A day at the zoo with Kevin and Anita, who have spent several months of their lives shooting wildlife in Africa (with cameras). Given that, there was probably not much to excite at a slightly faded Thai zoo; but there were meerkats, and you can’t go wrong with a meerkat.

She who must be obeyed fancied an outing to try out her new GM1 camera today and decided Nong Nuch would serve as a testing ground. I was there last week to play with my Jupiter 11, but there is always something to shoot so I was happy to wander round with her.

Did my usual circuit and we were returning to the car park as the sun was setting. There was a group of tourists in one of the buildings near the French garden and I took a couple of uninteresting shots of the structure. Then, just as the sun sunk into the clouds and the sky decided to be interesting for a minute or so, one of the tourists posed for her friend to take a photo; and I had my shot.

My foray into Russian cameras, in particular the Kiev Rangefinder, alerted me to the delights of Russian lenses, in particular the Jupiter 8. Then there was the Jupiter 3, and then the Helios 103 which produced some very interesting images when stuck on the front of my GX1. This shot in particular had a soft, painted look to it which you just don’t get with modern glass.

There are many cultural differences between East and West, and after nearly thirty years of Asian living, I think I have adopted many Eastern practices to the extent that they now come naturally. But I have yet to adopt the practice of spraying my bum, post poo.

Of course it makes sense. Is it better to slide your fingers over your dirty bum, protected only by a thin piece of tissue paper, or spray it clean with a jet of water. The latter obviously; but my inability to use a bum spray without also soaking a wide area of my body, my clothes, the toilet and surrounding facilities; means I continue to consume toilet tissue.

Up at 0500 for a day trip to somewhere on the other side of the gulf for a wedding of one of she who must be obeyed’s university buddies. I recall her as being the smallest Boot’s assistant I have ever met and also a really nice person; so happy to attend, although such an early start is not so pleasant.

I drive until we reach the motorway where I enforce a pee break (my wife is notorious for demanding a pee at the most difficult points in a journey). She then takes the wheel so I can navigate, which I do faultlessly; although we nearly come to blows at one point where I insist we go left and she demands we go right. I know I am correct because it is same spot where I made a mistake Kevin took us in the wrong direction when we went to the Ancient City last year.

We arrive at the wedding having missed much of the ceremony, but in time to see the sharing of the rings and the splashing of the water on the hands. There is a professional photographer in attendance with a full-frame Canikon and assorted lenses. He looks at my Olympus and observes “nice camera”. I can’t bring myself to say “so is yours”, so I settle for “yes, and much lighter than yours”. We don’t speak again.

I take a few shots inside the house. It is fairly dark and this was taken at ISO 1600: