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Unscripted Lives

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Red Plastic Chair

Matthew Irving September 12, 2016

In Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, a structure that looks coincidentally like the Arc D'Triumph in Paris looms over a bustling square. As you approach the massive structure, you realize that it is in fact a replica of the one in Paris, except with a little Asian flare.

Back during the cold war, The U.S. Government gave Laos massive amounts of concrete to make another runway at their airport . Instead of making a runway, they decided to make the replica (ballin!).

Wandering up the stairs, past all the merchants selling souvenirs, I passed a young boy, sitting in a red plastic chair. He seemed bored, as if his youthful adolescence was being squandered. His father, close by selling trinkets, loudly beckoned to me to purchase some wares. I smiled kindly and declined, interested more in the suffering taking place nearby.

I chuckled as I shot the photo, amused by the irony of being bored while sitting in a giant replica of the Arc D'Triumph in Vientiane, Laos.

Tags adolescence, airport, arc d-triumph, architecture, bored, cold war, concrete, irony, laos, massive, marchants, paris, photography, red plastic chair, replica, runway, south-east asia, souvenirs, squandered, structure, travel, trinkets, U.S., unscripted lives, vientiane, young boy

The World Rushes By

Matthew Irving August 1, 2016

Chendu, China- When life starts getting chaotic and it feels like it's spiraling out of control, I always like to take an evening walk.  At night, everything seems a little more subdued.  The lighting, the people, the energy.  Even when I was traveling through China, I could still take some time to relax and gather my thoughts.  While I was on one of my walks, I noticed a bike taxi driver waiting for his next fare.  I'm not sure what he was thinking, if he was relaxing, or just bored, but I found it interesting that he could stand out so well while the rest of the city rushed around him.  He was a rock in the middle of a raging river. Over the last couple years, he has become my rock.  A realization that sometimes it's best to stop and take a look around you, even as the world rushes by.

Tags beautiful, bike taxi, bored, bus, chendu, china, life, night time, pedicab, photography, street photography, travel photography, quiet, rock, subdued, unscripted lives, world rushes by