Showing 1 - 5 of 5
Is 'White Prison' making Bang Khwang a darker place?
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 17/03/2013
» Bang Khwang Central Prison is undergoing a transformation under an initiative aimed at ridding the notorious "Bangkok Hilton" and eight other facilities of drugs and other contraband. The "White Prison" policy came into effect last May under new director Vasant Singkaselit. Under the policy, visitors have been banned from bringing food, clothes or other items for prisoners; even books are banned. Prisoners are allowed to meet visitors once a day for 45 minutes, up to two visits a week, while visitors can only seen one inmate per day. Inmate workshops have been cancelled, punishments have become harsher and access to help in case of medical or fire emergencies has been limited.
Hearts in the darkness
B Magazine, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 06/01/2013
» Chris Coles _ in a book on noir and an ongoing exhibition at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand _ is one of the few artists to record the people and transactions of Bangkok's red light districts with all their vivid idiosyncrasies. He paints bright scenes in acrylics or watercolours, shapes the human form simply through thick black lines and captures some essential truths of a tawdry reality.
Yen and the art of travelling on the cheap
B Magazine, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 02/09/2012
» There is a sign on the door of the Capsule Inn Tajima near Ueno Station in Tokyo discouraging tattooed patrons from making use of the baths or overnight capsules. This is aimed at Yakuza, organised crime figures, who once had leverage over urban businesses but whose influence has waned somewhat in recent years, even in the entertainment districts where they used to thrive.
It's time to meet the neighbours
B Magazine, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 15/07/2012
» It vies for the title of most photogenic country on earth. Bigger than Thailand, with a similar size population, Myanmar has through years of international financial sanctions fallen behind the rest of the region in terms of influence and standing, with a military government that didn't tolerate threats to its authority. Nevertheless it has some of the region's most variegated scenery _ from mountain trekking to pristine beaches _ stunning temples and sites, delicious food, and the great sincerity and beauty of its people.
She shall not be moved
Spectrum, Ezra Kyrill Erker, Published on 12/02/2012
» Five years ago, Boeung Kak Lake was Phnom Penh's largest. It served as home to some 20,000 Cambodians as well as the capital's backpacker ghetto, where foreign travellers would sit on guest house patios in a cannabis haze to watch the sun set over the waters and finish another Angkor Beer. And although the lake was full of sewage and debris and was hardly pristine, it served as an important catchment basin for the capital, providing equilibrium during the wet and dry seasons.