Three photos of Thailand

Swami in Thailand

Koh Kood fishing village

Buddha watching over the village

Thai etiquette

M. Lee and the Coconut Lady

Before we left China, M. Lee emailed me this link to help me prepare for Thailand. Worth a read if you're ever planning to visit the place. The main thing to keep in mind is that, though petty scamming is second only to tourism in the Thai economy, Thais still very much appreciate courtesy and a smile from visitors. Now M. Lee is not above using manipulation when sharing a word to wise but he told me that recently some tourist got rude about an inflated taxi fare so the driver leaped out of his cab and killed the guy with his machete.


Getting a drink of tasty coconut milk in Thailand.
Whatever the case, at least two days in, I like Thailand a whole lot better than China. For one thing, even in a big nasty city like Bangkok, there are birds chirping away outside the window. And, instead of peering through a suffocating cloud of highly toxic, ground level pollution, I can see the sky. And yeah. People do smile a lot.

News at 7:01 PM (CST)

Qihelou Jie street

We've been staying in a small hutong house off Qihelou Jie street just across the moat from the Forbidden City. Tomorrow we leave for Thailand and M. Lee's mom returns to the States. We are just three weeks into a 10 week trip and I've already taken about 5000 photos, around 24 GBs worth. I don't know if my camera will last. It's on the verge of expiring. I must be insane.

Little white cat in the hutong

I find it very hard to write anything here. I don't have the time to organize my thoughts which are, by nature, impressionistic. As usual, the prospect of leaving tomorrow fills me with dread. 

Hacking the Great Wall

Hacking the Great Wall.

Yesterday we hacked the Great Wall. It began with a very vertical hike on a forested mountain trail out of a remote village. When we got to the wall we climbed a handmade ladder to get into a decrepit beacon tower. It was all downhill from there and much of it over surprisingly rough, sometimes dangerous, terrain. It was wonderful. We ended at what is the usual starting place which was, of course, choked with souvenir stalls spread out over a nice wide rebuilt walkway.

So...rushed as usual. M. Lee has sounded the five minute bell. Gotta go but more photos to follow.

Dirt Market

Swami and Vincent at Art Zone 798

Today, and very soon, we are leaving for the Dirt Market, Beijing's giant, stupendous, "world's largest" outdoor flea market. Luckily, pollution levels are down from yesterday's extremely hazardous levels in the 300s to a lovely 50. Well, it's up to 55 now and climbing but that's still better than yesterday.

Another day, another 300 photos

Beijing 798 Art Zone

We were out all day. I'd like to post better notes about this trip for future reference but every day, by the time we get home and I finally, finally wind down enough to get around to it, the details of the day are lost or faded into irrelevance the way things do. We went to Art Zone 789 but I did take photos. Lots of photos. And posted more to the Beijing album. And tomorrow we'll get up early and launch out again. This time to a massive street market. It will be interesting. Again, I will take far too many photos to manage. And the day will fade again, like this one has faded.

Maybe I'm depressed. Maybe it's the air. Pollution has been at the extreme hazardous level for the last two days.

Beijing photo update

Practicing my Chinese style photo posing technique

 I've added a Beijing photo album. The link is in the bar at the top of the page. So far there's only a few but more to come.

Lion at Lama Temple

Forbidden City

Went to the Forbidden City today. It used to cost the uninvited their lives. Lucky for us, these days it's only few yen.

Some friendly guys at the Forbidden City.

Beijing

Sunday is maid's day off in Hong Kong. It's the law. Mostly they hang out all day in the street as they have no where else to go. It's sad. But yesterday was special. Big international festival in Kowloon. Last night I posted some photos here but no time for words.

Star above the mid-levels.
Hong Kong

Okay. It's 5 AM. We're leaving for Beijing in a few minutes. M. Lee is giving me that look. Gotta go.

Tung Ping Chau

Yesterday, we went to the island of Tung Ping Chau. I'll post photos when I get a chance. We found old graves in the undergrowth in the middle of the island, guarded by biting ants. Naturally, I did the dance to get the photos. The island also has a new graveyard down by ferry landing but they weren't cool at all. More to come. As usual, gotta go.

Hong Kong photo link

Hong Kong photos here.  Yesterday we went to Macau so the ones I uploaded this morning are from there. You won't find much of the regular Macau. As usual, I am attracted by obscure corners. We started at a very popular temple, but I

didn't get one photo of the main alter. Instead I photographed the dieties I found tucked away in a closet in a courtyard were the workers store their tools, buckets and brooms.

Ok. Gotta go. Must meet M. Lee and his mom downtown.