Photos by MJ Klein (and others, uncredited), including FOOD PHOTOS!
Recently I went to Thailand on business to pick up some tools at a factory in the Isaan area. Fortunately for me, I had time to enjoy myself while there and having my new D7000, I took lots of photos. Speaking of which, please bear with me in this first installment about my trip, as I have been adjusting the D7000 to optimize it for the look that I want. Initially, I had the colors jacked up too high and occasionally it made for some cartoonish photos. But I soon found where the settings want to be and I’ve been shooting it that way since. So without further delay, please enjoy this first installment in my 2012 Thailand trip!
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We start off at Taoyuan International Airport, which is currently under construction to renovate Terminal 1, where my flight originated. This strange roof cover seems to be completed now and I didn’t recognize the terminal when my taxi drove up to it.
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More plans for the airport.
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The shopping area now benefits from a make-over.
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You see what I mean when I say I had the colors jacked up.
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I’m not sure if the gate areas have been re-done because they look pretty much the same, if memory serves.
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It was a bright beautiful morning – perfect for a flight to Thailand.
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This decoration is something I hadn’t seen before.
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Finally I put the camera away and landed in Thailand, where I was met by 3 old friends:
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A-nune [11],
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A-jo and Oath [13].
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These guys now live in Chonburi, in a nice town called Phanat Nikhom, where few foreigners are to be found.
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We stopped at a Thai rest area on the highway.
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This place is huge!
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First thing these guys did right off was to help me get a mobile phone SIM card.
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And then it was off to lunch!
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This is one of those large open-air places that Thailand is famous for.
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It has a nice outdoor feel to it, and of course, includes karaoke.
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A-nune and A-jo start a friendly game of snooker.
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Oath pours the beer, Leo, Thai style with plenty of ice.
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Soon the food arrived, this fried rice being the first dish.
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Along with the accompanying Thai style vegetables.
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This nice soup was next.
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The rice looked good dished out on my plate.
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This is the famous Thai dish called “krapau” made with pork. Full bodied with plenty of basil and just enough hot peppers, this dish was great.
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These are pieces of dry pork (deep fried) with peanuts, garlic and scallions.
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More dry pork.
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Just as things were getting interesting, food-wise, this delightful creature showed up with her mother in tow.
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This is Miss Elle.
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While we were eating and drinking, Oath decided to get up and render a few tunes for us. It was great hearing him sing again after so long.
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Then Elle sang for us.
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Dry beef arrived,
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and more dry pork. Can’t get enough of this kind of thing when you’re drinking!
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Soon it was time to leave and take me to my hotel for the duration of my stay. Naturally I took a rest for a few hours after all that eating, drinking and catching up.
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A-nune picked me up and took me to the next stop on the agenda – the place where he performs nightly. There are some areas in Chonburi that are experiencing long-term water problems, such as this section of the road along the way.
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Now remember, I cannot read Thai at all, so I never know the names of any of these places unless there is an English name that I happen to catch. This is an outdoor restaurant built on a dock on a lake. The food and atmosphere here is excellent.
[49]
A-nune does a show with Elle (whom the guys call “meimei”), and a guy he calls “didi.”
This video embed shows them performing. I cannot speak Thai, and I have no idea what they were saying at the beginning, therefore I did not realize they would talk for so long before they started the song (but I didn’t want to risk missing the intro of the song, so I kept on shooting). So, feel free to skip forward to when they start singing: 1:23. This is a D7000 video.
[50]
Naturally, brother Oath joined A-nune on stage for a few tunes.
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After a few hours of great Thai music and food, we went to the next place:
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This is where Oath performs nightly.
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Everyone came down to hang out together. That’s Mr. Nom [54] on the right.
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Oath and his partner put on a good show.
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While Elle joked around with everyone.
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Elle likes the D7000 a lot and she picked it up several times and took some photos.
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Drinking 100 Piper’s whisky, a Thailand institution.
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Later on, Nom and A-nune joined Oath onstage for a few tunes.
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Elle took this photo of Yours Truly, wearing my famous bush hat.
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The night ended at midnight, and it was a great ending to a great day.
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Comments Disabled To "Thailand 2012, Day One"
#1 Comment By mike01905 On October 9, 2012 @ 01:45
Yeah… I could tell how “jacked up” the color settings were on your camera. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the green felt of a billiard table to the billiard balls look like they do in your pics.
mike01905´s last post .. [65]
#2 Comment By thenhbushman On October 9, 2012 @ 21:06
hi Mike. yeah, the colors are better balanced now. you’ll see in subsequent installments. thanks.
#3 Comment By Patrick Cowsill On October 11, 2012 @ 12:30
The Cycling Canadian has an in-depth write up on D7000. It seems to be giving him fits, and he’s an experienced photographer. I don’t get it. The shots look great, both here and on his site: [66]
#4 Comment By thenhbushman On October 11, 2012 @ 20:15
hi Patrick. i left him some advice on how to set and use the D7000. it’s quite a handful, i admit. you should see a difference between the shots on this post and the subsequent ones, as i dialed in the D7000 a bit more (reined in, is more like it!). thanks Patrick.