Friday

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

After ten hours in front of the computer with mostly Ghana pictures it was time for a nice evening in Bangkok. I ate swedish food at Swe Dish (formerly ScanDeli) with among others the new owner Janne, and also Björn and Jan. Janne takes it step by step and open slowly. Good idea. So far so good I think. He has some interesting ideas for the future as well.

After dinner we met up with some other great Bangkok people. For sure it was an international mix at the table. Thank you for a great night.

I started to go through some of my Bangladesh pictures as well. I plan a trip there in the near future. It will most lilkely a be a 4 day trip to Dhaka which is a bustling city with some 15 million people. Here is a picture I took about ten years ago in a busy street corner.

 

Today it is two years since the violent political clashes in central Bangkok. It was also the end to the very long occupation of many central areas of the capital of Thailand. There will be big demonstrations in Bangkok today. Some 50,000 “red shirts” are expected to take part. More information in Bangkok Post.

Bangkok – City of Life!

 

 

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Security thinking?

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Recently three billboard installers died when they fell from a suspended platform at the 69th floor of Baiyoke Tower II, Bangkok’s and Thailand’s tallest building.

Five workers were standing on the platform installing new printed advertising material on the exterior of the 89-storey high-rise building when the accident occurred.

A cable supporting part of platform broke, the platform dropped sharply at an angle and three of the workers fell off, plunging to their death.

The employers want cheap labor so they push the limits in all directions. The employee’s want work and money so the take the risks and anything goes basically.

The security thinking for workers in Thailand is low. Are there any rules protecting workers in various areas? If there are rules, does anybody follow them? Anyway, I think it is time to increase the security thinking on every level for the workers in Thailand and other Asian countries.

Almost daily you see weird, strange and right out dangerous working situations in Asia. Here are a few examples that Jan Källman and I saw within minutes a few days back. No extreme situations but few snap shots of daily life.

18-20 meters up, these two workes balance to change the billboard ad. No security lines.

Some ten meters up. The worker protect himself from the sun with the construction paper, but still balance on the small plattform to check something. No security measures.

Only about eight meters up. But the guy in orange hat still balance without security line, and what about safety glasses got the welding machine?

 

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

aday.org

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Yesterday it was time for aday (aday.org). It is a “photo competition” for anyone around the world. You document your life, your home or anything else really. The aim from the organizer was to document the world how it looked yesterday. Really cool if you ask me.

I did not have time to do want was I had planned, but I got a few hours in. A pic from the afternoon. We will see which pics I select and send in.

Today my recovery traing for my back start with special exercise. Hope it works! The BNH hospital has served me perfect. My insurance company IF and their emergency partner SOS International has also helped me perfectly. I like!

For the last week or so I have been digging through my Ghana material, and I have found some pics, that I kind of forgot! Will be posted soon.

Posted in Asia | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mixed

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

The re-visit to the BNH Hospital went ok. The doctor think I heal in the right direction and he lowered the pill dose. I should relax for one more week. So far so food, I guess.

Outside the hospital I spotted this electrical power outlet. Note, this is for one of the high profile hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Sure this is possibly not the most important electrical lines, but anyway.

On the same street the soda pop delivery guy takes a break:

Today the Swedish Film Festival in Bangkok starts. I’m invited to the opening with Swedish Ambassador Klas Molin. A evening to look forward to.

 

 

Posted in Asia | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Football

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

What a great and exciting ending to the English football series. Amazing really. Manchester plays a more joyful football than most club in the leauge I think, maybe only Arsenal can match it.

With 30 minutes to go everybody thought Man City would not turn it around, but they did. It was a great season and it ended in the most exciting way. How can they beat next season?

I have watched games with football fanatic friend Jan Källman and it has been a pleasure.

I hope the young guys in Starteam in Chaco province, Argentina, had the possibility to follow the drama yesterday. I follow these young lads as good as I can, and they have been fairly successful. I hope they learned something yesterday.

More pics from Starteam here.

Posted in Americas, Mixed | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Colombia landmines

Posted on May 13, 2012 by

9,755 people has been injured or killed by landmine in Colombia since 1990.

