August 27th, 2006
Freshly home after travelling for months? Feeling a little bit bored by the offerings your home town has to offer? Wishing you could fill up your day with culture and spectacle?
Yesterday, I answered yes to all of those questions. But since a quick hop over to Asia wasn’t on the agenda, I had to make due with Calgary’s offerings. Fortunately, Calgary’s offerings were a bit more interesting than usual.
My afternoon was occupied by a trip into Chinatown where I was able to feed my addiction to Asia. I’ve had the chance to visit that area a few times since being home and each time has offered me a glimpse of that part of the world that has become my second home. I’ve become comfortable in the oddities of Asia and I miss being bombarded by its endless surprises.
But yesterday, Chinatown was even more appealing than usual. A Street festival took over the area with a market hawking Asian wares and a stage featuring performances from the area. Karate, Thai dance, Chinese Opera and more entertained the sun-baked crowds and of course, I was there in the front row, snapping away.
After spending a couple hours in Chinatown, I wandered downtown for a while where a host of wedding photographers and their subjects were swarming around the Hudson’s Bay building. Brides and grooms mingled and I could hardly figure out who had married whom.
I then headed over to Mark and Kara’s where they and James were getting ready for our evening of fireworks. Calgary’s Globalfest was wrapping up its final night and the final night of the fireworks competition was the main draw.
The four of us headed in the direction of Elliston Park but not before stopping for some fantastic Indian food (there’s another country I’ll have to visit).
At the park, we claimed our spot in front of the lake and waited for darkness to fall while the mosquitoes hovered over my head. Kara, James and I all had our cameras propped up on our tripods leaving Mark as the only one of us that probably maximized his enjoyment of the show.
I have to admit that I have been a bit spoiled by some of the fireworks extravaganzas I’ve witnessed in Japan. They seem to have a surplus of explosive material in that country which leads them to draw out their displays for a good 90 minutes or more. This finale at Globalfest lasted around 20 minutes, but it was an impressive 20 minutes. A good diversity of colourful blasts and bursts were well coordinated with the music and made for a fine spectacle.
A day like that was just what I needed. After some of the adventures I’ve had this year, it’s certainly an adjustment to be back home, back in a world where everything seems familiar and sometimes even predictable. Maybe I just need to look a little harder to find adventure, trouble, and fun – it’s not always going to fine me as seems to happen when travelling.
July 29th, 2006
On my last full day here in Bangkok, I have another couple sets of photos to present to you. I have just uploaded a couple more groups of photos of temples in Kyoto: Sanjusangendo and Ginkakuji.
Sanjusangendo is home to 1001 human-sized Buddha images inside Japan’s longest wooden building. Unfortunately, photos are prohibited inside the temple. As it turns out, photos of the inside of the temple are also prohibited from the outside of the temple. I found this out after I snapped a shot through an open doorway and one of the caretakers promptly shut the door in front of me. Thus, I only have one shot of the Buddhas and it only gives a tiny sample of the grandeur inside.
Ginkakuji is referred to as the silver pavilion despite not being silver at all. Long ago, plans were in place to have it covered in silver to make it more like its cousin across town, Ginkakuji, the golden pavilion. That goal was never reached but the building’s wooden frame still retains its metallic moniker. It stands in front of a pool, carefully-sculpted zen gardens and lush hillside forests.
July 25th, 2006
While living and working Japan, my office at the Board of Education in Ichinoseki planned a trip to Kanazawa. Both Sarah and I were invited along, so we took the chance to go see an area of the country that wasn’t especially accessible from our northern position.
The big draw of Kanazawa is the garden of Kenrokuen which has been labelled one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens. Yes, the Japanese like to make lists like this. But, in this case, maybe they got it right. Of all the gardens I visited in Japan, this was definitely towards the top of the list.
On our first evening, we partied with the folks from our section and I was treated to my favourite bit of dialogue ever heard from my supervisor. As we were leaving, he and his best buddy at work were the last ones out of the room with me. With arms around each other and faces flushed red with the evening’s sake, they turned to me and my supervisor said rather seriously in his meagre English, “We… are drunk.”
He then proceeded to break into song, “We love love love love drinking!” while doing an uncoordinated dance all while never letting go of his friend’s shoulder (a wise idea since I’m sure it was about the only thing keeping him upright).
The next day, I woke absurdly early to walk over to Kanazawa Castle to catch the morning light then hustle back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group to part together for the day’s activities.
And yes, I got to be a Japanese tourist. On a precise schedule, we rode through town never lingering too long at our stops and being suitably impressed at each site along the way. Happily, we had some extra time at Kenrokuen and it was just enough time for the afternoon’s rains to momentarily so that I could take some photos of the gardens.
I would have gladly stayed longer, but of course, that’s just not how you do things in Japan.
July 22nd, 2006
I’ve added yet another batch of photos to the gallery. Photos of Kiyomizudera temple in Kyoto are now available for your viewing pleasure. It’s both interesting architecturally and ritualistically. Countless locals visit this temple to worship, to find luck and to taste the water that pours from a nearby spring. The long lineups to sample the spring suggest that the rumoured healing properties of the water may be worth a substantial wait.
