royal barges II

I was glad that the lunch at the embassy was finished on time. These things have a way of going longer than expected especially if delicious food is plentiful. Food that reminds me of Manila. I went back home and changed to my yellow shirt. Yellow is the color of Monday which happens to be the birth color of HM the King. I took my Canon 10D because I did not want to leave anything to chance. While I am an avid film user, in situations where I need to be sure of the outcome of my picture and in situations when the picture I need to take is a fleeting event, I always go for digital. It was 1:30 PM when I reached Pra Arthit near Khao San Road. When I got to the fort area, all the places beside the river had already been taken and there are at least 15 layers of people behind them so I will not get a good vantage point. On the way to the park, I recalled that there was a restaurant that was selling tickets for river seats for THB900.00. When I got there, the guard told me that the tickets are sold out. But there are motorcycle drivers there and he told me that they can take me to a place beside the river and a seat would cost me THB600.00. Since the Royal Kathin Ceremony of the Royal Barges is a once and a while event, I did not hesitate to take the offer. Luckily, I was one of the first to get there so I still got a good choice of a seat right beside the river. By 3 pm the house beside the river where I got seats was literally filled with people so I had to brave the heat and claim my seat to be sure that no one else will take it from me. I do not want to give up my vantage point. After the heat, the sky became overcast and the rain fell very hard. As if on cue, right before the start of the parade of the barges, the rain stopped. To commemorate this event, I posted pictures of the barges that I took weeks ago when I accidentally discovered the barges. This picture was the only decent one that came out from the film where for some reason most of the pictures I took were blocked out. The film had a good density based on the contact print so I will be making a silver print of this one day. Below is a photoshopped picture of my favorite among the pictures I took of the Royal Barges.



I almost forgot, all photos © 2006 by daddywasabi, all rights reserved.