The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

A RAMBLE IN FOUR PARTS

Part Two: A Rural Suphanburi [Water] Buffalo Park

My friend John Stiles and I set off in my old truck up the road to the rural province of Suphanburi, to the northwest of Bangkok.  As usual, we had a vague idea, from a tertiary Google search, of what we wanted to see, but no particular plan: we would ramble.  We would eventually see several amazing Buddhist temple complexes, a Buffalo park, and a Farm Museum.  We never 'found' the actual town of Suphanburi, but we didn't care: we had a grand adventure rambling about the rural Thai countryside.

As there is only one kind of buffalo in Thailand, they are referred to as Buffalo . . . not Water Buffalo!

Baan Kwai (Buffalo Village) in rural Si Prachan,  Suphanburi Province a delightful 17 acres of ponds, buffalos, old Thai houses reassembled in tidy gardens, buffalo, intended to educate the public about . . . buffalo.

The grounds of Baan Kwai are very nicely tended and the old Thai houses are beautifully restored and maintained.  This is the ideal of old Thai culture.

I love these old Thai style houses . . . normally made of teak wood.

Beautiful old trees threw their shade throughout the park.

They made a nice effort to create an 'old time' rural feel to the place.

There was an area set aside for a exhibit of rice cultivation.

A Thai scarecrow.  We saw many of these in the fields all across Suphanburi Province.

There were several ponds for the buffalo and ducks and geese.  Those are fish traps . . . although I do not believe they used them . . . they are for the visitors to look at.

The ducks came near . . . expecting a hand out.

A park employee called the buffalo over . . . so she could sell us some buffalo feed to hand-feed them.

The buffalo in the water happily obliged and came over to be fed.

A mother buffalo and her baby swam over too.

These buffalo were a pleasing color . . . and moved with such slow grace in the water.

Feeding time!

This one came right up and under the netting we were sitting on while feeding them . . . making for an interesting photo, no?

There was a lot more to see here than we anticipated.

The buffalo village also served as a kind of agriculture museum as well.  What a wonderful haystack!

I fell in love with this old agricultural work truck.  Each of those scratches and dents came with a story . . .

The extreme of utilitarian equipment.

Classic.

Some of the buffalo were brought into a shed for feeding.

The purple . . . perhaps medical treatment of some kind.

No: not a cowlick . . . a buffalolick!

Buffalo are a noble creature . . .

It was a pleasant day for just walking a round.  There was always something of interest to see.

The large seed pod of a fern palm.

It was the end of the rainy season and everything was looking good.

A lovely Hibiscus flower.

No buffalo park would be complete without a fiberglass replica of a buffalo cartoon character from Thai childrens' TV.

We saw only three other visitors during the hour we spent at the buffalo village.  Granted, it was a Monday, but there must be a tourist season.  A school teacher friend of mine said that his school takes elementary school kids here by bus once a year . . . .

The whole buffalo village was dotted with the fine old Thai style houses.  Beautiful.

Buffalo pull buffalo carts . . . duh!  I was glad to have found this shed containing many very old and restored carts.

A cart for every purpose.

Very simple construction, but strong.

This was a very old Thai house that was open for inspection.  We went in and were amazed at what we saw!

Many old antique items remained in the old farm house.

Fantastic light and color inside the old Thai farmhouse.

Huge teak planks made up the floor.

Such quiet spiritual beauty!

Marvelous light, color, shape, and texture.

Every wall, every room . . . held visual marvels!

A perfect still life study wherever I looked.

A collection of things one might find in an old Thai farmhouse.

Parts of the old farmhouse were open to the outside . . . it is the tropics, so no need for heating . . . most likely the open kitchen area.

As we were leaving Baan Kwai, we couldn't help but notice a large fish tank . . . with fantastic reflections . . . of us!  Bizarre selfie opportunities like this do not come along all that often.