In Thailand, there’s a temple everywhere.
If you’ve been to Southeast Asia, you’ve probably seen gleaming golden temples even in remote, impoverished portions of the countryside . However, when it comes to the really off-the-beaten path areas occupied by just a few hill tribe farmers, one might think they’d be forced to hoof it to the nearest big shiny temple. Not so. There are little shrines like this one, marked by saffron cloth tied to trees, out in the middle of the jungle.
From the castle district toward Charles bridge
I took this photo in 2002. It’s taken from the castle hill looking down the Vltava River. The Charles bridge, the prominent pedestrian bridge with the tower at one end, is the first of a series of bridges. This shot provides something old and something new. The photo i’s a little busy, but then again so is Prague.
The Westin and Georgia Pacific Towers
A piece of Atlanta’s skyline as seen from Centennial Olympic Park. The cylindrical tower is the Westin, and the brown angular tower is the Georgia Pacific building. To the far left is the new American Cancer Society building and the red brick building is The Tabernacle (a music venue, not a church.)
Árpád era chapel
This chapel sits on a solitary plot at the edge of a woods near Velemér. Velemér is a tiny village in the Őrség, which is a region on Hungary’s western border. The church dates back to 1360. The inside is covered with murals that have been restored after having been plastered over due to religious restrictions in the 18th century. The church had to be extensively repaired in the 19th century as a result of deterioration from the late 18th to early 19th century, but is now well-maintained.
Moon over Incheon
Sitting in the terminal at twilight, waiting to catch a flight to Phnom Penh, I watched the moon rise.
Central Market
Phnom Penh’s Central Market is an art deco building that dates to the 1930’s. This “X”-shaped building has a circular, domed core. On the inside of the building one can find clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, and– sadly– ivory. Most of what you will find there is knock-offs, as should be apparent from the prices. The “V”-shaped spaces between the wings of the building are chock full of more mundane goods such as foodstuffs, hardware, and tourist T-shirts. In the market one can get anything from wriggling seafood to rice to produce (I’d recommend those with Western constitutions –cast-iron or not– stay away from the meat.) Refrigeration is not so common in Cambodia, a few places get large blocks of ice to put their meat on, but many just lay it out on cardboard until it sells.
The Chattanooga Choo-choo
Yes, there is an actual Chattanooga Choo-choo. It sits outside a Holiday Inn off Market St. When we went (several years ago) there was a free electric shuttle that traveled down Market street from the Aquarium at one and to the Choo choo stop at the other.
Chattanooga has a beautiful downtown area.
Rangsit, Thailand
I thought I’d take a break from posting pictures of either monuments to wealth and power or pristine nature scenes. I took this in Rangsit, Thailand, which is a northern suburb of Bangkok out past the Don Muang Airport. I was there studying at the Muay Thai Institute for one week. (Muay Thai is a martial art and the national sport of Thailand.) If you’re curious about what my experience with that was like, I have posts about it here and here.)
It was fascinating to see what a love/hate relationship water has with these people. It nourishes them. It bathes them. But every once in a while it tries to kill them. A kindly restaurateur showed me pictures of his landlocked restaurant underwater during the floods of 2011. At that time the tree tops you see were probably just jutting out of the water– if they weren’t entirely submerged. (I base this on the height of the elevated express way to the left that I think was at water level, based on pictures I’ve seen.)
The steeple is Matthias Church in the Castle District
The Danube River flows through the middle of Budapest. Budapest was originally two cities that grew together. The hilly west bank (seen here) was Buda, and the flat east bank was Pest. High in the background one can see such tourist attractions as the Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church.
“The beach is that way,” says crab to lizard.
Isla Contoy is a bird sanctuary off the northeast corner of the Yucatan peninsula. There are no hotels or permanent residents there, but one can easily make half day trips by boat from either Isla Mujeres or Cancun. The only buildings on the island are a ranger station, an observation tower, a small educational display, and some picnic shelters. Because people don’t live here (besides maybe a few park rangers and scientists) and the number of visitors is limited, the wildlife density (particularly birds, but also lizards, crabs, rays, etc.) is tremendous.
Because they try to limit where people go to avoid interference with the wildlife, a few hours here is sufficient. However, there is a pristine white sand beach that, as I indicated, is visited by rays and fish.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 