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.

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 […]

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… […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.  

A couple of months ago, I blogged about great documentaries streaming on Netflix.  Since then, Netflix has added a few more of my favorite non-fiction flicks: October Country: October Country is a beautifully rendered portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen […]

This week we had two new toys to play with:  the Kessler Crane Phillip Bloom signature pocket dolly and the PMD 661 Marantz audio recorder.  While it’s always exciting for us to try out a new piece of technology, it’s tricky to figure out how to integrate the tools into […]