Category: Thailand

Thailand 2020-2022

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Here and there!

Visiting the Tsutsumis and family after the funeral of Eli’s mother

Kalasin, Thailand

The great Naga on the hill
people put coins in the Naga’s scales for good luck

not in any shape now to eat us
from a pile of bones to this
primitive in appearance
areas of Thailand with tons of bones
the threat is real
hope this is faster than the hotel’s internet
good noodles for lunch
enjoying their nice house, out of the rain
I receive a blessing from a Chinese monk for the offerings I gave the temple. I dedicated this blessing to a friendship

Luang Prabang

grand design, train station. no vehicles allowed at the vehicle access area.
rice is on the way

on the train
the monks arrive.
the lunch. noodles, of course
they have avocado smoothies. delicious. about 80 cents (US)
a Ruben sandwich for breakfast
nice room in front of the morning market
a tour boat for the monks
everything on the ferry

an electric scooter, from china, of course.

lookin’ out my backdoor
Naga boat to carry the revered
I stop at temples often and stay quiet (meditate?) as a break from driving or during a walking day
good advise. know this before showing up on Southeast Asia
Vientiane in KANJI is “ten thousand elephants”
request on the left – be careful which finger you see doing this. I didn’t see at first but it is a finger raised to lips.
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Mucking around in Mukdahan

why?

Mukdahan is an interesting town on the Mekong river, a town I last visited last over 25 years ago. What really surprised me about the town is good food available of many nationalities. If you’re interested to know more about the town I’m including the Wikipedia link explaining everything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukdahan

every town needs it modern tower. Why? I don’t know
Here at the Indochina market next to the river you can find a lot of stuff you might need. Not everything is inexpensive enough to justify shopping here instead at an inexpensive shopping center. But there are some good deals. Here you might want an umbrella
Many might want this T-shirt
the indochina market
Lots of food available. Most of it seems to be sugar
Definitely stuff for tourists to buy
How about pharmaceuticals?
Clothing occupies a large number of the stalls
If you need garlic I guess this is the place to come
And of course every “important” town needs to Bill a big Buddha on the hill. This one is still under construction
and here are some of the constructors having breakfast

Kwan Yin (KANNON) is a popular image

Every temple needs a temple dog. This one is very old, blind and has very long toenails probably from not moving around enough and wearing them down
what it looks like from downtown
City from the top of the statue
banana leaves decorated to bring blessings
More popular banana leaf blessing decorations
This is something I don’t remember at temples, giant Naga. And it seems this is a popular thing to build now.
Someone has parked his tuk tuk on the street, maybe his parking lot?
Belonging to someone in this house?
This clock tower looks fairly new but I can’t say was one here before this was created. This seems to be an increasingly popular thing to build
And a Japanese restaurant with mixed reviews. I didn’t try it
The temple downtown
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Serene Surin

Notice the black spots on his tongue. This is considered good luck in Thailand. There were a number of people who wanted to buy my dog because he had these black spots on his tongue and also six toes on each hind foot. This guy is a temple dog and was extremely friendly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surin,_Thailand

If you’re interested in Surin use the link above to get more information.

This is how a nice pond looks after it’s gone through some cleaning
this is how it looks before it’s cleaned
I would love to have some free alcohol
Khmer clothing
Lao clothing
Kuay clothing

The interesting thing about this area is it’s a mix of different cultures; Lao, Khmer (Cambodia) and Kuay. Quote from the museum: “This is the native population of Surin, Si Sa Ket, Buri Ram, Ubon Ratchathani and some parts of Maha Sarakham. They speak Mon-Khmer, and their physical appearance is very similar to the Semang. They have thick lips and curly hair.  Some scholars believe that the Kuay are the same group as the people who speak Munda, who live in eastern India.  During the Bangkok Period, when Surin was unable to meet Its tax demands from Bangkok, the administrators sent Kuay people as tribute. These Kuay have their own rituals and traditions. The best known is elephant capture, and the healing ceremony with its attendant rituals to cure the sick.”

