Monday, March 26, 2007

Lord Lichfield needn't worry

I will never make a living as a photographer, but I do enjoy it as a hobby. As a career it would not suit me, as I am not artistic or creative; however, I do understand the physics of lenses and light, which means that I can take proficient photos. Also to earn a crust you need to have a good business plan, and my present one sucks at making me money, but it does keep me in beer.
The first night I went out with my camera and went to a bar where I was known, and I offered to take some portrait shots of the girls. A lot of the girls were reluctant, thinking I would post them on the Internet, so a bribe was needed – a lady drink. This night was very expensive, and fortunately the batteries on my flash ran out before my cash did. Next morning spend about half an hour on the laptop processing the shots, and load them up onto a memory stick. Luckily the weather was poor that day so I wasn’t wasting any valuable beach time. Then its down to the developers and get the photos printed on a good size paper, 6R (6” x 8”). Then I am ready for the next evening.
This time go to a different bar, with last night’s photos and the camera. Put the photo envelope on the bar: Thais love to look at photos, so then they will say how nice the photos are – so I offer to take their photo, no enticement is needed this time, and all I ask is that if they like their photo, when it is printed that they buy me a beer. Then it’s back to the first bar, and have drinks bought for me by the girls, saving me 70 baht on each beer.
OK I have to be careful because: firstly, I don’t have a work permit, and what I am doing could be construed as work, and, secondly, there are Thai photographers, who take photos of the bar girls for money. I certainly don’t want to upset these guys, as I could end up being beaten up or having my camera gear smashed or stolen – and that would ruin my holiday.
Still it’s a nice diversion to an evening, and it gets me to practice my hobby some more. I will try and upload some of the photos, soon, but all the Internet connections I have found, so far have either been expensive, or slow. I also need to remember which of the girls didn’t want their photo published – and that is harder, as the memory cells seem to get a bit messed up after a few bottles of Beer Lao.
Peanut’s sister, Mem is in town. I first met her, when she was a gangly, shy thirteen year old. Now she has blossomed into a young, Thai beauty. I am not sure if I believe the story I am being told about her working in Carrefour, and getting a transfer to a different branch after a month. It seems a bit un-kosher for someone who has recently finished school. Still it was nice to see her again, and she is still so shy and reserved, totally the opposite of the confident, outgoing Peanut.
Last night, on the way home, Peanut wanted to stop and get some food, but I wasn’t in the mood, and told her that I wanted to go straight back to the hotel, which we did. About five o’clock in the morning, Peanut wakes me up, and says, “ I can’t sleep, tilak, my stomach hurts so I am going to get some food”. So she gets up pulls on some clothes and heads out to forage for a noodle stall still open at that time. About an hour later she crawls back into bed, and I ask her if she had had some food, to which she replied that yes she had, and that she had bought me some chicken noodle soup. Sure enough, when I got up a few hours later, I found a plastic bag with cold soup in it. I blasted it in the microwave and had it for breakfast. 30 baht soup, it can’t be beaten.
The weather is much improved today, and the bright lobster colour is coming along nicely, a few more days and it will start to peel off!

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