I got when recently visiting Thailand and the city of Bangkok. For a long time I had deferred to fly to Thailand, as I did not want to be considered one of those Europeans who goes there for one reason and for that one only.

Anyway, an old time friend of mine was in Bangkok looking to take up longtime residence there and so he had asked to come and visit him and support him in his endeavours. A short week in the city was not enough, but it for sure awoke my interest to see more of this facinating city and certainly more of the country as well. The people were very, very nice and beautiful, the food was great and even the weather, albeit hot, was endurable. The trafffic, even that one I did not find so bad but then I guess I did not see the worst one while there. The Grand Palace and the lying Budda were very impressive I must say, the downside was that the whole complex was very full because not only of tourists but also people from all cornes of the country to pay their respects to their beloved King that had recently passed away and was highly revered by the citizens. The predominant colour people wear right now was black or white, in another show of respect to the king.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Terminal 21 Mall

The food was fantastic, especially if one loves south east asian kitchen. Besides being very tasty, it also was very affordable, clean and plenty. We visited only one of the nightmarkets as the time was short and since it is very centraly located we went to Patpong. The girly bars are disgusting, just even looking from the outside and I can not understand what people, especially men would draw them to these establishments. All women are beautiful, to me especially asian women, but this is the pits. The rest of the market is interesting, with all its goods and characters milling about. There was nothing what really interested me but it was full of people buying and drinking and milling about. Chinatown was another interesting part of the city to visit. Again it is full of temples and has a wonderful atmosphere about. Thailand it was onwards to another south east asian country, the Philippines about which I will write later. In the meantime back in Lebanon after four weeks in Asia, not easy and technically this is also Asia, western Asia to be precise, but nevertheless. The weather has been good, a little bit warm but not hot yet, comfortable indeed. The country in the east is again errupting in violence and even close to home there is fighting in the palestinian camp in Saida, closing the major road through the city. For the whole South-East Asia trip I brought two cameras, the Olympus OMD and the EP2.

This time I not only took photos but also used them for filming, gathering some material, more than usual. Overall I am happy with the results, but the EP2 now shows its age, especially if I compare the film foottage from it with those from the OMD or even the Samsung S6. On the way back I bought a Gimbal in Dubai duty free, which in retrospective, I should have bought on the way out. The footage sometimes is really shaky but nothing to be done now. We learn from our mistakes, or so I hope. On the way back from the Philippines, for the first time, I experienced problems with my handluggage and the camera gear I was carrying in it. The ground staff of Emirates Airlines tried to insist that I was only allowed to carry up to 7kg in my handluggage. Only after I had showed them the ID of the German Photographers Association and after they had checked that indeed it was only camera gear in the bag, the reluctantly allowed me to carry it on board. First time ever and especially Emirates had always been very accommodating in the past. Guess I might have to try Qatar in the future.

Until next time, bye.

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Patpong Night Market

Dog days in Bangkok - to hot to move.

Near the river

Lying Buddha in the Grand Palace

In the Grand Palace Garden - a vey peaceful place

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Monk in the Grand Palace temple complex