16/02/2019 - A days photgraphy at Chatuchak Market

Chatuchak Market (or JJ Market) is a place I have been before. Billed as Thailand's biggest market and also as one of the biggest in the world, its sheer scale is sure to impress those that aren't used to such places. Its website states that it is set over an area of 27 acres that has been divided into 27 sections with over 15,000 booths and stalls.  It perhaps isn't a place for the tired, weary or faint of heart. I was starting to wonder whether I should be leaving it for another day.

http://www.chatuchak.org

Whilst the market on the weekend opens at 9am, I didn't arrive until just after midday. The benefit to this is that the market was in full swing by the time that I arrived and being that it was nearly lunch time, there was going to be plenty of food to choose from. The negative side however is that by this time it was also 33 degrees c. The outside loops is a long, wide oval where it is easy to get disorientated and think that you are at a different point then you actually are. Venture inside at any time and you are faced with a confusing warren of maze like corridors meaning your chances of accurately predicting your position based off your own sense of direction is even further reduced. At each juncture there is a marking point giving you a location reference, so if there was something you were desperate to get back to you probably could with a little bit of map reading, but I have wandered around here several times in the past, and there's still sections that I am sure I haven't seen yet.

The first few moments with the camera are always a bit slow. I find it takes me time to zone into what it is I want to capture, a challenge perhaps that is a little bit amplified by my now familiarity with the place. There was little of that sense of wonder that I often feel on my first visit somewhere new, somwhere that you don't know what is coming next or what to expect. The other side to this is that this familiarity does give you the experience to ignore a lot of the side shows and distractions, the bombardment of sights, sound and smells all vying for you attention. Being able to detach from these things even a little maybe might lose you some of the energy that is sweeping you along, but it can also allow you to focus your attentions on finding the details in the chaos that you might otherwise miss.

I was asked by someone recently what kind of photographer I am, and oddly It's one of the toughest questions I have been asked of late. I consider myself a street photographer really, reacting and capturing snippets of information as I try to tell a story of a place visually. Street photography may be sneered at in a professional sense, and whilst I wouldn't want to limit myself to just one field or discipline, I have to be truthful and say there is still that part of me that when I am out, just wants to take over. Sometimes you need to suppress it a little and focus on the task at hand. Other times I just have to allow myself that little indulgence, otherwise I will go insane in a place with so much going on. With that particular itch scratched, I could then can carry on to other things.

Inside the market I looked for things to focus on, something that would show the details, capture a mood or essence. There were rows upon rows of tiny units an booths, with different amounts of lighting or lack of it, but there was very little that I felt would help tell a cohesive story. Nothing that could make a good picture or series of images that could be a interesting way to define and capture the place that I now found myself in, until I saw a mannequin staring menacingly down at me. Then another one, and then another. I decided today this would be my hook and i spent the next period of the day just wandering around looking for more. As a kid I remember finding Dr Who a little bit scary. If I had witnessed some of the things here during the same period of my life, I can only imagine how i would have reacted. I started to find these things a little bit fascinating and I make no apologies for ending up with what is a wealth of images based off of these curios. I filled my boots until I had literally exhausted all avenues.

Back outside in the blazing sun I was approached by a bunch of school kids who asked me if they could do a video interview with me as part of their school project. As always I was happy to oblige. As they set up and started rolling, they asked me a series of questions about why I was in Bangkok, how I knew about Chatuchak Market and whether I was going to be buying anything in particular. The easiest question they asked however was what I thought about Bangkok. "Hot" I stated, "yes, hot" they cheerfully agreed. It was a short 5 minute period out of my day and it's moments of interaction like this that can really add so much to a trip. It's too easy to brush off approaches in places like this as just someone trying to sell you something and if you take this dismissive approach to anyone that talks to you, you risk missing out. Incidentally buying and selling in Thailand is treated as something of a game. It's not one that I am any good at to be fair, but engagements with sellers even when you are saying no can be done in such a way that in enjoyable for both parties. It's something that everyone can have a bit of fun with and by refusing to engage with it, you have to wonder what you have actually experienced.

I left the market in the late afternoon and the station for the rail line was heavily packed with a long queue to get a ticket to ride. I then decided, rather foolishly, that as the temperature had cooled a little I would walk the 3 miles back to the hostel. Now, I like walking, especially in new places. It allows me time to take in the surroundings and notice things that I wouldn't ordinarily see. By going straight from "Point A" to "Point D" I would potentially miss out so much between, however my feet were telling me they were tired before I even started off. During the next 2 hours they forced me to stop several times, to rest and ease the burning sensation in them just a little before moving back on. Points "B" & "C" both provided moments to capture and I could have caught a train easily enough at these points but I always want to explore a little more. By the time I finally got back to the hostel decided to leave the editing of the days photographs and the write up of my experiences for another time. Besides I could do without having the mannequins of the day invading my rest and recuperation. 1970's Dr Who had nothing even close to the visual impact of these things.

Absolutely Nothing.

15/02/2019 (Friday). Moving on, Mega Plaza and Chinatown

It had taken a week of being in Bangkok, but finally I felt like it was time to move. You can spend hours looking at maps and accommodation on line, looking at things nearby which may be of interest and scouring reviews of hostels and hotels to avoid any nasty surprises, but in the end it comes down to clicking that button and taking the plunge. The nice thing about staying anywhere in Asia on the cheaper side, is that is you do find yourself anywhere horrific there is usually accommodation nearby to which you can move without too much of a financial hit. The hostel where I had been staying had been a pleasant enough stay, and with another branch of theirs just over the other side of town I played it a little safe and booked in there at Victory Monument. This was an area that I knew to be busy, had good transport links and, with an eye on tomorrow, was only a few stops away from the Chatuchak weekend market which I have experienced before and I hope will provide me with some good photo opportunities. Before that however I just had to get over there.

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...

14/02/2019 - My bloody valentine (aka just one of those days).

I woke up this morning with the laptop facing me, on the desk where it had serenaded me to sleep with the night before with short, sharp youtube clips. I could instantly tell something was wrong.

The screen was already awake and sat at the password input screen and the usually blank field where the password should get typed was itself already filled in. I hit delete, the box fought back. I highlighted all and deleted and as soon as it was empty, the box started to fill up again. This wasn't the start of the day that I was hoping for. Last night I had tracked down a camera store on line that looked like it might be in possession of a second hand Sony 28-70 lens at a reasonable price and it was here that I wanted to get to a take a look. Instead it looked like my plans were about to change again. Perhaps I should have brought it flowers.

It was hard enough to get past the password screen. Every time I tried a letter, an extra one or two more would appear, blanked out in password screen fashion meaning that in order to get past here I would have to pay attention, and count the number of dots along I was before hitting the next key. This is a challenge without coffee. One in I could see that the problem was the "z". Perhaps it was still asleep which is why the "zzz" kept filling in the gaps. I did my best to wake it. I googled the problem, tried a few "solutions". none of which worked. I struggled through booking a room in my next port of call, removing extra zeds from "jazmzesz aitzkzenz" as well as my credit card number which for some reason was now being shown as incorrect. With my solutions limited and with a final throw of the dice, I decided to reinstall the Mojave operating system onto the mac with it's initial 18 minute estimated time soon doubling to nearer an hour.

It didn't help.

After wasting the morning and nearly 3 hours of effort, the macbook was still suffering from visual narcolepsy. I had run out of ideas and patience. This was something I could ill afford to lose. Without the mac I would be unable to process photos, write up blogs and note down my degree findings. I would also be unable to fall asleep to late night youtube clips which should perhaps be higher up on that list of inconveniences.

I looked for solutions on my phone, nearby places that I could take it and get a professional to look it over. I know that there are apple stores here in Bangkok, but unfortunately my budget wasn't going to stretch to that kind of thing, not without persuasion. Instead I found a place just an MRT stop away, about 20 minutes and I would be there. It had glowing reviews on line from those that had used them which gave me a little more faith than just turning up in one of the malls and taking a chance. The company sounded professional too. I mean, who wouldn't want to take their poorly apple to see "Dr MacBook"?

Dr MacBook was apparently located on the 5th floor in a place called the Fico building, but rather than being in a shopping centre or shop as I suspected it would be, it was located in an hi rise office complex. This threw me a little and I obviously looked thrown because it wasn't long before the guard on traffic duty at the entrance to the building asked if he could help. I asked him about Dr MacBook half expecting to get a blank expression back, but to my surprise he acknowledged that I was in the right place, I just needed to go in an talk to lady on reception. This was good. They just needed to see my passport.

errr...bugger...about turn.

It wasn't the longest trek in the world back to the hotel. The MRT is an air conditioned network that runs underground to various points of the city. The walk on each side of the stations I used was only 5 minutes each way, but still when I got back to the hotel I decided it was time for a costume change. It may have been only 32 degrees but sometimes it's the humidity that bites. At ground level it can get quite intense fairly quickly, they perceived lack of air and the heaviness of it all can occasionally cause someone coming from a single figure climate to perspire a little. I put on a lighter top, chucked the passport back in the bag and got myself back to the Fico reception lady.

With my passport exchanged for a building pass I caught the opulent lift to the 5th floor. Here, down narrow walkways were a number of enclosed, self contained units and I followed the corridor along, scouring the signs above the doors for the one that sported the name of the one that I needed.  At the end I got to a wall, physically and mentally and as I turned a young lady from one of the other units asked me if she could help me find what I was looking for. I told her, she politely laughed. I had walked straight past the door with "DR MACBOOK" scrawled upon it in giant, bold coloured letters. Sometimes as a photographer I get into the habit of looking away from where the eyes are naturally led. Sometimes as a person, I feel like an idiot. "Sawadee Krap" I replied, bowing thankfully and a little sheepishly.

Inside the doors I explained to the lady what the problem was that I was having, unsheathing my Macbook from it's case and laying it down on the desk. Something had happened in the last few hours. No matter what I tried the fault didn't occur. boot, reboot, notepad, keystrokes, tap tap tap, nothing. The good Dr had seemingly cured it just by her presence. Before I left she flipped of the "z" key and just cleaned a little inside it, there was nothing obvious that seemed to be a problem. No chuck of food or small mammal came dropping out. Lost for words I apologised and thanked here for her time and left by saying that i still have a feeling that I'm going to be back. Sometimes an intermittent fault are the worst kind of problem. Sometimes you just want someone to conclusively say "that's the problem and this is how we fix it". now however I feel like there is this problem hanging over the computer which may rear up again at any point. It may not have cost me any money at this point, but you just get that feeling that nothing is resolved either so the cost may be deferred, whether that be in monetary value or time when I can ill afford to lose any in a few weeks time.

Outside the building I noticed a couple of shrines that I wanted to get photos of so I pulled one of the cameras from the bag and lined up the with the 90mm to take a shot, adjusting the shutter speed, ISO and aperture as appropriate. Adjusting the aperture as appropriate. ADJUSTING THE AP...oh ffs.

Some days.

It seems that whilst my Macbook had sorted itself, the rear dial on my camera had developed it's own problem, perhaps feeling that it wasn't getting enough attention. I have the camera set up for shutter speed on the front dial, ISO on the back wheel and aperture on the rear dial for full, easy control. by flipping these around it was easy to diagnose that the rear wheel was the problem rather than the aperture on the lens. This was my older camera. It is the one that was mortally injured in the great adventure of 2016 and was been deemed irreparable by Sony itself. I have joked in the past is that it is coming back to Thailand to die and perhaps this process has started, For the time being though I will use that body with my 50mm manual Voigtlander which has the aperture control on the lens itself. If I use a auto lens I will shoot in shutter speed priority and keep an eye on what the camera is doing with regards to the other settings. It's why I brought 2 cameras with me. It's a little bit of contingency planning and whilst you hope that everything gets through the trip unscathed, with me I have learnt that this is pretty rarely the case.

*I woke up in the middle of the night to see the MacBook filling itself in with z's again. I quickly shut the laptop down and put it into it's case and into my backpack. I am suspecting now that perhaps the humidty is causing a problem with the Mac, and prehaps this has also caused a problem with the camera also.  It is also possible that this is being compounded by the air conditioning in the room.

https://www.instagram.com/jamesraitken/

13/02/2019 - Bangkok reacquainted

or Aitken's Blog: Supplemental, Thai date 13.02.2562

I have been back in Thailand's capital for 5 whole days now and it would be accurate to say that I haven't bedded back in as quickly as I had hoped. My initial hotel stay which I had booked for 3 nights until Monday quickly got extended to Wednesday as I realised I was taking longer than I anticipated to adjust back to the pace of life here. On Monday night I extended this further until Friday by which time I would have been here a week. a nice round figure on which to move on. Unfortunately I have felt much the same way I did the first time I travelled here. Fortunately I have the experience to know and expect that this will soon pass.

It hasn't been a complete waste of time so far. I have ventured to a few places to try and get myself familiar with things once again. In Lumphini and Benjasari Park there were the usual runners doing their thing and on streets, in and outside of buildings I found small temples and shrines which I may use as the background theme, the thing that runs through this Bangkokian photo project. Just by walking around and being back here I am still getting ideas about what I can photograph and ways I can do it. So as long as I am thinking about ways to capture and portray the life that goes on here, something is going to happen. Eventually the Baht will drop.

The food in Bangkok is still amazing and whilst I am still yet to fully regain my appetite since arriving, the bits and bobs I have sampled have not disappointed in the least. I am aware however that my with my medical condition I need to ensure that I eat and drink regularly. My blood sugar levels have proved themselves to be adequately robust and stable, so sooner or later I'm sure that everything will fall into place nutrition wise.

I have been using a combination of 24mm, 50mm and 90mm focal lengths and the 24mm Samyang in particular is a funny little lens. When reviewing the images in camera you can easily be misled into thinking that it isn't doing a good job, and if I was basing the quality of the images solely on these in camera previews then I wouldn't be using it. It becomes clear however when post processing the images, that they may be far better than the previews would have had you believe. With the 2.8 aperture it can be a useful low light lens and when combined with the focus tracking in the a7ii it is a net little compact lens for street photography also. I have however found myself missing the old 28-70mm kit lens more than I thought I would. It was a lens that travelled with me extensively before it developed a fault some months ago, and for that reason it isn't with me here.  Despite some peoples negative perception of it because it has been sold with Sony bodies as a kit lens, I found that the 28mm end of the lens could provide me with outstanding results. Extending the range slightly to around 35mm led to no noticeable degradation in performance or quality or image, and it was a focal length with which I became quite comfortable. I have been looking for one here but as yet, unfortunately, I have had little luck on that front.

The 50mm and the 90mm have also provided a mixed bag of results, although any faults with the images are more likely down to my mishandling of my gear that anything else. I have yet to get that "hell yeah" moment that I have had in the past. That feeling where you know everything is clicking into place, I really start enjoying myself and everything just comes together. If I'm not being wowed by what I'm taking, it's probably fair to assume that other people aren't going to be either. This is just a period I have to work through and I half anticipated something like this might happen. It was why I allowed myself more time, a little contingency planning to allow for such occurrence's and allow for time to settle in and sharpen up. Now I just need my images to do the same and let any negativity jog on.

07/02/2019 - Bristol - Heathrow - Bahrain - Bangkok

By the time that  I got onto the National Express coach in Bristol at just after 3:30 am, I had already been up for 20 hours. The previous day had been spent running around in a mild panic, making sure that I had gotten hold of everything that I possibly needed whilst I was away. There were a few things I brought which perhaps weren't essential, but they fell into the "might come in handy" category, the bag for which was now over full, so a little culling took place in the final hours. I ejected the flash and LED lights, stuff that could be acquired in Bangkok if the need arose but found room for all my lenses and both camera bodies. I definitely went overboard on t-shirts.

On the coach I finally started to relax. You get to the point where you stop thinking about "have I packed this" and "have I packed that" and resign yourself to the fact that it's too late to worry about it. I know I had been thorough with my packing. Worries about whether my insulin was in the bag or whether I had all my blood testing equipment were niggles only, I knew I did. I had physically packed and repacked that bag about 10 bloody times, and maybe double that figure in my head. I had everything I wanted to take, end of story, or hopefully more like, just the start.

I closed my eyes a couple of times on the coach and would hazard a guess that over the course of the next 2 hours of bouncey, swaying travel I probably managed 30 or 40 minutes of 5 minute naps. It doesn't sound like much, but when your desperately tired, those few minutes can go towards making you feel a whole lot worse that you did originally. By the time I got off the coach at Heathrow I had that early morning, head hit by a cricket bat feeling but I knew had to run with it and get checked in and get hrough the baggage checks which have been a little bit of an effort on previous occasions. Probably because of the time of day that it was, this proved to be the quickest and easiest I have ever encountered. Within about 30 minutes I was sat in the Pret at the Terminal 4 departure lounge, eating breakfast and drinking a coffee. 20 minutes of that had been deciding at which cafe to roll with.

As a testament to me not just feeling battered, but looking it as well, the lady in the Pret decided to give me my coffee for free. It's perhaps a little thing, but it's those little things that can go about setting that day back on the right path. In hindsight maybe a coffee wasn't the smartest idea.

The plane left Heathrow after a short delay at 9:50am, luckily I was on it. The flight itself took just over 7 hours and it felt like double that. I had got to the point where all my muscles felt numb and my back and legs had a dullish ache. The leg room afforded was standard economy leg room, which meant that I spent the duration sat bold upright with no space available to slump a little, get comfortable and shut my eyes. I perused the in flight entertainment, which is best described as limited, played hangman on the screen until I guessed "Brisbane" for the 3rd time and watch the clock tick by. Bahrain could arrive quick enough. It felt like it arrived late.

There wasn't much to see in the airport during the stop over. It was just over 2 hours of twiddling thumbs for which I decided to use my own. I had a flat white in what I think was a Costa, which cost some money and with time still dragging it's heels, I opted to grab a McDonalds. It has been one of my small pleasures of recent times to try different McDonalds in different places over the world and it is usual for there to be slight variations in the menu. Hong Kong you could have hot sweetcorn in stead of fries, in Bangkok there is curry and rice dishes on the menu. In Bahrain airport they had the McArabia chicken which was chicken in a light pitta bread. Doesn't sound overly exciting and it wasn't really, but it's another one off the list. How many left to go?

Back on the plane I got ready for leg 2. I had nabbed myself one of the front seats with the hope of getting a little more leg room but as usual things didn't work as hoped. The front seats were fairly close to the dividing wall, which although giving the illusion of more space for the sitter, again meant that leg space was not at "stretch out and get comfy level".  As it was warm and this was only going to be a 6 hour overnight flight I turned down the offer of a blanket and reasoned that i could just use my hoodie as a light cover if the need arose. About 2 hours into the flight I was chilly, after four hours I slipped into a state of hibernation for 5 or 10 minutes. This was another flight where the perception of time was misaligned with time itself. When I got off the plane at Bangkok Airport at 8:40 am on the Friday morning I had been travelling from Bristol for just under 23 hours but it felt double. Barring a couple of very short naps/blackouts I had been awake for around 39. 

I was now borderline nonfunctional.

I managed to write something on my Thai immigration card which even by my standards looked barely legible, but even so I got my passport stamped without problem and got some Thai baht from the cashpoint, forgetting briefly to collect my bank card after the cash was dispensed. Usual frustrations at the baggage wheel with people just standing so close to it that no one can see their bags coming, and even if they do they need to call a scrum in order to grab it before it whizzes by and escapes into the wild. None of this was a problem. I think I had just got to the point where I wasn't able to get annoyed about anything. I collected my bag, clipped on the carry strap, escaped through customs and headed down to the subway for a Subway. I needed more coffee than could ever be available.

The trip by train to my first port of call was as straightforward as it could be. I had purposely booked a place that was close to one of the stations off the MRT transport system in Bangkok and this itself interlinks conveniently with the Airport train with just a short walk above the roads in between. The temperature was steadily rising and when I arrived at this juncture just after 10am it was already up at 31 degrees c, and I was still in tshirts and jeans. Remarkably, it seems that I was also now just too tired to sweat as well. 

Tiredness. 

Cures all ailments (ish).

I arrived at the hotel early and requested whether there was somewhere that I could put my bags and come back later, rather than lumping them around longer. As my room was already prepared they allowed me an early check in and it was a relief to get into some an airconditioned room just briefly before ducking off and taking a much needed shower. As much as I could have slept right there and then I decided to battle through it. If I slept now then my body clock would be out so I needed to get through to the night at least. I got myself changed and headed out for the afternoon for more coffee and a much needed haircut. 

When I crashed at about 8pm in the evening, i was out for around 12 hours, and when I woke up I felt as bad as I had done the night before. It looked like it was going to take more than one decent sleep to get over the previous 3 days endeavour. It was good to have finally got here, but it's impossible not to think and already start to dread the flight back to the UK in just over a months time.

  

30/1/2019 - Committed to the photographic cause (back to Bangkok)

That's settled then, I'm going back in to Bangkok. It appears that I might actually be obsessed.

After the now usual period of procrastination and over thinking, I flipped the switch and booked the flights. It took me all day to research and compare, to weigh up the departure times and arrival times of both outward and return journeys, but by the end of the afternoon today I had committed myself to going. First the flights were bagged, then the 3.30am coach to London Heathrow was organised and finally my trip insurance with medical declarations declared was done. The holy trinity of travel was complete. In a weeks time I'm going off to do a project.

Mostly I will be basing myself in Bangkok, but being somewhat of an old hand at this now I have factored in enough time to escape if I need to, for a few days at least. I love the city and the energy that pulses through it, and it's this aspect of Bangkok that I am hoping to be able to capture photographically during my time away. The heat there can be oppressive and the weight of the air overbearing, especially at this time of year, especially for a man in my condition.  I am expecting to struggle with a few aspects when I arrive and I plan to give myself a few days to acclimatise and reacquaint myself in familiar surroundings to get bedded back in. After time away there's going to be a period of readjustment and after a 17 hour flight plus the additional travel either side, it seems wise that I take things steady rather than rushing straight in at full throttle again. I can't afford to make myself ill. As I type this now, the part of the U.K I am in is basking in all of it's 3 degrees glory. Bangkok itself is sitting at a more relaxed 26 degrees, but it is only 3:41am there, local time. In the daytime at the moment it seems to be hitting the low to mid 30's and I know again from my previous journeys that as we go into the next couple of months, that temperature is only going to rise. But thats no reason to contemplate giving up, giving in.

I found my old packing list from 2013. I used this same list again in 2015 and now in 2019 it's third time lucky. There are things that I know from experience that I don't need to take. A money belts for example is mostly a useless apparel (except for the holster types which are still good 70's cop props) and a heavy hammock will have little use in the city. There are items listed that in all honesty I would probably have packed anyway in the next few days but it's still useful to have that reminder incase something did slip my mind.

I have requested the usual Doctors note to cover the medication and equipment I will be carrying due to still being a type 1 diabetic and as usual I am packing more that enough supplies to cover any accidental breakages or mishaps that may happen along the way. The nice thing though is that even that I have given myself only 7 days to get everything sorted before I fly away once more, I know that Bangkok is a place that I can get supplies if needed. If something is misplaced, forgotten or lost with the possible exception of some of my more important medical items, there will be the opportunity to get a replacement.

One of the most important things to do now is to get a full understanding of what I need to do when I am away. This photography project forms the majority basis o the final year of my degree. The qualification that I have put my life on hold for (and may have taken a bit of a kicking during), will hopefully open more doors if it all goes to plan. This isn't just a bit of an adventure, although I would be lying if I was to insinuate that I'm not relishing the challenge of doing what I'm doing at this particular time. Whilst I am away I will be working on producing the best work that I possibly can for the 2 final modules of this course.

Perhaps it would have been easier to sit around the campus and expend my energy there. The are some people that think that I am a little bit nuts for doing this sort of thing at this time, especially given the time constraints that we now have left open to us. In 11 weeks we have to have everything complete. Everything done and dusted. I could have sat tight and just produced some work I'm sure, but would it have been anything that I would have been happy with?

I have always felt that I was more productive, had more energy and more drive when I was in parts of Asia. Now I'm going to put that to the test.

The important thing now is that I don't miss that stupidly early bus.

21/01/2019 - Hold on lads...I've got an idea

Nearly 3 years since I was in Bangkok.
3 years older. 3 years less fit. 3 years heavier.

I've got just over 3 months left until I (hopefully) finish the photograhy degree that I embarked upon in 2016. It's been a slog, life has frequently got in the way but now, the end is near, and so I face, the final front curtain shutter.

I need to do something to go out with a bang. To make the last 3 years worthwhile. I'm not ashamed to admit that I find life in the U.K a bit of a chore, the winter months in their subdued light drag by ever more slowly and my enthusiam for anything other coffee and sleep (naturally uneasy bedfellows) mean that I generally feel that I'm not in the best place to end what I'm doing with the kind of flourish one would like.

So I've come up with a plan/really, really loose idea.
It's one that I'm not sure is going to work. Money is going to be tight and this trip isn't going to be like the others. This will be about getting an assignment done. Perhaps more than one. There are people and places that I'm going to want to go and see but likely won't be able to. I will be spending as much time at a desk working as I'm out exploring and taking photos and will probably be based in just a couple of locations.

Did I mention that I am 3 years older, 3 years less fit and 3 years heavier?

So while I may have had an idea, I'm still not overly convinced that it's a good one.

It could be a disaster, or it could be 24ct gold.

But there is only one way that I'm going to find out

.

Now, has anyone seen my old prep lists from 2013?

(picture courtesy of Paramount Pictures)