Mom Says I’m Running Away

Day: 438

At closer inspection today, its true, my camera broke. But its not too bad or irreparable, the mirror just came away from the plastic shutter mechanism, I still have all the parts and it looks like a repair will be rather easy. Unfortunately, while it will still take pictures, it won’t auto-focus, light meter, or even allow me to see through the viewfinder. Sucks bad.

Walking around the streets today without my camera left me extremely depressed. I never before realized the how much a part of me photography is, ands how dependent I am on it as a mechanism to see the world. I see it through the lens, the weight hanging at my side is comforting, its so much a part of who I am I feel lost without it.

I know it sounds lame, but if I wasn’t going back to Singapore (where I can get it fixed by Canon for $50) in a day here, I would be out killing my credit card and buying something to capture the moments of my life with.

-depressed-

Day: 437

Today was our Matador Meet-up here in Chiang Mai.

We wandered about the city, ate lunch and took in a couple of temples.

We met even more Matador members and drank.

And drank…

….and then my camera broke…

Day: 436

Our Lao bus driver kicks ass!  He got us through our night on the bus and even shaved 3 hours off our expected time.  We made it to the shores of the Mekong by 7am and had some breakfast while waiting for the border to open.

I had teamed up with Chris, a Canadian film guy, and Marisa, an Irish girl on a year long round the world, to try to get ourselves to Chiang Mai with some sort of speed today.

Unfortunately it didn’t work out that well, it was supposed to be only 5hours from the border, but the frustrating day was spent trying get on bus after full bus which never could quite get ups there. We ended up spending 5 hours in Chiang Rai waiting, and when we did finally make Chiang Mai it was past 9 in the evening.

When I finally found a place with a bed it was a shithole, but I was exhausted and dirty from 30hours of travel, so i showered and dropped in the rockhard bed, deciding then to change hostels in the morning.