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Bangkok, Flowers, My Garden, Photography, Thailand
Bangkok, Flowers, My Garden, Photography, Thailand My most current blog entry:
Entries in Bangkok (51)
House and Garden*
Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 6:45PM * In my tropical garden and around the house with my new Canon 5D Mark II and my trusty Sigma 70mm macro lens. All shots were taken hand held with available light. Here are the results.
It is the wet season and moss and mold is growing on everything, even my garden path.
All the foliage is healthy and lush.
It was an overcast day, so I am very satisfied with the low light performance of the 5D. There is so much new growth . . . unfurling all around the garden . . . secret growth.
Highly scented flowers are dropping now with the hope of propagation, although some get waylaid.
Spiny textures everywhere.
Nothing is going to eat this one . . .
. . . or climb this one.
The polarizing filter helps cut the reflections for photos like this.
As the palms grow and their trunks expand, they shed this twine-like fiber. Very beautiful.
We have a small stand of "slow growing" bamboo too.
Shocking red.
The gloomy light left a wonderful mood in the garden.
Like most people in Thailand, we have, and maintain, a Spirit House. This is a maintenance detail.
There are so many beautiful things to see in the garden, like this lotus urn, but I want to go inside now.
Living and travelling in Asia means you accumulate little somethings.
Memories and talismans from here and there, for this and that.
If you don't know, don't ask.
We enjoyed building our home; so many materials from around the world either find their way to Bangkok, or are made here.
We live near Koh (Island) Kred, famous for it's red clay ceramics.
Update on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 4:08PM by
Dr. Jeff Harper
Dr. Jeff Harper
I borrowed a Canon EF 24-105mm L f4 lens to see if it THE lens to complete my collection (since some of my old lenses do not work on the 5D Mark II full frame). Here are the results. They look promising.
My Hua Hin thrift shop Elephant Man lamp. 600 Baht worth of electrical parts and it worked like new.
It is a thing of beauty. I have this fantasy that it is one of a matched pair . . . and I am forever looking for its mate every time I am in one of those old Thai collectables shops.
Not old at all, in fact an example of the finely crafted tourist curios available in Thailand. It fits the decor nicely.
Yes, the colors are accurate; my living room is orange, thank you.
One of the wonderful things about living in Thailand is the availability of things that want to come home with you, like this gold leaf pig statuette . . .
. . . or this wooden bhikku, another piece of Thai style curios of immense beauty.
A little stone something to adorn the garden arboretum.
It is nearing the end of the "damn hot and damn wet" season and the rain has been incessant. The Thai media here is full of stories of the flooding up-country and the impending flood surge heading towards Bangkok in the next few days.
Our property is built up quite a bit with fill, but behind the garden wall is a khlong (canal) which has gone over its banks on the other side and flooded our neighbor's old Thai farm house.
I heard the thunder and saw the lightening of a huge approaching storm and ran to the balcony to test the night capabilities of the 24-105 f4 L-series lens . . . . . very nice indeed. This was a long exposure shot at 100 ASA with the camera propped on the railing. You can just see the white light of the lightning peaking through the clouds which are lit by street lights below. There is going to be flooding tonight.
I think I've made my mind up to get the 24-105 L-series . . . . . but . . . . there is the Canon 24-70 f2.8 L-series . . . maybe better in low-light and supposedly sharper . . . . but the 24-105 does have image stabilization . . . . hhmmmmmmm . . . decisions, decisions.
Family Ceremony
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 12:35PM 
Chinese Lunar Half New Year Ceremony at my wife's family home.
Sending sustenance to the ancestors for protection in the present.
(Photos from my iPhone, remotely uploaded with the very cool Squarespace iPhone app!)
An Evening at Victory Monument Circle, Bangkok
Sunday, August 7, 2011 at 1:32PM 
Victory Monument Circle is a major transportation hub in Bangkok for busses and the SkyTrain. Many people pass through the make-shift sidewalk market every day to and from their work.
There is a wet night market under the SkyTrain tracks where some small stalls are erected.
The commuters stop and buy food for dinner, like this tasty Thai dim sum, and are then lured into the other stalls for impulse items.
Biodegradable packaging for the tasty rice. As the sun sets the lights come on and the shadows grow longer.
Anything that is considered cool anywhere on earth finds its way to this corner of Bangkok and onto a card tables under the SkyTrain.
Are they real? Who knows.
A scarf or hanky, a blouse or . . .
. . . or something for the hair -- on the way home through Victory Monument Circle.
My other favorite thing about Victory Monument Circle is the Saxophone Blues Pub. The night's entertainment was roiling blues.
Monday: Paying Respect To My Wife's Mother
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 9:39PM 
We arrived early at the Wat's new ceremonial room to be greeted by a mob of mother-of-pearl inlaid rosewood chairs with the names of the donors on the back.
My brother-in-law, his wife and son wait for the nine monks to arrive. I picked out my usual large 'throne' seat on the left for my seating.
A candle was lit.
Flowers were set out.
A small shrine to my wife's mother was set up and the monks chanted for 20 minutes.
The "family monk" stayed after and exchanged pleasantries and fond memories of the family's time together.
I was out in my garden this fine morning . . .
Saturday, June 4, 2011 at 9:09PM 
It is the rainy season in Bangkok now. It has rained some every day for about three weeks now, making my garden path very beautiful.
In the morning, everything is covered with a thick dew. The humidity is above 90%, and the temperature is above 90(f).
We have a spirit house for the spirits that lived here before we built our home, like most Thai houses. We tend our spirit house, and people it with spirit house folk: dancers, maids, gardeners, and hangers-on.
There was a new lotus flower opening this morning. It set the tone for the day.
