The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

 All in a day . . . all within 20 miles . . .

It's always great to have visitors from abroad come to Thailand . . . I get to take day trips out and about . . . usually to places I have never been, so we can explore together.

 

This Buddhist temple (wat) up against steep cliffs is one of my favorites. I pass it often when I am down Hua Hin way . . . but decided to stop and take a look again.  Glad we did.

 

Such a lovely wat . . . looks like they are going to assemble a new giant Buddha image soon.

 

Beautiful workmanship . . . . 

 

Ah! Looks like a standing Buddha image going up.

 

This such an interesting wat . . . lots to see here . . . including a pack of very curious monkeys.

 

As is often the case at Thai wats,  the new buildings are built in front of the older, perhaps original temple structures.

 

The patina!

 

Lovely textures in the filtered afternoon light.

 

I was surprised to see this young monk!  There weren't any other monks at this wat. He kindly gave me permission for so photos.  I made sure he saw me put money in the donation box.

 

A large, old chedi on the temple grounds.  Perhaps a previous revered head monk's final resting place.

 

One last look at this fantastic cliff side wat.

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Wat Huai Sai Tai Temple

On the way back from our hilltop chedi, I wanted to stop and show my friend the Colossus of Hua Hin at Wat Hui Sai Tai!

Such a lovely and strange place . . .

 

Yep . . . a cement elephant's butt.

 

The spaces and surfaces around the outside of the temple were beautifully decorated.

 

The exterior details were aesthetically very pleasing.

 

Of course, we had not come to just admire the exterior decor . . . it was what was inside that attracted us . . . 

 

What attracted us was the colossal statue of the venerated monk, Luong Phor Thongsuk!

 

The giant Luang Phor Thongsuk in all his revered glory.

 

The scale of this statue is incredible!

 

During our short visit here, many people came to pay their respects.

 

Our last look at the colossus!

 

A marvelous spirit house on the grounds of Wat Hui Sai Tai.

 

The inside of the wat spirit house . . . very well tended by the pilgrims.

 

Beauty everywhere we pointed our cameras . . .

 

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An Old Fishing Village

We headed up the road to our next destination, a beach about 20km away . . . but a quick glance on the GPS map showed a small village on an inlet . . . maybe a fishing village?  YES!

 

It was a very old fishing village . . . with a few very photogenic derelict old boats still dockside.

 

Did I say "old boat and old pier"? I meant to say "dilapidated pier and ghost ship"!

 

There were newer and older parts of this fishing village.

 

The village was very quiet this afternoon. These boats are rigged to catch squid . . . at night.

 

I love how the Thai fishermen decorate their boats . . . with these colorful votive blessings.

 

A village restaurateur.  The large pots catch and hold rainwater.

 

Such rich and complex images to capture here!

 

We saw this catch of the day in one of the fishermen's sheds.

 

We could have stayed all day here . . . just taking photos . . . but there were other adventures in store for us on that day.

 

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A Mangrove Forest Swamp Park 

Our next stop was the beautifully developed, and very educational, Pran Buri Forest Park and Nature Reserve.

 

Mangrove forests are completely unique ecological environments.

 

Mangroves grow in salt water estuarial swamps.

 

A phantasmagoria of twisted and gnarled complexity.  Wonderful Nature.

 

The park positioned bulletin boards (in Thai and English) along the way with informative graphics.

 

Mangrove roots grow in the transition between wet (at high tide) and exposed to the air (at low tide).  The mangrove grows in salt water but has the ability to filter out the salt and deposit it on the root 'knees' to be dissolved off when the tide comes in.  Amazing.  

 

The park managers built a tall tower so that the mangrove forest could be seen from above.

 

It was New Years' Eve, so there were quite a few day trippers from nearby Hua Hin.

 

We wandered on along the elevated walkway.  There seemed to be a change in the nature of the trees in the swamp.

 

"Autumn" colors in the swamp. A blue sky reflected in the brackish waters.  

 

Beautiful complicated light on the complicated forest . . . truly marvelous.

 

We walked on into a stand of densely packed trees . . . not mangrove, but growing in the salty water.

 

Ever-changing scenes . . . 

 

My friend enjoying the photographic opportunities.

 

I do not know how these particular trees shed the salt.

 

On we walked through a forest of thin trees growing in the saltwater marsh.

 

We came to a saltwater inlet.  There was a pier offering boat rides, but there was a line of people waiting. We walked on . . . more [visual] adventures in store.

 

We walked the rest of the 2km walkway loop to the car . . . 

 

 . . . and back through the tangled web of the mangrove knees.

 

We spent a wonderful couple of hours being amazed by this fantastic environment . .  and taking photographs to our hearts content.

