25 June 10: a week of skies

These two weeks involve a lot of traveling. I took the night train up from Bangkok on Sunday and arrived in Vientiane on Tuesday. The photo above is the bends of the elevated train, known as the Skytrain, in Bangkok. It's a very convenient and low-cost way of beating the traffic in Bangkok.

You can just see the Skytrain rounding the traffic circle (under the Canon sign) around Victory Monument.

I arrived in Nong Khai on Monday morning and enjoyed relaxing in this quiet town on the banks of the Mekong River. I talked to someone who has lived in the town for ten years and we reminisced about the town in the past. The waterfront has been restored, with a nice walking park on top of the bank. I watched some kids skateboarding and also, this couple who were having an intense conversation with frequent attempts to call someone on their cell phone.

Later on, I went to a waterfront restaurant and saw the moon in relation to these light chains. Took a few shots but I enjoyed the outcome.

The following morning, I woke to the sound of rain. The sky was coming down, drop by drop. Some friends came by and picked me up to bring me back to Laos.

I hope that next week, I'll be able to find a wireless connection to send some photos from the skies of Vietnam.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.

18 June: Fog on a clear day

It's been a while since I've been able to take pictures and post. My Nikon stopped working, just about the time that things started to heat up in Bangkok. I decided to wait until things quieted down, and then we had our own program evaluation so I had to wait some more. Happy to say, I've been re-united with my camera. It was a model which had been recalled because of a defective part, so the service center took care of everything and I had the camera back the following day.

But these pictures are not taken with my newly restored camera. I took these about two weeks ago in Pakse, Champasak Province. I kept the air con in the hotel room on all night and the camera had dropped down to the ambient temperature so when I took it out into the moist hot air the following day - instant fog. The sky had a few morning clouds, but everything was clear by the ground. The fog was in my camera's perception.

I took these pictures near one of the bridges on the Sedon River.

I walked around the back of the Buddhist wat, into a tiny graveyard (well, the ashes are placed in those monuments). The fog still had not lifted, so the effects were weird. The picture above is of benches, where relatives can sit and enjoy the view.

This is my contribution to Skywatch Friday, whose members post pictures of the skies around the world.