Chiang Mai sunset panorama

This is a view from our balcony tonight in Chiang Mai, Thailand. A beautiful sunset behind the Doi Suthep mountain where one of the most famous temples of Northern Thailand is located.

We didn't have a nice sunset for a while here because of the rainy season. It was always overcast around this time. Tonight was special though, the sky was cloudy but it gave beautiful colors over the mountain.
I just love the view from our new apartment. It's even nicer from the rooftop, where the pool is located *wink wink*

You can click on the photo to have a larger view. Enjoy!

Splashing Elephant ~ Mae Tang

Another shot from Mae Tang park of a mahout ordering the elephant to act crazy and splash all around to get the curious tourists wet and giggling.
I was particularly happy to have a long zoom lens allowing me to stay away from the water and not get my camera all wet.
Getting sprayed by a big geyser in Iceland was enough!

Note: My apologies for the lack of updates in the past few days. I am in the process of revamping my whole blog and website and got caught with a lot of work. I will try to keep posting once every 2 days until my website is up and running again. Stay tuned!

Elephant Love ~ Mae Tang

Is this how elephants kiss?

Seen in Mae Tang Elephant Park, these two elephants seemed playful!

Elephant shower ~ Mae Tang

Another elephant shot from Mae Tang Elephant Park. This big one was happy showering people around the river while the mahout was riding it. Needless to say I tried to stay as far as possible not to get my camera equipment all wet!

Elephant Bathing is one of the activities of the park. Some parks actually let the visitors get in the river and help wash the elephant but this one was only for mahouts while tourists watch from the bank.

Birthday Balloons ~ Chiang Mai

Well ok, not really birthday balloons.. This guy was selling nice colorful balloons on the Sunday Market in Chiang Mai.
But we can all pretend these balloons are meant for me, right?

Because it's my birthday today! Yep..

I am celebrating my 280,535th hour on this planet and my 224th dog year!
Thank you for my parents for obvious reasons and thank you for my girlfriend and my friends for the beautiful day I had today.

Cheers to everyone!

Mae Ping River cruise ~ Chiang Mai

One of the many recommended activities in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is a cruise on the river Mae Ping East of the city.
The cruise lasts 2 ridiculous hours on an old boat. You will be taken to a temple, a market and an authentic fishermen village along the river. All this for about 400 baht (12.5$). You can add 50 baht more and get a Khao Soi, a traditional delicious meal of Northern Thailand (some people will jump out of their seats at this price *wink*).
Although some parts of the cruise can be scenic and relaxing, I don't find it very cheap for a mere 2 hours of boat ride with rushed visits to interesting spots. 400 baht after all pays 5 lunch meals! Ha!

Saturday Market Food ~ Chiang Mai

On Saturdays and Sundays (or even every other day), one of our main activities here in Chiang Mai is to find new food to taste!
Although less than the Sunday Market, the Saturday Market is also home to many varieties of food from traditional Thai food like Pad Thai, the delicious Khao Soi to dim-sums and French fries.
Food is often served in smaller portions than in western countries, but usually Thai people eat more often during the day.
I saw this street food lady selling dim-sums with a nice light I just had to take the shot.

Chillin' Mahout ~ Mae Tang

The Elephant Parks in Thailand are filled with activities from elephant riding, elephant bathing to bamboo rafting.
While some mahouts entertain the public with elephants playing football, others get ready to take the tourists through a jungle on the back of the melancholic pachyderms. And eventually have a deserved break!
Most of these mahouts work long hours and even have to skip lunch to occupy the demanding tourists.

I saw this Thai mahout smoking a cigarette while watching the tourists clapping enthusiastically at the elephants painting flowers. I loved his style and pose!

Dumbo ~ Chiang Mai

Another elephant shot from the Mae Tang Park I took a few weeks back.
This was part of the elephant show for tourists, where each mahout and his elephant are introduced to the public (each have a name) and then proceed in entertaining the public with football, painting or dancing.

This shot reminded me of Dumbo following his mom. It was cute!

The Mahout

What is a Mahout I hear you say?

A Mahout is that guy on top of the pachyderm. It's the person who trains and drives the elephant.
Mahout comes from the hindi word mahavat. These trainers start very early as a young boy and are each assigned an elephant with whom they will "bond". They usually stay with the same elephant all their life (or until one of them dies obviously).
Originally, mahouts used to train elephants to help with logging in the forests. These big strong animals pulled huge logs across long distances in the jungle. But when Thailand banned logging due to widespread destruction of the forests, more and more elephants started to be used (especially in Thailand) for the tourism business.
Today 95% of Thai elephants are privately owned and domesticated in elephant parks to offer shows and rides for the demanding tourists.

On the photo, you can also notice the ankus, a sharp metal hook mounted on a stick that the mahout uses to handle (or punish) the elephant. Luckily I've only seen them use the stick part to tap on the head.

Lost Duckie!

Just a fun little shot today that I captured in the deserts of the UAE a while ago. It's my little rubber duck lost in the desert, away from any oasis.. Will it survive?

Today's post is early and different because I have to catch a bus to Bangkok for another visa run. I'm not really looking forward for a 10hours bus drive and a plane back & forth to Malaysia.

Will keep on posting from Bangkok in the next few days! Cheers!

Elephant Ride ~ Mae Tang

When I was invited to the Mae Tang Elephant Park, I participated to many of their activities including elephant shows, elephant bathing, bamboo rafting and of course, elephant rides!

I had to test it and well... It's not the most comfortable ride I've had. Only camels are probably worse. I preferred the stoic oxen pulling their carts on a muddy road.
It's also a real challenge to take sharp photos while riding those pachyderms. I had to increase my ISO, put my camera on continuous mode and shoot away! One over a dozen shots should be sharp enough to work with!
So the mahout (trainer) took us for a 30min ride across the jungle while stopping from time to time at these towers (this one on the photo was broken and abandoned) to push us to buy bananas or sugar cane to feed the elephant.
The trick is to refuse every time, the mahout will get a few sugar canes/bananas for free to feed the animal anyway... they don't want an angry and hungry beast wrecking havoc through the jungle!

Well, although it doesn't seem like it, I still enjoyed the ride and would probably do it again, just for the fun! (Do not think about motion sickness..).

Child at play ~ Chiang Mai

Another shot I got from the PhotoWalk a few weeks ago in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is the same kid playing with a top seen on this portrait in the market.

It was too bad it rained for hours later so we couldn't get more shots. I felt a bit more comfortable taking street portraits when I was with the group, I am not very used to street photography and I feel a bit shy approaching people to take photos when I don't even speak their language.

I am improving day by day though as I am forcing myself to get out there and approach strangers. I might even have a project coming up soon so stay tuned!

Ox Cart

Part of the Mae Tang Elephant park program consists in a half hour ride on an elephant to a touristic village (with lots of souvenirs and annoying people in ethnic costumes running after you) and then coming back to the main center riding an ox cart.

Ox carts are these 2-wheeled wooden carts pulled by oxen (that's the plural for ox, not oxes). Oxen are castrated male cattle preferred to horses because they can pull heavier loads in a steadier fashion. Ox carts were common in many parts of the world and are still used in some remote areas in South East Asia, like Thailand or Malaysia.

It was in fact a much more comfortable ride than an elephant!

Mae Tang Elephant Park ~ Chiang Mai

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit (for free!) an elephant park in Mae Tang, about an hour drive North of Chiang Mai.
I had never been to elephant parks yet in Thailand so I didn't really know what to expect. I had a great time with a few other photographers and we had free access to the whole program (plus a special baby elephant bathing show that tourists don't see).

We had been invited by the park to take photos which would later be used for fundraising to help the elephants' training. Many centers have been hit and had to close due to lack of tourists because of the last events in Bangkok.

PS: The elephant in the shot is not dead or hurt. Just lying on the ground to let the tourists ride it.

