International Vagrant In Burma, Japan, Thailand & Hong Kong

Hurrah!! I just received my portable hard drive back from over a year in storage and I've been looking through all the stuff again. I'm really pleased because I've got a bunch of files including my first digital photography back from when I travelled around Burma with an Olympus C-2000 that I wrote about over here. I'm really chuffed to rescue those amazing fishermen shots just down the road from Ngapali beach that you can see above and which I wrote about here and here. Then there's also the Nokia 8250 launch party in Bangkok on Feb 23, 2001. I can only remember the phone model because of the sign to the rear of this chap Johnny Doran from Saville Productions below, with 'Walk on the blue side'. Remember when a blue Screen was the latest thang? Before mobile cameras and colour displays.

There are the trips to Bagan, the ancient capital of Burma. You might need to click on it to see this stitched together panorama shot. The journey took me over 24 hours on a nightmare bus journey that I wrote about here. Bagan took a hit during an earthquake in '74 I think but its still breathtaking to imagine the monks, merchants, families, kids and officials running around this place, breathing life into it around the time that the Normans gave us a good hiding at the battle of Hastings isn't it?


I've now also got the shots from many trips to Cambodia (but not the one where I went missing in the heart of darkness for a few days) including Angkor Wat, which is just plain spesh because of all that South Indian influenced Jayavarman architecture. Khmer culture is so important to S.E. Asia.

Then there is me during my camp yachting period around the Andaman Sea. Never was a hangover washed away so quickly than by jumping off the Piraya (our boat) in the morning.



Not to mention my gay cowboy look long before Brokeback mountain was a hit. That was quite a smash hit with the ladies, if I recall correctly. Cowboy boots 'n all.

The Tokyo period which was all too short because Tokyo ROCKS as far as I'm concerned.

But the wack stuff I've saved is from Hong Kong.


And no photo story can be complete without those Bangkok nights. As a friend of mine once said. More can happen in a Bangkok night than most might expect to happen in a year. This was taken on Soi Cowboy.


And of course those Hua Hin days, weeks and months. It never occurred to me before but I guess this blog is as good a place as any to explain why this bug very memorably fell in LOVE with me and then scared the very life out of me.

Any requests? ;)

Straight To Video

Some things I take a bit too seriously. And some things I don't. I made the clip above a short while back so that I could test the Twitvid function on Tweetdeck. I bought the sheeps mask and tried it out. It's only worth embedding because I'm not taking myself seriously and it's consistent with the next clip.

Same shit right? Nope.


The trouble is, I have no recollection of doing the one above. I realised the next day something wasn't right as I couldn't recall getting home. Most unusual for me, so I retraced my steps. The main event was buying a couple of pairs of sunglasses from the night market. I did stop off beforehand to have a couple of local spirits called Lao Cow.

It's served in a small shot glass and often coupled with seasonal sour fruits like unripe tamarind pieces or wild berries and then dipped in chilli sugar. It's very blue collar, an acquired taste and most valuable for getting an unvarnished view of the world. I mean talking to people it's hard to normally break the ice with. I don't mean with beer Goggles on.

So as I lost my memory, I thought maybe I'd been spiked or something. But then I remembered a girl joining me who always turns up when I'm around. I roped her into a mini flurry of Lao Cow shots. Nothing that excessive, but definitely more than I've ever had before. I think six shots.

Then all mayhem apparently let loose.

I"m guessing I came home, tweeted about my glasses and then made the Twitvid above. There could easily be lots more carnage judging by the random replies to me on Twitter the next morning. I've still not checked my timeline to piece together the full story but just in case anything abrasive was said or done, I do apologise.

This post is sponsored by @pristyles who sheltered me (most graciously) from harm.