Generations

Posted by phototed

011 2002-08-10 laos mekong river ferry boat boy children thumbGeneration Ship. Mekong River, Lao PDR. August 2002

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Long skinny boats ply the Mekong River between Chiang Kong and Luang Prabang, their cargo now tourists instead of bags of rice. Families live their lives on these boats, in the the back, separated from the tourists by the engine compartment.

As mine saddled up to this boat, a boy stuck his head our the window and perched, watching his world, a world filled with loud, obnoxious tourists, float by.

This kid’s definitely not rowing; he’s along for the ride.

Mother

Posted by phototed

010 2002-08-02 thailand si satchanalai child mother motorcycleMother and Son. Si Satchanalai, Thailand. August 2002

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.

Irish Proverb

I wanted to title this photograph ‘Motorcycle’.

Without a motorcycle, I would not have found myself in the rural interior of Thailand, near the oddly named town of Si Satchanalai. And without that motorcycle, I would not have been stranded directly in front of the home of this family, on a rural road, in the middle of nowhere, with a burst engine gasket. Nor would I have met this beautiful family, whose wife and child entertained me while the husband drove down the road to retrieve the parts needed to reassemble the engine of my motorcycle that lay before me.

And without my bike, I wouldn’t have had the great fortune to stall out in front of the only motorcycle mechanic in the neighbourhood. True story.