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23 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted It's A Gay World, Wednesday Wetness
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22 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted Chiang Mai, Travel Photography
inI was recently reading the comments on an old post where a reader was trying to point out how little of a difference there is between an average short-time off tip, 1,500 baht, and an average long-time off tip, 2,000 baht in Bangkok. His point being that 2,000 is way too little because of how much more you are getting for a mere 500 baht. That’s like $15. Which ain’t much. I’d normally agree with him. And often use the same calculation to show what a cheap bastard someone is being in only tipping 1,000 baht instead of 1,500 on a short-time off. Because $15 isn’t much money at all.
But that’s economics from the Westener standpoint. When it is coming out of your pocket that 500 baht is a paltry $15 and you shouldn’t be such a tight wad. 500 baht to a Thai, however, can be big bucks. And it is the Thai economy that sets the difference between tips for a short-time and long-time off at such a small amount. Small, to us. But to them it is not an insignificant amount.
Consider what an average Thai bar boy can do with 500 baht. He can eat for five days. Not well, certainly not at McDonalds, but he can fill his stomach. And with food he knows and loves. Or he can eat for three days and splurge on a few treats. Like those offered at this road-side stand in Chiang Mai.
It was the intensity of the look on this little kid’s face that drew me to this shot. He had the patience of Buddha in waiting for his treat to be cooked, though he was practically drooling the entire time. The cost was a rather pricey 14 baht. Food-wise, off hand I can’t think of anything you can still buy back in the states for forty-five cents. Certainly not freshly cooked.
I don’t know what the mark-up is, or what amount of profit off that 14 baht sale the vendor realizes. Even if he netted 10 baht, he’d have to sell 50 servings to take home 500 baht that day (not factoring in his rent and other operating costs). Regardless, I doubt if that kid tried to get his treat for a few baht less just because he might have thought he could.
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22 Tuesday Jan 2013
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21 Monday Jan 2013
Posted Monk Shot!, Travel Photography
in≈ Comments Off on Monk Shot! #53
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It’s been a while since I posted a Monk Shot! so I thought I’d make up for it with two today:
One of the nice things about photographing monks in Chiang Mai is that you can often combine a Monk Shot! with an Ubiquitous Plastic Stool Shot! It seems every wat in town has a plethora of novice monks on hand to accomplish the temple’s daily tasks, which means lots of time for the youngsters to sit around and contemplate life. Or watch television. Which was what this baby monk was actually doing. He was so engrossed in whatever show it was he was viewing that he paid absolutely no attention to the farang taking his photo. The shots I snapped from the front captured his dissatisfaction with the show perfectly, but a frowning baby monk just doesn’t make for a good photo. The Ubiquitous Plastic Stool captured from the back, however, did.
A properly reverent photo of a young monk at Chiang Mai’s Silver Wat, or so you’d assume. But he wasn’t having a little one-on-one time with the Buddha; he was waiting (and watching) his mates finish sweeping the altar area. Two minutes later the scene was a gaggle of young monks laughing and messing with each other. Until an older monk poked his head in the doorway. Then they scattered. Still, a nice photo. And it wasn’t until recently that it dawned on me how seldom you see pews in a Thai wat. The wiharn is usually an open floored hall. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another wat that has this type of seating area.
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21 Monday Jan 2013
Posted It's A Gay World, Monday Muscle
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20 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted It's A Gay World, Stay In Bed Sundays
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19 Saturday Jan 2013
Posted End of the Week, It's A Gay World
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Free is a magical word to Thais. It ain’t that bad to farang either. You can download Rough Diamonds by Robert Bell for your Kindle from Amazon, the first in a series of three books about the life of Rot, a Pattaya-based Thai bar boy. (Thanks Al!)
In case you needed to verify that the sounds sexpats and water buffalo in Thailand make are similar, you can listen to the latter at this database of 150,000 animal sounds, as well as spending far too much time listening to the rest of the animals too.
Gun violence is the scourge of our nation and it’s time the leaders of the country do something about it. As one official recently put it, “The country’s image is being destroyed because many tourists had been killed, robbed or raped in key tourist destinations like Pattaya, Phuket and Krabi.” Ooops. Wrong country.
‘The Golden Pin’ winner of the Best Canadian Short Award at the Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film & Video Festival is a modern short dramatic film about a young Vietnamese-Canadian swimmer torn between his love for fellow team member Ryan and the pressure placed upon him by his father to continue the family line. Told with honesty and compassion, the resulting film is a work that is as touching, as it is at times theatrical. And hottie Krisda Duangphung makes it a film well worth viewing.
Shanghai based photographer Xie Zi Qui is this week’s entry for men who’s enviable job is taking pictures of some of the planet’s hottest naked men. You can enjoy the home page slide show, or click on Galleries or Models. Or all three.
Tired of all the cute kitty pix that make up 75% of the internet? It was a search on elephants that brought me to this blog post, the embryonic pachyderm that made me stop, and the truly stunning photos of dolphins, sharks, dogs, penguins – and yes, cats – in the womb that kept me looking.
With the western New Year just past and the Lunar New Year headed our way, it’s that time of the year for those living in and visiting Thailand for Songkran to begin their annual bitching about the celebration. If you are not into the massive countrywide water fight you may consider a visit to this historical town just 40 miles north of Sukhothai where the holiday is celebrated in the old manner. Or visit anytime of the year ‘cuz it is yet another entry onto my list of Places In Thailand Jabba Has Never Heard Of.
An interesting and humorous opinion piece on the question of Can Gay And Straight Men Ever Truly Be Friends? Not surprisingly, for this author it boils down to sex. Oh wait. We’re guys. It always boils down to sex.
Fucking With Your Head: 10 Things You Might Not Know About Your Brain and Sex. Proving edumacation is a wondrous thing . . .
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