Yes... I am a PIRATE! (of Bangkok) :")

Today has been another busy day. dividing myself into 2 sections settling 2 tasks (But too bad I didn't really solve anything today, darn - pretty much both tasks are hanging in the air where you are like seeing a glimpse of light to resolution but somehow you are not). I will see how much I could complete tomorrow before I depart. (I might need to pass down to my peers to follow up for me). Gis... :(

To make things worse, Found that my dry box is not working anymore while I am in the middle of packing my photography gears. Looks like I will need to give a call to the shop tomorrow to told them that I will send it to check out when I am back.

But to cheer things up, I will be flying off again tomorrow evening (to Japan with a group of 10 friends). I bet everyone has been anticipate for this trip for quite sometimes. (Yahoo~!) XD

Photo for today is a souvenier that I bought during the Bangkok trip at Amphawa. It is a wooden made pirate figure (with a bit of creepy look on it). Nothing special on the lighting, 1 light and slightly feathered so that it didn't brighten up the whole subject.

Anyway, I better go and get myself to double check my luggage and this will be like another good bye post for me (again) until I return from my trip. I hope you all with have a great evening. See you all again when I am back. :) CHEERS!

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They help people to move their luggage to the bus booth

It has been another long day..., Didn't manage to get home earlier today since LB need to perform some trouble shooting at KM. So I continue with my research on some of the requirements from the customer as well as the small favors requested from the US peers. Anyway reach home and have dinner late. But today dinner is slightly special... we have McD tonight. then I brought my coke into my small studio (aka computer room) to continue with my day 3 photo processing. And yes, I finally manage to finish it today... (While waiting for it to upload to smugmug, I decided to start with my blog writing now ~:) )

More photos after the jump...:)

I requested a smile, but he show me this. :"P - just another comm error

Now you know why they call me Security

For day 3, we pretty much hang around in Amphawa (One of the floating market in Bangkok) for the whole day. (And we decided to stay overnight there just to enjoy the chill wind as well as the village feel there). We went there by bus. So we will need to go to the nearest bus station via a taxi (which cost like around 80b - 90bt), purchase our ticket and wait for the bus at the booth. While we are waiting, I decided to walk around the station to get some shoot. (And yes, I manage to get a few people to pose for some shoot) - I am really grateful that they are willing to pose for some shoot here. :") (With some communication barrier that we faced, but I manage to express what I wanted via hand sign) :"P

LB waiting for the bus - at the wrong bus booth :"P

Finally we are on the bus, phew... :"P

Anyway, we almost miss our bus, luckily we did go and check it with the police there to ensure that we are at the right booth. But they told us that we are not and will need to go to the other side of the station to take our bus. So we rush over to the other side and manage to catch our bus. :"P and yes, a good sleep on the bus as well. :"D

Welcome to Amphawa

Uncle ask me where do I came from?

I have ability! Zeerr~

And finally, we are there... (after an hour++ of bus ride), but too bad we really didn't know where is the location of the Ban Mae Arom Home Stay that recommended by Shane. We again, decided to go to the officer to get some help for direction. (Too bad, we have limited Thai vocab and they have limited English vocab ) but we are lucky enough to have a university couple who are headed to the same motel as us. So we decided to follow them and in the end, (yes finally...) we are there and get our luggage into the room before we start out journey in Amphawa. :)

Kinda spicy but I like it

Ice cream with rice. Lovely!

You will noticed that, there are a lot of Thai people in Amphawa. The area seems like a "local" tourism hot spot for the Thai people. (I will say that 80% of the people in Amphawa are Thai). A lot of university student will get their time off during weekend to spend their time there as well.

A friendly Thai Female Shopper

and a serious Male Shopper

On top of that, there are a lot nice food as well as souvenirs to get there. Another things to mention is that the people there is very friendly. Anyway it is just like a small village where everyone get along very well. You will tends to slow down your foot steps to look around and enjoy the view, the people and the food there. :) (That's why there are more photos taken here...:"P compare to the first 2 days - I feel like I started to enjoy Bangkok starting from this day) :")

A Violinist who has his own album

Some wood toys...