Khao Phansa candles - Chiang Mai

As the seasonal monsoon rains approach Northern Thailand, it marks the beginning of the Buddhist Lent, or "Khao Phansa", during which all Buddhist monks retreat to the temples for the duration of the rain (3 months) devoting themselves to study, meditation and spiritual renewal.
Apparently in former times, this was done to prevent monks from trampling upon rice paddies when they venture out to receive offerings from the villagers.

During this period, the locals engage in merit-making and bring offerings to the monks for their retreat. These offerings consist of dishes, household products, monk robes and these big yellow candles.
The candles are believed to provide them with illumination physically and spiritually. They are beautifully carved with flowers and dragon patterns and can last weeks.
This tradition evolved into full-scale festivals featured in the Buddhist calendar and Thailand's official calendar of festivals such as "The Candle Festival" of Ubon Ratchathani province, featuring a procession of magnificent ornately-carved beeswax candles of various shapes and sizes like boats or elephants. A contest is even held to award the most beautifully carved candles which can stay lit up to 3 months!

You can see on the photo the size of the candles compared to the walking man.

Sunday Market Dance - Chiang Mai

Every Sunday starting around 4pm, the main street of the "Old city" in Chiang Mai (Th Ratchadamnoen) is closed to vehicles and a huge market is set up extending the entire length up to Wat Phra Singh until midnight.

Anything can be found in there, from clothing to music, souvenirs, hill-tribe products and of course.. Street Food!

I always notice this little girl in hill-tribe costume (I think from the Hmong tribe if not mistaken) dancing on the Sunday market as well as the Saturday walking market, since February!
It saddens me to see poor or visually impaired people and especially children being used for begging or tourist traps. Those young girls have their childhood stolen from them to be able to attract money and it can be felt in their sad eyes.

Unfortunately it's the same in most countries of the world.

The wet rickshaw ride

As I previously mentioned, I joined a few days ago the Chiang Mai Photo Walk with a few other photographers. Unfortunately the sky poured down on us for too long and we had to cancel the walk.

We found a shelter in a narrow street while waiting for the rain to end. It was fun to see people pass by, running, driving or just trying to get on with their normal routine, unaffected by the rain.

This year, Northern Thailand is subject to one of the worst droughts since years. It is currently monsoon season but the rain just doesn't seem to reach Chiang Mai, although the weather is overcast for weeks now.

And of course, it just HAD to rain for 4 hours non stop the ONLY day we decided to gather up and go out shooting! Oh Irony... Well, at least I hope it helped the surrounding fields a bit.

I nevertheless got a few nice shots of wet people, like this rickshaw driver, in his raincoat, going on with his job while the passenger just hides behind an umbrella.

Child in a market - Photo Walk 2010

Today 24th of July was held the 3rd annual "Worldwide Photo Walk", a social photography event created by Scott Kelby where photographers get together in town, walk, shoot, socialize and have fun.
Although some parts of the world the walk hasn't started yet, more than 33000 photographers, amateurs and pros are expected in 1111 walks around the world (cool number!).

I participated in the Photo Walk in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Unfortunately, heavy rain spoiled our gathering and the event was canceled an hour after we met. We did have the opportunity to visit a local market though before the sky poured on us. We got separated in two groups to prevent people from panicking..
I mean.. Imagine yourself sitting in a corner peeling onions when suddenly 40 people point a huge camera and start clicking while the multiple flashes turn you to dust... Horrible!

I saw this little kid playing in a corner with his little top. He was very shy! Every time I pointed my camera, he looked down and tried to focus on his toy. Cute.

Overall it was a fun but short time. I am not really used to taking photos of people in the streets but being in a group made me feel a bit less shy and I saw how some photographers approached the merchants to have their shot.
Hope everyone else in the world has more luck than we did!

Thai temple decoration

I don't have much to say about this photo. I found it on the entrance gate to a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai and I did not really find what it represents.
The two little beings on both side of the seal look like Garuda, or Hanuman. I'm not really sure.

I would appreciate if someone could help me with the symbolism of this decoration. Thanks a lot!

UPDATE: Thanks to @fookied on twitter for telling me it's the King's seal.