Friday, February 27, 2009

collecting memories --boat ride to koh kred

This is the second walkabout of the 'team'. More a boat ride to be honest!
There are three distinct Picture Diaries here, one is of the river, another of a Wat we saw on the way to the island and of the Island Koh Kred itself.

It was heartening that the 'team' expanded to ten members for this trip. While most of us were focused on taking pictures, a few came for the experience. Youngest was Shriya, Umesh and Aditi's delightful daughter thus making the trip even more fun! We were very happy to welcome Surya and Neema as well as two colleagues of Umesh, Van and Huong and of course Aditi.


The youngest of the team with the oldest!
Umesh keeping an eye on the team.

Shriya taking care of the stickers which the boat operator wanted us to display!

Speaking of rivers: I had just returned from Luang Prabang and the memory of the boat ride on Mekong River was still very fresh in my memory and may be couple of gulps of clean air are still lodged in my lungs! The ride was so peaceful and invigorating. Someone said that Mekong was actually derived from 'Ma Ganga'. While the word Mae means mother, the rest may be stretching it a little. One thing is certain, Mekong we saw in LP was truly 'Ma Ganga' while the original I am told is more like 'Maha Gandha' (Very dirty!).

While Chao Phraya appeared dirty, it was not as horrific as the pictures I had seen of 'Ma Ganga' near Benares. I can request Prakash Kamath to Fw. the pictures in case you want proof! I am still to be convinced that we worship 'Ma Ganga'. Exploit her yes!

I love the river Chao Phraya, it is impressive but unfortunately lined with too many buildings !
It is also important for me as my mother's remains are immersed in the river.

Umesh spotted this nice mosque

as well as the majestic Wat Arun.


Notice the small white dot? There is a gruesome story here. Umesh who took the picture and the rest of us did not realise that we were passing under the severed head of a man. We were shocked to read about it in the papers the next day. A foreigner had jumped from the bridge and his body was severed due to the force of his jump. First the headless body was found in the river, later the head! No foul play we are told, it was suicide. Still disturbing to think we were right below!

Apisit liked this boat I am sure! I have yet to go on these speed boats and I don't think I will.

Arun said he thought they were jumping to welcome us. Could be as we were nearing the temple and we saw many of them around waiting to be fed. My first reaction was that the fish
were jumping out of water taking gulps of fresh air at this spot!

Apisit noticed these kids. I hope they are not swimming in very polluted water.

I loved the river better as we went farther and farther away from Bangkok.
Wat near the Island. Apisit saw the matching colors.

While Umesh liked the way it reached for the sky!

Half way to the island we stopped at a pretty Wat. Those of us who have been here in Thailand for a while were not too excited about the stop to see a wat. I suppose we have seen too many. But it was nice, very clean and peaceful. Next to the wat was a pretty and a well maintained park.
Shriya offering prayer with Neema and Surya
She later meditated in her own inimitable style.
Neema and Aditi in front of the Buddha.

While Aditi meditated inside the wat, Arun spied on a few who were outside: he said they were bent in prayer but aiming high!
Arun also thought that Umesh was actually taking a picture of a sculpture!
Most of the group pose for a picture at the wat.

Nidhi with his Guru!
Neema and Surya


Later we went to the park next door and while some of us were strolling.

Apisit had an opportunity to practice his art!

But Umesh may be in danger of loosing some of his colleagues soon! I am sure they will get offers to work as models at fashion design shows.
The garden, strangely the stage is protected by a moat from the audience.
We were bid farewell by the ever smiling children of Thailand.
We were finally at the village after lunch. I was frankly disappointed by the island. We took a wrong turn and were walking in an endless and a very narrow lane lined with shops. I did not want one more mini-chatuchak nightmare or a pavement walk on Sukumvit. I may be a little harsh as Umesh and Apisit did manage to catch the essence of the island. I suppose I gave up too soon. Here is a link pictures of toys that Umesh has posted in facebook. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94131&id=763400933
I had heard about the pottery village in the island and liked this display.


A very unusual restaurant! I wonder whether they will be able to recover cutlery dropped by clumsy customers!

While we were looking for the pottery factory we saw Lord Isuan and Phra Ganeth. I have seen many 'Ganesh' idols all around Bangkok but not many of Lord Shiva. It seems that Lord Shiva took pity on us as we finally spotted a factory in the same lane and we had been walking for quite a while looking for the factory.

The delicate touch while shaping pottery.
Van wanted to try her hand but the potter was not very responsive.

A very appreciative Surya.

We were happy to have stumbled into this place. While I and Surya were admiring the green surroundings Neema discovered a shrine and called us in to see. This meant we kept the boat waiting for about 30 minutes as we had also lost our way and did not even know about it! Thanks to cell phones we were able to get directions to get back to the pier. Luckily no one gave us an ugly look for having kept them waiting!


The shrine was full of pictures of hindu gods and goddesses.



It is not very clear what these idols are.
When Umesh posted this picture on facebook, I thought how come I missed this! I later realised that it was not age appropriate for me, just as well!

Our guide in his elements and an intently attentive Neema.

While we have evovled: habit of grooming each other still persists!



A great picture by Umesh.


Umesh got this beautifully!

Her brother joined in for Apisit.
Please check out these sites below for more pictures by Umesh. I have included pictures from others in my blog and I have mentioned their names as a comment below their pictures, well most of the times! Thanks Umesh for providing the links.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

collecting memories --walkabout in bangkok's chinatown

Umesh thought about it and announced his intention on the Facebook! The idea was to walkabout and take pictures. I felt it was an excellent idea and responded to it and so did Apisit and Arun. So it was four of us, the Three Musketeers with a camera instead of a sword walking about!

I feel fortunate as I could collect memories without really working for it: I could borrow from others. Arun is a professional documentary maker, Apisit is an accomplished Photographer as you can see from his work and Umesh is into photography deeply, experimenting to his hearts content and enjoying the process. I suppose I can call myself an observer!

Umesh , Arun and I took a taxi to the wat in Chinatown and met Apisit over there. We entered the Chinese shrine and took pictures outside the shrine as taking pictures in the shrine was not permitted. We tried to capture the essence of chinatown and strayed to other areas as we walked randomly if not aimlessly. I expected to see the banners and buntings celebrating the just arrived Chinese new year, but it seems that they were already removed.
While I noticed the crowd
Arun saw their devotion.
and also admired the individual determined aspiration!
Umesh felt sad at the neglect.
But I saw the effort of one to remember by lighting an incense stick.
This inspired Umesh to quote a poem, Shelly's most famous work - Ozymandias
While I was upset with the huge collection of trash.
Arun called its disposal automated sacrifice!

Apisit saw this as Timeless, so did Umesh.

And I marvelled at the lack of customers opposite to the long line! I am surprised as I love fresh oranges!

Arun caught Apisit thinking of our next stop while I posed for a picture.
We were intrigued with this display but Umesh walked in to find out! It is a shop selling offerings at a Chinese funeral. Chinese burn replicas of things that they feel the dear departed would need as they go beyond! Very Practical and surely economical!
Arun noticed the green house up there!
Umesh said that the real goddess was not the one with the extra arms, but the woman at the counter. She was dealing with cash! Makes sense in these days of credit crunch.


Arun exposes his religious leanings: he calls it 'bent in prayer'!

It is not only about death, life must go on. Umesh saw this couple looking at the wedding dresses. We wish them all the happiness in life.

Umesh liked the colors and it appears that the lady liked them as well.


Umesh gets carried away by the glamour of the Indian side of the town


Arun appreciates the hard work!

I asked Umesh later whether he knew anyone who had tasted birds nest! He said he had tried and did not sound too happy about the experience.

As it got darker the place looked different.

Notice the farangs trying out a road side stall.

Then, Apisit had this bright idea of walking to Pak Khlong Talat (Flower Market) which was close to chinatown. It is set up every evening under the benevolent statue of King Chulalongkorn and along the river and continues throughout the night.

Nidhi liked the majesty of the surroundings

Also the surreal feel of the place.


As we walked in, the stalls were already set.
Umesh recognises the pride she has in her handiwork!

I wished there was a way to avoid these fluorescent lights!
I had thought that the fluorescent lights would spoil the picture, but Arun managed to retain the majesty of the pagoda very well!


Arun saw the beauty of the wats and doubled it for us!


Apisit putting Umesh to work!


Apisit acknowledges the hard work that goes around the Talat


He also appreciates these thoughtful people pondering the imponderable!

I could see that chinatown, while a busy business area, does not show the benefits of the economic boom as the other parts of Bangkok did. There must be a reason for this neglect as it were!
Anyway I hope you liked the walkabout!

We plan to do more of these trips with our camera! I can also request Apisit, Arun and Umesh to send you the links to their pictures if you so desire.

When I asked Umesh to have a look at my blog, he had this to say:
A great team is not designed by our actions but rather brought together by unexplainable occurrences of fate. I recruited Apisit to work for P&G but never got to know him for the period he was with us. I met Nidhi uncle after coming to Bangkok but lost touch over time. But when facebook brought us together what combination it was. To quote Nidhi uncle ' we walked randomly with an aim' to observe Bangkok & the happenings around. We saw places, faces & sights we'd not seen after spending years in the city. More importantly we had a great time. There's one more walkabout that happened on 22nd Feb & I am sure Nidhi uncle will document that as well. In the meanwhile, you can enjoy the pictures by clicking on the following links. If you would like to join any of our future ventures, keep track of my status on facebook.

Here's my page on facebook
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