Saturday 23 February 2019

19/02/2019 - Parks n' markets (train night)

Getting from one place to another is rarely as straightforward as it would seem to be on a map. There is always things in the way, roadworks, diversions, floods, traffic and things of that ilk. You can plan around these if you know they exist before time and one of the things I was getting used to in the city was where the places were that may cause either a challenge or frustration. Talking to the receptionist in the Hostel I enquired as to whether there were any good night markets within easy reach for the evening and she pointed me towards either Asiatique on the river, or for a more local experience, Rachada Night Market, also known as the Train Market. I chose the second option.



Looking at a map it's apparent that the shortest route to get to Rachada by public transport from my location at Victory Monument was to take the sky train down and around to Asok. Here I could change to the MRT subway system and then catch the underground train a couple of stops up to Thailand Cultural Centre. The problem is that Asok is at a very busy section of town, and as such, at the time I was going to be travelling, it would be an absolute nightmare to navigate. The alernate route was slightly longer by distance, but potentially less of a hassle at the interchange  between BTS and MRT. I would head up from Victory Monument to past Phaya Thai to Chit Lom before changing and completing the arc back around to Rachada. The other benefit to do it this was that I could stop at the park at Chatichak and see if there was anything there that could help tell a visual story.

The Bangkok parks I have found so far are pretty peaceful places. In this often hectic city,  they provide a needed escape from the hustle and bustle and it's quite noticeable how quickly the sounds of the city are absorbed almost as soon as you get inside the parks grounds. You have to wonder why whether he grass and the foliage are acting in the same way as carpeted walls might in a recording studio, or whether the large lakes that feature prominently also have some kind of sponge like sound filter. Whatever the reason, it's not really that surprising that so many people want to spend time in the, At Chatuchak park the runners were again out in force, engaged in running around said expansive lake in a clockwise fashion. The lake was spanned by 2 bridges and between the water and the runners lay a good amount of grass for people to sit on, talk, read, sleep or take time to photograph the pigeons, feed the fish or watch the squirrels as the go about squirrelling. The amazing thing for me is why we expect Bangkok to be so different. From what I gauge, we as a nation seem to hold a very narrow view of what Bangkok is like, and these views are often different than what I find here. There's always going to be differences between different countries, and of course different cultures, but what may be surprising for some is how much of what you would recognise from the way things are back home. Some of these similarities can be welcomed, other, unfortunately, less so.

Today I noticed a Jamie's Italian restaurant had arrived in Bangkok.

Pukka



I stayed at the park until the sun had set and I was roundly stewed before I embarked on the trip to the night market. The main road outside was busy, with barely enough space on the pavements to allow people to pass in both directions. The one thing that can trip you up in Bangkok is the pavements, usually quite literally. You will see people often trip and stumble forwards as a pavement either dibs away under its foundations subsidence, or has been pushed up for reasons unknown. It might be a reason why people shuffle as with smaller steps you are less likely to come undone. I shuffle because I'm knackered. It still doesn't stop me tripping.

The first couple of avenues I explored were unerringly quiet. As I walked down past clothes and apparel many of the sellers were sat just back a little, consumed by whatever entertainment was being provided on their phones. This wasn't the Bangkok I remember from a few years ago, and it wasn't how I remembered night markets being in general. Where were all the people, the vendors engaged with their potential customers? Was it just that I had come on a week night rather than at the weekend? It turns out I wasn't a million miles away from the truth however. That lay just 2 aisles away, as soon as I hit the food stalls.

It can be quite unerring for a westerner who finds themselves in these kind of situations. Space can be at a premium and if you leave an extra step ahead of you when things get tight, inevitably it will either be filled or you will be pushed forward.  I was aghast at how often someone could catch my elbows when they were tucked right in, or someone would just barge his way through with a face full food, concentrating more on getting his carbs than navigating the crowds. This is however how it is, and you either roll with it or you don't. I hadn't travelled 6000 miles to not roll.

The first couple of passes through the crowd was tough going. Shooting in manual mode on my 50mm gave me very little time to get my shot in, and even if I managed to react in time and get my subject framed, more often than not no one was going to stop to make my life easier. I adapted the best I could, framed things in a way that the constantly changing environment would either allow for or even be enhanced by. Sometimes it's the coming together off all these elements that make a shot worthwhile. You can't always control perfectly the situation in which you are photographing, but sometimes you can use and incorporate said situations into making a picture worthwhile.



Whilst the 50mm was always going to be tight in the narrow spaces in which I was found, the 24mm provided me with the opportunity to get back in amongst everything with the AF allowing me to  photograph the situations that were practically impossible with the manual lens, rarely having 2 hands free. Whilst the type of shots were different than those that the longer focal length and slower overall process allowed, the provide perhaps a more truthful interpretation of the situation at hand. Whilst the shots with the Voigtlander can often be still with a deceptively still quality, this would not have been common place in the market itself and is a result of how I was having to slow everything down during my process. The 24mm allowed my to react quickly and capture a situation almost immediately as it unfolded before me reulsting in images that were much more "now", prehaps much more immediate.

Personally I like both sets of images and I have to deem the evening there as a bit of a success 


I just with I hadn't spent so much time looking out for a certain British chefs Italian stall.






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