Because I am not a professional photographer I am not biased by years or decades of prior experience, changing technology and times. I do not take pictures of brick walls or test charts and critique lenses for fun. I travel anywhere in the world and I take photos of things I think look cool.

Almost everyone has a digital camera these days. Point-and-shoot cameras are the most popular because they take great photos, are small, light and cheap. For those of you who like to carry as little as possible gear, don’t like to spend that much money and value having a camera that can go with you everywhere with very little hassle and cost, a quality point-and-shoot is everything and more than you need. My favorite is the Canon S90 which is not the tiniest point-and-shoot but has a great interface, lots of cool features and takes tremendous photos.

For those of you like myself, who aren’t satisfied with getting a great or even excellent photo but want a PERFECT photo, you will likely have to go through a trial and error process to develop a camera kit which suits all your needs. This camera kit will no doubt have a digital SLR camera body and an assortment of lenses.

Benefit from My Obsession

Use my painful and expensive method to finding the right camera gear for my bag to help you. I spent a better part of 4 months literally spending all day reading about lenses, buying them and testing them in real world situations. This was a good and bad experience for me. The bad was instead of traveling and going to new places I was inside reading about the lens options I had and taking photos of the same things over and over again.

The good was I learned a lot about photography, experienced quite a few lens and camera options and found a kit which I am 100% completely satisfied with. Testing lenses inside camera shops wasn’t good enough for me. I just went out and bought the lenses I read about and used them in real world situations.

My Experience with Camera Bodies & Lenses in the Past Half Year

Nikon D90 Camera Body

I loved the D90 when I had it and I still love it when comparing it to the Nikon D700 which I upgraded to. I actually miss the D90 on a daily basis when I’m shooting with the D700! First of all, the D90 has everything you need and then some. The buttons seem to be all in the right place and it is light but not cheaply built. I bashed the video recording capabilities when I first blogged Nikon D90 Digital SLR Camera but I would like to take that back!

The video lacks autofocus which renders the camera useless for things which move in the vertical plane but it also allows you to control depth of field which is what really differentiates amateur from professional film! Watch any movie or TV show and you will see focus shift from the foreground to the background almost every scene. The D90 allows you to achieve this professional effect which is virtually impossible on all camcorders. Of course if you’re shooting anything other than small scenes for a commercial or movie such as sports or your kids playing you’re still going to want to get a camcorder but the D90 video capabilities can create some professional looking cinematic moments from your digital SLR.

Of course 99% of people, myself included buy a digital SLR to capture still images. In order to get the still images you desire, choosing the correct lens and knowing when/how to use it is crucial. I had a chance to work with a number of popular lenses with the Nikon D90 and here is my experience with each of them.

My Lenses with the Nikon D90

Nikon Nikkor 18-105mm VR

The Nikkor 18-105 mm VR was the first lens I ever used which came with the Nikon D90 kit. I liked the lens performance initially as the focal range was good for a variety of uses and the photos turned out nice and sharp but as I started reading about the many Nikon and 3rd party SLR lens I decided to ‘upgrade’.

While I was almost 100% satisfied with this lens I figured I could get more out of a longer focal length or wider angles.  The lens is great for any Nikon SLR because of its built in motor which makes it a perfect lens for anyone on a budget who is just getting into SLR photography.

Users of the D40, D60 and D5000 will like this lens a lot more than the standard kit lens (18-55mm VR) simply because it is just as sharp and has that useful extra 50mm of zoom to work with along with the same valuable VR (Vibration Reduction).

Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm VRII

Like many people who have used the internet to find information about lenses I read the glowing review by Ken Rockwell about this lens.

I researched it and determined that the optic performance was likely the same as the kit lens I wanted to be able to cover more range and this popular lens covers 300mm equivalent telephoto.

I will admit I didn’t know enough about DSLR photography at the time I had this lens to get the most out of it.  I believe this lens is a great pickup for almost all photographers who have DX  (Nikon cropped frame) sensors.  Like Mr. Rockwell says, this truly is a do-it-all lens that can get almost everything the average travel photographer shoots with the exception of the super-wide angles.

Nikon Nikkor 50mm F1.8

Another glowing review by Ken Rockwell caused me to purchase this little lens. It was probably the easiest choice to make as it costs around $100USD and auto focuses with the D90’s built it motor. The lens is simple, light, cheap and gets great performance in even the lowest of light.

You can expect VERY sharp images when taking shots of people or animals within this range. Being a prime lens, the drawback is you have to move your feet rather than twisting a zoom ring.

Nikon Nikkor 10-24mm

Even though the D90 was giving me great images I still desired more. At the time I thought it was the camera I needed to upgrade when comparing my shots with the D90 and 18mm (27mm equivalent) and people with the new, expensive full frame cameras.

It turned out what I really was missing was the wide angle from an ultra-wide angle lens. This Nikkor DX lens was expensive and while the range 10-24mm (15-36mm equivalent) was nice, the performance didn’t meet my satisfaction after spending over $900 USD on it. While images in good light looked pretty good, when the light wasn’t there, the images almost never looked sharp, even when mounted on a tripod.

Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8

I was hesitant to buy a 3rd party lens for my Nikon D90 but I read many positive reviews on Amazon and flicker about this Japanese made Tokina ultra wide. The main knock on the lens from reviews was there was a sample variation with some lenses having issues. It cost $300USD less than the aforementioned Nikkor so I decided to give it a try and I’m glad that I did.

The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 quickly became my favorite lens for the Nikon D90.  Everything about the lens was impressive from the quality of build, to the very smooth zoom ring to the great low light performance and topped off with almost perfectly sharp wide angle images.  Although some reviews criticized its focusing ability, it focused perfectly on my D90 although you should take note if your SLR body has a focusing motor or not because this lens does not have one.

Sigma 18-50 mm f/2.8

After experiencing the vast difference between a lens with a standard (f/3.5+) aperture and the professional Tokina 11-16mm with a f/2.8 maximum aperture I decided to give this Sigma a try. As I planned to sell my Nikkor 18-200mm VR I chose this lens for 3 reasons including the one I just mentioned.

Another reason was the Nikon equivalent lens cost several times more and finally this Sigma had very close focusing capabilities. I thought the macro abilities would make this a great “walking around” lens and it did, well kind of. I found when I used this lens I would only use it for close up objects at 50mm. I originally bought it for the versatility but found it wasn’t versatile at all for the kind of shooting I like to do, especially ultra-wide angles.

Part II:  Upgrade to the Full Frame Nikon D700

Bangkok’s Best Kept Secret?

I happened to be looking at an apartment on Sathorn 3, Suan Plu Soi 8 one night when I walked past a unique food stall/restaurant.  Outside from the main dining area was a food stall with 2 pans with wonderful looking, sizzling steaks.  The minute I saw the steaks I new I had to try this place so I sat down and ordered.

After a few minutes I received my steak flambe’ and was immediately impressed by the presentation as well as the aroma.  I was hooked after the first bite as the meat was tender and delicious while the sauce was extraordinary.  After I finished the best steak I’ve had in Bangkok I asked for the “Check Bin” (check bill in Thai) and I was amazed that the price was only 150 baht!  ($4.63 USD).

I knew there was something fishy about this particular place to eat in Bangkok because I noticed the chef was paying incredible attention to detail while preparing the food.  I started talking with chef Sanjorn (or John).  It turns out Sanjorn is a current/former chef at the Sukhothai which is one of the swankiest 5-star hotels in all of Thailand!  He is an incredibly nice guy who is more than willing to tell you everything about his food as well as practice his English while you practice your Thai.

Sanjorn Cooking on Suan Plu Soi 8

Sanjorn Cookshop’s Location

Although the area is out of the way for most foreigners it is a great neighborhood.  I remembered vividly how much I liked the neighborhood because it was where the old Thai immigration center was.   In addition to the many food stalls on Thanon Suan Plu, there is a wonderful outdoor food market right at the beginning of the soi.  It is easy to see the area is close to a major university as there are uniformed students everywhere.

The actual location of Sanjorn Cookshop is on Sathorn (Thai: สาทร) or Sathon 3, Suan Plu Soi 8.  It is 4 shops down on the left hand side where you will see the outside cooking area and the inside dining area.  It is relatively close to both Sala Daeng BTS, and Lumpini & Silom MRT stations but I take my bicycle there.  It takes me around 20 minutes via bicycle to get to Sanjorn Cookshop from my apartment at Sukhumvit Soi 13.

The Food & Menu

The steak is what I order almost every time I head to Sanjorn Cookhouse.  Each time the steak meal  has subtle differences based on what’s available and so far everything has been absolutely delicious.  The menu is hardly limited to steak as the other menu items which include everything from salmon, to fish, to pork to traditional Thai dishes look amazing.  The best part is everything on the menu is affordable.  I have had food at restaurants in Bangkok that cost several times more than John’s food but the taste pales in comparison.

My Favorite Steak in Bangkok for 150 baht

Some more of the Amazing Menu Items for less than 200 baht at Sanjorn Cookshop

Overall Impression

When dining out at a place for the first time I can immediately categorize the place into one of 3 categories:  1.  Will never eat at again, 2.  Will possibly eat at again and 3.  I’m coming back tomorrow and Sanjorn Cookshop easily fit in the number 3 category.  The chef John is a very nice guy who can provide a lot of information about the food he prepares.

John’s experience and abilities as a chef are likely in the top 1% of Bangkok restaurants and he offers his tasty creations for a fraction of the price that it would cost elsewhere.  Since the price is so affordable I look at Sanjorn as an affordable “personal chef.”  Even though the location is “out of the way” to most foreigners living in Bangkok, it is a breath of fresh air with mostly Thai people, some cool shops, markets and of course my favorite place to eat in Bangkok, Sanjorn Cookshop.

http://web.me.com/garycollier1/Sanjorn/Welcome.html

What is Ancient Siam?

Ancient Siam is also known as Ancient City to anyone who speaks English.  In Thai it is called Muang Boran.  According to the Ancient Siam brochure you receive on arrival, “Ancient Siam is an excellent reflection of Thailand’s multi-faceted ancient culture presented in an authentic and visually exciting setting.”

From some of the information I read about Ancient Siam, it was originally going to be a miniature golf course.  What Ancient Siam is today is basically an outdoor museum set on a plot of over 200 acres shaped like the country of Thailand (see map below).  Ancient Siam contains 116 ‘artifacts’ of Thailand’s culture.

The ‘artifacts’ range from everything from a simple small statue, to giant Buddhas, to the aforementioned floating market to giant temples which you can walk in.  Each ‘artifact’ has a sign with a description printed in English and Thai.  According to the free map given at the ticket purchase each ‘artifact’ is either real, taken from the real site for reconstruction, duplicated from an original in Thailand or a creative design built specifically for the Ancient City.

Ancient Siam Map (Click to Enlarge)

Getting to Ancient Siam from Bangkok

Ancient Siam is located in Samut Prakan province, between 30-40km from Bangkok depending on where you depart from.  You can get there by bus by taking the air-conditioned bus #511 (Pinklao-Paknam) to the end of the line and from there, taking the mini-bus #36 which passes the entrance of Ancient Siam.

If you take a taxi as I did, be prepared to negotiate.  Make sure you negotiate the price for the fare before you get in the cab. Even if the driver starts the meter, and you tell him Muang Boran he will likely try to overcharge you.  Make sure you get a return trip as well as the driver will be more than happy to sleep in his car while you’re in the park for 1, 2 or even 3+ hours.

When negotiating, keep in mind that the trip is about as far as a trip to the airport.  There will also be a tollway fee of 45 baht ($1.39 USD) each way.  I ended up paying 800 baht ($24.68 USD) total for the round trip having the driver pay the highway tolls.  I feel I may have overpaid a bit, so you may want to offer a couple hundred less and try to get the round trip for around 600 baht ($18.51 USD).

How long the trip takes depends on your taxi driver and above all traffic.  When I went, around 1:30pm, returning around 5:30pm it took me around an hour each way which I though was not bad considering there were few of those Bangtkok moments when your car is stopped motionless for minutes at a time.

Ticket & Transportation

Like I mentioned, Ancient Siam is no miniature golf course.  The overall area is 200 acres so walking in the sweltering heat is probably the last thing you want to do.  Aside from walking there are 4 primary options of transportation within the park;  1.  You can pay a fee to allow your private vehicle or taxi driver to drive through the park; 2.  You can get on a tram with a group for a guided tour; 3.  You can rent a bicycle which I saw hundreds available for rent; and 4.  You can rent an electric powered golf cart with either 2 or 4 (possibly more) seats.

I chose to rent a golf cart which cost 100 baht ($3.08 USD) per hour.  After I bought the admission ticket which cost 350 baht ($10.80 USD), renting the golf cart from the booth right outside the air conditioned ticket office took about a minute.  There seemed to be a shortage of golf carts although I could be mistaken.  I was there on a Wednesday afternoon, so if you go on the weekend, you may want to prepare to wait for a golf cart, use one of the guided tours or rent a bicycle.

The golf cart was perfect for me because I put my my camera bag in the passenger seat and lazily drive around sipping multi-colored Fantas while shooting photos with my Nikon D700 and  my Nikon Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR telephoto lens .

Getting around the Ancient City's Nice Wide Roads via GOlf Cart

Overview of Ancient City & More Information

Muang Boran had an interesting variety of sites.  While some were replicas of actual temples, or the actual ‘refurbished’ temples others were pretty cheesy “creative designs.”  While some of the sites seemed pretty authentic, compared to sites you will see traveling all around Thailand, others such as Sumeru Mountain (pictured below) seemed right out of an amusement park.

Besides just looking at things, there are also things to do such as the floating market, a deer farm and possibly more things I didn’t see.   Look to spend at least 2 hours just sight seeing at Ancient City.  If you want to get out of your golf cart, and check out the various temples and the floating market you could spend 3-4 hours there easily.  There is plenty of places to get drinks, snacks and food.  The park closes at or around 5pm so going early is the best option which will let you avoid the extreme heat and humidity as well.

Sumeru Mountain

Overall Impression

I enjoyed the 2 hours I spent touring Ancient Siam.  While my focus was less about learning the culture about the 116 ‘artifacts’ of the Ancient City the time I spent there I felt “busy” without long periods of nothing to do.  When I was thirsty it was easy to find something cold to drink, and I stayed cool from the breeze while driving the golf cart.

While to some, especially people who have traveled extensively throughout Thailand, Ancient Siam may seem like a cheesy “canned tour” others will consider Ancient Siam as a cultural experience.  I would highly recommend Muang Boran, the Ancient City to anyone who is spending a limited time in Thailand, specifically in Bangkok as it will give them a decent look into Thai culture and history.  I would recommend Ancient Siam to photographers who want to get some shots, but to hardened “templers” or other people who travel far and wide just to see yet another temple, I would only slightly recommend Ancient Siam.

The overall cost for me, including ticket, golf cart rental and transportation was 1300 baht ($40 USD) may be a little high for a budget traveler traveling alone but going in a group will slash the cost a lot.  I probably wouldn’t go back to Ancient Siam but I think for anyone in Bangkok for a few days, especially those who don’t have the time to travel around in Thailand, to spend an afternoon exploring the Ancient City.