Mark’s Vagabonding Blog

I’m still doing a whole lot of nothing in Bangkok so here are some more pictures, with a concentration of street photography. And some experimental editing.

The same park on the same day as my masked musicians photo in the last post. In fact he was watching the dudes play at that moment. The Da Vinci Code is a very popular book.

“Now where are they hiding the Penthouse? Oh hello kitty.”

Bangkokian Graffiti artists and their supervisor.

I experimented with Duotones on this one. I saw that it didn’t come out very good, but I didn’t have time to fix it. I still like the picture though. Good slice of life, moment in time, street photography.

Pick up game of Takraw, a popular Asian game. Played where ever you can clear a space and put up a net. It’s a variation of volleyball. The ball is woven plastic or something, a little larger than a softball (you can see it just above the net and in front of the guy in the red shirt), and you can use all parts of your body to hit the ball over the net, except your hands, and I believe arms. Mostly they use their feet. When you see very good players playing this game it’s quite amazing. I saw some on TV during the Asian Games. I oversaturated the colors too much. I wanted to make them really stand out against the bland background, but went too far. Check out the red shirt hanging on the net post.

I had just gotten into Phnom Penh, Cambodia either this day or the day before, and had just obtained a copy of the Phnom Penh Visitor’s Guide. I was sitting on the bank of the Tonal Sap River reading it (I was kind of far from my guesthouse, and you don’t want to be caught reading the guide on the street, or you’ll be hounded by touts. So I figured I’d be safe here. Plus it was sort of nice there, for Phnom Penh), when I looked up and saw this person sitting on the bank right in front of me. But their head was down, and at the moment I didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. I just knew I had to take this picture. An instant before I pushed the shutter button, she looked at me.

I continued to read the guide, and a few minutes later a guy came up to me on a motorcycle, and started to talk to me. He asked the basic questions, “Where are you from?” “How long have you been here?” “Where else have you been?” Etc. He was a motorcycle taxi driver and he was hoping he could be my driver for the day and make some money. (There are about 50 motodups (motorcle taxis) in Phnom Penh for every one person who needs a ride, it seems) But then the girl from the picture, who had since walked away, came over. The guy told me that she came to Phnom Penh (the big city) from some rural place all by herself looking to get a job, or make money somehow. And that she was all alone here. Suddenly the girl asked me if I knew how to speak Thai (She’s Cambodian). I said I knew a little, “I know the numbers.” I said. So we recited Thai numbers together. Then I started getting worried that the guy was going to pimp her out to me. Thankfully he never did. He started giving me the story that he’s going to college, and needs money and that his family is poor, and he sends them money, yada yada. There was no place I wanted to go at the time, but I guess I felt sorry for the guy, so I looked in the guide book to see where I could go, and decided to let him take me to the Russian Market.

I meant to include this one in my last post, but forgot it. This is a Where’s Waldo. See if you can find my motorcycle taxi driver.

I shot this from a bus in Bangkok, Thailand.

June wanted me to crop this so it only shows the dog. But I like how it is a split image with the rail as a natural divider. Two completely different scenes in one shot.

Also shot from a bus. Chinatown in Bangkok.

2:00am Khaosan Road, Bangkok Thailand. Look closely. If you can’t see it the answer is hidden somewhere in this post. I have easter eggs, if you will, in this post and the last post. Every picture contains additional information. See if you can find it.

Well, I think I must have confused a lot of people with my last post. And I am a bit humbled too, because I thought it would be well received, especially from those who have been there.

Oh well, here are some not so good pictures:

Breakfast at a hotel near June’s apartment in Bangkok. I didn’t stay there, we just had breakfast there one day. I submitted this picture to DPCallenge in the Knife Fork Spoon challenge. It didn’t do very well, but someone made it their favorite.

Behind the Phumin Hotel of my Touts And Scams and Speedboat To Sihanoukville posts. And, no, that is not the speedboat I took.

It’s not all glory, the life of a vagabonder.

This is a spider. He’s large and scary.

My view at breakfast from Jep’s on my first morning on the island of Koh Samet, Thailand

I got the special discount at this hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Her name was Liu. At least that’s what she told me.

King Rama the VIII bridge in Bangkok, Thailand at night.

Typical gas station in Cambodia. This one is at the rest stop on the road to Rattanakiri. You often see just one or two of these barrels on the side of the road in front of someone’s snack stand. In Phnom Penh, you’ll see just one barrel on the corner with a lady minding it. You’ll also see people selling motor oil on the side of the road. The oil is in Coke, Pepsi, or 7-Up bottles.

Brian, from California, USA (white T-Shirt, hand in pocket); Megan, from South Africa (directly in front of Brian with small bag in hand), and Rick, from England (red shirt, hand on hip). I met these guys in Kratie, Cambodia. We road to Rattanakiri together in a Toyoto, Camry taxi. They were really cool people. They all teach English in Japan. The day before we went on a boat on the Mekong River to see the Irrawaddy dolphins, then to dinner. They were much needed company for me. I hope their trekking in Rattanakiri went well.

The next picture shows what is in this building.

Can you see what’s in there?

Here’s a closer look. This is from the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. These are the actual skulls of those murdered by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

Found this guy at the Killing Fields.

Discovery Lodge in Bangkok, Thailand. This is where I was staying when I got sick and had to go to the hospital.

Robby Stienhardt and Kerry Livgren incognito at Santichaiprakarn Park in Bangkok, Thailand. (Only one person I know gets this, and you know who you are.)

When you get a warm shower over here, this is how it’s done. The water goes through this electronic heater on the wall. This is what’s in people’s homes too.

Bangkok, Thailand. I submitted this one to the Cheater Challenge on DPChallenge. I came in 46th out of 103 entries. I thought I’d do better, it was one of the very few actual pictures of someone cheating. I called it, One Way To Beat Traffic.

Prisoners being taken away in the Paddy Wagon? No, just another form of transportation in Bangkok, Thailand. Squeeze as many people you can into this bus. It only cost like 3 baht (6 or 7 US cents) for a ride.

Another picture from Koh Samet. Look how clear the water is.

Shot from the roof of the only mall I saw in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Can you see what’s going on in the picture? You can read the answer somewhere in this post.

You see signs like this often in Cambodia, telling people if they do bad they will get arrested. Some of them show hands handing over weapons, and stuff like that.

Number 6 is my favorite, what’s yours?

That’s the end of the pictures. I should have written more about my adventures in the remote areas of Cambodia, but I got lazy. Anyway, it was pretty cool, maybe I’ll write something about it later. Guess where I am now? I’m back in Bangkok, with June.

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