On short notice, I spent 5 days in Bangkok from 27-31 Aug.

Part of the trip, I spent with a few Indonesian clients who had just finished a conference in Phuket and were in Bangkok for a few days meeting up with other prospective business partners. None had been to Thailand before...

I dont drink much these days but booze in Bangkok is CHEAP. A bottle of Black Lable costs about 1500 Baht (US$35) and a jug of local beer about 120 Baht (US$3). I didnt remember much of anything for 5 days.

Returned to Singapore on a 7.40am flight (Oh God, never again) I had only gotten to bed at about 5am for literally an hour of rest. As far as shooting was concerned, I took a grand total of 15 exposures over 5 days (that has got to be some kind of record and far from my normal 300-400 exposures)

The bars close strictly at 2am daily which was a relief. But that relief was short lived as somebody always knew of alternative underground clubs that stayed open until daybreak.

For a country that places god-like respect for the royal family, I was disappointed when some of them used the King's name in their tourist scams. A couple of guys in the group were on their way to MBK shopping centre when they were stopped by 'kind' passerbys and advised that the place had closed because the King was going to visit MBK that morning and were offered to be taken to a place where they could shop for jwelery at much lower prices. Of course MBK was not closed....and no King ever showed up.

This happens so much around the Grand Palace too... the symbolic shrine of the Thai monarchy.

Really sad and disgraceful.

We had a couple of hours of top notch traditional Thai Massage at Sabai Sabai, located behind the Grand Hotel on Ratchadapisek. It put me to blissful sleep......something which always eludes me when sleeping in a hotel bed.

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Back in Singapore, I'm now learning Thai. Indonesian was simple enough to pick up with alot of my Malay friends here in Singapore but Thai.....that's a whole different kettle of fish altogether.

So far my spoken Thai is limited to:

- Hi!
- time of day,
- numbers 1 through 9999,
- turn left/right,
- go straight,
- stop
- how much?
- expensive!
- toilet
- water
- fish, pork, beef, chicken
- hot/cold

Gotta learn other stuff like

- Months of the calendar
- Days of the week
- Leave me alone!
- Give me a Discount and
- Hi Gorgeous!

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Had my pictures published in Chartpoint magazine this month!

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The mid-Atumn festival is round the corner and this is the worst time of year outside of Chinese New Year for me insofar as eating moon cakes is concerned. I just have a soft spot for these lovely bean/nuts/egg yolk filled pasteries. My favorites are the 4-yolk and the all-nuts variety! Not good for my cholesterol and sugar levels.....the temptation is going to be hard to deny....as usual.

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I can literally feel the photography world shifting towards digital cameras. My fridge is packed full with free film given to me by friends who've migrated over to digital SLRs. I dont think I need to buy Provia and Velvia for the rest of the year!

When will my turn come when I abandon my film cameras? I still cant imagine it.

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Coming into the 3rd quarter of 2003, I look at my short list of New Year resolutions....... get down to 85kg. I'm still about 7kg off the mark! Cut the carbo....cut the carbo..... gym........exercise........I should get there...????


to be continued...................