Yeah, uncle made them. :)

Auntie is shy (after she noticed me) :")

Man at work, CHEERS

Waiting for her next fruit business

During the evening, I manage to stop by near the bridge area, and get some evening shoot. (and also getting LB for some shoot with the evening sky) :") You will find that, the bridge is congested with a lot of photographers... as well as pedestrians. The divider is not very high, just remember to be careful when  you are close to the border.

A busy floating market

Some who get themselves rested

Found it interesting, so I took it. :"P

At night we paid the motel 60bt for a Looooong boat ride (Trust me is worth it) along the river to see the firefly. (And yes, this is my 1st time seeing the firefly in the bushes). I tried to get a few shoot, but it is just too dark to make a shoot (pitch black + with the boat swinging around). So i decided to get myself off the photographing side and enjoy the breeze while the boat cruising along the river... it is a very special and nice experience. :) (Lovely)

Village, Sky and Moon...

LB posing with the evening sky

The ray of light.

Another evening shoot before I call it a day

Finally, we are back to the motel. The motel room is very clean (and I think it has some sort like a home feel to me). Other than the noise while the boat is cruising here and there (it sounds like lorry on the road). It is just a very comfortable homestay to stay. (And the boss - who know a bit of Chinese and his daughter - who know Japanese/English is very helpful in deed whenever you need additional information to plan your next day trip). :)

Just some bokeh-licious here

LB making a shoot here :)

Seriously, I love this place. If I got a chance to go back to Bangkok again, I think I will only revisit Amphawa. and rest a few days there. :)

No complain, I flashed myself this round. :"P

Anyway, Day 3 photo gallery is located here. I believe I won't be able to finish the Day 4 processing tomorrow. (Yeah, I will depart again on Thursday) So I think I will continue with my Bangkok getaway posting when I am back. ;) I hope you all do enjoy the Bangkok series for far. I will end my post with the photo above. Have a great night everyone. Cheers. :)

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Can you handle the ROAR! "Su Su"?

Yes, finally I almost completed my packing for my my luggage (again...) Still left some minor stuffs that I will need to remember to dump into the luggage for the next few days. Look at the time, I don't think I will be able to do a lot of Bangkok Day 3 photo processing today. So I decided to get the brother kids photos that we took @ Alor Setar last week to post up today.

More Photos after the jump...

Yeah, Qian looks very mature here. :D

Manage to capture this while earn is wathcing Ice Age 3

Yeah they are the 3 musketeers for the Lee Family. :D They are Earn, Zhi and Qian. (The order are from the eldest to the youngest) :"D Anyway What I could say is that they are just cute. :)

Earn - the eldest

Since brother is bringing them back last weekend, I decided to take the opportunity to do some portraiture shoot for 3 of them. :) So trying to get 2 types of lighting here. the ambient natural ligthing as well as the strobbing lighting. :"D.

Zhi - the one in the middle. ;)

Seriously, the ambient one is much easier where you could just captured them whenever is needed outside the house. For It is kinda tough for the strobbing one since you will need to get them settle down and pose for your shot. (So far, Zhi is the most cooperative one for the photo shoot and he has the most photos here... :"P "Su Su" thanks to you Zhi) :"D

And Qian - The Youngest

Anyway, All of them are just cute (although they will be very naughty sometimes) but this "Su Su" will always love all of you. ;")

And for the last one: I am ready now, "Su Su" :) - Let me show you my teeth! >:D

Anyway, I guess that's all for today. I should get sometimes for my Day 3 photo processing. I hope all of you a great evening ahead. :) Cheers.

* "Su Su" stand for uncle in chinese.

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This is where we took our breakfast. :)

Finally, I manage to complete the day 2 photos today. :D (After I come back from AS as well as a hair cut - Yes finally I get it trim, feel the head is pretty much light and "air-ed" right now) :"D.

More photos after the jump... :)

A view of the grand palace

Anyway, back to the main topic. :"P For day 2, we went to the Grand Palace (After we have our breakfast as a restaurant close to our motel). The Grand Palace is where their Thai king stay and you will need to pay 350Bt as the entrance fee to go into the palace. You could go to the palace from Kao San area by taking the taxi (which is like around 60-90Bt).

