A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
When I purchased my camera before my trip to Turkey in 2000, I specified only one major requirement to the salesclerk: it had to be really sturdy. This is actually a requirement for all the electronic and mechanical equipment I purchase, from radios to telephones to calculators, because the sad fact is that I am an incredible klutz. There are times when I don't even get a new purchase home to my apartment before dropping it on the street, and I go through enough phones and walkmans to keep those industries solvent during an extended economic downturn. I suspect the Radio Shack in downtown Seattle has been wondering where I've been for the last six months.

So back to the camera. I have loved this camera like no other. It takes great pictures, isn't very heavy, and fits perfectly into my hand. Consequently, I really haven't mishandled it as much as might be expected considering my history. Unfortunately, I discovered during my trip up north last week that I may have dropped it once too often -- there are small pieces missing from the plastic back of the camera. This appears to be a rather critical problem, as it looks like there might be light getting inside where the film sits there exposed until you're finished with the roll.

I first feared that all the pictures from the last two rolls were wiped out, so I had one developed up in Nha Trang. There's definitely light getting in there, as some of the photos have a weird reddish thing going across them in various ways, but it's not nearly as bad as I expected. Regardless, I decided I needed a new camera.

So today I went out camera shopping, and those things are damned expensive! Even though everything else is cheaper in Vietnam, cameras are no bargain. In fact, the prices seemed considerably higher than I paid in Seattle for a 35 mm camera with the same features. Highway robbery, it is. Probably half those cameras are stolen off tourists anyway.

Since there's no way I'm paying $200 for a camera here, I have moved to Plan B. I have purchased a 20 cent roll of black electrical tape, which I will daintily place over the aforementioned holes in my camera, and thereby postpone any major purchases until I get to a country where the prices are more reasonable.

© 2003 Katy Warren

posted by Katy at 4:05 AM