Asian Images

Chiang Mai Scrapbook

A small gallery of eclectic images snapped in Chiang Mai.

 

Buddha images surrounding the central Chedi of the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

A Buddha image under the sheltering naga.

 

 
  

White Elephant monument at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Yellow bamboo.

 

A mythical creature with the form of five animals - Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

 

Hanuman - a Hindu deity from the Ramayana.

 

Myhtical creatures lurking in the hotel gardens.

 

 

This 'old salty' slithered out of the rice paddies - fortunately he turned to stone before causing any trouble!

 

Winner of the 'Ms.Thai Rice Farmer Pageant' - July 2010!

 
  
 

Buffalo Gallery

Two water buffaloes were permanent residents of our Chiang Mai hotel.

These two animals had won the buffalo lottery of life and enjoyed a hedonistic lifestyle - personal valets, two baths a day, unlimited grazing and a private 2-bed barn for the night. In return for this pampered existence the buffaloes were only required to saunter around the hotel grounds twice a day and endure a long rest stop in the shade of the hotel lobby.

A well contented buffalo with not a care in the world!

 

Kathleen getting to know the rare albino water buffalo!

Have you ever seen a better groomed buffalo - Kathleen looks good too!

Doing what the buffaloes did best and often - nibbling the tender grass in the landscaped grounds of the hotel!

Water buffalo in Asia are typically a rice farmer's beast of burden and there is rarely much meat to be seen on the hard working animal's bones. By contrast the hotel buffalo were plump with nary a bone to be seen under their scrubbed hides.

 

On the deck of the private barn - a final snack before bedtime.

 
  

Even the hotel's objet d'art buffaloes were overweight!

 

High in Thailand

Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand and it had to be conquered!

After a leisurely buffet breakfast at the hotel base camp in Chiang Mai, we fearlessly departed on the first stage of the Doi Inthanon expedition in a rather comfortable 4WD vehicle with a 'sherpa' driver and local mountain guide. The drive to Camp 1 was a leisurely two hours and perfect road conditions allowed for easy back seat snoozing.

Fortified with freshly brewed coffee and pastries at Camp 1 we were ready to tackle the more dangerous final approach up the treacherous south face of Doi Inthanon. Thirty minutes later our determination and mountaineering prowess were finally rewarded - our 'sherpa' driver carefully applied the brakes and we gently came to a stop in the summit parking lot.

We had 'bagged' the highest mountain in Thailand at 2,565 meters (8,400 feet). It was a tough climb from the back seat of the car!

Wet and cool at the highest 'spot' in Thailand!

Looking up into the misty canopy.

 

 

Waterfalls cascade down all sides of Doi Inthanon.

Camp 1 on the trail to the summit! Excellent coffee al fresco.

 

 
 
 
A well earned gourmet lunch box after an exhausting drive to the summit of Doi Inthanon. The champagne and caviar were missing!

'Macro Man' - a serious Thai bird photographer discovered in the middle of a tourist trail just below the summit of Doi Inthanon. His giant 600 mm macro lens was focused on a small, unidentified bird that looked similar to an English robin. 

A fuzzy image of the 'Macro Man's' bird taken with a 200 mm lens, at an ISO of 3,200  and with no tripod. There's a reason that 'Asian Images' doesn't feature too many bird images!  

Yellow 'trumpet' flowers.

 
 
 

Long-Neck Women

The Karen, Hmong, Lahu, Mien, Lisu and Akha are the six main minority 'hill tribe' groups that live in the remote mountainous regions of northern Thailand. These varied ethnic groups are native to Burma, Tibet and China. Their migration to Thailand started in the nineteenth century due to repression, civil war and economic hardship at home.

The Karen minority are indigenous to Burma and a small sub-group of the Karen, known as the Padaung tribe, has lived close to Chiang Mai for over twenty years. The females in this group are also known as the 'long-neck women' as a result of brass rings worn around their necks from childhood. The reason for this practice is a mystery. Perhaps the rings provided protection from tiger attacks or perhaps they are simply a unique style of jewelery.

One of the high lights of our short off-season visit to Chiang Mai was a visit to the Baan Tong Luang village, home to both Karen and Padaung 'hill-tribes'. This village is a self-sufficient agricultural community open to visitors. Many of the women weave and sell traditional silk and cotton fabrics. A small fee is charged to visit the village, however, the long neck women pose happily for the intruding cameras without asking for money which is a common practice in many other hill tribe villages.

It was a joy to photograph the long-neck women!

 

A Karen lady weaving underneath her traditional wooden house.

 

A simple white Karen headdress stylishly topped off with a few leaves from the garden!

 

A Padaung lady with stretched ear lobes to accommodate large silver tube earrings.

 

 

Portraits of beautiful long-neck Padaung woman.

 

 

 

A striking long-neck woman wearing brass coils that must weigh over 5 kilograms. The length of the neck is increased mainly due to the depression of the shoulders due to the weight of the coils. Coils are carefully removed and cleaned about every five years.


 

 

The prettiest girl in the village - an eight year old Padaung girl wearing both neck and leg coils.

 

The face of an angel!

 

Two angels!

Our Thai guide thought that Kathleen and the Padaung girl must be related.

Kathleen was definitely related to one of these long-neck women!

Learning to shoot wooden arrows from a traditional Karen hunting bow - one out of five arrows hit the bullseye - we wouldn't go hungry in the jungle!

'Ki Ki' our local guide and Kathleen in the Baan Tong Luang village. It was our good fortune that the rice had already been planted!

Chef's Table

After slaving in the hotel's rice fields we decided that an upgrade to the Chef's Table was well deserved. And, since it was off-season in Chiang Mai, we were the only two pampered guests at the al fresco table designed for twelve. The fifteen-course Thai meal prepared by Chef Pitak from the hotel 'Cooking School' was a gastronomic delight. Our Chef also matched some excellent Thai cocktails and wines to the many courses. 

 

The Chef's Table and dinner for only two!

 

Chef Pitak and his attentive student - my focus was more on tasting the wines!

  

The official banquet photo after three hours and fifteen courses - fortunately our hotel room was close!

 

A menu to make your mouth water! Our Chef also provided recipes for each course - now we must choose between rice farming and Thai cooking as alternate careers! 
 

Migrant Rice Farmers

We recently migrated to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand for a short sojourn. Our hotel was in the countryside and built around a checkerboard of rice paddies.

 

A fish-eye view of the rice paddies from the worker's hostel.

 

Thai lady farmers wearing de rigueur two-piece blue denim suits and straw hats clear weeds from the paddy - back breaking work!

Migrant workers from Singapore planting rice seedlings!

The hotel rates were higher than expected so we had no choice but to work for our food!

 

Under the watchful eye of the head farmer!

 

Proud rice farmers!

The lines were not perfectly parallel, and some of the seedlings would not stand upright, but overall a good start to a potential new career and the work paid for lunch! In 60 days the 'Owens' rice will be ready to harvest!

The first stage of processing after harvesting the rice - Kathleen demonstrates the traditional threshing technique to separate the rice grains.

 

Fanning the rice to blow off the chaff.

 

The final stage to separate the rice grains - Kathleen concentrating so as not to toss out the hard won rice.

 

Hot work!

A traditional wooden rice grinder and a non-traditional operator.

 

 

 

Lunch is served - sticky rice on a banana leaf - the reward for our hard labor!

 

 Graduate Thai rice farmers!

 

Black and White Mining - Mongolia

The Soviet Union developed much of the Mongolian mining industry during the post-Stalin era. Black and white images seem to best capture that legacy.

 

Bleak concrete tenement blocks - Choyr.

 
Time stands still - V.I. Lenin presides over a meeting with the Director of a joint Russian-Mongolian mine!

 
An underground miner - a face etched in character.

 

Breaking rock by hand! Safety is not a high priority.

 

Tea time in the processing plant - no double, non-fat lattes here!

 

 

Lion Rock - Sigiriya

Lion Rock is a spectacular archaeological site in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the former capital of King Kassapa who ruled from AD 477 to 495. The King has been described as "brave, murderous and brilliant". The King transformed a rock rising 200 meters out of the central Sri Lankan plain into an immense recumbent lion. Unfortunately, all that remains of the Lion today is a giant paw although the imagination has little difficulty in visualizing the Lion Rock at the time of King Kassapa.

 

The King's palace was constructed on the flat table-top of Lion Rock - a remarkable engineering achievement in the 5th century. There is no easy access to the top!

The Lion's paws below the final stairway to the summit. Nerve and fortitude were required to scale the rickety ladders and stairway!

An immense paw with Kathleen for scale.

 

A serious warning sign for all intrepid climbers - hornet attacks can be fatal. The hornets nest on the cliffs beside the summit stairway and they are irritable and unpredictable. Fate was tempted by my noisy words of encouragement to Kathleen as she slowly climbed the near vertical stairway within a few meters of the buzzing hornets. She politely reminded me to heed the above warning!

 

The 'killer' hornets at rest!

 A rather makeshift and low capacity hornet's refuge half way to the top of Lion's Rock.

 
 

Safely to the top! A tough climb!

Our two local guides who provided encyclopedic knowledge of King Kassapa's palace and also carried our bags in the searing heat - two vital tourist support services!

 

Panorama from the table-top and the foundations of the ancient palace.

A spiral staircase to a pocket in the side of Lion's Rock that contains exquisite and remarkably well preserved frescoes of glamorous and sensuous woman from the 5th century. King Kassapa, in addition to being brave, murderous and brilliant, was also an acclaimed lothario.

The 'cloud damsel' mural depicting feminine beauty and glamor - King Kassapa clearly did not subscribe to the Buddhist concept of suppressing lust in order to achieve eternal happiness!

Two cloud damsels with flowers, jewelery and exotic head-dresses.

 

 
 

King Kassapa's personal taste in feminine beauty is rather apparent in all the cloud damsel frescoes!

 

Sri Lankan Wildlife

A small post featuring images of Sri Lankan wildlife with obvious personality!

The red-brown toque macaque - a tough and belligerent monkey with an attitude! It was uncertain if this male was going to eat the red hibiscus flower or offer it to his sweetheart!

Snake eyes!

 

A curious giant squirrel with a very pink nose. From tail to nose about 60 centimeters.

 

 'Yoda' - a silver-grey baby langur.

 

 

A magnificent eagle at Lion Rock, Sigiriya. The raptor didn't even blink an eye at my less than stealthy approach.

 

A skittish chameleon on hot sand at the top of Lion Rock, Sigiriya.

 

 

Kathleen next to the chameleon. Did the canny critter try to imitate Kathleen's fashion colors? 
 
  

Pachyderms

A visit to Sri Lanka in August 2009 provided numerous elephant encounters. For pachyderm fans here are a few images.

A herd of over 60 elephants bathe in the Ma Oya river at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage about 25 kilometers west of Kandy. Most of the elephants were injured or orphaned in the wild, either as a result of the 30 year civil war or due to conflict with humans in farming villages. 

Many of the baby elephants are born in the orphanage creating ever greater demands for space and food.

 

 

Mud baths and play time on the river bank.

 

A baby elephant with a fine hide of hair. Note how the front feet are in motion but the back remain in the standing position. This slow coordination may explain in part why baby elephants have a propensity to stumble and fall.

Orphan buddies!

 

A working elephant with his lunch box and mahout.

The patio of our room at the Elephant Corridor hotel near Sigiriya opened out onto the jungle and a dried-out lake bed - we were thrilled to welcome a passing visitor for early breakfast.

Pericolo! The hotel kindly provided warnings in both Italian and English about the potential danger of a chance encounter with wild elephants. The scatological evidence behind the warning sign suggests that the danger was close at hand!

Thaipusam

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival in honor of Lord Muruga, the son of Shiva. The festival is celebrated in the Tamil month of Thai on the day of the star Pusam - January 30th in 2010. In Singapore the festival attracts thousands of Tamil Hindus, Lord Muruga devotees and curious photographers! The images of the devotees performing Thaipusam rituals are sometimes graphic.

Thaipusam is a time for devotees to make offerings and to do penance to Lord Muruga for the relief of earthly calamities. Pilgrims also undertake rites and perform ceremonies to seek the help of Lord Muruga. One of the common rites performed is the carrying of a Kavadi, a physical burden, on a long ceremonial route between shrines to Lord Muruga.

In Singapore many of the devotees carry a heavy and elaborate Kavadi that is supported by a metal frame weighing up to 25 kilograms and attached to the body by skewers and hooks. Often the skin, tongue and cheeks are also pierced with spears and chains that support pots of milk and brass bells.

Devotees prepare for the physical suffering of carrying the Kavadi through prayer, fasting, meditation and celibacy over a thirty-day period. On Thaipusam day the devotees are silent and in a trance-like state. This is a supreme state of devotion and spiritual awakening. The endurance and pain tolerance is a great mystery. So too is the lack of blood when the skin is pierced.

The following images focus on portraits of the devotees who carry the Kavadi burden.

 

 

 

 

 

A shaved pilgrim wearing a traditional saffron cloth and carrying a symbolic cane drags a shrine dedicated to Lord Muruga with hooks attached to his back.

The festival ceremonies and the preparation of the Kavadis are accompanied by loud music and the burning of much incense.

Preparing pots of milk as offerings to Lord Muruga.

A devotee carrying a kavadi and surrounded by pilgrims on Seragoon Road.

 

Mongolian Minute

A remote photo post from Mongolia - images captured on a working visit.

 

A classical view of the Mongolian steppe with grazing horse herds.

 

 

 

Majestic geese in flight.

 

 

 

Traditional singer at Sharyn Gol.

 

Throat singer and horse-hair fiddle.

 

 

A legacy of Stalin - a destroyed Buddhist monastery in the Gobi.

Mongolian pit viper (?) guards the destroyed monastery.

 

Buddhist stupa, prayer wheels and the endless blue skies of the Gobi.

 

 

A Mongolian herdsman and his family.

 

Prayer flags on Tsagaan Ovoo - White Hill.

 

Ho Chi Minh City Snapshots

Ho Chi Minh City is full of character and bustles with energy - a few snapshots follow. 

A Northrop F5 Tiger captured by the North Vietnamese Army during the fall of Saigon at the end of the 'American War'.

The twin jet exhausts of a F5 Tiger and in the background, the propeller and cockpit of a Douglas A1 Sky-raider. These American aircraft are on display at the War Remnants Museum which was formerly named the War Crimes Museum!

A T54 Russian tank used by the North Vietnamese Army. Numbered 848, this tank operated with Brigade 203 and was responsible for the first breach of the gates of the Independence Palace in Saigon at 10:30 am on April 30th 1975 - effectively ending the Vietnam War. 
 

Floral propaganda!

 

 

 
 

 

 

 Glorious Tet holiday flowers on display in the center of Ho Chi Minh City.

 

A cheerful Vietnamese entrepreneur selling genuine fake designer purses - she insisted on a 50 cents payment for the photo since I had refused all her admonishments to buy a purse for Kathleen.

Our favorite cafe in the Dong Khoi district - daily coffee and pastries!

 

A street vendor offering cold water, lemonade and best of all, cool, fresh coconut juice.

The front facade of the Municipal Theater or Opera House.

 

Two statues of Classical Greek women symbolically support the roof of the entrance hall to the Opera House, although the nature of the symbolism is somewhat of a mystery.

 

Safety helmets for mom and dad but not for the kids!

 

 

 

The 14th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting was held in Ho Chi Minh City in November 2006. This delightful photo of a photo shows the APEC leaders looking somewhat self-conscious in a psychedelic Vietnamese costume not dissimilar in style to a moo-moo!

The 'Big Three' leaders - Bush, Putin and Hu Jintao are rubbing shoulders to the right of center. Stephen Harper from Canada is fifth from the right .

Tet Tigers

Ho Chi Minh City was a veritable tiger safari park in celebration of the astrological Year of the Tiger. The Tet tigers came in all shapes, sizes and colors. Here are five tigers that might be described as menacing, green, rampant, cute and just goofy.

Test your intellect and observational skills by matching the description to the image - no prizes!

 

Tet Nguyen Dan

Tet Nguyen Dan, or Festival of the First Day, celebrates the Lunar New Year. It is the most important festival in Vietnamese culture. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly and sometimes currently known as Saigon, is a short ninety minute air-hop from Singapore across the South China Sea. Good reason to spend four days in HCM City just prior to the Tet Nguyen Dan in early February 2010.

Downtown HCM is a dazzling scene of lights, decoration and flowers for the Tet holiday. At night time the streets and sidewalks are packed with boisterous families buying New Year gifts, eating traditional foods and just enjoying the hoopla and the lights. Thousands of motorbikes, often carrying whole families, cruise the streets until late. The temperature was hot and the atmosphere hotter!

City Hall, or more correctly, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. In a former French colonial life the building was the Hotel de Ville.

A side view of the neoclassical Municipal Theater bordered by rather un-classical palm trees wrapped in red and blue decorative lights. Originally the Opera House, the name of the building was changed to better reflect the ideology of socialism.

Kathleen in the Tet mood - and hot!

 

Beijing Moment

A Beijing business meeting also afforded a short opportunity to explore the Chinese capital. Our exploration led us to Imperial China, modern China, the mausoleum of Mao-Zedong and the shopping bazaars known as the Pearl Market and the SIlk Market.

 

Imperial China - the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests at the Temple of Heaven. First built in 1420, and reconstructed in 1751, the Hall is 38 meters high and supported by four wooden pillars that symbolize the four seasons. 

 

Looking south from the Hall of Prayer towards an Imperial gate that leads to the sacrificial altar.

 

A 2-8-4 steam locomotive on display in the 798 Art Zone - now this style of 'art' is one that an old train-spotter can fully appreciate.

The huge 798 Art Zone, located in the Chaoyang district of northeast Beijing, has been developed within an industrial area recently closed to reduce inner city air pollution. It contains galleries, exhibitions, restaurants and shops.

 

Ultra-modern China - an exhibit in the 798 Art Zone comprising a large enclosed room filled with sublimating dry ice and illuminated with neon lights. Visibility was about one meter and the carbon-dioxide content of the air dangerously high.

And we paid good money to experience this prize winning artwork!

 

Much of the ultra-modern art left us cold - no doubt we would be dubbed 'philistines' by some art aficionados. Other modern works were dynamic and appealing. Prices are high!

Sayoonara

Japan was a 2-week travel adventure. The photos posted to Asian Images reflect the superb quality and rich diversity of the short travel experience. Our appreciation to Michi Travel of Tokyo for the flawless travel organization and to three friendly Japanese ladies who introduced us to Kyoto, Miyajima and Mount Fuji.

Hiroko Kara - Kyoto

Nobuko Takami - Miyajima Island.

 

Kaoru Nonaka - Mount Fuji.

 

David-san and Kathleen-san!

An excellent Japanese adventure.

 

Japan Travel Out-Takes

A selection of Japanese images that didn't make the cut for the 'titled' posts.

 

  Grilled unagi - mmm!

 

 
 

Nozomi passes Hiroshima station at speed.

 

Stay out of this war!

 

 

Kathleen descends into an icy lava tube below Mount Fuji.

 

Kanaya Hotel - Nikko residence of Einstein, Lindbergh, Eleanor Roosevelt, David and Kathleen.

Kimono Gallery

Japan is sensibly trying to revive the kimono dress tradition. The small gallery below illustrates the splendor of the fabrics and the elegance of the style, not to mention the beauty of the ladies.

Hiroshima

Hiroshima needs no introduction.

Emotional images from the past and present speak to the history of the 6th of August, 1945.

An air photo of HIroshima prepared by the US bomber command in April 1945 - the cross-hairs mark the atomic bomb target.

 

 

A model in the Peace Memorial Museum showing the point of explosion at about 680 meters above the city - the hypo-center.

 

The hypo-center was about 150 meters southeast of this location.

The narrow peninsula between the Motoyasu-gawa and Honkawa rivers is now the site of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. In the foreground is the severely damaged Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It is preserved as the A-Bomb Dome.

 

The Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall before and after the atomic explosion.

 

 

 

The atomic bomb detonated at 8:15 am on the 6th of August 1945.

 

A symbolic glass clock set at 8:15 has been placed above the Hall of Remembrance.

  

A panorama of the Peace Memorial Park looking north towards the A-Bomb Dome.

 

 

 

 

A burial mound in the Peace Memorial Park.

 

 

 

Looking through the Cenotaph to the eternal Flame of Peace and the A-Bomb Dome.

 

The Peace Bell.

 

Hiroshima Castle was destroyed by the atomic bomb and has been faithfully reconstructed.

 

 

Sakura - new life veils a reminder of the past.

 

A new Japan.