All of Essays, Page 8

169 Photo Essays, Shot on Film

Chiang Mai
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January 30, 2018
Within the eight-hundred-year-old crumbling walls, at the foot of Suthep mountain lies Chiang Mai. The city has outgrown its fort-like confinements many years ago, spreading far beyond the square perimeter that could be crossed afoot in thirty minutes.
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A Better Way
December 26, 2017
Note from the editor. This is the final photo essay from the series, which I hope gives you a visual understanding of how enormous our cities have grown and help you imagine the amount of impact on our planet that they bring about. Being human requires consumption, which we often augment and enhance with our infrastructure.
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Plastic Thailand
December 19, 2017
Thailand’s product packaging is uniquely dense. Vendors provide more plastic utensils, bags and seals than in any of the sixteen countries I’ve been to during the past seven years. Even China. Market food is often given in small plastic sleeves which are skillfully wrapped with rubber bands and placed inside another small bag with handles.
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The Recyclable Cycle
December 12, 2017
Singapore is known to be a clean, modern, and prosperous country. It is the financial and transportation hub of Asia, which has managed to grow into a densely-populated metropolis over the years. Due to an extremely limited landmass there is no space for landfills and so waste management, especially recycling, is extremely important to the public health and the environment as a whole.
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Of Pine Cones and Trees
December 4, 2017
Suddenly I kick my foot against the little pine cone. I stop and look down, aware that I almost stepped on it. Had I not stopped, I would have tread on it and perhaps destroyed it. I stare at it for a while and at all the other pine cones around it. It’s then I realize this small movement of mine is important: it is proof that elements can be altered by humans in their own environment, if ever so slightly.
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Loy Krathong
And Yi Peng Festival in Chiang Mai
November 14, 2017
November full moon shines❡ Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong❡ And the water’s high in the river and the Klong❡ Loy Loy Krathong, Loy Loy Krathong❡ Loy Krathong is here and everybody’s full of cheer❡ We’re together at the Klong❡ Each one with a krathong❡ As we push away we pray❡ We can see a better day.
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November
November 8, 2017
The bright, warm colours of countless maple trees lit up the cloudy cold sky of Toronto. Canadian fall is in bloom. It wouldn’t last, as the leaves are soon to drift towards the ground, crumble and become earth. Gone from the branches, hidden underneath the white snow.
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Flower Universe
October 31, 2017
Wherever there are plants, there are flowers. Their colour, texture and smell attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. We are drawn to them too. Some pills are made of flowers to help us when we’re ill. Though often it’s enough to just have a good look at their delicate form and colour to feel better already.
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The Coffee Province
Of Thailand
October 16, 2017
Chiang Mai has a remarkable coffee culture. Expresso-type drinks are within walking distance virtually anywhere in the city. Cheap too: you can get a decent cup for ฿25 if you know a place. Excellent typically costs around ฿70. Starbucks is more expensive but you’d be a fool to go to that shop here.
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The Magic of Bouldering
Sportsmanship in Solitude
September 26, 2017
I get my exercise at a small climbing gym in Chiang Mai. Here there are only three: a fairly large one with thirty-foot-high climbs, a small practice wall (a “bonus” built for the regular gym) and CMRCA — my spot. Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures seems to make most of its profit from guiding climbers to the Crazy Horse Buttress, which features tons of lead lines and is only about an hour drive from the city.
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23 Days in Myanmar
Yangon, Nyang Shwe, and Bagan
September 5, 2017
It’s been over three years since Betty and I gave up our apartment in Toronto and began travelling across Asia. So far, we’ve seen eleven countries. Vietnam was one of our favourites — spent around three months there. China is where some of Betty’s relatives live; we travelled around the western part of it for about six months.
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Brighton Beach
July 29, 2017
Brighton Beach is a Russian community neighbourhood in New York. When I was growing up in Moscow as a kid I’ve heard a lot about it on TV: the magical place where one can become and live like an American. During the early 90s, there was an obsession with everything USA; it suddenly became “amazing and wonderful”, instead of “the villain” — a narrative it was given for over fifty years prior. Perestroika flipped the entire culture onto its head.
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