Army getting ready for their day

Security seriously @ work

Before you enter the palace, you will find that there are army getting ready for their day as well. (I believe they do have shift or something that they will rotate to take care of the palace). And seriously..., the palace is very HUGH!! (And now I know why do they did so many soldiers/security to take care of the whole area). And you will take like around 4-5 hours to complete the whole palace tour. :"D

Some of the architecture in the grand palace

And some Thai Statue here

Anyway, it is not a bad place to visit. (There are some books saying that if you are in Bangkok and you didn't paid a visit to this place, pretty much you have not been to Bangkok before). There are a small gallery which have a lot of history on Thai dynasty where they displayed some daily tools used by their majesty as well as some history on all the kings. (Which is pretty educational and cool). :)

Yes, is made of GOLD! xD

Some of the Chinese character statue

Another one here

Once you are in the palace, you will notice a lot of building - which some of them are made of GOLD... Yes GOLD. :"P (which looks like a temple in our country). Other than that, I also found that there are some mixtures of Chinese artifacts here. (Like the Chinese statues and etc...) Everything is very interesting on how both culture interact together in the same place. :)

A Sleeping Buddha in Wat Poh

Donation given by the little girl

We did went into some of the temple (Wat Poh near the grand palace) to get some blessing from the monk as well. (You will also found that there are a lot of Thai people who went there to perform their praying as well). And yes, there are a few "Wat" in the palace as well.

Tut-tut on it's fast pace, is raining soon

Yes, it is SUPER HEAVY! :(

After that, we plan to go to another Wat, which is known as Wat Arun. (It is pretty close to the temple, where you will need to walk like may be 5-10 minutes to the Jetty to take a ferry over to the temple). But too bad, the weather is not very good, it is raining like cats and dogs and we are force to get yourself settled in a bus stop. And then continue with our journey to the jetty when they rain is getting smaller.

A fruit seller @ the jetty

The ticket seller. :) Cheers!

On our way to Wat Arun now.

But too bad, the rain starts again after we entered the Ferry and we are force to get ourself settled down on the other side of the Jetty. The rain is pretty long and we have waited for like almost 45 minutes to start our journey again. But it is a short visit at Wat Arun, (since the rain is like start and stop, stop and start...) and get ourself back to main land again for our visit to Suan Lum night Bazaar via a tut-tut.

The mighty Wat Arun

LB waiting for the rain to stop

Just like the sneakers I wear to work everyday - They belongs to the Japz Monks

On our way to Night Bazaar now. :)

Night Bazaar, a pretty busy night market, full with people... and a lot of stalls. A few things that remind me of this night bazaar is the food court with live band! and an Thai auntie who could speaks Chinese (her husband is a Tiew Ziu people - and this is where we bought the bracelet) as well as Peach, whose art caught my attention and LB bought a T-shirt (Which is drawn and colored on the spot for us). He is a very friendly guy. You all should pay him a visit. :)

The 1st photo I took before we entered the night bazaar - A kitchen of a restaurant. :"P

The Live BAND!!!

The auntie who sold us the bracelet

We get back to Lamphu House for a rest after that. (To get our self ready for our trip to Amphawa the next day). I guess that's all for day 2. I hope that the "stories" is not too lengthy for everyone. (Since Lilian requested for it and I hope it will served as a reference those who will went to Bangkok in the future).

Introducing Peach

And his assistant who colored the T-shirt for us

Ok then, I think I should continue with my processing now. Hopefully I could get everything done (Which the chances is slightly slim) before I fly off again on Thursday. Good night everyone. ;)

And for the flower lovers - Lilian and 小慧

* For those who are interested the full Day 2 Gallery is available here. :)

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Yes, LB bought it from Bangkok for each of the ladies at home. :)

It is going to be a short post today. I still don't have the time to complete my day 2 photo processing (Opps... :"P, Yeah, I will be going back to Alor Setar (AS) later, tomorrow is Dad's dead memorial day - so all of us will go back for some praying).

But, I still have photo of the day. :") (Yeah, still keeping the Principe to have at least one photo per blog post). Since LB is buying some souvenirs for Fang. Wei requested us to get a shoot at the souvenirs so that Fang could take a look at it and decided which one to go for. (And obviously she choose the black one. :"P - I love the black one as well when LB bought it at the stall). :)

Anyway, I guess that's all for today. I will get myself ready to depart to Alor Setar @ 9pm. See you all again on Sunday. Hope you all have a great Friday night and a nice weekend ahead. :)

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