Smiles
March 22nd, 2010, 12:39
Two events (both needing lots of hot air) floated by as in a dream here in Hua Hin recently, and both produced some serious and ethereal lightness of being ... the first in a dusty and Thai-heavy field between Hua Hin and Cha Am (relying on air, blowing but not too hard, and a simple string, and a lot of kids), the second in the sparkly ocean right in town, top-heavy on technology, farangs, hype, money, and a World Cup.
THE KITERS:
Although this fest had 'International' written all over it (the 11th in fact) it seemed to me to be more Thai than cosmopolitan ... more child than adult ... more screaming loudspeaker than overt 'talent'.
But it was fun nonetheless ~ bloody hot too ~ and the wizzing Small Ones had 'lethal' in mind and trophy's to be collected: "FROM UDONTHANI!!!!" wailed some faceless announcer, the crowd roared, and Some Kite somewhere whoop-dee-doooed in Some Corner of the field, passed by Some Barrier in first place, a golden cup won. How? No one seemed to know, or care (perhaps the string handler), but it was a party anyway .... with great honkin' fans fed by great barrels of water producing reams of misty breath for sweaty farangs passing out in the heat in droves.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites0001.jpg
Strange and magical creatures in the blue yonder. Many fishes, various octopea(us, is, s, etc), rubbery squid, lots of dragons and turtles. One looked very like a giant sperm wriggling into strategic place behind a large panda bear's spreading legs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites003.jpg
This in fact was the panda a few minutes after impregnation. We wish her well.
There is some kind of crazed frenzy over pandas in Thailand (there's a TV station which provides 24/7 live images of the panda celeb 'Ling Ping' in Chiang Mai zoo. For pete's sake.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites007.jpg
Threading the needle Thai Style: choose a big enough hole and one can push a whale through it. ('Mae West')
This was an interesting kite as it not only floated well, it turned around at great speed. No idea the physics of such a feat: how do the large number of strings not get hopelessly tangled? Thai magic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites024.jpg
This one is for kids. Fill a teddy bear with treats and candy, pull it up a hundred feet in the air, burst it open at the seams, drop Really Heavy hard candy on the heads of tiny children below. Lots of fun!
The little buggers come back for more time and time again, and one was seen running to his mother with a Mars Bar stuck in his right eye socket. Collateral damage, I say. And so does the Thai army.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites030.jpg
This guy is the Loader Of The Bear and knows exactly what he's doing. He has no children himself thus lacks empathy. Served in the South, and later in the North rounding up and torturing Hmong drug runners.
His talent: waiting for the Perfect Storm ... the greatest number of children in the smallest area, where he can't miss.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites031.jpg
And those targets! How sweet. How innocent. How waiting.
Gotta love the yellow mohawks and the Hollywood shades, the clashing checkerboard shirts and shorts, the polka dots everywhere, the hearts, the red red red. Reminds one of those other red shirts stifling under polka dot umbrellas on the concrete of Bangkok streets lately. But these Mohawk Brothers are having way more fun :rolling:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites037.jpg
THE BOARDERS:
The hype runneth over, but the gold cups are the same, the World Cup of Kite Boarding comes to Hua Hin and the Kite Girls are all about torquoise spandex and the the burley Australian boys are strutting, the hunky Americans hunking, the Japanese still bow-legged, even on a Kiteboard, the Thais all brown slim-waisted and to-die-for.
New Newton Law: Everyone who kiteboards struts. It seems to be genetic, hidden for years then triggered by the first toe to hit a board. Look deep in the eye of a kiteboarder and see a man/boy who you really don't want to know.
And scowl?? That's genetic too, apparently. This World Cup is Serious Business and damn those folks who think this beach is 'everyone's', anyone can swim here. Well fuck that shit! It's KiteBoard time!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding006.jpg
But one can't deny it's a pretty colourful sight, all these these contraptions lying around, tripping up fat Germans and small dogs.
And Yes, irony of ironies ... damned if a few of the more amateurish didn't find themselves heading straight ~ at a high speed ~ for the 40th floor of that big ass beach condo building when the peaceful easterly turned west and vicious. Like small flys in fact, splattered bloodily on whitewashed walls so high up, dangling over balconies:("It's all in the Kiteboarding game, chum. Suck it up and peel me off, pal")
http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=medium&album_id=51&image_id=3149
Now this is unfortunate! This cool and flighty dude, 'Catching Air' as they say, hand waving outward ... "look at me, look at me" is doing dramatically what I cannot do, would not attempt: i.e. not only kiteboarding on the ocean sea ... but then jumping heaven-ward and doing tricks and things up in the air near where the seagulls float and the 747's fly north to Bangkok. Are you nuts??
But this is pretty good stuff and we're quite amused. Quite impressed I tell you ... until ...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding012.jpg
... he docks his sail and stands to ground,
Now turned from sleek and graceful penguin under sea,
To a floppy, bumpy awkwardness of one on lumpy land.
And not only!
But a butt crack large and wide enough
To mail a large business envelope down into.
Water boarded!
How does grace turn to hairy butt in fell swoop?
Does he know we have this pose amongst his favourites?
Does he not know his ass
Is grass?
Priceless.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding013.jpg
Now THIS is impressive. And a Thai Guy to boot. Gay? Probably ... that spiky cut, that narrowing waist, those muscle back arms. the perfectly straight verticalality(?) of that board ... know there's a position we must teach the old man. Tonight! And without a board!!
So there are positives amid the theatre ~ mostly to do with the shallow, eye-candy potential ~ and Hua Hin gets a Big Baht shot in the arm, the big hotels' corridors are wall-to-wall muscles, big hair, serious talk around 'boarding', slim waists and Billabong shorts, drinking gallons of water at a sitting. These dudes don't drink booze (unlike when the Bromley Bombers Rugby Team is in town), and give short shrift to Thai ladies screaming out "Hi handsome" (and meaning it!) when they take a stroll down Soi Bintabat. But they do strut well ... worth the price of admission to this curmudgeon.
I didn't notice any of them in 'Little Choices' though. And I was looking ... let me tell you.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding014.jpg
I really like this shot: the curve angle of the many sails in the background are precisely copied by the body of this boarder. On purpose? A photo op? Can't be, not possible. But there it is, well taken by my friend the photographer (see below PS). A nice capture in stop time, and an appropriate end to these musings: not a true full circle, but half there. Like life.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding032.jpg
(PS ... Huge thanks to 'Bob' for all the photos in this post. My own camera's battery was dead, and Pot's photos were mysteriously deleted by 'someone' who didn't understand how his camera works. We knew Bob was good for something!) :headbang:
THE KITERS:
Although this fest had 'International' written all over it (the 11th in fact) it seemed to me to be more Thai than cosmopolitan ... more child than adult ... more screaming loudspeaker than overt 'talent'.
But it was fun nonetheless ~ bloody hot too ~ and the wizzing Small Ones had 'lethal' in mind and trophy's to be collected: "FROM UDONTHANI!!!!" wailed some faceless announcer, the crowd roared, and Some Kite somewhere whoop-dee-doooed in Some Corner of the field, passed by Some Barrier in first place, a golden cup won. How? No one seemed to know, or care (perhaps the string handler), but it was a party anyway .... with great honkin' fans fed by great barrels of water producing reams of misty breath for sweaty farangs passing out in the heat in droves.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites0001.jpg
Strange and magical creatures in the blue yonder. Many fishes, various octopea(us, is, s, etc), rubbery squid, lots of dragons and turtles. One looked very like a giant sperm wriggling into strategic place behind a large panda bear's spreading legs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites003.jpg
This in fact was the panda a few minutes after impregnation. We wish her well.
There is some kind of crazed frenzy over pandas in Thailand (there's a TV station which provides 24/7 live images of the panda celeb 'Ling Ping' in Chiang Mai zoo. For pete's sake.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites007.jpg
Threading the needle Thai Style: choose a big enough hole and one can push a whale through it. ('Mae West')
This was an interesting kite as it not only floated well, it turned around at great speed. No idea the physics of such a feat: how do the large number of strings not get hopelessly tangled? Thai magic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites024.jpg
This one is for kids. Fill a teddy bear with treats and candy, pull it up a hundred feet in the air, burst it open at the seams, drop Really Heavy hard candy on the heads of tiny children below. Lots of fun!
The little buggers come back for more time and time again, and one was seen running to his mother with a Mars Bar stuck in his right eye socket. Collateral damage, I say. And so does the Thai army.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites030.jpg
This guy is the Loader Of The Bear and knows exactly what he's doing. He has no children himself thus lacks empathy. Served in the South, and later in the North rounding up and torturing Hmong drug runners.
His talent: waiting for the Perfect Storm ... the greatest number of children in the smallest area, where he can't miss.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites031.jpg
And those targets! How sweet. How innocent. How waiting.
Gotta love the yellow mohawks and the Hollywood shades, the clashing checkerboard shirts and shorts, the polka dots everywhere, the hearts, the red red red. Reminds one of those other red shirts stifling under polka dot umbrellas on the concrete of Bangkok streets lately. But these Mohawk Brothers are having way more fun :rolling:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kites037.jpg
THE BOARDERS:
The hype runneth over, but the gold cups are the same, the World Cup of Kite Boarding comes to Hua Hin and the Kite Girls are all about torquoise spandex and the the burley Australian boys are strutting, the hunky Americans hunking, the Japanese still bow-legged, even on a Kiteboard, the Thais all brown slim-waisted and to-die-for.
New Newton Law: Everyone who kiteboards struts. It seems to be genetic, hidden for years then triggered by the first toe to hit a board. Look deep in the eye of a kiteboarder and see a man/boy who you really don't want to know.
And scowl?? That's genetic too, apparently. This World Cup is Serious Business and damn those folks who think this beach is 'everyone's', anyone can swim here. Well fuck that shit! It's KiteBoard time!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding006.jpg
But one can't deny it's a pretty colourful sight, all these these contraptions lying around, tripping up fat Germans and small dogs.
And Yes, irony of ironies ... damned if a few of the more amateurish didn't find themselves heading straight ~ at a high speed ~ for the 40th floor of that big ass beach condo building when the peaceful easterly turned west and vicious. Like small flys in fact, splattered bloodily on whitewashed walls so high up, dangling over balconies:("It's all in the Kiteboarding game, chum. Suck it up and peel me off, pal")
http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=medium&album_id=51&image_id=3149
Now this is unfortunate! This cool and flighty dude, 'Catching Air' as they say, hand waving outward ... "look at me, look at me" is doing dramatically what I cannot do, would not attempt: i.e. not only kiteboarding on the ocean sea ... but then jumping heaven-ward and doing tricks and things up in the air near where the seagulls float and the 747's fly north to Bangkok. Are you nuts??
But this is pretty good stuff and we're quite amused. Quite impressed I tell you ... until ...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding012.jpg
... he docks his sail and stands to ground,
Now turned from sleek and graceful penguin under sea,
To a floppy, bumpy awkwardness of one on lumpy land.
And not only!
But a butt crack large and wide enough
To mail a large business envelope down into.
Water boarded!
How does grace turn to hairy butt in fell swoop?
Does he know we have this pose amongst his favourites?
Does he not know his ass
Is grass?
Priceless.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding013.jpg
Now THIS is impressive. And a Thai Guy to boot. Gay? Probably ... that spiky cut, that narrowing waist, those muscle back arms. the perfectly straight verticalality(?) of that board ... know there's a position we must teach the old man. Tonight! And without a board!!
So there are positives amid the theatre ~ mostly to do with the shallow, eye-candy potential ~ and Hua Hin gets a Big Baht shot in the arm, the big hotels' corridors are wall-to-wall muscles, big hair, serious talk around 'boarding', slim waists and Billabong shorts, drinking gallons of water at a sitting. These dudes don't drink booze (unlike when the Bromley Bombers Rugby Team is in town), and give short shrift to Thai ladies screaming out "Hi handsome" (and meaning it!) when they take a stroll down Soi Bintabat. But they do strut well ... worth the price of admission to this curmudgeon.
I didn't notice any of them in 'Little Choices' though. And I was looking ... let me tell you.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding014.jpg
I really like this shot: the curve angle of the many sails in the background are precisely copied by the body of this boarder. On purpose? A photo op? Can't be, not possible. But there it is, well taken by my friend the photographer (see below PS). A nice capture in stop time, and an appropriate end to these musings: not a true full circle, but half there. Like life.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/forum%20photos%202/Kiteboarding032.jpg
(PS ... Huge thanks to 'Bob' for all the photos in this post. My own camera's battery was dead, and Pot's photos were mysteriously deleted by 'someone' who didn't understand how his camera works. We knew Bob was good for something!) :headbang: