Billions

The last pic is the chunky ladyboy who nightly occupies the plastic chair in front of the closed go-go,touting for photographs. Must be a hard way to earn a living.

Haha....I was thinking exactly the same when I was sorting through what photos to post! I've just resized another fifty from WS,and there's plenty more to come after that. There's some detail in all of them which justifies putting them up for viewing. Idefix....I have a much better photo on the same theme....was saving it to the very end of this project,as it represents Walking Street so well! I'll post it as a finale,soon. FBF,MD....thank you both.

The last photo presented itself as I popped out of a 7-11 on Walking Street.....the concrete was a street sign,which nicely framed the shot. The woman looked so much like a LB too.....

Well,seeing as my neon fetish is out in the open,I won't feel too bad about loading up more signage photos.... The huge cocktail glass with the ladders leading up to it was outside New York New York. I had hoped to find a girl in there,but no such luck. There were two other huge glasses inside,but both girl free when I popped by. The crater is obviously from Moon Club,one cool detail is a bootprint in the wall design....I'll find that photo and add it later. The heads are from mannequins,I first saw them in Bangkok about 2004,they always make me smile. The "ladyboy" grafitti isnt grafitti.....a big old Lima Bravo sits outside on a plastic chair at nightfall,asking couples to take a photgraph with her,probably the only way she can make money as she is no spring chicken. She probably wrote it herself,as advertising. I have a pic of her too somewhere,will add it later. The last pic is to keep you still interested in this thread!

Here's the Broadway Club sign...if you see it again,it means you are in my house,and that probably isn't going to happen! It cost 5000 bht.....thats £100 GBP, 150 USD.....well,I would pay that for one or two letters here. A guy,the odd job man for the club owner (who was a powerful lady called Prae,and owns all the Hot Tuna bars,plus quite a bit more...MM probably knows her) dismantled it for me,stripped off all the letters and fixings,so all I had to do was take it away. I didnt want the board,the neon bordering or the neon shaping the girl...just the stars and letters. Its now on my dining room table. At this moment,I have no idea what the colours are.....the lettering might be blue,but no idea about the stars,if they are the same or different colours. It will look good on my lounge wall though. Prae also give me another one which was on the wall in the big pool hall on Walking Street (opposite the Blues Factory) which she owns too (I think her brother owns the BF side)....again spelling Broadway,but in joined up deep blue tubing.....a good freebie.

Well,thank you all,again. Comments make the time and effort worthwhile,so its really appreciated. Veill / Frank.....without doubt you could have that sign,I doubt it would cost you anything...maybe a token 200bht if that. On every trip to Thailand,I acquire a bit of neon signage....until this year it was all from Nana Plaza in Bangkok,as bars changed ownership. A good friend of mine in my hometown in the UK is a neon signmaker,and as I live in a large converted warehouse/factory I have the room to display them. When I went to Pattaya in Feb of this year,I acquired 24 the pink stars that adorned the signage for Illusion Club in Soi 14 and 15,plus the club sign on the wall and all the bits and pieces that used to be in the foyer when it was Top Girls. This visit I bought the signage for Broadway Club in same soi as Bada Bing and also the previous neon when it was called Las Vegas City. Its easy to find the owner....just ask a neighbour,and they have the property boss on the other end of the phone in twenty seconds. A labourer can be procured to do the dismantling for a tiny fee. Cost is minimal...in Bangers the most I ever paid was 1000bht,as most people give it me for free....but in Patts they want usually 5000bht per sign. Believe me,its well worth it.....the Broadway club sign had 9 different sized stars plus excellent lettering for Broadway...all in all 18 separate pieces...the Las Vegas City signage is the most amazing ornate lettering too. Bought loads of bubblewrap from a specialist shop in Klang,went to the DHL office on Second Road,was given 4 large boxes....wrapped it,packed it,DHL collected from my hotel and the parcel was delivered to my house in England the following day. Amazing!! OK,I didnt get any transformers (neon is high voltage stuff) and there are other costs to remake in the UK,but having original bits of the Thailand entertainment scene is pretty cool. I might even show some photos later when the new ones are built. I actually thought about the Club Boesche sign too....not the one in the photo above,but the neon one one the door (photo below).....but then as I already had two good ones this trip,I decided against it. Maybe next time,or maybe never. The CB sign you like is huge btw....you would need a big space to show it. AC...thanks again.Here's one for you,previously identified by your good self.....and then another in the same theme from Walking Street. Maxpower....a good camera helps!! More very soon!!

