Out to Space

I cannot leave this 2007 without looking back through out the year:

1. Thailand Trip. Five weeks was not enough to make up for over six years I had been away my homeland. However, the important parts are done. It helped me gaining back self-confidence and I got a chance to show Stil where I came from.
2. Depression. Everything seemed to crash in the late 2006. The camera was dropped, old PowerMac was dead and the mental health went rock bottom. Although it is getting better and I have learnt to love myself more, there are some issues that need to be dealt with.
3. Mardi Gras. The grand photographic theme of the year is to reflect Sydney’s multiculturalism. It kicked off with Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras that led to Mardi Gras: the Slide Show and won a prize.
4. Sydney Songlines. Another on-going project is documenting abandoned chairs and dumped stuff on the streets of Sydney. This project of Metro Screen guided me to produce Anywhere Chairs.
5. New MacBook Pro and blog. It is such an excellent machine. And Out to Space has expanded from a photoblog to a blog about my relationship to the world.

It is still a long way to go to archive the goals I have in mind. Thank you for all the supports and let your strengths lead you, your friends and family glide to the shiny 2008.

I have to say I am almost shattered with the unofficial result of the latest Thai General Election. It is likely to be in the favour of pro-Thaksin People’s Power Party (PPP). That means its leader, Samak Sundaravej (สมัคร สุนทรเวช), could get the first choice to be the next Thai Prime Minister and form the government. EEEWWWW!!!

He had been ministers many times and the hi-light would be the Minister of Transport while Thailand was in rise of bubble economy in the 80s where he could grant big projects under his authority. However, the long time in politics had taught him that he would never get to the top of the mountain because his strong base and supporters would never expand beyond Bangkok. So he’d rather be the big fish in a small pond and demote himself by going for local politics, which won him the Bangkok Governor title in 2000. But would that be enough for him? It could be until the big opportunity for him to grab the country’s strong hold of dissolved Thai Rak Thai voters and lead the party.

No one knows how long he would govern the country for, maybe until he lets Thaksin back in without any trials as promised or until another protest against his allies to lead to another coup. Have we learn something from the past at all? Here are some reminders:

• 1976: Samak was appointed as the Interior Minister under the military coup right after 6 October massacre in Thammasat University.
• 1992: He was a Deputy Minister in a military government and supported the Black May troops, even had a go with the furious media about the violence.
• 2000: As the Bangkok Governor, he suspended Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre project, just because he could and wanted to commercialise the space.

I honestly cannot trust this low-rent doormat. Mind you! I did not go to vote and have not voted for almost a decade since I moved to Sydney. I have just got a new Thai ID card but it was too late to register for overseas voting this election. But I have a feeling I am not going have to wait for another four years to vote in the next election.

Wish you all and your family have the very best this holiday season and the bright future in 2008.

My aim of the visit to the Grand Palace or Wat Phra Kaew (วัดพระแก้ว) was mainly to explore the complex with the photographic eyes and see how I could get away from typical postcard pictures. That was the only once there in this trip. The time I spent in the compound was only 2 hours, no where near a whole day as intended. We did not get a chance to go back when Stil was in Bangkok.

Late in the afternoon, all the visitors were herded outside the main temple for a monarch representative to commit a ceremony. One tourist asked if the King was coming. Oh, if he was there, we would not be standing around. It was good to see the space was used for everyday ceremonial purpose, not just for foreigners walking around and taking snap shots.

Moreover, the last quarter of the shots was unexpectedly lost when transferring the files from the memory card. It might be the flat battery. The lost the images when the bored officers waiting for the job to be done, workers maintaining the details of the temple and the anxious tourists who had paid a fee to see the Palace. Nevertheless, I am very satisfied with the results.

In the network of alleys in Bangkok’s Old City, not too far from the Grand Palace, there is a cluster of Buddha image business. This is the place they supply the physical body before those statues are put on in the middle of temples for worship so that the Buddhists can fill hearts and souls into them.