PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Sunsets, Abandoned Tigers, and Dogs on the Road

Week 76 of the photographic documentary of my daily life

I do know my life is different from most people who are reading this. And that in many ways. Not just because of the work I do, the lifestyle I chose to live, or the country I’m residing in. No. It’s because of all of that.

And you know what is so beautiful about it? Despite our different lives we all come together over here, share a picture a day and somehow feel connected despite never having met.

This is a shout-out to everyone who’s taking part in the photo-a-day challenge and is willing to share with the rest of us a part of their daily lives. I learned a lot about different people and how we all connect through words and photography.

This is the start of my week. It’s not Monday or Sunday. It’s a Thursday. Because not just my work is different from yours, my working week too. Pretty much since I started to work full-time years ago, I never had weekends off. Most of the time I had one or two days off per week, but it was usually a Monday or Tuesday.

That is why my week starts on a Thursday.

This dog might look like he’s dead. But he’s not. He’s been there on that exact spot when we lived here in 2019. And every other morning we drive past and I wonder if he’s dead.

Until I learned. That’s his spot. In the mornings. You won’t see him there after work. But he’ll be lying there every morning. And somehow everyone drives around him.

And here we go again. A jump with a student is always intense. Jumping out of a plane is quite an abnormal activity, so you never know how someone reacts. And it is your job as an instructor to make sure nothing happens.

You have to control the skydive.

These kinds of jumps get my heart pumping. They bring my adrenaline level up despite having almost 2000 jumps on my back. But I like it.

In case you don’t know much about skydiving, this is a picture taken with my chest-mounted camera. In front of me is a student exiting the plane. I’m holding onto her on one side, and on the other side is a second instructor holding on as well.

And this is what we do after work. We sit down under the tree on the grassy landing site and watch paramotors fly into the sunset.

While Thailand is very touristy, the area we live in has barely any sightseeing highlights. Except for the Tiger Zoo about 500 meters from our house that attracted millions of Chinese tourists every year.

But that zoo got bankrupt. Yes, during the pandemic. And all those statues they had inside the zoo are now standing on the field next to the gym we go to. I decided to snap them on our way home from today’s exercise session.

This is just a normal Thai backyard. But it’s not any backyard. It’s the one with lots of chickens we hear every morning. There’s just an empty field between us and them and this is the view we get from our balcony.

Chickens in Thailand are on a different level free-range. There are no fences restricting them from going anywhere. They can leave the yard, explore the neighbor's ground, and even the field across the small alley.

I’ve never been a big gym-goer but always loved swimming. And when we lived here previously I wouldn’t make the full gym membership but just one to use the pool. It’s an outdoor swimming pool, but it’s Thailand.

Sometimes crowded in the afternoons but usually rather empty after 5 pm. Not so much today. Lots of children were occupying the pool. Which I think is beautiful. They should go out, play in the pool and learn to swim. It’s important.

A friend invited us over to his place as we wanted to explore a nearby lake. He showed us around his massive property which is where I found these bright shining Plumeria flowers. Being in the dry season everything is brown and rather dead, except for these blossoms.

Afterward, we rented bikes at the lake and enjoyed a slow ride around the water during sunset (see title image).

Today we went to the nearby Japanese park to have lunch. Well, we planned on having lunch, but then decided to have a massage first and I guess our meal was then a combination of lunch and dinner.

We really enjoy these Japanese restaurants and love trying different foods. The one below is a set with grated cabbage, miso soup, and rice on the side of which all of them you can get free refills.

This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge in summer 2020 and many have participated ever since.

Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny

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