A ROADSIDE VIEW OF THAI COMMERCE

Copyright (C) 2007 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved. Due to the increasing cost of household natural gas, Thais have begun to revert to a cheaper form of energy of yesteryear. What might that be...? The name sounds like the Spanish word: tacos, or in English parlance: charcoal, but not the uniform charcoal briquette variety. A real mixed bag of sizes and shapes, but very effective: supplying the necessary energy for daily cooking and easing the burden on the pocketbook. Just one of those bags of charcoal fragments costs approximately 225 Thai baht ($6.64 USD). To show how the cost of energy has escalated and is affecting everyone's life, that same bag of charcoal used to cost only 100 Thai baht a few years ago. And one of those bags lasts a longtime compared to the use of natural gas. Natural gas costs about 290 Thai baht for a 16.5 kilo bottle. I wouldn't be surprised if the cooking time for one bag of charcoal equals nearly one and a half containers of natural gas. If there's a will, there's a way to cut energy costs here in the Land of Smiles. This photo was taken with my trusty Kodak P-850 digital camera from a roadside fruit stand, and has also captured a typical tractor trailer unit that can be seen throughout Thailand transporting commerce to various destinations. And there's a house being built across the highway which shows you how Thai homes are constructed: solidly, folks... You'll rarely, if ever, see plasterboard walls in a Thai house. One-hundred percent cement, steel and brick construction. The only place Thais use plasterboard is in the ceilings for the most part. Only businesses use plasterboard in their buildings to save money on construction costs.

A TYPICAL SCENE AT A THAI ROADSIDE VENDOR'S STALL AS SHE TRIES TO SELL PRODUCE TO TOURISTS & LOCALS ALIKE ON THE SHOULDER OF A MAIN HIGHWAY.

Copyright (C) 2007 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved. This typical roadside vendor will eke out a living by selling fruit to passersby. Thais on their way home from work, visitors, tourists and others, help to provide a living for these industrious souls. When the 1997 economic crisis unloaded its wrath upon Thailand, ingenious Thais smiled and shrugged their shoulders, not forgetting that Thailand means: a free land. And in the spirit of freedom, Thais have always found ways to make a living off the land that their ancestors left for them. As you can see in the video, there's no daycare facility in the neigborhood. Vendors bring their babies to the meager grass huts along the main road and let them lie in cribs, swinging peacefully to sleep alongside the ever present Thai means of entertainment: a color television set. A propane gas tank, stove, electric fan and refrigerator makes life more endurable and enjoyable. Water is readily available in a ceramic cistern: all the comforts of home. A shophouse, if you like... A Mini Mart in the middle of nowhere. As you can see, Thais live in style even when their floor is solid dirt. And most important of all, the produce being sold is fresh and scrumptious: mouth-watering to say the least. Now you know why the villagers of Thailand survived the 1997 economic crisis with flying colors. There is no unemployment insurance, or safety net for the villagers of Thailand. City dwellers (including Thais) are helpless when factories and businesses close down--like a boat without a rudder--drifting aimlessly with the currents to who knows where. Such is the plight of city dwellers worldwide. But that's not the case for Thai farmers and villagers. Self-sufficiency has been taught to villagers and the general populace for generations. Their Buddhist beliefs and determination are truly genuine safety nets. Micro-capitalism is well and alive in Thailand in good times and bad. Welcome to the Land of Smiles.

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QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

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BANGKOK'S VENICE STYLE CANALS ARE FASCINATING TO GAZE UPON: AMAZING, THAT'S FOR SURE...

Copyright (C) 2007 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved. To enlarge the photo, click your mouse on the picture.

Thailand, especially Bangkok (the Venice of the East), has so many treasures just sitting outside the front door of your hotel. Visitors are urged to linger around the canals that permeate Bangkok's residential area, just off the main roads. Watching children dive into the narrow canals seeking shelter from the hot weather, is entertaining. To the right of the lovely Buddhist shrine is where at nighttime, vendors hawk their goods and produce to the local residents. In the morning, banana shaped boats with long propeller shafts and high powered engines pick up passengers and deliver them within walking distance to their places of work. The sound of engines can be heard over the normal traffic congestion of Bangkok proper. But no matter how modern Bangkok has become, the back streets and alleyways of Bangkok are where the smiling and caring folks of the Venice of the East reside. And if you want to know what it's like to live in a big city in Thailand, just turn right or left off a main road, and you'll likely run into a residential area: off the beaten path. That's where you'll really see how the Thais live. So, if you're in the mood to see Thailand from the inside out, dump the tour guide, and/or sightseeing bus, and see Thailand firsthand via the back streets during the daytime (never at night--safety first). You might get a glimpse of the Unseen Thailand everyone talks about, fostering some fond memories (and pictures) in the process. Always travel with friends or acquaintances when traveling in Bangkok, or anywhere else in the world. That's just common sense. I took the above picture with a Pentax K10D.

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QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

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FURNITURE STORES IN THAILAND ARE A DELIGHT TO BEHOLD.

Copyright (C) 2007 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.

Click the picture to enlarge the photograph.

When I have time, it's nice to travel to Chiangmai, Lampang

and other spots in Thailand. One of the most fun aspects of

such trips is visiting numerous furniture stores along the way.

If you take a sightseeing tour of Thailand, undoubtedly your

tour guide will have the bus stop at several "tourist traps": Oops,

I meant to say, shops en route to your destination. If you happen

to notice huge price differences between shops, don't be alarmed.

More than likely, the higher priced shop(s) will be able to send

your new teakwood dinner table and chairs back home. Why

is that? Because a store must have an export license before the

authorities will allow them to ship any teakwood products out of

Thailand. Hence, that's probably the reason for the price difference.

