thai restaurant and then for drinks. Afterwards, we went to a popular bar, which was jammed with people listening to a live rock band and drinking a lot of booze. I met the owner, and asked him the reason for his success. He said a lot of Thai celebrities hang out there, so that makes it popular. Makes sense. That night, the son of the deposed Prime Minister was partying there. If the new military government caught up with him, there’d be a heap of trouble for him. I guess he was too drunk to care! We took off from there and went for ice cream at a trendy dessert bar. Well, ice cream being somewhat cave-unfriendly, I had a raspberry smoothie, which was delicious.

Today I’ll do some more shopping. I have booked a fitting for my new suit, and I need to buy some cheap luggage to carry it home.  Tonight, if I’m in the mood, I’ll do some shooting. I really feel like I covered what I wanted to cover in Bangkok when I was here a couple of years ago though, so I’m not seeing much new that I want to shoot.

I left Hong Kong feeling a bit sad about it. I think my roots lie more in Hong Kong than in Kaiping. Hong Kong felt more familiar from a cultural sense. The rush, the food, the people all reminded me of the Chinese culture that I grew up around. And it’s no wonder… My dad grew up there, and many of my relatives came from there too. The little restaurants and BBQ shops remind me of the earliest ones I saw in Toronto, with a waiter arriving at your table, tossing a cup of tea in front of you, and barking, “Whaddayawant?” in Cantonese. I’ll definitely return there some day, and probably spring for a better hotel too.

Now I’m in Bangkok again. The sites, sounds and smells are all very familiar. Sensory overload is in full effect again. The friendly tones of the cheerful Thai language surround me. Everywhere, people are smiling and greeting me with “Sawadee kaaa!” In the morning, armies of carts bearing a wide variety of delicious street treats fan out into the city from the alleys where they’ve been stored for the night. Fresh fruit, spicy meat skewers, dumplings, sticky rice–these things are everywhere. They’re similar to what is available in Hong Kong, but with a Southeast Asian twist, usually in the form of sweet chili sauce. As they say in Thailand, “Same same but different.”

It’s a noisy place, just like Hong Kong, but in a much more earthy way. It’s spicier here. Not only the food, but also in the atmosphere and the people surrounding you. Hong Kong was all tech and glitz, a city reaching for European standards. Bangkok doesn’t care. Its grime and grit are part of its charm, and that charm is substantial.

On the surface, not a lot has changed in the last two years since I was here last. Of course, since then, there’s been a military coup that’s overthrown the democratic government. But Thailand seems to glide over that, just like they glide over many other things that happen here.

My apartment here is significantly nicer than where I was staying in Hong Kong. Here are a couple of snaps.

Ok so it turns out I’m pretty busy here, and it’s been a day or so since I’ve written the above. I’ve been working in the Bangkok office of my Montreal job, and it’s been hectic getting back up to speed. It’s been awesome meeting the Thai staff though. Such a talented and intelligent bunch of people. The office culture here is very tight-knit too. Everyone hangs out together and goes out to lunch together, etc.

I’ve noticed a few changes that have happened since last I was here. First of all, there’s a lot more security everywhere. There are spot checks on people’s bags as they go into crowded places like shopping malls and the subway system. Also, in public places, they often have nationalistic music playing. I think it’s the national anthem. I don’t remember that from last time.

Last night I went out and ordered a suit and three shirts. I’ll have my first fitting on Saturday, and the whole thing will be ready a few days after that. Getting a suit is one of the “things to do” in Bangkok, because there’s a profusion of inexpensive tailors here. Choosing one is difficult though. I got a recommendation from a friend though, and a name to drop too. I still had to bargain, but I got the feeling I was being fairly treated. It’s not uncommon to get a custom suit for about $60 here, but those are pretty crappy, and will probably self-destruct after a few wears. My suit will be made from a cashmere/silk blend from England in black with thin white pinstripes. It’s a slim-fitting 3-button suit. The shirts have French cuffs so I can use cufflinks. The cost of this plus one tie is $290. I also bought a little LG cell phone to use in Thailand. Brand new, it cost about $50. Airtime is about 6 cents per minute or per text message.

