In the seven days that I had been in Thailand, I had purchased a light, short sleeved shirt, an equally light polo shirt and a pair of shorts, but these things alone couldn't explain why my re-packed backpack felt so much heavier than when I had arrived. The walk to the MRT was more uncomfortable than before, the lift over the turnstiles more of an effort and whilst you could perhaps attribute this to a little tiredness from my adjustment period, I suspect that there was more at play. The only thing I can think of is that the humidity here has come into play and perhaps the reason the bag feels heavier is that it is heavier. Perhaps there is now an unmeasured moisture content that wasn't there before I arrived and if this is the case, this might also add credence to my suspicion that my electrical equipment was being hampered by the humid conditions at my previous stay. It took just over an hour of lumping that weight to get to my destination and I decided en-route that I will probably ditch some of the clothes that I have in the bag before I move on again. I'm pretty sure that I slightly overdid it on the number of t-shirts anyway.
With the rest of the day to kill, I looked up to see if I could find any camera shops nearby, but instead got drawn towards a place called Mega Plaza near the area of Chinatown. The place was described as having a "camera zone" and a couple of highly rated shops selling vintage lenses. It would require a bit of a trek to get there, but Chinatown was a place that I wanted to look at and get an overview of anyway, to scope it out to see whether it was worth spending a period of time in that region. After several BTS stops and another ride on the MRT I reached Hua Lamphong station, the lines final stop. I then continued my walk towards the Mega Plaza, past temples and traditional structures, through Chinatown along Yaowarat Road, until I reached my destination. 1.2 miles walk over 40 minutes. It just seems impossible to walk anywhere quickly in the Bangkok climate.
Inside the plaza itself, it was full to the brim with small independent shopa and units, however unlike many of the the other plazas and malls I have visited in the past, this was a more laid back affair. You could pass by stores at ease, stop and look at the displays without being hit with a strong sales pitch straight off the bat. This place seemed to be more of a marriage of enthusiasts withsales oppurtunies , of people making money out of their interests and hobby's rather than tat to be pushed on the first unsuspecting punter who strolled in off the street. It made for quite an interesting, and even serene experience as the noise from the street traffic outside faded further away and the brightly lit visuals took over. The first four floors consisted largely of glass displayed toys based off anime, tv and popular film interspersed with games consoles from classic to current. The 5th floor however was almost solely cameras. Nothing else was present to distract.
There wasn't much in the way of cutting edge. There was no brand new mirrorless full frame or digital medium format on display. There was however lots and lots of classic and iconic vintage lenses and camera's, with some but not all, for sale. For a moment I thought I had located a used version of the kit lens I was after, but the guy in the shop told me it was broken with the aperture not always working. He was still willing to sell it to me of course, and for me, he would do a special price of only 6000 Baht. It sounded like the fault that I had on my old copy of the lens which basically made it unusable, and for me £148.82 for a broken lens didn't seem to be all that appealing. As it turns out I may have located one in working order in another part of town for 6800 baht (168.66) which may yet prove to be an option. I thanked the gentleman as gracefully as I could and carried on around the floor, looking through the displays in the windowns with a mixture of want, delight and the occasional guffaw at things that had been seriously overpriced to my non-collectors eye. Collectors however will often have a different perspective on these things than I do.
Back down on the street the light had fallen away, and I made my way slowly back up the same street that I had wandered down earlier towards the neon lights in the distance. I told myself that if I could get myself one good picture I would be happy, something I often tell myself especially when I can feel myself getting tired. I have figured that Chinatown is an area that I will probably be coming back to as there is so much going on. It has an evening landscape that is likely to alter upon each visit and I'm sure there are things to discover and examine in daylight hours too. For now thought I had one eye on the clock. I was still a fair way from the station and further from my hostel than I wanted to be, but if I could get just one shot I'm happy with, it would have not been a wasted evening.
It takes a while to sometimes get any kind of result. At first the shots weren't coming naturally and again I blame the tiredness I was feeling. I was standing back and watching, but not getting myself in close enough to take anything worthwhile. The manual 50 seemed slow and was not producing images of the quality I know that it can and I was starting to feel myself getting agitated in the crowds. There are sometimes a million reasons to not get that shot, a million excuses as to why it isn't going to happen, You can find fault and frustration in everything that doesn't go right, but then, if you do land that first one, then every single one of those is put away and forgotten. You only need that one shot to get rid of the excuses, reasons and faults that were putting the brakes on the moment...
and once you have that one...
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