If you choose to live in Thailand, then by all means by the lesser

expensive furniture because in most cases it's of the same quality.

But not always... Buyer beware is a good motto. In either case,

try and dicker the price to your liking. It does no harm, and

it's expected that you will at least try to bargain with Thai

merchants. That practice is as old as the hills. And if you're

wondering how you're going to place a cup and saucer on that

intricately inlaid picture, don't fret. If you haven't guessed it

already, you'll need to buy some pane glass back home to cover

the carving. Anyway, last but not least, I shot the above picture

with a Kodak P850 digital camera.

Bottom line: So, why don't you think about coming to Thailand

sometime? You'll fall in love with its culture and greatest asset:

it's people. Just a pleasant thought. Take care.

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QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF

F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS.

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A PENTAX K10D USER REVIEW BY NOVELIST F. SCOTT SINCLAIR

Copyright (C) 2007 by F. Scott Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.


(Click on the picture to enlarge the photo)

It's intriguing to buy a new camera, especially a digital...and a dslr at that. Ever since the Pentax K10D was introduced in September of 2006, I've been waiting with my tongue hanging out to get one in my hands. After searching high and low in Bangkok for a K10D, I finally found the Thailand distributor on the fourth floor of Panthip Plaza. I soon found out that the initial shipment had sold-out already. With my money in hand, I asked, "May I place an order, and I'll gladly put whatever deposit you require down on the camera, if that's all right with you?" After a friendly smile and a nod of agreement, the manager of this fine store and I walked around searching for accessories to go with my purchase. Needless to say, I was in seventh heaven.

Sure enough, two weeks later, I was notified that my Black Beauty had arrived. I made my way to Bangkok and road the escalator proudly to the fourth floor. The intrigue was killing me, but I managed to maintain some modicum of decorum in the process. When the salesman brought the Pentax K10D body, 2 lenses and an assortment of accessories to where he'd had me seated, my eyes bulged at the sight of this camera. Amazing...! It almost winked at me as it cuddled into my hand and warmly gave me its approval to begin shooting snapshots. So intuitive... Unbelievable! This camera was like falling in love for the first time. It had all the gadgets you'd ever want, all in one toy box: the Pentax K10D.

The viewfinder has red lights indicating the position of the autofocus indicator, and its appearance was magnificent and reassuring. And the viewfinder was so bright and informative. Even more so with the new 1.11 firmware update. With just one press of the OK button, and I've got ISO under control. And if I want to shoot RAW, there's a dedicated RAW button in front of the camera, just above the camera mount on the left side (back to forward view). Recently, I've made use of the auto ISO program; I've decided to let the camera choose the proper setting. I have the camera set to AUTO ISO 100-1600. Perhaps I'm trying to grow with the camera, rather than just arbitrarily picking an ISO setting.


The first shots out of the camera in the Natural mode really caught my eye. If I'd wanted to brighten the image up a bit, I could have selected the Brite mode. And guess what? I'd have been amazed all over again. If you take a look at the above available light snapshot, you'll see how the Pentax K10D deals with exposures at ISO 1600. And I was delighted to say the least. Once I get the hang of posting pictures (more confident), I'll post more pictures. But the lobby shot of a very nice hotel that's not at all that expensive--made my day.

I've decided to buy numerous SD memory cards. Why so many...? For one thing, they're dirt cheap right now. And I don't care how fast the card is because I've always used the original cards, and they seem fast enough. Thus, I am now able to capitalize on the RAW + JPEG capture mode. A lot of memory must be used, but having nearly 15 gigs of memory is sufficient. I also use all that memory to capture video on my marvelous Kodak P850 superzoom camera. Two birds with one stone. That's right, I'm still stuck on a prosumer camera because of the flexibility, and the ability to capture extremely good video. In other words, I can travel light, or carry one or the other camera--or both with me. My choice.

Besides that, it's fun capturing images in both RAW and JPEG. Be forewarned, you'll need a lot of SD memory to do that. And, I might add, I use the built-in RAW developer to get the best possible image. If you prefer to develop your RAW images outside the camera, feel free to do so with the supplied software or someone else's third party RAW conversion program. It's your choice. And if you don't have lots of memory, but you'd like to shoot a selected assortment of RAW images, that's when the RAW button comes in handy. Just press the dedicated RAW button, and mission accomplished.

The features that are incorporated in the K10D are above and beyond the call of duty. A true feature set: shake reduction, dust removal, weather seals, too many capture modes to mention (and then some, but all are great and useful), the 22 bit AD converter, to mention a few features that many higher priced dslr's don't have. I want to take this opportunity to thank Pentax for providing such a dynamic and worthy tool to me: a person of modest means so I also can enjoy taking pictures at a more professional level.

Speaking of quality, the shutter has been tested to nearly 100,000 cycles. And what does that mean? It means a lot, my friend. It means that Pentax is not cutting corners. Hence, I feel more confident about the remaining components that comprise this marvelous camera. A real Black Beauty, she is...

Disclaimer: But ultimately, you're the decider. This camera is NOT for everyone. Read the reviews online and make up your own mind. Remember: buyer beware. The above review is my personal opinion, and nobody should rely on it. Other folks say very nice things about this camera also, but there are those who do not like the K10D also. Check the reviews out by professionals, etc. Whatever your decision, good luck! And happy picture taking no matter what camera you decide to purchase. And always choose a camera dealer that allows you to buy and return your purchase if you're not satisfied. That's pure common sense, I believe.

Anyway, there's a world of beauty out there. Enjoy it...!
Nuff said.

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QUOTE:

PENTAX K10D RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS GRAND PRIX AWARD


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Pentax K10D Review Roundup and Sample Photos


QUOTE:

A CONVENIENT (I HOPE) TABLE OF CONTENTS OF
F. SCOTT SINCLAIR'S NOVELS

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