Taken in December of 2013 at Baan Krating in Phuket
If you’re looking for a nice quiet place to stay on Phuket, Baan Krating offers a good option. It’s on the southwest tip of the island down by Nai Harn Beach. This is taken on the footpath to a quiet section of beach it shares with an adjacent property. It does have another–even quieter–private section of beach, but that is even more rock strewn with razor-sharp shells and conical barnacle casings.
Taken in January of 2014 in Phuket Town.
While it may sound like sacrilege to some, if you’re like me you reach the point when it’s enough already with the beach. That raises the question of what there is to do on Phuket if you need a day away from having sand in every bodily crevice and feeling punished by the sun. One should definitely assign a day to Phuket Town. A lot of your Phuket Town day will rightly be spent admiring the many Chinese shrines in the area (there are about five big ones.) [This, too, can be a break if your Thai travels have left you burnt out on the gleaming, golden Theravadan Buddhist temples.] However, Phuket Town also has interesting secular architecture–some of it run down, but much of it nicely restored.
Taken January 26, 2014 at Lal Bagh Gardens.
There were many beautiful coxcombs at the 2014 Republic Day Flower Show, but this one looked eerily like a brain.
Taken January 26, 2014 at Lal Bagh Gardens in Bangalore.
The Crystal Palace at Lal Bagh gardens, which is normally roped off and empty, has been packed brimming with flowers for the annual Republic Day Flower Show that ends today.
It would be slightly more enjoyable if security wasn’t threatening to wallop one with a stick if one loiters for a second. You can see it as many times as you can fit in a day, but you must keep moving along. It’s a one way flow, so if you don’t have the desire to go through twice (once on either side) I’d recommend going on the south side (farthest from the main entrance.) For some reason the crowd was about half on that side (probably because no one anticipated the layout would make you do two half loops instead of one full loop.) Why they did it, I have no idea, but the flowers were pretty.
Taken December 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1888 this wasn’t a tourist market, but a run-of-the-mill city market. Now it’s a crafts market selling gee-gaws, tchotchkes, knick-knacks, as well as expensive artworks to foreign visitors.
Taken in December of 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Gombak and Klang rivers join together right in the middle of Malaysia’s capital city. The Jamek Mosque is located just North of where they meet.
Taken in January 2014 in Patong.
Taken January 2014 in Patong.
From this little shrine one could view Patong Beach across Beach Road. It’s a small but very active shrine at the North end of Patong Beach. There was often someone burning incense or making an offering.
Taken in December of 2013 in Kuala Lumpur
Guan Di Temple is a shrine to the Chinese God of War. Long strings of spiral incense cones hang from the lintel to perfume the air.
One can see Guan Di in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown near Petaling Street.
I.
Wind kicks at her hem.
The skirt flaps and snaps.
White cotton surrendering
to stiff seaside gusts.
A palm shoots to thigh
to bar the immodest scene
of goose-bumped flesh.
II.
A fishing boat chugs through the sound.
Puttering on sputtering engines
–then silence and drift.
A surefooted seamen stands and slings
a net that splays open like pizza dough.
It lands gently on shimmering seas,
and sinks into green-blue waters in slow motion.
Trying to snare an unsuspecting catch.
III.
Snorkelers ride the swells
like drifting corpses.
Legs unkicking
Arms unstroking
Mesmerized by a new world below
Awe expires from tubes,
rising and evaporating in sun-warmed air
IV.
Sailboats rock like metronomes–
masts counting out a rhythm,
a planetary pulse
V.
Trudging ashore,
retreating seas pull sand underfoot
He leans into the trudge,
his body-weight barely defeating the sea’s suction.
VI.
Red and white lanterns drift aloft.
Slanting up into night skies over the bay.
Light flickers and dances
before flashing into cinder
that will fall silently into churning waves.
VII.
Water gurgles in rocky sumps at the sea’s edge.
The tiny caverns floods like a heart chamber,
scurrying metallic green crabs flee out onto the rocks.
No two tides are identical–nature surprises even veterans.
