Tags
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
28 Tuesday Jan 2014
Posted Tighty Whitey Tuesday
in≈ Comments Off on Tighty Whitey Tuesday #107
Tags
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
27 Monday Jan 2014
Posted 7 Shots
inTags
Since I decided the main criterion to use in determining which shots would qualify as ‘best’ when it comes to travel photography are those that are the most evocative of time and place, this photo has to rank among the top of those I’ve taken in Cambodia. Perhaps ‘outrageously cool’ should be an additional qualification for a photo’s ranking in the upper echelon too; sure a snapshot of a pile of human skulls may not be the first thing you think about when cool comes to mind, but you gotta admit it’s not a subject many amateur photographer get the opportunity of capturing on film. And when it comes to Phnom Penh, the Killing Fields is/are what pops into my mind first.
I’d visited the awesome ancient temples of Siem Reap several times before deciding to visit the country’s capital city. You can never completely avoid the bloody period of Cambodian history when the Khmer Rouge held sway, but in Siem Reap it’s more about land mines. As in avoiding those that still lay buried waiting to claim some more human flesh, and feeling properly shamed at the sight of locals who didn’t manage to accomplish that feat. In Phnom Penh it’s a bit more in your face. Because for some odd reason the locals have decided genocide makes for a top touri attraction. Ask any native for suggestions on what to do and see when visiting Phnom Penh and – with a wide smile and obvious delight – their #1 pick are the Killing Fields. If a Cambodian was running things at Disneyland, Magic Mountain and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle would be razed and replaced with an attraction featuring Walt’s frozen, disembodied head in their place.
Visiting a few sites – there are three – that tout the mass murder of a country’s population was not on my list of must-dos. In fact, I tried to avoid those excursions. But then a too long trip out to a much more tranquil site by tuk tuk, and the insistence of my tuk tuk driver that I needed to see the killing fields, conspired to put Choeung Ek on my list of Cambodian experiences. The Cambodian Visitor Bureau really needs to rethink its strategy. You can’t help but gaze in wonderment at the architectural splendor of Angkor Wat. And you can’t help but wonder at what it is in the Cambodian collective psyche that resulted in the atrocities committed at Choeung Ek. And you have to wonder too why they continue to take so much pride in showing off that part of their history. Nor can you not wonder if their obvious enjoyment of bloodsport is something safely in the past.
I can’t think of any place I’ve visited that affected me as much as experiencing the Killing Fields did. It managed to cast a pall over the remainder of my stay. I couldn’t help but think of just what level of responsibility any Cambodian over the age of 40 I met afterwards held in those deaths. Fortunately, you don’t run across many Cambodians over the age of 40. For obvious reasons. And the warmth and friendliness of the younger locals almost made up for the history of atrocities committed by their elders. Almost. Because just when my opinion of the Cambodian collective consciousness would start rising, there would be some little occurrence that provided a too real glimpse into their darker side once again. They say the past is prologue to the future. Which isn’t a very reassuring thought when visiting Cambodia.
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
27 Monday Jan 2014
Posted Monday Muscle
inTags
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
26 Sunday Jan 2014
Posted Sunday Funnies
inRelated Posts You Might Enjoy:
26 Sunday Jan 2014
Posted Stay In Bed Sundays
inTags
A delectable hunk of meat in his own right, I’m posting this one just to show you what happens when I attempt to post a photo of a twink. Like I did last Tuesday. SA identified him, I went looking for more pix, and this is what my twink ended up looking like. Now do you seriously want me to try again?
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
25 Saturday Jan 2014
Posted Dancing With the Devil
inTags
If you’ve ever wondered what a straight guy thinks about having sex with men for money, I Was A Gay For Pay Craigslist Prostitute is a short interview with a former boytoy that should be enlightening.
Four Bars Where You Can Shop While You Drink in Bangkok sounds like the best of two worlds. Okay, yes, technically every gogo bar in town counts too, but we’re not talking about that kind of shopping.
I don’t know why I find the idea of Japanese Butt Pudding so funny. Oh right. It’s because I have a juvenile sense of humor.
Sightsmap lets you take virtual trips of the parts of the world that people love to photograph. Offering interactive heat maps that show the most photographed sight-seeing spots of each locale – you can click on the map to see the photographs themselves – the popularity of each favorite place to take photos is constantly updated as new pictures are uploaded to Panoramio, a popular photo-sharing website. It’s a cool site to waste time on, or to plan a vacation of an area you are unfamiliar with either by noting which attractions everyone loves the most so you too can take part, or to note which spots are gonna be overcrowded by camera-wielding touri. (Hint: For the Bangkok map, for example, enter ‘Bangkok’ in the small search box at the top right hand corner of your screen and then click on ‘go’.)
If you are looking for a new word or phrase to call your best buddy – because ‘the love of my life’ sounds just a bit too self-involved – The Penis Chart is a timeline from the 1300s through today showing the eras’ most popular slang for your wang.
Queergasm.porn is a Tumblr offering you a daily dose of porn of the Asian persuasion. I’m stuck on Tuesday.
I’m not a fan of pussy or pussies, but this story coming out of Nigeria whose recent anti-gay legislation and draconian efforts to stamp out the country’s gays have been making the news is a bit much even for me.
As you may recall, I like to choose a photographic theme for visits to places I’ve been many times before, like Bangkok, to force me to keep my photographer’s eye peeled. You may also recall how much I enjoy causing Noom emotional trauma. Considering his OCD thingy, this is the perfect theme for my next trip
It’s a good thing Tom Daley already came out as gay or else it’d be obvious he is. Oh right. It was already obvious before he came out. In any case, Dustin Lance Black should be a bit concerned about Tom’s wandering eye, or at least tip him off that when you are interviewing a hottie wearing nothing but a tiny leopardskin bikini you should still keep your eyes at a bit higher of a level than Tom managed to do. Tom’s brief impression of a gay man meeting a hottie’s bulge doesn’t come until almost the two minute mark of this video, but the aforementioned bulge ain’t bad either, nor is what it is attached to, so it’s worth watching the entire three minute clip.
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
24 Friday Jan 2014
Posted 7 Shots
in≈ Comments Off on 7 Shots: The Best Of The Best – #3
Tags
Too soon for more saffron?
Having just determined with my last entry of The Best Of The Best 7 Shots that the best definition of what qualifies a photo as ‘best’ when it comes to travel photography is one which immediately transports you back to a time and place and stirs your memories of that trip, today’s photo may not appear to hit that mark. But that’s ‘cuz you weren’t there. I know that it appears to be just another one of my Monk Shot! offerings – albeit one of the better ones – but despite my having taken a few thousand photos of the men and boys in orange, I can immediately place this one. And it works on several levels.
I captured this image on the express boat headed up river to Wat Pho, a trip I’ve made more times than I can count. But on this trip rather than playing tour guide for newbies to Bangkok I was just with Noom. The Chao Phraya is fertile grounds for snapping pix of monks and Noom has become quite adept at pointing out potential victims to me. Not that he caught this one. Nor did he think much of the shot later when he was going through the day’s treasure trove of images on my computer. I had to move quickly between hearing him mutter, “delete,” and his finger hitting that button on the keyboard. Everyone’s a critic. And Noom considers himself to be a master at determining which photos are good and which need to be immediately trashed. The bastard.
Noom too goes into tour guide mode when we are accompanied by visitors; save for several time outs to carry on a lengthy conversation with the Buddhas we encounter that day, he usually doesn’t participate in the experience, preferring to stand guard and watch our charges enjoy themselves instead. So even though it wasn’t the plan, when we reached the back of the wat I convinced him to have a massage. It was his first real Thai massage sans a happy ending being involved. And I suddenly discovered what Dr. Frankenstein felt. Noom insists on getting a manage at Wat Pho anytime we go there now. Or anytime we are anywhere near the area. Or anytime we are nowhere near Wat Pho but still have an hour or two to kill.
Huh. Come to think of it, this should not be one of my favorite Bangkok photos.
Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
24 Friday Jan 2014
Posted iPhone Fridays
inTags