This stick dance is similar to the one in Philippines
This shows the area where Khmer (bottom), Kuay and Lao (right) influences came in.
Life at the Sikhoraphum railway station, circa 1922
Khmer temple. Little is left
This kind of structure you often see in the middle of a Khmer temple. I’m not sure exactly what the use is
Typical Khmer temple architecture

The Dvaravati Culture in Isan, or northeast Thailand, has its own identity that differs from that in the central and other parts of the country. One of the distinguishing characteristics is the concept in making large Buddhist boundary stones, which are not found anywhere else. These were made of large, flat, rectangular sandstone slabs, with tips shaped like a lotus petal. Some were carved with decorative designs,and others are plain. Most of the designs are relevant to Buddhism, such as the boundary stones from Fa Daed Sung Yang in Kalasin and Khonsawan of Chaiphum. The locations of the boundary stones varied, and were significant in different ways:

1. Some were located around ancient monuments, such as the boundary stones of Wat Dhammachaksemaram. Sungnoen district, Nakhon Ratchasima

2. Others delineated the rectangular space which might have symbolized the ordination hall for monks, such as the boundary stones of Muang Phai, Khornburi district, Nakhon Ratchasima

3. Some stones surrounded large mounds, such as the boundary stones at Ban Khonsawan. Khonsawan district, Chaiphum

In Surin. old manufacturing centers for Dvaravati boundary stones have been found at the ancient communities of Ban Trum.

Sikhoraphum district, and Noen Simma Yai. Non Simma Noi and Ban Plaikhla in Chumphonburi district.

Dvaravati culture in Isan declined in the 11th century.When the powerful ancient Khmer culture of Angkor spread through and began to dominate this part of Thailand. Sera stones at Ban True in Sikhoraphum district,Surin Province

Different types of rice in the area
Products made from rice

Phanom Sawai Forest Park photos below

Every Buddhist image needs an elephant protector?
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Wats Galore!

At Wat Maha Wanaram it seems as though I walked in on a celebration so I just tiptoed and took a few photos. All of the temples in this phlog are in Ubon Rachatani, the Northeast part of Thailand, heavy with old Khmer (Cambodia) and Lao influences. The Northease is often called “Lao” since it was part of Lao until presented to Thailand by the French Colonialist authorities who governed Laos. It is a wonderful place to visit.

Wat Na Kwai

Wat Phra That Nong Bua

The Naga are there to protect the Temple
Even in front of sacred Ground lottery ticket vendors abound
Originally the Naga is a green river serpent. I will tell the story of the Naga as it relates to Buddhism in the near future
These temples are actually a great place to just sit and relax and, if you like, meditate
Always look up

Wat Sa Prasan Suk

Enter between the legs of the elephant

Wat Tai Phrachao Yai Ong Tue

The potpourri of temples

Even the army soldier has Merit
Don’t forget to sign the visitors book and also use the QR code to make a donation to the temple. This monk here was talking to himself
Is this the true depiction of a Heffalump?
I was excited how the clouds in the sky interacted with the objects
Strong Khmer influence
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On to Sisaket!

Yesterday in Surin this temple dog reminded me of lik lik because he came over and kept licking me
The dogs seemed to enjoy resting here by the Buddha at the top but when I went back down they followed me
You can tell by the name on the building what university this complex is. It looks pretty gaudy ornate. I would not want my house to look like this
Pretty tasty and reasonably priced. Chicken and some crispy something
This was advertised as something like a preserve for elephants but when I got there I found it was mostly a place for entertaining Thai tourist. In the next video you will see how they train these elephants to act like humans, something I really dislike completely but I bought the ticket so I thought I would sit there and watch.
When you see how these elephants are kept, chained and not able to move around, very sadly just weaving from side to side, you really wonder what a horrible life these animals have. I found it interesting what they have been trained to do but I just couldn’t stand to imagine how poorly they were treated so I left.
Tom Yam Gai (chicken). Very spicy and very hot.
the plate on the left shows you what really cannot be eaten but which adds flavor
Getting out of school to raid the sweets shop and the 7-Eleven carbohydrate shelves
I went to see the wooden bridge that crosses the river between the two provinces
This is the wooden bridge that is not
I had to negotiate to get the price for locals. I am legally a resident of Thailand
Prasat Sikhoraphum. Khmer temple
Just a nice relaxing place to sit
Like many towers in Italy, many of the very old temple towers also lean
Some old artifacts
I told him where the leak in the tire was but he couldn’t find it so he decided to takeoff the wheel and dump the whole thing in water. But he didn’t know how to takeoff the wheel. He was using a hammer and crowbars to take something off the wrong way. so I kept looking at the tire and found a hole and after plugging the hole he put the bike back together.
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Fun in Buriram!

Khmer influence in restored temple

Buriram is a province in Thailand located in the Northeast near Laos and Cambodia. It has a mixture of Lao and Khmer (Cambodia) people, traditions and cultural influences.

You can see the province at the bottom of the image just above Cambodia
in addition to tradition, this province has probably the best known soccer team and soccer field.
Kids playing in the field
Khmer influenced architecture. This looks like an abandoned temple
Khmer influence inside this old temple
I am not sure what this is. Didn’t ET already return home?
in Kao Kradong volcanic crater and park.
Pigs heads ready for pick up
The entrance to a temple from the main road
This robot delivers your food to your table. The only problem I saw is that it gets in the way of the waiters taking orders and talking with customers and seems to cause quite a few traffic jams. This doesn’t seem to be a really effective implementation of R2 D2.
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The last of the comics

the temple HULK

it was a great idea visiting this temple and I hope that you get a chance to also spend a few hours to enjoy all of the images, but you have to travel to Bangkok

a new addition under construction
when you sit down quietly in front of these images I don’t see how you can be described as doing anything else except meditating.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Koh Chang island)

Angelo has a Italian restaurant which now, due to lack of customers from Covid, focuses on pizza and PANZEROTTO. He is the kind of fellow you want to know if you want to learn how to be a good chef and how to make people happy with food. He makes something called PANZEROTTO, the only place on the island it’s available. If you really enjoy the food and tell him how much you like it he will most likely give you a complementary apéritif, possibly one you have never tried before. I recommend Trattoria & Pizza kohchang in Lonely Beach.

A new waterslide for the kids just opened recently
do you remember the movie “don’t eat the daisies”? If you do you are old like me. I also recommend not to eat this plant
“this is how you do it!”
My leaning tower of yogurt cups. I’m not quite sure why I am collecting them
Getting nude at the local convenience store
My two guard dogs doing their job, tigger and thief. Thief got her name after she kept going into my room, pulling stuff out of the garbage and spreading it around outside. I finally trained her not to go in the room but I still call her “thief”.
A mini Ducati?
A very nice decoration for the van from my favorite pizzeria, Babylon. If you like thin, crispy, sourdough flavor crust this is the place to go.
It’s not quite the car I expected “odd job” to jump out of but it is a nice vintage
Just read the sign. And, by the way, this is where I had my tooth pulled, the one that broke due to rocks in the rice at a certain restaurant (tiny rocks)
Protecting the elemental protecting tee pee from the elements. But the elements get you if you have to go pee pee.
cicio is a very “active” guard dog?
Have to go back to work at the pool table at red monkey. Can’t be lazy all my life. “what’s the winning streak score Paul?” Actually we just make it up each time we get back to there to play
Deep fried squid rings at one of my favorite restaurants, “eat here”, nice name for a restaurant.

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Let’s get serious about Serious Temples

in Udon Thani there is a very nice temple in the middle of the city with some very interesting surroundings and architecture, Wat Pothisomphon

Even the HQ has a very nice design
Remember the does and don’ts at temples
Assembly hall
got work to do
The main pagoda (stupah)
Stuck in the middle with you
Every picture tells a story, don’t it?
A Snaking view