Results – Miss Queen Chiang Mai 2007

Sawadee Khrap

The results of our poll is in for the

Miss Queen Chiang Mai 2007

1st Place   45 % of the votes    Miss Mareachanok  #9

9ab

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Place   18% of the votes    Miss Kara  #28

28ab

3rd Place  11% of the votes   Miss Nataya  %6

6ab

Less than 10%  RUNNER UPs

  • Miss Pantawn #8,    Miss Nichapat #10,          Miss Priyapa #13
  • Miss Nista #17,        Miss Natchayaporn #18   Miss  ???   #32

 

Congraulations to all  – Thanks for all that voted.

You can see the entire line up at Official Results Ladyboy Contest

Don’t forget to check out the video Miss Queen CM 2007 Contest Video

First rain

Sawadee Khrap

Had our first rain today – short, but loud – lot of thunder, some hail, knocked out power several times – some rain – yet it did start to clear the air. 

 Here is a picture of the trees in the small farm area next door. IMG_1202small Pollen or seedlings or something cotton like are bursting from the flowers on the trees – there are 4 of these trees next door, 2 small, 2 large and it looked like it was snowing when the wind blew – It’s marvelous how Nature operates – just before the rain, heavy winds disperse the seeds and scatter them for planting – then the rain to water them – what a site – These are the same trees that turn a brilliant red and yellow in the winter.  Kapok trees – Thai’s make a pillow from these cotton like seedlings.

Tomorrow we will head for a short trip to Chiang Rai – coming back Sunday  – with Jerry and Art to get away.  The boys, Art & Tasanai will probably hit the Disco (one of largest in Thailand) and Jerry & I will enjoy the local clubs.  Would like to go to Tak, but they (Myanmar & Thailand) are having border skirmishes – not a good place right now – but it does have the largest waterfall in Thailand – “Ti Lo Su”  ??????  – said to be #6 most beautiful in the world  – maybe next time.

Ciao 

Poi Sang Long Festival coming

O5-214Here is a picture form the ChiangMai Mail article on

Poi Sang Long Festival

We will be going to the festival on April 4–6th and will get some pictures then – I am really looking forward to it. 

Before becoming novice monks, all Shan boys have their heads shaved and are carried by friends or relatives as the go through the ceremony to present their sons to the abbot of the temple.  Colourful, with much pomp and ceremony.

We plan on going to the temple close by – Wat Papao – can’t wait  Video and images to follow – I hope !!!!

Ciao

15,000 seek treatment in Mae Hong Son

Sawadee Khrap

N7-Mae-Hong-Song-HospHere is the latest on the dust stuff – although today it seem about half gone in Chiang Mai – but Mae Hong Son is a different story from the Chiangmai Mail article. 

 

I’ll try to get some pictures of it around here – Just hope it clears, we have several models to shoot and Tasanai can’t wait to get started.  

 

Songkran (Thai New Year) will start on April 12th – lot of parties planned, Tasanai will go to Lampang for special family celebrations – I’ll stay in Chiang Mai though – we’ll celebrate together on the 12th.

Promise to get some shots to show this year.

Ciao

Miss Queen Poll

Sawadee Khrap

We will be ending the Miss Queen Chiang Mai Poll at the end of the month – Make sure you get your vote in for your favourite “Lady”.  I will post the poll winners on April 3rd.

Thanks all for making this a fun thing and making the Ladies feel wanted and beautiful.

Ciao

Bronze Boy – shall we cast him in resin?

Sawadee Khrap

Bronze Boy     [Andre 1999]

BronzeBoy3

I just got some pictures of David’s,  a friend of ours, Bronze Boy statue by Andre 1999.   It really caught my eye as it was setting in his garden.  The statue was presented to him as a gift by the artist and he had it shipped from the UK to Chiang Mai several years ago.  The cost of shipping it was very expensive because the statue is a bronze casting and really heavy.

BronzeBoy4BronzeBoy1

I talked to David about allowing  a mold to be made and casting resin copies of the work and putting them on our web site for sale.  The statue is about 3 foot. long and by casting it in resin it should be fairly light, at least enough to keep the shipping charges in line.  

Thought I’d post images of it here and see if people are interested in getting one.  Don’t know the cost yet but for a mantle or center piece in the garden it is unique and exclusive.  Once I find a artist or caster to make the above copy, they could also create modifyed poses. Think of the possibilities.

What do you think? – worth checking into.?

 

Back to the masks

Sawadee Khrap

Well, we’re back to the masks today – apparently it’s been a weather thing, wind pattern concentrating the smoke and particles in the Chiang Mai valley – and it’s back again.

Not as bad as before but you can smell and taste the stuff in the air – visibility has really gone down this morning compared to last night and no rain in site.

Computer time, Computer time — thank God for the computer – now it is really a blessing – something to do when you can’t go out.  Photography is out of the question – too hazy.  Not a good effect, although it does make some rather great RED sun shots – just a big red ball now glowing in the grey sky – uggggghhhhhh

Ciao

Skype calls

Sawadee Khrap

Just got off a 45 min call to my Nephew in San Francisco using Skype – great quality sound – just like he was right next to me – and FREE.  I am really impressed.  Now I have Skype and Yahoo Messenger on most of the time, but I do run in invisible mode as I am not directly in front of the computer all the time.  Send me a chat and I’ll go online –

Get it – You’ll love it

Ciao

Frank

Crisis not over

Sawadee Khrap

Well the air-quality crisis is not over yet – still no rain in site – rained a little in Lampang last night – probably our seeding, just 60 miles South-West but not in the Chiang Mai valley.  Still considered a very bad health risk to go outside without masks.  Apparently the fires in Myanmar (Burma) haven’t been fully put out and our local fires have flared up again.

