On the south side of Bangkok there is a complex containing buildings from all over Thailand. Some are actual buildings that have been moved to the site, some are copies ( life size or sometimes smaller) of famous Thai structures, and some are just representation of themes. It’s called the Ancient City and I visited it with a female companion whose name I forget, many years ago. I know this because I still have a photo of myself, taken by the forgotten female, sat in front of a building, looking rather bored. And indeed that is my memory of the place, although it may have been down to the company rather than the location; because we went again last week and it was quite delightful.

They must have built many more exhibits since I last visited. One in particular stood out, quite literally. You can see it in the background here:

Pattaya’s beach road is a heady mixture of hookers, customers, pimps, vendors, and bemused tourists who wonder what they have wandered into. A wonderful place to take a camera, except the hookers don’t like to be photographed, and I suspect their customers are not too keen on the idea either. Point a sodding big SLR at beach lady and you may have an angry pimp to deal with. But how about an inconsequential little camera like the Fuji X100, touted as ideal street camera?

The answer is that, used with discretion (i.e. fear of being thumped), I was generally ignored. One guy did ask me how many years I had been taking photographs, the inference being that I was clearly using a vintage camera.

Anyway, here are some shots. I want to make it clear that none of the young ladies hanging around on beach road are prostitutes; they just like to spend their days near the sea wearing make-up and being friendly to passing men.

A plan to windsurf was abandoned due to a lack of wind, so we took a drive down the coast to Sai Keaw beach.