ISO 160, 28mm, f/11, 1/400 secs, polariser

Day 2

Got up at 6am in a vain effort to get to a temple for opening time (for people-less photos), with only two hours sleep. I’ve had better mornings! First one of my little combo padlocks on my bag won’t open. After messing with that for half an hour, half asleep and hung over, I gave up. Then wandered around like a zombie with all my bags looking for a cheaper guest house. You can find everything from a western-style hotel to the converted upstairs of someone’s house with padlocks on the doors. I soon got tired of hauling my gear one-armed to find an ideal place and settled for a really basic hotel closer to Khaosan Road.

Old fort
ISO 160, 20mm, f/11, 1/50 secs, tripod

By the time I walked to Wat Pho (the temple) it was 9am and the crowds had descended. The streets were rammed with tour buses and massive groups of tourists and school kids in uniform. Mark said in the past few years the tourism from China has exploded and now the Golden Palace and other big sights are swamped. It’s mental, I was still walking past parked coaches half an hour down the road. I stopped at a park and tried to use my big zoom lens to photograph someone flying a kite… only to find it wouldn’t focus properly or take a photo. It’s my largest lens and worth 300 quid so I was annoyed it had died on day 2! Thankfully now it’s alright. Mark explained the temperature change from an air-con room to the humidity outside can cause fogging inside lenses, so I tried it again last night and sure enough it’s fine now! Phew! You’re supposed to keep them in zip bags or wrapped in clothing. Lesson learned!

Outside Golden Palace
ISO 160, 14mm, f/11, 1/200 secs

With my temple chances ruined I wandered down towards China Town. I soon reached the river docks there. It’s a beehive of activity with guys running around with massive baskets on trolleys full of smashed ice, fruit and vegetables. There’s people sat around sorting through massive heaps of chillies and chopping other vegetables and fruit to sell. I found a big warehouse market where they sell flowers for the shrines and temples, very colourful.

Get that in yer belly!
ISO 200, 38mm, f/8, 140 secs

I felt like a complete outsider behind the scenes, I was the only westerner around and it was exciting to explore – though I felt completely out of place and a bit apprehensive about taking out my camera. Although the scenes were fascinating to me I struggled with photos because most of the points of interest are manned stalls or people at work.

Photographing strangers when travelling is something I’ve never really had to do before and I felt really uncomfortable with it. A lot of them are working on things to sell and to me it seemed quite rude to want to take a photo of them hard at work for my own benefit. The westerner guilt complex also kicks in,  I feel bad that these people are slaving away and me with my riches is peering through the lens at them. In these tight alleyways you are inches away from the people too which makes it worse. I’ve read tips before about how to tackle photographing strangers in travel, and in the UK I’ve tried it a bit, but here I found it much more of a problem. It’s something going to have to force myself to try, and get over that barrier. Mark says most Thai people will be quite happy to get their photo taken which is good to know.

ISO 1600, 20mm, f/5.6, 1/25 secs

Through my exploring I found myself at a pier, so I caught the river ferry. The signs and timetable at the pier were colour coded and there were a few English words so I could figure it out. And as I’m quickly learning, if you’re not sure about something just watch what the locals are doing and follow their lead! I love boat travel so the ferry was great. It was rammed full of a mixture of Thais and tourists, from rich Chinese slinging expensive cameras to scraggy western students.

These cats were super friendly
ISO 160, 20mm, f/9, 1/160 secs

Old fort                                             ISO 160, 20mm, f/9, 1/500 sec, polariser

I spent the rest of the afternoon trudging up and down the shopping streets of Khao San Road and Rambutti Street. They’re lined with stalls and shops selling cheap clothes and travelling gear, aimed at beach party lovers and young backpackers. I bought clothes I needed (my haggling needs work!). Hot, bothered and in pain at this point I chilled out during the afternoon rain at a massage shop. Lying on a soft recliner on the street, I got a Thai foot massage and watched the world go by as my troubles faded away for the moment.

Khaosan Road,  street food vendor in the foreground
ISO 400, 20mm, f/10, 1.3 secs, tripod

I met Mark and his friend Danny in the evening for drinks. We stuck to Khaosan Road bars which was pumping because it was Saturday night. Great vibe. Mark warned me about stray dogs when you’re walking home, they go around in packs and sometimes attack people. It’s fine, I’ll just shoulder barge them to death. Got back around 3am and passed out whilst trying to drunkenly organise the days’ photos!

Mark and Danny

Slings are the latest Thai fashion

You know what’s great to do just before you go travelling? Breaking your shoulder. So that’s just what I decided to do! Two days before my flight to Thailand I fell over the handlebars whilst mountain biking and so I’ve had to adapt to travel with a sling and one arm… not quite what I had in mind! Unfortunately it also affects my photography as it’s an effort just to take photos and carry stuff around. Annoying but it isn’t stopping me! At least it’s a talking point and my current favourite explanations are Thai massage gone wrong or wrestling tigers to death at Tiger Temple.

Day 1

Mark

Arrived in Bangkok at 6am, jet-lagged to hell. The cheapo hotel I’d booked in advance let me check in early. It’s in a neighbourhood close to backpacker haven Khaosan Road but it’s quieter, cheaper and less touristy. I grabbed a few hours sleep but forced myself to get up so I wouldn’t make my sleep pattern any worse. My friend Mark came to meet me – he was my tour guide on my first trip to Thailand and lives in Bangkok. The daily rainstorm descended, trapping us for an hour (it’s monsoon season in SE Asia). We braved the rains to have drinks at a wee local bar hidden in an alley at Khaosan Road. I love these kind of places, just a few chairs, tiny bar, ice buckets with bottles of beer, a couple of people. In Bangkok the bars and eating joints just spring out of the street. We went for food at a nice retro bar where a musician was playing. Many bars have live music which is cool.

ISO 3200, 20mm, f/1,8, 1/60 secs

On Friday night the streets are heaving and after Mark had to go, his friend showed me around the red light district to see the seedier side of Bangkok. Some of the bars are hostess bars, just like a normal place but the girls come and sit at your table and chat to you, you pay for their drinks and you can go off with the girl or perhaps hire them as an escort depending on the girl. In Thailand these places are are pretty common, you find them in most big towns and apparently it’s pretty common for married guys to have mistresses at these places. It’s actually quite a laugh, the girls seem to enjoy themselves and they pay the bar to work there. All sorts of people were in there including tourist groups and couples.

Then we went round some of the go-go bars in “seedy square” (well, that’s what I’d call it!). It reminded me of Amsterdam’s red light district with its weird variety of visitors from groups of western guys, to couples, to lone Thai guys. There’s dancing girls on podiums with number badges (for that personal touch) so you can pick one you want to have a drink with or be whisked off to the private rooms for some Thai hospitality. Unlike British strip clubs you don’t pay to get in and the drinks aren’t much more expensive than normal.

And lets not forget the ladyboys! Dotted amongst the girls in these places they’re sometimes easy to spot, and sometimes almost impossible. Some of these ladyboys look more like a girl than some of the genuine girls up there! One guy next to us was a bit drunk, having drinks with two of the girls and couldn’t believe it when he discovered they were ladyboys, haha! Apparently the trick is to look at the arms, men’s have a different shape which gives the game away even if everything else looks genuine. Getting a taxi home was a pain, some taxi drivers don’t like taking you to places away from the tourist hubs and quote stupid prices for doing so. Rolled into bed at 4am, not the best way to cure jet lag!

The Fringe festival is in full swing and the city was packed. Street entertainers were all over the place and it was a nice change from Edinburgh’s usual streetside entertainment, drunken tramps shouting obscenities at passers by, or pipe band rejects destroying the ears of the innocent…

I was there to shop but took a few hours out to get some practice at travel photography. I got some people shots like Frankenstein here, asking permission first. For me it’s still unnatural and uncomfortable to go around asking strangers for photos but that’s something I have to work on if I want to get good travel photos. It really puts your technical skills to the test, if things aren’t set up right to begin with, they will lose interest or patience if you’re spending ages fiddling around with dials and worse, not interacting as a result.

ISO 200, 20mm, f/14, 1/60 sec, flash

I was put to the test with performer Harvey Gross here but it taught me some valuable lessons. I’d picked the location and had the camera pre-set before I asked him for some photos. But I had to use fill flash and wasn’t getting the right balance with him and the background. I couldn’t just keep him there for ages whilst I took tons of photos with different exposures so chalked it up to experience. Another thing I learned with Harvey was that although it’s great to chat with your willing victim, it’s not so good to have a bunch of otherwise decent photos ruined because your subject is in mid-speech! Next time I’ll wait till a pause or make it clear when to pose. Any tips appreciated! I also didn’t pay enough attention to the background, I could have moved to get that couple out of the shot. So inconsiderate of them 😉

ISO 160, 45mm, f/11, 1/40 sec, tripod

I was there during golden hour and after trampsing through the city looking for good shots I appreciated the advice given in the travel photography books I’d read: do your research beforehand. A lot of my time was wasted just looking for stuff the golden light was hitting before it rapidly vanished. The Scott Monument here caught the light nicely. With some research beforehand I could have planned out a better place to photograph it from. A wrecking ball to take out Princes Street behind it would do the trick.

It’s a dilemma I’m going to face on my travels. By researching all the sights beforehand it takes the wonder away from seeing something new and finding things yourself. Hopefully I can reach a compromise.

ISO 160, 23mm, f/10, 1/13 sec, tripod

I also got plenty of opportunities to use my trusty tripod. It feels pretty weird setting it up on the pavement but again I need to get used to it! The shop above was quite dark and using the tripod let me capture it with a decent light, plus the movement of the people. I had to wait until a break in the traffic too. A bus going through it doesn’t really help much, trust me.

The day was a good experiment for my bag setup. After two hours of walking around with a shoulder bag containing camera stuff, tripod and laptop, I realised I will cripple myself if I  walk around all day with all the weight on one shoulder. I’ll have to take a backpack for my tripod trips with a sling bag for quick cam access. The two bag wonder, oh god.

So, a lot learned. Not long to go now! Here’s my bobby for you (only dirty Scots will get this joke…)

ISO 200, 20mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec