The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

Yes, of course, I found new flowers to photograph over the week-end.

We played golf at the Black Hills Golf & Resort.  It was very nicely landscaped with a variety flowering plants.

All the flower beds were in full bloom.

I have lived 25 years in the Tropics and there has always been Frangipani.  Sweet smelling and symetrical beauty.

It is not only the Frangipani flower that is interesting.  The plant morphs out it leaves.

Break open a Frangipani leaf and a sticky white milk oozes out.

The Frangipani flower unfurls.

The unfurling reveals the flower.

The Hibiscus flower also unfurls, but not in symetrical way.

Of course Thailand is famous for its Orchids, which grow outside everywhere.  This orchid beetle has adapted very well to his environment.

Excellent camouflage

While my wife was playing golf at the Fabulous Black Hills PGA Golf Course, I explored the small back roads in the hills above Hua Hin.

It is the time of the annual Water Festival, Songkran, in Thailand and a wonderful pilgrimage temple had decorations in abundance.

The temple had giant dragons protecting the entry . . . .

. . . with a long Dragon-Snake tails.

These pilgrim temples are full of large Buddha statues in the landscape.

The Wat had a strong Chinese influence: all the zodiacal animal symbols were represented.

To honor the spirit of revered and venerable monks, pilgrims affix gold leaf to the statues.

Honor to the memory of a respected teacher of the Dhamma (variously, Dharma).

It was a living Wat with many monks in residence.

Week-ends in Hua Hin are always filled with new vistas and fascinating things to see.

I was surprised by migrating birds over the sea.

The sunset sea had a moody sparkle.

The sunrise sea was starkly mysterious. I am continually surprised by the changing face of the Gulf of Siam.

The next sunset revealed yet another seascape identity.

The Gulf of Siam is rarely this clear green and blue.

Sunset over the Thai-Burmese boarder.

Flowers anew.  Bird of Paradise.

A new bud.

I loved these yellow stamens.

This painting of the King of Thailand humg in an Italian restaurent.  It made me sad to think that he is in poor health.   I fear for my beloved Thailand, my adopted home.

Last Saturday's trip to Saraburi with my family included several Buddhist Temples (wats), both Thai and Chinese/Thai. Here are a few more images from that wonderful day.

Our first temple of the day was a Thai Buddhist Wat that had a stone Buddha "footprint." Pilgrims would set money on the "footprint" for good luck.  The room had a mirrored ceiling.  Great idea.

Another temple building had Buddhas that you "dressed" in sashes and gold leaf. I dressed one and was thrilled in the process.

Fantastical dressed Buddhas.

I couldn't choose between these three dressed Buddha photos, so I included all three here.

The temple buildings were beautiful and  . . . .

. . . opulent beyond belief.

The largest Wat structure held the largest Buddha.

The extensive Temple grounds had many traditional Thai wat structures.

The third temple of the day was a traditional Chinese Buddhist Temple . .  of austere beauty.

Beautiful spiritual architecture.

All the elements for a spiritual pilgrimage were present.

The interior of the Chinese temple was thick with incense and mystery.

Altars within the temples speak of timelessness.

Not everything one finds in a temple is positive. This man sets birds free, for a fee. You give him money so you can have the good feeling, and added good gamma of freeing a bird.  Gamma ascription can be a complex thing, but this is simple: it is wrong.  Unfortunately this practice leads to the netting and trapping of birds which inevitably leads to the killing of many birds in the process.  I told this guy to go away.  He didn't like me telling him that.

The natural world of Khao Yai was continuously fascinating.

Oh my!

Oh my indeed!

Opening Lotus.

The winery where we stayed was beautifully decorated.  This is an old rice separator.

I took many, many photographs in Khao Yai . . . too many to look at carefully.  Here are a few more I overlooked in my earlier postings:

The primary reason we went to Khao Yai on this particular week-end was because it was Magha Puja Day (also called Makha Bucha) - a Buddhist Ceremonial Holiday.  In the evening of Magha full-moon day, each temple in Thailand holds a candle light procession called a wian tian (wian meaning circle; tian meaning candle). Holding flowers, incense and a lighted candle, the monks and congregation members circumambulate clockwise three times around the Uposatha Hall (once for the the Enlightened One - The Buddha, once for the followers of the Buddha- the Shangha, and once for what the Buddha said - The Dharma).

Magha Puja Day falls on a full moon, here seen rising above the Khao Yai valley.

We made the best of the week-end sightseeing. Here are details of a spa we spent a few hours in getting massaged.

Wall and flower.

There were amazing flowers and plants in Khao Yai . . . and wonderful light in which to photo them:

Tree Lichen.

Miniature flowers.

Purple Stamen.

White Stamen.

Yellow Stamen . . . looks like a stamen series!

Iris seed pods.

A flowering tree flower.

Some tropical trees flower in the Fall, like these.

A giant white orchid growing on the side of a tree outside!

Yellow Iris.