I rode an elephant once in my life as a child at a carnival in my hometown. He was chained and led to walk in a circle. I was at the back of the line of children riding the butt, which was so wide my legs shot straight out in each direction. The experience wasn’t especially memorable and so when I heard about elephant riding in Thailand, I wasn’t as excited about it as Ben.
Author: eidolonfilms
Playing Seepak Takraw
There’s something romantic about traveling by motorbike. Perhaps its the open air, the winding and unknown road, or maybe the people you meet along the way. We’d been hesitant to try it because we’ve never driven a motorbike before. But Chiang Dao is a small area with little traffic and most residents drive slowly, conserving petrol by turning off the engine to glide down the hills. So we thought it the perfect place to practice. We rented a shiny red automatic from the neighbor for a total of $200 baht ($7) and set out with a hand drawn map from the Nest. We rode across town up through the jungle-filled mountainside and turned at whatever road seemed most intriguing.
Chiang Dao: Fairytale Thailand
I’ve been dreaming of glistening rice paddies, families packed four to a motorbike, hillside villages overrun with cute children and mist covered mountain tops. They’re the fairy tale images I had of Thailand. And I discovered them all in Chiang Dao, a small town just an hour and half bus ride north of Chiang Mai. So beautiful this place was, we lingered an extra day.
Chiang Mai: Farang City
We spotted them in Bangkok on occasion. Tall, long-limbed and mostly white, they walk around wide-eyed in Nike sneakers and toting Lonely Planet books. One can usually find them at the places their type is told to flock — museums, monuments and temples. Farang is what they are called in Thai. And though we like to think we blend in, we do not. We are one of them. As the bus drew near to the old city of Chiang Mai, we spotted them in herds at burger joints, bars, motorbike rental shops and street side vendors. And so Chiang Mai, our next stop in travel and the second largest city in Thailand, we aptly dubbed Farang City.
Sukhothai by bicycle
We’re officially on Thai time now. Our promised six hour bus ride to Sukhothai took a total of eight hours and included only one stop for the squat toilet. In all that time, the Thai children on the bus not only managed to hold their bladders but sat silently during […]
Bangkok Pt. 2
We apparently didn’t learn our lesson about going out in mid-day heat as we found ourselves wandering through old neighborhoods of Bangkok as the heat spiraled. We managed to find a small local spot for fried spicy crumbled catfish and fried crispy noodles and lots of water to cool off… […]
Steamy Bangkok
It’s hard to sum up Bangkok in one word or even a set of words. Crowded, bustling, overwhelming, disorganized, stinky and hot might help to set the stage. Yet what’s most striking about Bangkok is its extremes. From the rickety open-aired tuk-tuks attempting to weave between lines of traffic to […]
And the journey begins. First stop: Bangkok
We flew DC to Detroit to Tokyo to Bangkok for a total 24 hours of traveling, which I was dreading prior to our trip but now barely remember. We arrived at our guest house just after midnight after passing at least three Seven Elevens and a few gilded framed posters […]
Traveling Light: Personal Items
I’ll never forget my first trip abroad at 18 years old. I brought a massive non-rolling suitcase packed with several pairs of shoes and nearly my entire wardrobe. The memory of that steep hike up to our hotel in Capri still makes me a little sore. I later moved onto […]
Packing Light: Camera, Sound and Edit To-Go
In less than a week, we are leaving for two months in Southeast Asia. Among the myriad of preparations for the trip, packing our film gear lightly and efficiently is most important. We will be traveling through four countries and moving often, so light and compact is key. Here’s what […]
On being kind to other artists.
I got an email solicitation the other day from a composer looking for work. At present, I have no need for music composition, but I filed his email away in a folder marked “contractors”, thanked him for contacting us and let him know that I would keep him in mind […]
Art Tuesdays: Crochet Pot Holes
I love art that finds beauty in the ugly. That’s exactly what Juliana Santacruz Herrera did on Parisian streets with her crochet pothole art. How colorful! See more images on her Flickr Photostream.