Amazing Thailand

wason stole a shot of Vivek and I standing on the bridge

I've been pretty quiet on the blog because i've just returned from Amazing Thailand. Giving the country a tagline like that is really asking for us to start "taking the mickey out of it" with its current affairs. But now i'm back and rested, i'm also given fresh perspective to life at home. I've always believed that once in a while, you've got to defragment and reboot our own systems so that you can come back fresh and clearer in thoughts. I've been caught at at home for the longest time, shooting the same old assignments that I even started to get bored with what I was doing (photojournalism).

the AP photo team minus David Longstreath.

(left-right, Wason, Sakchai, Apichart, me, Vincent Yu, Vincent Thian)

The moment I stepped out of the pool last Thursday, my phone started ringing. It was my boss, asking me when was the soonest I could get to Bangkok. At this time, Anti-government protesters and supporters of former prime minsiter Thaksin Shinawatra were gathering in full force, hoping to overthrow the current Prime Minister Abhisit. These people are known as the Reds or si deang. I was overjoyed. Booked a flight and headed right there the next morning only to find out the the si deangs have also moved over to Pattaya, to try and stop the ASEAN summit meetings which hosted heads of states from all over the world. So, in the evening, I headed out there. No one expected it to get as crazy as it did.. At times it felt like a total war zone. At times tensions were high, at times it seemed like a total joke and at times it felt like it would never end.. Amazing thailand... yeah.. (: Anyways, i'm glad I could be part of the team covering the news up there and at the same time, experience it all, the drama, the fear, the excitement, the calm... This all helps with the growing process as photographer, colleague, mother, friend, wife. Most importantly, it re-kindled me love for what i nearly forgot how to be passionate about... my job.