Of the nearly ten thousand victims of the past 22 years, more than 10% were children, while 2,044 people died from their injuries. Approximately 6,000 of the victims were members of the security forces and the rest civilians.

It is widely accepted that Colombia’s two biggest rebel groups, the FARC and ELN, are most responsible for the laying of mines.

Colombia has the second highest casualty rate of landmine victims in the world, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

Colombia had 512 victims either maimed or killed due to landmines in 2010, putting the country second after Afghanistan with 1,211. Pakistan is third with 394 casualties.

Landmines killed 1,155 people around the world last year and wounded 2,848 —  a 5% increase from the previous year. The figures may be even higher as data from many countries is often incomplete.

The first two pictures below shows landmines victims, the third pictrues shows a man that lost his arm to a workrelated accident. They have all been helped by Cirec i Bogota, Colombia. It is the finest organization for treatment of physical injures. The provide a full range of services.

I have been resting for another week due to my bad back. I feel better, but not good. We will see what the doctor say tomorrow when I go back for the followup appointment.

 

Posted in Americas | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bed time

Posted on May 6, 2012 by

Spent most of the time this week in bed. The back pain wont go away. We will see what the doc has to say about tomoroow. Spend time sleeping, watching movies, reading some interesting books, cleaning up the laptop, and some more sleeping. Thanks for great delivery services from many food outlets in Bangkok.

Been looking through some of my hard drives to see how I can organize them  better. It will be a tough job to get them properly organized. But it should be done.

A pic I found from Ghana on one of the harddrives and that I like.

Posted in Africa | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

MRI scan

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

I have extreme back pain. Got some medication last week. It helped a little bit but then 48 hours ago it got back with more power. I could not move, or even get out of bed. So I went to BNH Hospital again. I did a MRI scan. Not pleaseant at all. Period! Anyway Doctor Arthit was very careful and explained everything about process, problem and solution in a very good way. The rest of the team was very good to. Thank you BNH Hospital.

Now I hope the pain will disappear as soon. For now it is watching teve, ordering room service and sleeping on the agenda.

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mixed week

Posted on April 29, 2012 by

It has been another intesting week in Bangkok. A good mix of opening of art shows, restaurant anniversary parties, and much more. One very interesting event was the Grand Opening of Asiatique, a new lifestyle area by the river. It as 1,500 shops and 40 restaurants. I think it will be great. A few pics and a short video (in Swedish) from the opening of Asiatique:

watch?v=jnqzPRYY8go

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Carl Bildt

Posted on April 26, 2012 by

Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Carl Bildt, at FCCT in Bangkok Wednesday:

 

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A lot of stuff

Posted on April 12, 2012 by

The hard work continues. Working on some heart griping pictures from the Philippines among other things. But there will hopefully also be some good stuff coming out from that.

Also making some videos for various clients which is lot of work but also fun.

A picture from Taytay, Rizal just outside Manila, Philippines. Been playing a bit with black and white lately which I like a lot.

 

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Busy

Posted on April 6, 2012 by

I have been busy with various projects here and there. I left Manila about a week ago, and since then been trying to catch up on different things. I have also tried out some new hardware and software. More on that soon! Some mixed pics that I have in the pipeline right now.

Posted in Mixed | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Manila

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

Yesterday in a meeting with San Juan, Metro Manila mayor. Interesting meetinga and a great lady!

Posted in Asia | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Manila smog 2012

Posted on March 16, 2012 by

I have been to Manila in the Philippines many times. Metro Manila or National Capital Region has some 14 million people living here spread over 17 cities and towns.

I always know it was polluted and the smog is bad for you. According to the United Nations, Manila is one of the world’s five most polluted cities, with an estimated four percent of the vast metropolis’s disease-related deaths linked to air pollution.

The highway EDSA, cutting through many parts of the city, has the highest traffic congestion in the Philippines, with over 2.5 million vehicles passing through daily. The World Health Organization has reported that pollution there is four times greater than recommended safe levels. Some pic’s from my hotel window below. This is what I see in the morning from left to right:

Posted in Asia, Mixed | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Miami 2011

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

Over the last couple of years I used Miami as my hub going to central and south America. It is a great place to break up the long trips a bit.

Posted in Americas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment