ONE WEEKEND IN May we were doing a general house cleaning when I came across a sealed old carton box. When opened it turned out to contain hundreds of photos from the pre-digicam era.
Rummaging through the box I suddenly realized that these photos need to be digitized soon, else they would be completely lost forever. Even now, the colors of some photos have faded beyond repair. I have to act fast. It’s a herculean task, that’s for certain. But I have to get started soon.
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The first set that I decided I should prioritize are two 8R color photos that I took in one of my ìfield tripsî during my 6-month tour of duty in Thailand as an analyst/programmer way back in 1996-97. I just bought a Canon SLR camera and I was an amateur photographer eager to capture on stills the sights of Thailand.
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These two photos captured a typical day in Thailand’s famous Floating Market. This is the ìrealî floating market of Thailand, about 2-3 hours bus ride to the south from Bangkok. There is a ìcopycatî floating market right in the middle of Bangkok, built for tourists who do not have the time to visit the real thing.
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With only a map Bangkok and nearby provinces, I set out for the ìfield tripî all by myself, following one of the map’s recommended one-day tours. In the bus I teamed up with another solitary tourist, an American named†Joe†(aren’t they all ìJoesî?). Also with our instant ìtour groupî was a group ofFrench tourists, with some really sexy chics among them. Joe was such a funny character, and I couldn’t forget how he would spy on the French chics and point out to me the fact that some of them were not wearing undies. Very, very naughty indeed!
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So much with those funny and naughty moments. I shouldn’t forget that my real objective with this blog entry is to digitize and ìrescueî these photos. They are among my most enduring images of Thailand and there is no telling whether I will ever have the opportunity to visit Thailand’s Floating Market again. #
I thought I’ve been to the Thailand’s floating market, but what I’ve seen is nothing like what you and Tolits described. I also recall that it was just a few minutes away from the hotel where I stayed in downtown Bangkok so I guess I went to the “copycat” Floating Market that you mentioned. It was not among my best experiences in Thailand.
I’ve been to the floating market of Thailand in 1999. It looked exactly like the photos you posted. The place is amazing. They have canals instead of roads, or should I say they have canals for roads. It’s like Venice in a rural setting.