My other crisis – expiring VISA cards have eased until next month – apparently they send out replacement cards 15 day before they expire  – I have to have mine sent over here when they are received in my post box – so I’ll be just under the wire if the mail gets through on time – to call and get them activated – time now to set some cash aside just in case.

Going to look at another Mira car this afternoon – Tasanai needs a car fro himself and this may be a good deal for us – more insurance costs though – never ends – but if I get the car in Tasanai’s name then the Thai Ins will be far less than if it is in my name.   Farangs (foreigners) are a deep pocket here and so need to have the best Ins. protection.  I’ll get some pictures if we buy it.

Ciao

Partial Solar Eclipse

Sawadee Khrap

About 9 AM today, Tasanai witnessed the partial solar eclipse visible here in Chiang Mai — he couldn’t get any pictures and could only see it by looking through a smoked up a piece of glass he had made – we didn’t have the correct glasses or viewer – but he could definitely see the blacked out portion even though the local smoke/haze is still pretty bad. 

 Here is a link to the NASA Eclipse Page  —– and also a picture from their web-site showing the eclipse path.

SE2007Mar19P

We didn’t plan on getting shots – but I will update the blog as we find more info in the local area news.

Ciao

 

Seeding the sky – Chiang Mai

Sawadee Khrap

Sorry to have the blog so devoid of photos – it’s not been nice weather here in Chiang Mai for a while.  Still not cleared up all the smoke, so the Military is flying special planes around seeding with water to increase the humidly and cause the smoke/dust to settle. 

SeedChiangMaiSo far there has been some improvement but still not a lot – seeding will continue I think for the next few days – the weather people predict that rain is expected in 3–4 Seeding1

days and that should do the trick.  You can see the vapour trail coming from the tubes near the middle of the plane.  I use the best telephoto we have but the distance and smoke make it difficult to really get a good shot.   Hope it works. 

We have been wearing masks every time we go out and have had to keep the windows closed at night to keep the dust out – that makes it very warm to sleep – I don’t like the air-conditioners running any more often than they have too – they really dry out the air and give us sore throats and coughs. We turn them on to cool down the place and then shut them off at night and use the fans.

Crisis may be over

Sawadee Khrap

Looks like the haze-smoke crisis my be over in Chiang Mai – today we finally had a breeze and the smoke cleared – at least to the point that we can see the old city now – that’s about 15–20 blocks. Our air-filter filter is about 20% used up but it did do the job for the apt. Dust at a minimum and coughing and breathing OK. We did have masks to use if we went outside– but hopefully we can put them away now.

I didn’t take any shots of the mess – but there are some great images on NASA’s pages

We will see tomorrow if it holds. It really put a damper on trying to set up model photo sessions – can’t shoot in this weather and gThaiStudio wants it’s photos to show the boys in natural settings – with a few staged studio type shots. Now ads can be put in the local chat rooms to find models. Tomorrow Tasanai will go and contact the models he has lined up so far and set dates to shoot. I get to watch – Nice to be retired and just a spectator – no ulcers or stress here.

Ciao

Frank

Danger Area

Sawadee Khrap

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Mae Hong Son provinces are really in trouble, smoke levels have reached the Haze Disaster point but officials are not ready to declare a full disaster zone. Smoke levels have reached the 300 microgram/cubic meter in Chiang Mai and the surrounding area – officials have been handing out over 130,000 masks so far and more to come – we got ours yesterday – Thai Airway has cancelled flights and delays are also occurring between Bangkok and Chiang Rai airports –

Burning violators will be fined 2,000 Baht if caught starting fires in the North.

Check here for the latest from The Bangkok Post – you can also check the links for “Chiang Mai Mail” and “CityLife Magazine, Chiang Mai” that are listed in the side-bar column.

We are staying inside – not much fun though – and it is really hampering our getting models for the new web-site, can’t take any pictures in this weather and we don’t have the studio set up yet.

Ciao

Public Support Message – of sorts

Sawadee Khrap

When you get up in and around my age you may need (expensive) life saving drugs or you may start looking for something to enhance your love life — don’t we all – Cialis, Viagra – are probably the best selling drugs right now – but be careful:

There are many web-sites that claim to be able to sell drugs, generic and commercial direct from the manufacture and claim to have endorsement from several outstanding associations:

BBBonline

Canadian International Pharmacy Association

VISA ( verified)

But all are, pardon the emphases, Bullshit — they aren’t qualified for any of them – they just post their Logo and claim they are approved.  Most are selling cheap (crap) copies that are made in India – no control, not even sure if they contain what they say they are – in any event – they border on poison – I am really leery of cheap drugs now – I’ve bought some over the web and got crap back – not even close.  I’m glad these were for my enjoyment and not for something like controlling my blood pressure or other life threatening needs. It isn’t worth it – be careful.

Make sure you check them out before making a purchase for drugs you need for life or fun – the web-sites look official – but  check the references – don’t take a chance.

 

Air Quality

Sawadee Khrap

Today, Chiang Mai has the worst air pollution since I’ve been here – reports are 270 micrograms/cubic liter (I think that’s the correct measurements) – 120+ is unhealthy — we are way beyond that —– severe fires in the mountains around us has created a dense cloud of smoke that is just hanging in the Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son areas – no breezes to clear it out.  But now I hear that the majority of the smoke is coming from Burma.
I see that the LA fires are starting again – high dry winds and terrific fires – We don’t have the fire intensity, just the smoldering smoke – and a hell of a lot of it.

We are staying put in the house and keeping our air-purifier running. If you look out our window we can only see about 1 block away – looks like “toolie” fog (is that how you spell it) in the Sacramento Valley – bad. Eyes and throat burn, nose stopped up — Where are the breezes — Let the wind blow.

Just a weather update — updates later

Ciao