Posts Tagged transport

Christmas on the Go

While I was studying at COFA, my relationship with the only bus route from King Street, Newtown to Oxford Street, Paddington—352—was not so great because of its unreliability and punctuality. It frustrated me when you never knew whether the next bus was going to be late which they usually are. Sometimes, I wanted to strangle the driver for being so laid back on the schedule.

It is hard to believe that there is not that easy to commute to and from these two Sydney’s major cultural precincts with public transportation. The bus comes only every 30 minutes and does not run on weekend. By train, you have to get off at Museum or Kings Cross Station and walk there.

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However, my attitude toward the 352 route has completed changed when I got on this bus from Bondi Junction. It astonished me with the simply tacky Christmas decoration. But not just that, the driver was also in a Santa suit. Most of all, there were laminated kids’ drawings all over the bus. The notice said:

The artwork on the Waverley Christmas Bus is provided for your enjoyment by the children from Ronald McDonald House at the Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick.

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The following day, I encountered another over-the-top Christmas taxi.

I was just filled. And it actually made me miss Thailand. Supposedly, it was the first time that this Christmas season got to me and I could feel the joy like I had with Thai celebrations in the home country i.e. Songkran or Loy Krathong.

That reminds me I should start making this year greeting card real soon.

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Story of Sticky

I always wanted to play with this idea of long exposure photography along the a tuk tuk ride but did not get a chance to do it in until the Thailand trip last year.

On the way to dinner in Khao Sarn Road area, I decided to get a tuk tuk from Pratunam. It was not the best decision to commute around Bangkok at the time when everyone was stuck on the road but it was quite perfect for the shooting, I found. To get a tuk tuk in that scenario was a tricky task. Some drivers simply said no to the destination or called incredibly high fair price

When I hopped on the first tuk tuk in at least six year, my camera was ready to shoot. Few test shots were taken as we slowly crawled in the traffic. I found the best shutter speed setting was 6 second at f14. The variation of 192 images were shot throughout the ride until the last shot when I was getting off the vehicle.

The idea was to stay with the sequence of the shots so there was no hard work of editing these image. Digging the right sound was more important at this phase. Initially, a world techno track from Rama IV was laid as the background and quickly arrange the images as Sticky Tuk Tuk. I left that work for a while until I decided to create the original track for it to avoid copyright issue and enter the local art exhibition. In Mac-ready audio editing software, GarageBand, I found some good royalty free samples to loop and put them together.


Sticky from ApostrophePong on Vimeo.

This work is awarded as Commended in Marrickville Contemparary Art Prize (MCAP’08) for CALD category (artists from Indigenous of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background). And I will be at the Artist Talks on Sunday 21 September (last day) at At The Vanishing Point Contemporary Art, 3-5 pm and the following Sunday at Chrissy Cotter Gallery, 2-3.30 pm.

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Go with the Flow

This entry is part 30 of 45 in the series Thailand Trip 2007

Go with the Flow

To me, the most enjoyable transport in Bangkok must be Chao Phraya Express Boat Service. Chao Phraya River is the bloodline of Bangkok. All sort of activities happens along the waterway, creating a vibrant livelihood unlike the enclosed views you get from the road. You can capture people and their relationship with water as well as amazing abstract urban landscape while feeling the fresh air.


Go with the Flow from ApostrophePong on Vimeo.

Go with the Flow music slideshow starts from the trip from Central (Sathorn) Pier, which is conjunct with the end of skytrain line at Taksin Station, to Wang Lang (SiriRaj) Pier.

Go with the Flow

Go with the Flow

Go with the Flow

Go with the Flow

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Mochit 2 Revisit

This entry is part 34 of 45 in the series Thailand Trip 2007

Back to Thailand trip months ago, I and Stilgherrian had a day trip to Rayong for lunch with my parents. It was Stil’s only day outside the Greater Bangkok. We decided not to commission a taxi and take a much cheaper bus. Therefore I got a chance to be back at Mochit 2, the largest bus terminal in the city.

Bus Patrol

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Sticky Tuk Tuk

This entry is part 10 of 45 in the series Thailand Trip 2007

Riding a tuk tuk in a Bangkok traffic jam.

Sticky Tuk Tuk


Sticky Tuk Tuk from ApostrophePong on Vimeo.

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