Sunday, November 15, 2015

Am In Mae Sot

Well here I am finally in Mae Sot. My contact (driver) is out of town so much have to wait until Monday to make it to the dump. I am splitting my Mae Sot visits into 2 trips which means 4 bus rides to and from Bangkok. I will be in Mae Sot from November 15 to November 24 then it's back to Bangkok for 4 or 5 days then returning to Mae Sot from November 29-30 to December 7-10.

I am returning to Bangkok for the Thai Loy Kratong Festival as well as the photo projection event night (some my earlier sex worker portraits are showing) at a French Cultural Centre building on the 27th (A Swanky Night), it runs from 8pm-12am. Not sure if I will be asked to speak or not on that night, probably not. Not sure how many other photographers being shown will be there, not sure how many are Thai how many Western.

It kind of sucks to be doing 4 bus trips not 2 but there are advantages.

- Can take 1/2 the donations to Mae Sot one trip and 1/2 the second.
- Can keep my big heavy camera suitcase in storage in Mae Sot Hotel between trips.
- Can attend the Bangkok events.
- Can take a break from the dump for a few days to reboot. The dump is so harsh that by the 3rd or 4th day I am burning out.

People in the dump should be wearing the hats my work mates in Canada donated by Monday. I will spend today (Sunday) buying rice, canned fish and other food stuffs from the local grocery store and hauling everything back to my hotel room. Will be using the money donations for these purchases. I will take photos of the food I buy and will try to get some photos of various groups wearing the hats.