The following joke was doing the rounds last week : "Yorkshire are dominating in the Olympics and they still have Peter Sutcliffe in the hammer to come!" I laughed at that. Other jokes were "Good luck to the Brazilian hurdlers.....last time one jumped over a barrier in London we shot him dead!" The head of the Somali Olympic team has apologized to officials after realizing that the shooting and sailing events are separate.The other teams have accepted the apology and will be getting their boats back. By way of an apology to North Korea for displaying the South Korean flag at the football,the team will be treated to an all you can eat buffet at Battersea Dogs Home.

OMG,I had forgotten about this thread.....have a couple of thousand more pictures to sort through and then select from.....I'll get on it after finishing my Pattaya photo report.....then finish another incomplete one (Klong Toey). Biting off more than I can chew.......

Thank you again! A few daytime shots,different lenses..... Will get back to WS after a few about town images.

The "Please Fuck My Ass" tattoo LB from another angle. Not as nature intended!

Of course,having a close-up lens means that small tattoos become readable....... This Lima Bravo plotted up directly in front of me on WS. She had massive distorted bolt-ons on the front.....I'll dig out a picture.....but it was only when I looked at the photo later that I read her tattoo......

Thanx all again for the supporting comments....its makes it worthwhile when there's feedback. Teelack...camera is a Canon 5d Mk2.....a wonderful toy. The lens I used most often in WS at night was a 100mm macro.....a fixed focal length,but very very fast autofocus....was often like a gunslinger,quickly aiming and pressing,and often getting an in-focus result. I tried using a 24-105 zoom,but took longer to focus,by which time the subject had moved,or got motion blur. I tried a faster shutter speed,but not enough light was getting in,so I kept to the 100mm lens. Its a lightweight lens too,as well as being superfast,so there was another advantage. Downside was I couldnt zoom in or out on any scene. If the subject was close,then the background got nicely and artistically blurred ("Bokeh"),and if subject was distant everything was in deep focus and clear. The lens is used for close up studies ( a bee feasting in a flower for example) where you dont want to get too close and disturb the scene or cast a shadow,but works well too for this kind of shot. The following ten are all taken with this lens too. Lots more to come.

Keyman,you are right.....the flow of human activity is relentless.....people surging everywhere! There are only so many buildings and signs to see,its the human aspect that changes minute by minute.The problem is capturing it....there arent many elevated positions on WS that aren't interrupted by wires,signs or canopies,so you need to be at street level,mixed in with the fast moving people. Using a flash would be brilliant...it would ensure cleaner images,reduce motion blur and help achieve a fast focus.....but also would attract unwanted attention....so there are many lost opportunities. A fraction of a second can change a well composed image into something less than desirable. Such is Walking Street......here's an example.......

MD....hehehe.......

Thank you all! Blown away by your comments,AC. It's not easy photographing on Walking Street....a chunky camera attracts a lot of attention,and its often negative. People using camera phones and small compact cameras are left to it,but anything substantial round your neck gets aggressive demands to stop,or compensation "requests" of 100 baht for any picture. Then there are the gobshites in bars with lazer pointers who think its ok to shine it at you just because you look like you might be working for the media.... Of course,there's the bizarre location to take into account....photographing in any red light district anywhere in the world is traditionally verboten,and the cast of characters usually consists of ner-do-wells and street criminals...not a healthy mix. These guys really dont want a camera pointing in their direction. The lighting is variable.....there's little of interest in Walking Street during the day unless beer deliveries are your thing,so its at night when the creatures stream into view and extreme neon colours flood WS like a huge multicoloured canyon....but the most difficult component is the fast moving rivers of people flowing up,down and into the street at any given moment. An interesting subject is almost immediately blotted out by fresh bodies surging inbetween you and them. And because of the nature of the nightlife,it is impossible to get people to assent to a photograph being taken,so everything has to be stolen,or taken without consent. A fast lens is necessary,as people move in and out of focus in a nanasecond.Its that second where you have to strike. Sometimes,its a miracle that I ended up with any worthwhile pictures at all,such are the associated difficulties. But I think I managed it. Adelante!