Phuket Instagram Meet Up 17th May 2014

A couple of days ago, I met with a small group of Phuket residents in old Phuket Town for an Instagram meet up, part of the worldwide Instameet. I was surprised to see that 2014 was the 9th annual Instameet - I did not realise Instagram had been around that long! I only got an iPhone just over a year ago, but Instagram was one of the first things I downloaded. You can find me on Instagram with the username phuketblog - please do follow! I use Instagram for little snapshots of daily life. Some Instagram users are very artistic, some just take a lot of selfies. I only use the iPhone photos, though you can take photos with nice cameras and use these for Instagram. But I think it's ideally suited for snapshots taken with a smartphone, which you can upload instantly. You can read more about Instagram here.

I heard about this Instameet a couple of weeks in advance and marked it on the calendar. Some people have mentioned to me that they wished they had known about it. Sorry I did not mention it myself, aside from a couple of Tweets. I had no idea what would really happen or if anyone would turn up, but I am sure there will be a similar meet up again! I found out about the Instameet from following the username phuketstagram on Instagram. The phuketstagram username is being run by Amy who lives in Phuket and also posts as girl_with_bear. I saw this notice below and thought it would be a fun Saturday afternoon.



We met up at Baan Chinpracha House, a mansion built by a Chinese-Thai family at the turn of the 20th century at the peak of the tin mining boom. I've been a few times before, and always find the old part of Phuket Town fascinating. I arrived a little late, paid the 150 Baht entry fee, saw a collection of shoes outside, but no sign of any people! Was I too late? But then a friendly face appeared - Tim was working at the Cape Panwa Hotel, writes a blog too and can be found on Instagram at timinbangkok. And inside were half a dozen others including the aforementioned Amy, all having a guided tour that I'd turned up late for :) We all took a few photos of course (more of these later) including some group shots that were later uploaded ...



(above) At Chinpracha house with some Phuket Instagram users!

A walk around the old town on a very hot afternoon was an option to take more photos, but I was happy to say that a drink was decided to be a better course of action. We walked a couple of hundred meters down the road to a cafe attached to the Thai Hua Museum. I like this section of Krabi road, it's always quiet and there's a shortcut here down to the central market. I snapped a photo of a coconut seller who posed on his motorbike as we walked to the cafe ...



Once we were all sat down with a coffee (or beer) we could have a good old chinwag. A couple of the Phuket Instagrammers I was already following - Woody (who just changed his Instagram username to tekewadoon) and Nui (on Instagram as nuisy_arunsri), and Fiona from Australia and we all chatted about Phuket and photography and art. I admit to being not very arty, whereas Fiona for example creates very arty Instagram images, so does Woody. Mine tend to be quite straightforward, what you see is what you get! A beer turned into 2 beers and somehow 3 beers! A young Russian couple joined us, they had planned to be at Chinpracha House, but were even more delayed than me! You can follow Ludmila at ludalet on Instagram. And then before we knew it the museum and cafe were closing :) I think another Instagram meet up for Phuket people would be good, a chance to meet people, take photos, compare photos, get some ideas ....

Having been in old town and experienced the history at Baan Chinpracha, my favourite photo of the day was actually the sign to the toilet at the cafe which I noticed as we were leaving .... ladies beware!



And now a selection of people's photos from Saturday 17th May ..... see you on Instagram!



(above) Floor tiles at Chinpracha House



(above) Phuket Instagrammers!

Related Phuket Blog posts ...

Walking in Old Phuket Town
Phuket Museums
Phuket Photo Walk
Phuket Old Town Festival