I moved out of the hotel this morning, and into my friend’s girlfriend’s apartment. She’s out of town and generously offered me the use of her home. It’s in a pretty trendy area. This should be fun.

I got my hair cut this morning. Basically it’s not much different from any hair cut I get in Hamilton, but the service is much better. I had three or four different people swarming around me, shampooing, conditioning, blow drying, cutting, shampooing, conditioning, blow drying, and then styling. The end result is essentially the same as I usually get, except more textured. The girl put some blue highlight gel in there, which you can’t see because my hair is black. Duh. Total cost was $10, including a tip. Anyway, my Italian barber is going to roll his eyes when he sees me next. Last time I did something like this he said, “You let a girl cut your hair, didn’t you?” Here’s a hurried picture I took in the dark hallway near my sleeping compartment. I resist calling it a room.

After the haircut I met up with Cherry, who took some time off to show me around some more. We decided to go to Tung Chung, one of the islands connected to Hong Kong. We took the subway to the end of the line, then hopped on a bus to the island. It was about a one hour trip from where I’m staying, but is vastly different. The bus wound a rather dizzying route through twisty roads up and around some mountainous terrain. When it emerged into the clear, I could see a remote and unspoiled looking beach that might be fun to explore. I rang the bell and the bus stopped a few hundred metres later. We got out and walked through a field absolutely alive with butterflies. They were gently flitting from flower to flower, tossed by the breeze but always seeming to end up sipping nectar from a blossom. What a life. It wasn’t easy to photograph them, because the field was essentially a swamp, and I was reluctant to soak my feet in it. Eventually a butterfly landed close enough to the walking path, so I got a shot of it.

There were also plenty of cows just randomly wandering. I’m a city boy so I’m fascinated by livestock. Cows seem such sweet and gentle creatures. Tasty too.

The beach did not disappoint. It was littered with shells and oysters and other flotsam.

There were many little holes in the sand, with odd patterns of sand surrounding them. They’re made by crabs as they burrow to stay wet when the tide recedes. We saw that one crab had been discovered by a predator. I took a photo of the crime scene.

There was a small group of villagers collecting clams. A man was dragging a sort of plow through the damp sand, and a woman was picking up the clams that were dug up.

While doing a sort of impromptu photo shoot, I was backing up, looking through the camera, and managed to step onto a rock coated with shards of oyster shell. Ouch. I sliced up the bottom of my feet pretty nicely. I washed out the wounds with salt water, and then applied some napkins to act as bandages. Later on, I put some hand sanitizer stuff on the cuts, which felt a little like dipping my feet into fire. When I got back to my sleeping compartment, I washed the wounds properly with soap and covered them with Band-Aids. I think the damage is pretty minimal, but it makes walking somewhat uncomfortable.

After the foot-cutting incident, we headed back up to the road and caught a bus again. We took it all the way into the little fishing village of Tai O. I’m not sure what the O. stands for, but the town advertises itself as the “Venice of Hong Kong.” Places with canals always advertise themselves as the “Venice of” whatever. Earlier this month I was in the Venice of China, near Huangshan. There are, in fact, numerous villages that refer to themselves as the Venice of China. Oddly enough, most of them pre-date Venice by a few hundred years. Incongruously, in the middle of Tai O., was a small shop with a very odd cutout sculpture attached to the fence. The writing on her boots says “Dancing Whore.” There’s another similar sculpture above the store. I’m not sure what it’s saying, but it’s mildly disturbing.

The sun was going down, and Cherry had an appointment to keep, so we headed back into the city.

Tonight I had my last dinner in Hong Kong. I found a barbecue place and had roast pork and steamed vegetables. I walked around the streets afterwards and found some delicious street dim sum. I got some dumplings and beef balls. I’m really going to miss Hong Kong’s food!

Tomorrow I’m heading to Bangkok. I’m developing what feels like a sinus cold. I’m going to try to get some good sleep and kick this bug.