Plans to go shoot the firework festival were disrupted by the return of man flu; this time featuring an even more unpleasant version.

I am sick of being sick. Clearly my immune system is not up to much and research has indicated I need more zinc. Consequently I am currently consuming sufficient daily zinc to galvanise a small shed roof. This is not making me feel any better.

Bollocks.

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2011-12-20 | biggrtiggr says

This weekend sees the return of the International Fireworks Festival. Last year was a logistical nightmare and I was tempted just to stick up the same shots again, you lot would never notice.

But my conscience got the better of me and I decided to take some shots from the top of hill, might still look pretty and would avoid the traffic. The show was due to start at 1930, so I got a good shooting position at 1900 and waited. Surprisingly, nobody else turned up to watch so I had plenty of space to pace around and glance at my watch.

It’s the festive time of year again and the malls are festooned with lights, and as a result facing an extravagant electricity bill; to be paid for by what appears to be mainly Russian shoppers.

Still, this forced merriment gives me an opportunity to go and point a camera at the lights; this first attempt was taken around the Royal Garden Mall. Others to follow if I can work up the enthusiasm.

I was somewhat critical of the magnificent Lofts development from Raimon Land. In fact I was somewhat critical on a number of occasions; here, here and here.

My main complaint was not related to the design or the offered furnishings; it was more to do with the fact that they never built the bloody thing; in spite of appearing to have sold many units.

But never mind, because after many years of inactivity, the project is launched again for the consideration of another bunch of dummies investors. Perhaps wisely, the name has been changed from The Lofts to a computer operating system with an extra ‘x’; UNIXX. Personally I would have called it COBOLlocks.

An afternoon Polo shoot and I was invited to stay for Asado, the excellent Argentinian BBQ custom involving massive quantities of meat. However I made my excuses and headed off to a nearby temple where my plan was to shoot the eclipse against the outline of a temple roof.

Completely stupid idea, because the exposure needed to control the brightness of the moon meant you could not see the temple in the photos. So I headed back to the polo club for too much food, interspersed with trips to the camera to take a shot.

This was the moon at 18:00:

Great work.

Comments 🔗

2011-12-08 | Grant says

Brilliant! Bikes rule and not a pickup in sight. HCMC looks so much cleaner than Bangkok, is that true?

2011-12-08 | Spike says

No idea, never been. But it certainly looks appealing.

2011-12-08 | Grant says

Sure does, has to be worth a trip sometime. Could be something in the saying that Vietnam is the new Thailand… I’m up in Tharua right now and the usual mess and rubbish is ten times worse after the floods with little effort seeming to be made to clean up or repair the roads. Ayutthaya is in a dreadful state, very sad.

So I’m walking back down the beach, against the direction of the parade for the King, and the end of the procession is marked by some police cars. But wait, what’s this? There’s more.

And the more is a Hare Krishna parade. I have no idea how they persuaded City Hall to allow them to tag onto the end of the main parade; or maybe they just turned up and took advantage of a clear stretch of road. Whatever, they were all having a good time, doing the Hare Krishna mantra and handing out bags of peanuts; so they were well received. At least by me, I was starving.

A parade for the King’s birthday was organised on beach road yesterday. I wasn’t sure how big it was going to be, but had not reckoned on half of Pattaya getting ready to march.

The entire length of beach road was busy with flag waving folk of all ages: