The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

Yep, I've got friends in town (Jeff & Sharon from Keizer, Oregon, USA) . . . . so it's time for me to [happily] be a tourist for a few weeks. Chatuchak Week-end Market anyone?

I'm really glad my friends came . . . I love Chatuchak ("JJ Market" to the locals).  Here we have home-made coconut ice cream being served in the half shell.

Fire Dogs! A little flare and a little danger to bring in the customers.

We stopped for a hearty bowl of wak-fried squid eggs.  Yummy!

So much to see & buy . . . and photograph at JJ Market.

Thai people are especially creative.  JJ Market is a place to be surprised by wonderfully aesthetic product ideas.

I may go back for this while slatted cabinet . . . I have a perfect place for it.

Lots of creativity and fine light to be found in JJ Market.

Something for EVERYBODY!

Chatuchak Market is known for its miles and miles of narrow isles packed with thousands of stalls.

Absolutely everything is available.  Most stalls carry only items designed and made by the proprietor.

In the dark depths of JJ Market there are special finds.

Hand-made shoes to die for.

Wonderful workmanship.

O.K., not everybody has the gift of commerce.

Interesting selection of items to sell: sling shots, back scratchers, salt, peanuts, fresh ginger, and curry sauce bags.

There is a lot to see outside the enclosed market area as well.

Back-lit plastic feet: what a great marketing idea.

Various sales approaches are on view . . . like this "Buy the damned dusters or else" method.

A young musician on a traditional Thai instrument making a little week-end cash.

Some Thai parents still cut their children's hair in the ancient styles.  This style goes back a thousand years and can still be seen in the old temple paintings.

Lots of ways to try and make money at JJ Market.

Whatever is "hot" or "cool" anywhere in the world comes to JJ Market . . . the trend either starts here, or arrives here early in the coolness half life.

Lots of young travellers come to Thailand for the beaches and adventure.  This is what they are wearing this year.

It wasn't n especially hot day, but we stopped for a cool drink at an old friend's bar, Viva, which had moved from its old JJ market spot.  Lovely place with nice jazz music.

JJ market is a great place to go even if you don't buy anything; there are so many things to see.

Ceramic dogs or wicker reindeer . . . so many Christmas gift ideas.

A wind-up toy hawker.

Famous for his coffee.  Notice the press clippings on his cart!

Tending stuff-on-a-stick (fish and pork balls).

Fried meat stand.

Red ball ice dessert anyone?

It is not easy to be blind in Thailand . . . or anywhere.

The neighborhood around JJ Market is alive with construction activity.  Businessmen are keen to cash in on its popularity.

It's always nice to visit Hong Kong.  My wife's sister lives there, so we always get the royal treatment. This is the view from the Hong Kong side looking to the Kowloon side.

My Hong Kong brother-in-law,Johnson Li, and I like to go on little photographic expeditions.  Stanley Peak is always good for some moody shots.

Hong Kong is so developed and redeveloped, so over built, and so modernised that when one sees a vestige of the old days, an infrastructure relic, you are taken aback.

Of course the eating never stops: delicious suckling pig anyone?  Yes, those ARE little red light bulbs in the eye sockets and, yes, they did blink on and off.  A macabre touch, to say the least.

In addition to eating, there is the Hong Kong national pastime, shopping.  The same luxury global brands are for sale in each and every mall . . . a kind of Shopping Hell!

But not everything is crass commercialism.  Some tiny bits of "Old Hong Kong" can be seen here and there . . . like these old fishermen's houses at Stanley Market.

The old Stanley Market, near Repulse Bay, though touristy, is a nice change of pace from the Mega Malls.

Stanley Market is a real, working local markeet in addition to a tourist destination.

Many South Asian tourists find their way to Hong Kong, no doubt a holdover from British colonial days.  The shops reflect the tastes of the visitors.

Beautiful and colorful Sari accouterments . . .

. . . and baubbles . . .

. . . and knock-off bags.

Around the back of Stanley Market one could purchase exact replicas of the famous Chinese terra-cotta warriors . . .

. . . already crated and ready for shipment, at a cost below what you could imagine.  The proprietor said that the shipping would cost more than the warrior. I really wanted one for our garden. However, my nephew J Harper warned me, "Yeah, but I saw in a movie where they can come to life and cause all sorts of mayhem." I am forewarned.

I see these personal chops every time I go to Hong Kong but have yet to buy one.

We had booked a golf tee time for Sunday afternoon, but the weather was threatening  . . . . so we decided to drive the 30 miles to Nakhon Chai Si for lunch and a little shopping for the local small town delicacies my wife and I both like.

The old section of Nakhon Chai Si is a typical Thai market town.  Its close proximity to Bangkok brings out the Sunday drivers in search of the rare taste treat - a favorite Thai pastime.

We had lunch at a floating restaurent specializing in sea food . . . and aesthetically pleasing presentation.

We had beautiful fish simmering in a spicy sour sauce.  Yum-yum.

After we engorged ourselves on the fantastic lunch, we headed to the old market.  Lots of sea food there, and many other amazing little bundles of good-tasting Thai food-to-die-for.

We brought back our favorite salted sea bass for dinner this week.

There was much fruit to be had.

This "organic packaging" is stuffed with gooey coconut delight.The local way of cooking spiced rice is steaming inside bamboo tubes.

Thai chilis, known as prick in Thai, are hot.  Period.

These are delicious steamed with olive oil and lots of salt.

The market was framed by old shop houses smudged with the patina of age.

The light was incredible as it fell on the old shop doors.

I estimate that this part of Old Nakhon Chai Si is more than 100 years old.

The old wooden Thai towns are relics of a bygone era.

It is nice to see young people taking over these old shops and adding a modern touch, yet retaining the old charm.  Coffee time?

Some of the shops, like this old pharmacy, have been kept in their 1950s state.

The old town of Nakhn Chai Si is under royal patronage. The ailing King of Thailand is much revered.

We had some car trouble (shift linkage) while parked at a Wat that led to an adventure in getting home.  Part of the adventure landed us at this small suburban shop; so forlorn in its commercial nakedness.

The shopkeeper's pretty young daughter perched among the array of goods, sad and shy.

The shop was in a neighborhood peopled by motorized food vendors.

It is always a good day when I can hang around a holy tree and contemplate The Buddha, The Teachings of The Buddha, and The Followers of The Buddha.

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.

An ordinary evening on the streets of Hua Hin. The food hawkers are out with their carts.

Some food carts are mobile -- they move about the town all night.

Some carts seem to move about and never stop.  Car batteries and lamps illuminate the product.

Some hawkers seem to own a corner.  Here dried, pressed squid strips arrayed on Hua Hin Main Street.

Our favorite ginger soup and soy milk sweet dessert cart seems to have found a permanent home on a side street.  We are very glad to have found it again!

Most carts seem to come out in early evening and set up "food courts" in the same location every night.

There is a stark beauty about the actuality of these night hawker markets.

The lighting seems to highlight the human endeavour to stay alive, as well as to eat.

The carts are wheeled in and tables and stools are brought out for the customers.

Late at night, this man seemed so lonely making his hot noodle soup.

Late night, Hua Hin back streets.

Some night hawkers walk the streets trying to sell their "hill tribe" mementos to the diminishing number of tourists . . .

Tailor shops and tourist tuk-tuks sit empty, their touts listless.

At some point every night, a decision is made to beak camp and head home through the night streets of Hua Hin.

The famous Thai tolerence allows the cheap and the tawdry in.

A hard way to make a living.  A hard way to live.