Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Various pictures from Thailand and Laos



Looking past a Buddha figure at a Chinese temple to the coastline of Hua Hin




Joe's 50th birthday cake. Pretty special, huh?




Jane getting a lotus blessing at the royal palace in Bangkok




Mosaic detail at the royal palace in Bangkok.





The boats in a small harbor near Hua Hin




The wonderful limestone Buddha cave near Hua Hin




The observatory at the summer palace of Rama the Fourth, King Monkut.




A seafood merchant





A New Year's decoration in Chinatown




The crowds in Bangkok's Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year.




A model awaited the arival of the princess who was to kick off the New Year's festivities.




Stringing lights for night-time dragon dance.




A street vendor makes some incredible dish.




Looking down the Nam Kahn to the bamboo bridge in Luang Prabang. The last light of the day illuminates the lush vegetable gardens that benefit from the floodwaters each year.




Rules in our hotel in Luang Prabang. Please note and observe!




Beautiful stenciled walls in wat in Luang Prabang.




Market goods in the Luang Prabang market.




A monk in Luang Prabang. Though he spoke next to no English, when I showed him his picture, he smiled broadly and said, "Handsome"




The morning mist rises from the Nam Tha river outside our room at The Boat Landing in Luang Namtha.




A woman at the market in Luang Prabang




Cellophane noodles drying in the sun. We watched this four-person operation. A man carried the sacks of (mung bean flour?) and dumped it into the top of a machine that looked like a sausage machine. It was combined with hot water and extruded downwards. A woman cut five foot lengths of this hot mass four inches in diameter and lay it on a stack to cool. After cooling, the sections were put one at a time into a water bath and rubbed together until they separated. Then they were carried out into the sun to dry.




An Akha woman




By the edge of a stream a Lanten woman spoons bamboo paper pulp over a screen to make bamboo paper.





The gang on the lawn outside the author's wing of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok (Dick, Jane, Jack, Joe). Having recovered from our various ailments, we were not asked to leave. Unlike Somerset Maugham, who in 1925 was told to take his malaria elsewhere.

3 comments:

  1. Of course, if they knew you were a writer....you, too, would be out-of-there with or without malaria. john

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  2. The photos are breathtaking! I'm glad everyone's medical crises are resolved--you all look great in the photo.

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  3. Thanks for sharing these beautiful views of your experiences. Glad you are both feeling better!

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