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A Fishing Port Village

About a mile away from the mangrove forest park was another small fishing port.

 

A beautiful day with colorful boats . . . what's not to like?

 

Small squid boats and large 'company boats" . . .

 

A 'company boat' heading out early for night squidding . . . they must be going far out into the Gulf of Thailand.

 

A busy Thai commercial fishing port.

 

Yep . . . a tourist tour boat!  This is actually the tourist boat from the mangrove forest park nearby . . . we all waved at each other.

 

We walked along the road near the fishing port and came across a picturesque little slough.

 

Life along the slough.

 

Picturesque . . . indeed!

 

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Happy New Year 2020 From Hua Hin Thailand!!!

We went out to dinner at our usual favorite restaurant . . . . but we were not satisfied with the meal . . . it was a buffet, not the usual excellent food from the menu.  Afterward we went to a friend's beach house . . . then out on to the beach for the BIG fireworks display.

 

Down along the beach . . . fantastic fireworks display for 20-25 minutes.

 

Fireworks across the bay . . . 

 

Once I figured out my camera settings . . .

 

Right overhead!

 

I hope you all had a New Years' Eve as colorful and interesting as I did!

 

YES!  All in a day!  All within 20 miles!

My New Years 2018 rambles were in many parts: (1) Around the Beach, (2) Wat Huai Sai Tai, (3) Wat , (4) Doi Thap Chang, (5) Monsoon Winery, (6) Wat Nong Tung. . . each has its own section below:

AROUND THE BEACH

The Thai university where I work was closed for a few days over the western New Year, so we headed off to Hua Hin, a beach town 2 1/2 hours drive from our home in Nonthaburi. Our view of Hua Hin town from up he coast a few miles away.

 

Hua Hin is located along a coastal shelf on the northwest of the Gulf of Thailand (Siam).

 

I enjoy walking along an unpaved road from where we stay . . . to see what I can see . . . and photograph.

 

The Gulf of Thailand is warm, even at this time of year.

 

There normally isn't any surf to speak of, but storms to the south stirred things up a bit.

 

I am attracted to these wave splashes . . . photographing them . . . stopping them in a moment of refreshment.  I wasn't the only one attracted to the wave splashes that morning.

 

A local young person showed up to play dare with the arriving waves.

 

The siblings showed up . . . very photogenic!

 

A few hundred meters away from where we stay . . . an old original farm.

 

I photograph this old spirit house every time I go to Hua Hin, which is often.

 

I am perpetually fascinated by this spirit house and its contents and details:

 

Although it seems abandoned, there are small signs of it being attended to.

 

A small history of devotional attention.

 

I am not sure if this has become a place for discarding ineffective spiritual paraphernalia . . . or is an active spirit house . . .

 

These were all there in there last photo I took two years ago.

 

I left my old favorite spirit house behind for a long walk a round the area.

 

My walks around the area yields lots of interesting things to think about . . . and look at . . .

 

A large leaf drying on the road . . .

 

The drying leaf (above) is from this plant . . . a tropical climber.

 

This used to be little store a family owned.  I do not know what happened to them . . . perhaps they were squatters.

 

The area behind where we stay is often wet and swampy, especially at the end of the rainy season.

 

The wet ground brings flowering plants and butterflies.

 

Butterflies are very difficult to photograph because they are always moving . . . or do not cooperate when they are still.  This one would not open its beautiful wings!

 

Many and varied beautiful flowers were out on this first day of the year.

 

Beautiful and delicate.

 

Bougainvillea.

 

My favorite.

 

Red puffs and new seed pods . . .

 

Dried bud.

 

Pretty and very tiny.

 

Classic Thai orchids.

 

Not a black and white photo . .  a moldy white wall with snail tracks . . .

WAT HUAI SAI TAI

I can see this Wat from where we stay on the beach, and I have seen buildings go up here over the years, but I had not revisited it in over 10 years.

 

I always liked the architecture of this particular Wat . . . so ornate, yet balanced and dignified.

 

Wat Huai Sai Thai was actually three Wats in one: The traditional Thai Wat, a Chinese Buddhist Temple, and a Shrine to a famous Monk, Luongpor Thonsuk.  The Chinese Temple had a wonderful Guanyin statue.

 

I went in the temple, made a donation, and took up this plate of offerings and ceremonial items to honor Guanyin.  There are cons to drop at each Buddha statue, oil to add to the lamps, incense to light, garlands and pearls to adorn Guanyin and candles to light.  All of these have a particular place and order.  I knew most of them, but there were two very helpful lady attendants who showed me what goes where and when.

 

Many small altars lined the room around the large Guanyin statue.

 

A sitting Happy Buddha.

 

I left my garland here, on the sandalwood Guanyin.

 

I love these fortunetelling machines you sometimes see in Chinese temples.  I could not quite figure out how this one worked, so I didn't put in any money.

 

The Chinese temple (foreground) was one of many small buildings on the Wat grounds.

 

I walked along a path lined with stone balls to another glassed in room full of golden Buddhas.

 

Standing Buddha images along the glass Buddha hall.

 

A glass room full of fantastically beautiful Buddha images.

 

Remarkable beauty.

 

I wanted to go in for close-up photos, but it was locked.  I had to shoot through the dirty windows.

 

Photographing through a window is not always a bad thing . . . the reflections of the frangipani trees help this image.

 

I felt a strong attraction to this particular Buddha image. I saw over a hundred Buddha images on this day, but this one 'spoke' to me.  I will return here to meditate.

 

The third part of the Wat was devoted to a new temple structure in honor of the great revered monk Luongpor Thonsuk. A silver elephant under construction stood out front.

 

An extraordinary structure.

 

Remarkable detail and artistry.

 

Scattered here and there around the temple structure, up in the sacred woods, were pieces of previous altars, the discarded spiritual paraphernalia.

 

There were many, many beautiful Buddha images inside the old monk's temple.

 

Encrusted with small squares of gold ceremonially pressed on by the throngs of pilgrims.

 

The interior was lined with Buddha images surrounding the giant, colossus . . . (folded leg visable in the foreground!)

 

The image of Luongpor Thongsuk was five stories tall!  I only had my 85mm lens with me, so I was unable to get the whole giant statue in one frame!

 

I walked up the stairs and then around each floor in turn.

 

The views from the upper floors were fantastic.

 

A view to a monks cottage over the silver elephant.

 

Looking from the temple out beyond the Wat to a typical Thai rural scene in this part of Thailand.

 

This is a NEW temple.  Buddhism in Thailand is a living, current practice.

 

A nice display of donated ceremonial drums . . .

 

. . . and a beautiful gong.  It was so quiet and peaceful that even I dared not to strike it!

 

On the top floor the walls were adorned with these murals from the Buddhist Jottika Tales.  Three more:

Pictorial lessons of the life of the Buddha Gotama.

 

I could have stayed here all day . . . just looking out of each window.

 

I reluctantly left . . . as I always do, asking myself, "Why don't I stay?"

A RURAL WAT

I continued up and away from the coast on a hot hazy morning on small rural roads.

 

Driving up into the hills I spotted a Thai Wat at its the base.

 

It was before lunch and three monks were having the last meal of their day.

 

This part of the Wat was an open sided shed structure.

 

It appeared as if there had been a big event recently, by the look of these piles of ceremonial objects.

 

Steep stairs led to a hilltop Buddha image . . . I decided to walk up for the view . . . and to respect the big Buddha there.

 

It was worth the many steps up.

 

The view from the top did not disappoint.  The Wat below was wonderful and, try as I might, I could not find the name of this Wat, not is it on a map.

 

Above the hilltop Buddha, a mandala.

 

Another area of the Wat had a marvelous white Buddha image and a shed containing many interesting offerings.

 

These dress offerings are a 'new' feature for me, or I have just not noticed them in the past (which I doubt).  I do not know the significance.

 

A living Wat, recently visited by the reverent.

 

A spirit house type offering plate . . . the ancestors . . . and some make-up . . . just in case.

 

More offerings of all kinds.

 

A revered spirit tree wrapped in devotional colors.

MONSOON VALLEY Vineyards

 Further to the west, and up into the valleys of the foothills, we came to the Monsoon Valley Vineyards.

 

No, this is not France . . . this is Thailand.

 

In addition to the vineyards, there is an attractive lodge with a fine dining cafe set up against the hills.

 

After lunch we walked out into the stunning view . . . .

 

I do not know how the tropical seasons in Thailand effect the growing of grapes, but these seem to be near harvesting.

 

We had a very nice long walk through the vineyards on a 'cool' January day in Thailand.

 

The have done a fine job of making the grounds around the vineyards interesting.  A nice place to spend an afternoon dining and walking.

 

They were growing several grape varieties, these requiring hanging.

 

A pleasant valley scene.

 

The parking lot security guards were a lot of fun . . . typical Thai friendliness.

 

The vineyard looks healthy and productive.  I didn't taste the wine, but my wife said it was 'good.'

 

Beautiful grapes.  Plump!

 

We greatly enjoyed our mid-day visit to the Monsoon Valley Vineyards.  IN th distance, on a hilltop, is a golden chedi shining in the sunlight . . . . I think I will go over there and see what it is . . . .

GOLDEN HILLTOP CHEDI

 

I noticed this golden hilltop chedi from the vineyard across the valley and went looking for the access road . . . found it. 

 

The dirt road up to the Wat below the golden chedi was lined with Buddha images.

 

There were several small structures housing large Buddha images along a hillside path.  Big cobra steps!

 

I liked this Wat very much.  It was modest, isolated, and had grand views of the Hua Hin hills.

 

The valley below: vineyards, orchards, field crops.

 

I walked the many steps up to the golden chedi.

 

So beautiful from below, but I had no idea what awaited me when I arrived on the top . . .

 

Leave your monkeymind behind, Ye who enter!  The real suffering doesn't show.

 

The golden chedi itself was ringed with highly individual Buddha images and elephant bas reliefs.

 

Each of the Buddha images seemed to have been made by a different person/artisan, so individual were they.

 

This particular Buddha image struck an amazing resemblance to a cartoon character from The Simpsons.

 

Magnificent 'naive art.'

 

I wondered if a group of monks might have made these . . . or the financial donors.

 

Such a serene place.

 

I walked around the golden chedi several times, each time noticing more and more . . .

 

Revered monks astride the chedi entrance.

 

It wasn't until my third time around the golden chedi that I realized there was a chamber inside.  Most chedis I have visited do not have access to the interior.  Let's see what's inside . . .

 

What I found inside was astonishing!

 

There was only very low indirect light inside.  I was glad I had on a f1.2 lens.

 

A marvel.

 

The inner chamber was full of Buddha images of all kinds.

 

The unevenly plastered walls were covered with an orange-golden paint . . . a perfect atmospheric backdrop to the exquisite Buddha images.

 

Gold leaf applied to revered Buddha images.  Some of the images faced the open doors . . . making photography easier.

 

Without a doubt, my favorite photograph of a day  . . . in a day of many wonderful images.  Amazing color and light.  A profoundly spiritual space.

 

The walls themselves were a thing of beauty in the magic light.

 

I experiences such a strong reawakening of Wonder in that hilltop place.

 

I walked around and around inside the circle of the chedi in a Vipasana walking meditation.

 

Colorful chamber Bikkus.

 

The chamber attendants/Bikkus.

 

I thought I was alone in the golden chedi until I heard the sound of sweeping.  A nun from the Wat keeping things neat and tidy.

 

There was a chedi within the larger chedi.  I didn't bring my wide angle lens and a tripod . . . but I might go back one day.

 

Yes, thanks for the reminder . . . hold back the river of Mara's temptations to be pulled from The Now.

 

I spent over an hour in the chamber . . . I believe . . . because I lost track of time . . . and left.

 

I exited passed the old monk and the Buddha, found a sala and ate the lunch I had in my pack, and went to the car and drove back toward the coast.

A RURAL WAT

Driving back along a small rural road, I spotted a Wat under construction.

 

I am very interested in Wat construction, having been involved in building a Wat myself.

 

It is going to be a very pleasant place when it is completed.  I will try and make a point to visit here in the future.

 

I went inside through an open door behind the main Buddha image.

 

The main altar was already more or less complete.

 

Very powerful Buddhas here . . .

 

Back outside, I stopped to admire and pay respect to this Buddha image next to a small shrine/spirit house.

 

The shrine/spirit house was much older than the new Wat and was there for the older part of the temple grounds . . . which I was to explore next.  More dress offerings . . .

 

The old wooden Wat structure had these large rain water collection jugs outside.

 

The altar in the old Wat . . . I wonder if they will move these devotional items over to the new Wat when it is completed . . .

 

A rural Wat in an agricultural village would have water buffalo heads, no?

 

I had a wonderful day . . . I hope he rest of the year will be as spiritually illuminating as the first day of the year . . . . . if . . .

 

It will be a good year if the MonkeyMind is disbanded through clear insight meditation.

Happy New Year.

The ubiquitous Buddhist spirit house is seen everywhere in Thailand.  I spotted this one while walking along a sandy road near the beach just north of Hua Hin in January of 2016.

 

Spirit houses are tended . . . by someone or many someones.  This particular spirit house was in a vacant field, not too far from several beach houses.

 

On certain Buddha days, people will adorn a spirit house with flower (or plastic flower) garlands.  The real flower garlands dry up and become, to my eye, even more beautiful.

 

The untended of the tending garlands . . . . magnificent!

 

Spirit houses are also places for performing Buddhist spiritual practices and rituals.

 

Various votive items are placed in these spiritual structures.  Some as help or accouterments of need to the inhabitors of the spirit house, and some as Buddhist veneration.

 

The color and textures of these dried votive garlands are captivating to me.

 

Even the plastic garlands, when covered with the age of layers of dust, are beautiful in time.

 

Time, weather, and craft.

 

I walked on down the sandy road in the heat.  I was happy that I had stopped to really see what was within this spirit house.