July 21st, 2006
Since I forgot to mention it before, I shall now: I’m going to Australia! Though this was no secret before, it wasn’t official. But since I now have my flights booked and a place to stay once I arrive, I’m going to call this one a done deal.
On July 30th, I depart from Bangkok to Singapore to Darwin. Yup, Darwin. I’ve heard entirely mixed reviews about it. I’ve met some Australians who think it’s great and that I need to make an effort to travel around in the are. I’ve met others who think I’ll just be bored. I suspect the ease with which I am capable of amusing myself might stave off any potential boredom, so I should be okay on that front.
The little bit of reading I’ve done on Darwin suggests it’s one of Australia’s most multicultural cities and serves as a gateway to Asia. Perfect for me since I’m now rather used to Asian ways of doing things that I’m going to want to ease into the Aussie way of working. I mean, how will I get by walking down the street without someone offering my a tuk-tuk ride at every two paces? I just won’t know what to do with all those extra, uninterrupted thoughts in my head when I don’t have to ward off swarms of predatory drivers.
I just realized that out of the last 24 months of my life, about 21 of them will have been spent in Asia. That’s a good while to spend on this weird and wondrous continent.
But it’s time to move on to a new continent. Australia will make it six out of a possible seven. Now when am I going to get the chance to go to Antarctica…
July 18th, 2006
The photo processing machine keeps rolling on here in Bangkok. I have again opted for some images from Japan with some photos of the Odaiba district. This series of man-made islands in Tokyo bay features futuristic architecture that will make you feel like you are in a video game while the Rainbow Bridge arcs across the horizon back to Tokyo’s the glow of distant Tokyo. I only visited during the evening, but that is when I imagine Odaiba is at its most futuristically surreal.
July 15th, 2006
Just as with my photos of the Petronas Towers, I noticed that my photos of Tokyo’s Sensoji temple were not representative of a few visits I had made there. I’ve stayed in the Asakusa area and walking over to the temple with camera in hand is a great way to spend an evening. It may not be the most architecturally ornate or elegant of Japan’s temples, but the size of the gates, the iconic, five-story pagoda, and the active visitors of the temple make it a great shooting location.
July 12th, 2006
Last night, while trying to decide what photos I should next process and upload, I realized that my photos of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia did not include one of my visits to the twin towers. I had only uploaded some shots I took on my second time around in Malaysia, but the first shots I took there were idling on my hard drive. So, to right that wrong, I quickly went though the earlier photos and now a few more shots can be found in my Petronas Towers Gallery.
July 11th, 2006
I was only able to spend a few short days in Osaka when I was travelling through Japan. It seemed, even more than Tokyo, the very definition of ‘urban.’ Many people have a vision of Japan as a futuristic, modern city that covers virtually every inch of the archipelago and if they only visited Osaka, they would be justified in believing that.
The photos I have uploaded include images of the Osaka Skyline, the Dotonbori Shopping and Entertainment District and The Umeda Sky Building. When time permits, I also have images from Osaka castle and Osaka Aquarium that I intend to process and upload as well, so stay tuned.
And as always, a few samples:
July 10th, 2006
For most of my time in Bangkok, I’ve been lamenting the less-than-perfect weather and lighting conditions. Two days ago, however, the clouds dissipated and blue skies dominated the air above. Shocked at this fortuitous development, I grabbed a camera, stuffed it into my smaller bag and took it hunting.
I headed towards the vast open park of Sanam Luang that happened to be surrounded by tents where Buddhist monks and worshippers were performing rituals and, well, watching TV. The festive atmosphere extended into the park where more worshippers could be found circling what looked like a temporary shrine. But of more interest to me on was the large number of people flying kites in the windy air.
Adults and kids craned their heads to the skies where dozens of kites danced in the blue skies. Vendors had kites staked down so the ground was covered in colourful streamers. Families sat on mats on the grass and happily watched the ballet above them. It was a great scene.
I didn’t hesitate to bring out my camera. But when I raised it to my eye, composed my first shot, then hit the shutter, I heard a click. That’s all fine and good, but really I should have heard two clicks. The first is the mirror flipping up, the second should have been the mirror flipping back down.
Ever since shooting the water fights of Songkran, the Thai New Year festival, this camera hasn’t been itself. This issue with the mirror sticking up has happened before. Once it has flipped up, I can press the shutter again and it will flip back down (with no image recorded of course). And after a couple times, functionality went back to normal. I could take pictures without a problem. It was like it just needed to warm up.
But no amount of warming up could get my camera going under the kites. It was over thirty degrees out after all. I clicked and clicked, but it just wouldn’t do what it was told. Disheartened I returned to my room, dropped off my defective gear and went to the Internet cafe to search for camera repair shops here in Bangkok.
The next day, the plan was to go out to the shop and see about putting things right inside my camera. The one thing I was worried about was that the shop might be closed – they didn’t list hours on their site and it was, after all, a Sunday. But, I thought I might get lucky. Wrong. Not only was it a Sunday, but I found out later that it was also a national holiday here – there was no chance it was going to be open.
I eventually found my way back to my room where, undaunted by an irritating previous 24 hours, I willed the skies to stay blue. I summoned all the kite fliers back to the park. And with my other camera (yes folks, take a backup!) I headed back to the park where I had a lovely time shooting everyone who once again had their heads happily craned to the skies.
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