Isara Thaothong

Walking around Phuket Town I wandered into an art studio/gallery because of some paintings that I really liked.  The gallery turned out to belong to Isara Thaothong or It for short.  When Hadley was out visiting we drew together almost every night with pens, all black and white and consisting of very fine lines crossing, swirling, and converging into patterns.  Drawing in this very time consuming and meticulous style is very calming to me, you don't think about what you are going to draw, you just draw it.

While It's style is more cartoony/street arty and far more precise and thought out, I was very attracted to his pieces.  He told me that he used different sized markers on canvas and that they were actually just for fun, something to do while the paint was drying on his more traditional paintings (he studied art in Bangkok).  He has only been in Phuket two months and is renting the entire building, the second floor of which he is planning to turn into a gallery space for him and other artists in the area... although two buck chuck isn't available over here so I don't know what he's going to do on the wine front.

It and some of his drawings.

This one really requires a closer look.  An absolutely insane amount of detail.

I stopped by his place on my way to the bus station to say bye and hangout for a little bit.  Notice the mountain of pork satay on the bench with peanut sauce for dipping and cucumber salad.  It was 60 baht ($2.00) for about 20 satays... delish.

Phuket Town

 Since Hadley left I've been here in Phuket Town enjoying myself thoroughly.  Before I arrived here I knew of Phuket only as "that terrible place" where tourism has run rampant and old male tourists walk all too often with young Thai girls.  However, what I have found out is that it is not Phuket Town but rather Patong Beach (20 minutes from town) that was being spoken of.  In fact, I don't think that many people bother to visit Phuket Town at all, possibly as a stopping over point on the way to the airport or Ao Nang, but never as a destination.  But all the better.

I have found a very charming city here, full of old French Colonial architecture, local artists, and musicians.  A place where Temples, Mosques, and Churches all live together.  A wonderful place to be and spend your days doing just that, being.  I've spent a great deal of time walking and exploring, stopping to rest or eat and read some of my book as well as improve my Thai vocabulary thanks to the friendly people living here.

I've also been experimenting with some time-lapse photography and I think I've got the perfect recipe of f/stop, shutter speed, and timing... well not a perfect recipe but it's getting there.  Plus using a handycam rather than a DSLR really doesn't help.  Very little manual control and an lcd screen that eats up battery like no one's business add to the already difficult task of picking the perfect exposure to capture that elusive golden moment that lies somewhere in the future while the bright sun or the dark night sky accompany you and your camera's frustratingly automatic sensor in the present.

Here are some stills taken from the time-lapses I've been taking as well as a few shots from a Temple I visited one night after sunset.

More Hadley

Okay, so it's been a while.  The trick to it is not finding internet but rather finding internet that is fast enough to handle uploading pictures.  But here we go!  Hadley is back in Sonoma now but we had an amazing time together here in Thailand.  We found ourselves on Koh Phi Phi for most of the trip because we both agreed that we had found a paradise and didn't want to leave.  There were fresh seafood bbqs, snorkeling with (harmless) sharks, warm white sand, clear blue water, perfect spots to watch the sun both rise and set, candlelit tables where we could draw together, sea turtles to scuba dive with, vendors selling perfect presents for loved ones, and generally just a beautiful place to spend time together.

There was a short stay back at Tonsai Beach towards the end of our trip where we both tried and fell in love with rock climbing but dead camera batteries saw to it that no pictures were taken.  Here are plenty of snapshots of our time in Koh Phi Phi though!