Catching up: a miscellaneous blog post

If I had a blog category for “Miscellaneous” then this post would surely fall under it. But “Miscellaneous” always seems a bit vague to me so we’ll go with “Travel” although this post is a quick catch-up on several things I’ve been meaning to share.

2008 - My plans for the remainder of the year

Firstly, and most importantly right now, I’m beginning to prepare for my upcoming trips to Bhutan and Nepal. I leave next week for Bhutan in the company of a group led by Tewfic El-Sawy. Tewfic has been to Bhutan a number of times as have many of the other people in his group so I’ll be the newbie. Our itinerary includes several festivals and the photo opportunities will, I’m certain, be extraordinary.

Any return to the Himalayas is special for me and the excitment is growing as I begin to make lists of what to take. I’ll try to post details of my packing list as I know it’s of interest and I’ve been asked to share that information before. If nothing else, I’ll put up a list of my camera and computer gear.

Not content with two weeks in Bhutan, after just three days back in Bangkok at the end of October I’ll be jumping on a Thai Airways flight to Kathmandu. I’ve got a month there and hope to meet up with David duChemin at the end of his stay in Nepal. I have some commissioned work there but will have a lot of time for my own projects and am really looking forward to returning to the Langtang Valley where I’ll meet up with my guide from 2004 and spend some time in his village. I’ll trek out to Gosainkund and then walk all the way back to Kathmandu. It will be especially nice to be pretty unrestricted and have the freedom to proceed at a leisurely fashion, stopping for a day or two where the mood takes me. Wow! Just writing about it gives me goose-bumps.

And then I’ll be back in Bangkok for December although there have been distant mumblings about a trip to Indonesia before the end of the year or the beginning of ‘09. During all this time I’ll be keeping in touch with editors in the UK and US, managing my online stock sales as well as the vagaries of local Internet connections allow and making plans for 2009. It’ll be a busy time but you couldn’t say that it won’t be an exciting and adventurous one!

Web site update

Regular visitors will have noticed a change to this web site design. I know, I know, I change it more frequently than some people change their underpants. But there’s a good reason. Truly! Without boring you with the technicalties, I was using Rapid Weaver to create my site offline and then updating it when connected. That’s all tickety-boo and Rapid Weaver is an excellent piece of software. However, with so many trips to remote areas coming up I decided to migrate to a Wordpress installation so that I can post from Internet cafes. I can also post from my BlackBerry but I can still write posts offline with the verstaile Mac Journal software and then upload later. It is, as they say, the best of both worlds.

So there’s a bit more tidying up to do but most things came across really easily. I haven’t yet been able to import the Haloscan comments but I’m sure it’s possible so hopefully they will reappear at some stage. In the meantime, please introduce yourself with a comment when you feel inspired to. It’s nice to know who you are and what you’re thinking.

To the Manner Born

Completely unrelated, today’s Bangkok Post includes an article on the perceived differences between Western and Thai etiquette. It lists the following tenets to be observed at a dinner party:

• Never intentionally embarrass another guest
• Don’t gossip
• Don’t pry
• Don’t ask personal questions
• Don’t stare or point at another guest

My question is this: if you’re going to observe these restrictions, what would be the point of having a dinner party?

Loving the Pocky

Finally, an article I read recently gave guidelines on how to write blog posts and recommended keeping it short. It reported research demonstrating that 86.3% of blog visitors read every word of the first few lines, scan quickly across the next few paragraphs and are reading vertically by the time they get this far down the page. With this in mind I can say pretty much what I fancy at this stage without fear of many of you ever reading it.

That’s probably just as well because I have to make an admission. Since arriving in Bangkok I have developed an addiction. I crave Pocky.

Pocky, a biscuit snack covered in chocolate, was developed in Japan and can be found on the shelves of every self-respecting Seven-Eleven in Thailand.

Indeed, I have just returned from the Supermarket clutching, amongst other things, a box of Strawberry Pocky. The illustration on the box shows luscious, ripe strawbwrries. Would I be on shaky ground if I suggested that my Pocky have probably not been anywhere near a real strawberry?

Nevertheless, I’m a slave to Pocky and am slightly concerned about the cold turkey I’ll undoubtedly experience when in Bhutan and Nepal and far from my regular supplier. It’s probably for the best I suppose, I have to get this Pocky monkey off my back somehow.

Researching this post I obviously went to Wikipedia, which has some interesting “facts” about Pocky including a list of the many flavours. I also checked out the official Pocky web site and haven’t got a clue what much of it is about but it seems that you can buy Pocky in Second Life and we will soon be able to enjoy Pocky: The Movie.

There’s a “Friends of Pocky” club, which might soon see a new member but, best of all, there’s a competition where entrants draw Pocky Art, creating characters to match different flavours. And the prize for the best entries? Why, a box of delicious Pocky of course!

Back to the serious stuff

Only 2.74% of my readers will have reached this far down the post so congratulations if you are one of the hardy few. There’s been little about photography in this post and we’ll be getting back on track next week. Members of the Bangkok Photo Club meet on Monday night to share their six favourite photos so I’ll post mine here after that meeting and explain what it is that I like about each image.

I’ll also be posting news of a new Photo Tour that I’m planning so look out for that next week too.