Pictures for our wall

Sawadee Khrap

Just getting ready to send some images to the printer and then have them mounted for our hall way.  Thought I’d post them.  Hope you enjoy.

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These were taken at the Shan Refugee Camp I showed in a earlier post.

Here are some survivors – and great expressions

Next is Nu’s picture – Lanna Dress –  he only liked 2 of the shots I took that day – he will be in the Gay Pride Parade so I’ll have more shots later.

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And what I think is a great shot – actually I put in the fellow in the front of Tin’s photo, I thought it needed something to really perk it up – that’s Chris – he did some photos with me before I left the States.

Makes a nice shot better – don’t you think so too.

And finally a couple from my trip[ to China, several years ago just for fillers.

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I thought these were good so I want to hang them too.

 

What do you think – I’ll take some shots of the house when I get all our pictures hung – and I will also have the studio hung with our photos.  Still working on the photo studio – but it’s last on my list of needed things to do – first the house then the studio.  Sorry but many more boy shots will have to wait.  I will try, however, to develop some techniques and use photos I already have to make some tasteful nude images soon – stay tuned.

Ciao

Digital Mixes – Alex – Chiang Mai Life

Sawadee Khrap

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Last Saturday, at the Expats Club meeting, we were treated to a fantastic presentation by Alex Boyesen – local sound/media man and expat.  Alex brought samples of some of his work and gave a talk on media magic.   He uses Sony Vegas (video editing) and or course the Adobe products, Photoshop and After Effects – just to name a few.   Really gave us some inspiration and ideas

I’m sure we will be in closer contact with Alex in the future.

Check out his web sites:  DIGITAL MIXES   and   CHIANG MAI LIFE    – I really like the clips about the local markets – look forward to seeing and learning more about Chiang Mai through their web-site,   Hope you enjoy it too.

Ciao

Soho Bar & Guesthouse

Sawadee Khrap

Nu and I just came from dinner with our friend Bert and stopped by the “Soho” for a coke.  Soho’s new owner Scott, with his Thai partner “Big” bought the place a couple of months ago.  They have really fixed up the place and brought the service up to match.  It’s a great gay hangout  – right on Huay Kaew Rd just up from the Shopping Center – take a walk using MapJack and have a look.  Some very cute, sexy bartenders are there to serve you – Tan, Chai, Nong and Simmy

I took some pictures with my small camera, but they are really bad so I will have to go back and get some better ones using the big Canons.  Nights shots are really a bitch with this little Canon Powershot.  I’ll do the write up for the place when I get some decedent pictures. 

 

Ciao

 

Chiang Mai Gay Pride 2009 KickOff

Sawadee Khrap

ParadeBoysYesterday, Friday 16th, we went to the afternoon kickoff announcement show for Pride 2009 at Tawan Trendy Mall.   Here are some shots of the affair.

—— KickOff Slideshow ——-

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     Group scene first then the main organizers:

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Bruce from Long Yang Club, several from M+ and Bird (see later in post) were the kickoff speakers – sorry I didn’t get everyone’s names. Then a question and answer forum was opened – but as usual there is always a spoil sport in the crowd – this time as several reps from “the city” – not really sure who they were, but They were concerned about nudity in the parade – ???  apparently they had heard about other Pride events around the world and wanted to make sure Thai culture was observed and that does not allow nudity in public.  Thank God for critics – Heaven only knows what would happen if we were allowed to lead ourselves – typical politicians.

The next shot is Nu and his friend – former Teacher – Nickie – (LadyBoy) – she invited him to be with her on the float in the parade and it appears he will – so I should have a lot of shots on parade day – backstage as well.

AsianPlusTravelAnd I mentioned earlier “Bird” – A long time friend and a surprise to me – was there and a sponsor of the event.  Bird owns a Travel Agency in Chiang Mai  www.AsianPlusTravel.com – I had earlier posts for Asian Plus but wanted to show their new web-site here – very very nice.   Please check it out:

Well more to come in Feb on the event – stay tuned, promise more boy pictures.

Ciao

 

Chiang Mai Gay Pride Parade 2009 M+, LYC

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M+LYCMplus Thailand    

Long Yang Club Chiang Mai

 ——    Sponsors ——  

Should be a lot of fun, although I really feel that there is no need for such an event here as gays, ladyboys, etc, etc are as common and fully accepted as any other group here in Chiang Mai or Thailand for that matter – not like the States.  

We are going to go to the announcement today – more to post later.

Ciao

 

MapJack – Your City Online

MapJackClipWOW, here is a site I just saw and it’s amazing.  MAPJACK .   Check it out – and it needs your support to grow.

Here is a snippet ! 

(made using Vista’s neat program they don’t tell you about “snipping tool” – click Start-Run– type snip <Enter> )

I went to San Francisco, down to Bush & Market and saw the panoramic virtual photo of the front door of Ikon, my old office and ten down Geary Blvd to where I used to live before I moved to Chiang Mai. – Beautiful photos !!!!!!!!   . 

 I also took a walk up Huay Kaew Rd in Chiang Mai past Sithana College (Nu’s old school – but back next year) and up to the front door of Hillside4 (our old condo) – just as exciting – You have to see this to believe it.

Here’s what they say about thier site – “Mapjack.com showcases a new level of mapping technology. What others have done with NASA budgets and Star Wars-like equipment, we’ve done on a shoestring budget, along with a few trips to Radio Shack. Specifically, we developed an array of proprietary electronics, hardware and software tools that enable us to capture an entire city’s streets with relative ease and excellent image quality. “  

And BOY O Boy they are not kidding.

Please check out their site.

Ciao

 

Doi Pui Campgrounds

Sawadee Khrap

IMG_3182On Friday, a school holiday, we went to see and take pictures at Doi Pui.   Doi Pui is right behind Doi Suthep and has the Queen’s palace and flower gardens – and about 3Km past is a public campground. There is also several Tribal villages but that we will leave for another post.  

 If IMG_3183you can read in Thai here is the that version too.    Looks like a great place to camp – they have tents you can rent and a eating facility with a small restaurant.  There are a lot of great orchids and other flowers in the main campgrounds.

—- VIEW SIDESHOW —-

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We didn’t have time to visit a Tribal village nor to stop by the Queen’s Palace this time but we are planning another trip soon and will have many pictures – there is a GREAT flower garden there. Maybe next weekend.

On Saturday, 10th, we went to the Expats meeting to hear a presentation by the hiking club – great photos and very entertaining.  We are planning on joining the group to go on some walks – hopefully better photographic material – no cars, motor bikes or people to scare away the animals, so we are really looking forward to capturing what the local jungles in the area look like.

Also, Nu’s birthday is coming, 27th, but he was bugging me about getting a laptop – so he got a early birthday present – a ASUS dual core Vista laptop.  I set up a wireless network in the house so he can use it anywhere.  He has Lightroom & Photoshop installed and will be presenting his own photos shortly,  In addition he has started a blog (blogger.com) and is setting it up – when he gets it ready to go online I will post the address.

Tonight we head for dinner at Bert’s house and then Nu starts school again Monday.  Back to normal.

Ciao

 

ChiangMaiChimes

Sawadee Khrap

ChiangMaiChimesLogo1CHIANG MAI CHIMES     Here’s a site you don’t want to miss or lose the link – bookmark it for sure. 

 www.chiangmaichimes.com   I have just been asked by the owner Peter, to help promote his new site.  Here’s what he told me about himself:

  “I come from Scotland and have been living in Chiang Mai full time for 18 years, and for the last 10 years I have been with my boyfriend Sa, who also does the photography for the site. I’m retired now so I have a lot of time on my hands, and needed something to do instead of losing money on Forex! The idea for chiangmaichimes came about because I was unhappy with many of the existing sites that were not updated frequently enough or were commercially orientated. Having lived here for a long time with a Thai partner I thought we could put our combined experience to some use. I had never designed a website before so I decided to take up the challenge and try to design a site with a simple clear navigation system that looks good and has real content. It took me 3 months to prepare through trial and error (mostly error!) My ultimate aim for the site is to expand it to become a reference for Chiang Mai and things Thai, not just a travel guide for tourists and there are quite a few projects on the go just now.
Many thanks indeed for your help in promoting the site. This may be the hardest part of the whole project.”

 

 Great site – lots of detail and growing – Thanks Peter and Sa.

Ciao

 

 

Doi Angkhang – Fang

Sawadee Khrap

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What to do in Fang – well first I suppose is to visit Doi Angkhang (1936 elevation, comparison Doi Inthanon-2590, Doi Suthep,1685)  Not the tallest but a great place to see some great views.  We didn’t have any traffic until we started up the mountain – no traffic going up but a constant stream of the people leaving the campsites. Car after car – down they came – and yet when we got to the top camping area it was still crowded – with a heavily armed soldier on duty –

First question I had is why the automatic weapon – but then I checked the map and saw we were right on the Burmese border. 

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IMG_3134Everyone had their jackets on – naturally I have just a light shirt – stupid farang – it was cold, I think about 10–11 C with a slight wind so it did feel cold even to me.  Just like the States – tent next to tent – no privacy – I have never figured out why people will go and camp this way.

I had just had new brakes installed before we left – and I am really glad I did – when we drove up it didn’t appeared that steep and certainly nothing like what we saw when we started back down.  Wow – all along the road were cars stopping to let their brakes cool down – before we thought they were just camping  – not cooling their brakes – we came down almost all the way in low gear and our brakes were almost gone too. – now that was scary.  But the view was worth it.

Back from the mountain we stopped at the local Tesco/Lotus store for lunch – I am amazed, we were there for over an hour and I only saw 3 farangs – and the place was really crowded.  Fang would be a lonely place for a farang to live – few to talk to. 

Well, back to Chiang Mai – a farang’s heaven.

Ciao

Nooky’s Guest House and Fang trip

Sawadee Khrap

IMG_3121Nu and I just had to get away for a while so we decided on a short trip North to Fang.   We wanted to go Thursday but the traffic was really bad and a lot of people celebrating New Years on the road might have been dangerous – so we waited till Friday and off we went. 

First stop – Nooky’s Guest house – see my other post – just 15Km before Fang on Hwy. 1249.  He came out to the Hwy to meet us and show us the way.  Wow – nice little guest house – quiet rustic but very very clean.  Here are some shots I took – I really loved the Jasmine tea  – really fresh  – I mean he just picked it and made the tea – great taste and such a clean taste.  First time I’ve seen wild Jasmine so we brought back a sprig so we can raise some too. 

If you plan to be in the area be sure to give Nooky a call and stay for a night – he will show you the local area and the small Chinese community just down the road. – next time we go up we are going to take the tour too.  Great pictures I am told.

His rates are excellent – 250 Baht each person per day – approx. US$ 8 , includes breakfast & coffee/tea and you can also rent a motorbike to see the local sites at 150 Baht a day. Can’t beat these rates.

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Nu has planted the sprig and we will see how it grows – this will be the start of our herb garden to give us fresh herbs for cooking.

Traffic was mild and made for a very pleasant trip so far.

Next we headed to Doi Angkhang

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sawadee Pee Mai    –  Happy New Year

Nu and I want to wish all a very happy and prosperous new year.   Sorry I didn’t make up a fancy graphic or the like  – I still haven’t got my computer working as it should  – at least that’s the excuse I have used so far – it’s hard to admit that maybe I am also a bit lazy.