Sawadee Khrap

Brian and Pong sent me some shots of Songkran from Pattaya after the so-called riots.  Enjoy.  That’s Pong in the green T-shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re still

SMILING  in the Land of Smiles  sooooooooooo plan your boy-filled get-a-way.

 

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

 

Here’s the winner of the contest we went to on Sunday night.  Nu is working on a video DVD of the evening, at least the part we recorded, but I am not sure if we can make a flash version to show on the blog.

Nu has started to prepare himself to began entering the local school contests this coming semester.  He went to the doctor for help and is well on the way to becoming Miss Tiffany.

We will keep all posted on his progress and transformation.  We hope to be attending many future contest as he develops his stage presence and I will definitely try to get as many shots of all the contestants and for sure photos of all the cute boys and girls in the audience.  Stay tuned.

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

We started out in the afternoon getting ready for a great evening – Gay Pride and all – BUT  !!!!!!   I’ll post about that next  –

Never-the-less,

Here are some shots of Nu as he got ready for the event and parade.   “Thor”, Owner of “Lanna House” – rental shop, did a wonderful job of makeup and dress.  Nu wore a gold Ayutthaya (not Lanna style) style Thai dress and complemented with several purple orchids in his hairdo.

Stunning don’t you think?

I really like the simple and natural look – These are a couple of my favorites:

 

What do you think – 

 

We arrived at the event area about 4:30 ish and waited for the parade setup to be announced.  

Some people had already gathered and the event appeared to start off a great success.   Our friend “Bird” and his crew was there in full

 costume. He had prepared a balloon truck  and was getting ready for a great time too.  Of note was the number of policemen there – there had been rumors that a group would be trying to spoil the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problems, problems, problems – what a disappointment – no parade, disrupted by the “Red Shirt Gang” supposedly protesting against gays – God, what a joke. 

But this was to be Nu’s day and so I do not want to dirty this post with problems.  I’ll leave you with a night shot by the Chiang Mai moat and water fountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciao    —–     Celebrate with Pride.

Now catch up time for events:

1.

Nu’s Lanna Dress-up shots–

I showed this earlier but did not have the

—– SLIDESHOW  ——

ready.  

  

 

2.

      

Amway Beauty Products Show.  

The lady who helped Nu dress up in the Lanna attire, asked him to model for her at a Amway Beauty Product Party she was having.  He was the only ladyboy in the lineup – This shot was for a video we made of the show. –

But I did make a  —  SLIDESHOW   —— enjoy, and don’t you think he really looked better than the other girls — He would have won this and the Nan Beauty contest if it he was allowed to enter. 

  

3.

 

Kad Suan Kaew Shopping Center Beauty Contest of Chiang Mai. 

We were at Mike’s Burgers when we found out there was going to be a contest.  The girls were getting ready all around us so we grabbed the camera and got some shots.  Nu loved it –  all those beautiful girls – I know he dreamed about being in the contest too.  But had to settle for just pictures.  We were not able to stay for the final judging round so we don’t know who the winners were – but I think that if Nu was on stage, he would have been in the upper three or actually the winner.  But I am biased, aren’t I.   Please enjoy the   SLIDESHOW

Ciao

Sawadee Pee Mai – Happy New Year – Thai style.

 

Last week saw our friend David’s, in London, Birthday.  He didn’t send me any cake but he did send the photo —

 

Happy Birthday David.

 

And he created a great SONGKRAN banner for the event.    —–

 

I will get photos of all the celebration this week, water throwing, contests, entertainment, bands, dancing, etc. for next weeks posting.

And on Thursday, last week, Nu had his special day. 

For the last month we have been planning on Nu entering his first LadyBoy Beauty Contest.  Our plan was to go to Jerry’s house so Nu could enter the Nan Miss Queen Contest.  He really had his heart set to go and at the last minute we found out they had restricted it to only local contestants – what a bummer.  Since we had the dress, makeup, and everything arranged we went ahead and he prepared and I took some photos.

Here’s a finished composite.

What do you think ?

I think he’s a winner.   

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

When I went to school and studied chemistry – there were only slightly over 98 elements in the table.  Now look at it – amazing.  118

 

This is a article from the Bangkok Post that caught my eye  – check it out if you have a science background – maybe you’ve kept up.

 

I sure as hell didn’t.  I don’t know any of the newer names.

 

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Sorry to have taken so long to post some pictures.  Here are some shots from Wat Suan Dok as they celebrate the reading of the Jataka Tales.  The Jataka is a collection of stories of the previous Lives of the Buddha, told by the Buddha for universal application.  10 of the favorites are read throughout the day in the temple. 

This is normally done on Loy Krathong Day (Nov 24^th), but because most people are at the major celebrations in the city, Wat Suan Dok celebrates it the week before.  The balloons will be released during the week and on Loy Krathong Day.  I will get more shots as the festival continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

I am testing how to make “High Density Range” images using PhotoShop.  In this test photo of the view from Moun-Ju-Kour-Resort in Wiang Haeng.  I posted other shots from the restrauant deck where we had breakfast — It is almost the same shot as  “Return to Kuang Jaw Shan ……” post, but check out the differences.

This is a combination range using 3 different exposures created from a single camera RAW shot by Adobe LightRoom.  The 3 images and ranges were processed through Photomatix Pro and then further tweaked in PhotoShop CS3 –    Notice the great range especially in the detail in the sky and the shadows in the rice field – remarkable  – what a range of exposure.  I also saved this image at 72 dpi and optimized for the web.

This shot would have been much more impressive if I had made 3 separate camera RAW images covering a wider exposure range than this version using a single RAW image and adjusting it’s exposure.

I am really impressed and now will try to go back and re-process some of my older shots that I have the camera RAW file to work with.   The more I get into this the better I like it – must be because I am finally starting to know how to work the program – not the program working me.  Anyway this is just a test.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

What a mess this Burmese thing is – I’m not going to get involved in the political problems in this part of the world – I am a guest in Thailand – and want to stay that way.  My friend DeeJohn has a great article on the present problems – check it out. 

We were visiting the refugee camp in the Tak Lang Area, but due to the present problems have shifted our efforts to helping to just the local Thai village itself.  First we help the Thais then any refugees, if possible when the present problems clear or are resolved.

This is the poster I designed in Photoshop to use for the project – don’t you just love the boy’s photo. It will be at the Expats Club meetings and at Wat Suan Dok and Monk Chat

Here there are enough problems for the present.  I am going to give a presentation to our Chiang Mai Expats Club next week to see what help we can raise to help the 1 Baht School at Lak Tang.   This school (over 200 kids) was (or is, I should say – it’s only half completed right now, several classes have to be held on the playing field due to lack of covered space or rooms).   I’ve got a lot of pictures I want to post to show the school and the children there – I’ll do that in the next post as I get them ready.  I’ll also go into a little more detail about the effort and area.

We’ve also started packaging our Massage Oil – and have a first trial customer “Chakka Massage” .  Tree will have it available at his spa under his own label – Chakka Massage – Sensual Massage Oil.  This is to test the market and see if it is worth while to start a company to commercially produce ( at a profit) the product.   Check out the earlier posts on Chakka Massage.  We want to thank him for doing the trials for us.

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do – stay tuned.

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

Continuing our trip back to the refugee camp, the next morning we woke at our small house at the Moun-Ju-Kour Resort.  Here is the view from our front porch.

   and this is a shot of the main office & restaurant.

Last night – this was our sunset — spectacular.  The next shot is Tasanai, the X mayor of Wiang Haeng city and  owner of the Resort, and Jira, our friend from Suan Dok.

 

 

 

 

 

And or course the Rhinoceros Beetles, the staff had a bucket of them that they collected last night as the bugs flew around the Resorts lights – they sell them in Chiang Mai for the vendors who make bug collection displays for sale – I thought they ate them – but no, its for profit.  And I also thought I’d throw in a flower shot – they were really beautiful with the morning sun shining.

 

 

 

 

 

  I also really liked the glasses they used at the Resort restrauant.  The sideshow has the other versions  —– I’m going to try and get a set – wish they had a gay version – that would be neat.

 

From here we headed to the Wat Fa Wiang Inn temple to see if everyone was there yet – but Dr. Saneh would not arrive till 11 AM and that would make it too late for us to continue into the National Park – so we left early.

Here are a couple of signs at the Temple – lot of Burmese.

 

 

 

 

 

But before we left Wiang Haeng we stopped by one Wat we saw on the top of a local hill and then to the Monument for King Naesuan at the place where is is reported that he had a cock (chicken) fight while he was waiting to attack Burma.  This place had a commanding view of the entire valley – a perfect place for the King to rest.

From here we headed into the Park – stopping first at Srisangwan Waterfall.  Enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

I always love the boys playing shots – and they really like to pose and get their pictures taken.  It was a beautiful day and I really envied them in the water – it was so clear and inviting.

We tried to take a side road to the Hot Springs area but bottomed out in the ruts in the road – next time I’ll rent a 4 wheel and then we will be able to see the “Unseen” parts of the Park.

So back to Chiang Mai  Please enjoy the

**** SLIDESHOW ****

Ciao