Chachoengsao: A country trip outside Bangkok

Heading out on another photo adventure with my friend Jeff Harper, we traveled east from Bangkok to the neighboring province of Chachoengsao. We had no itinerary but wanted to eventually explore the old Chinese area of the city of Chachoengsao and if time, see the large colony of fruit bats at a temple east of the city. As often happens, we made many stops before even reaching the city and found villages and temples little explored by foreigners that are interspersed among the vast rice fields. Sometimes by wrong turns, often by seeing an interesting landmark, we found hidden jewels of Thai life all throughout the day.

All photos are copyrighted © by John Stiles unless otherwise noted. Images may not be reproduced or used without permission.

We reached the old Chinese market near the city of Chachoengsao to find it closed, but that was not a big problem, as it gave us opportunity to explore the market shop fronts elevated above a canal and homes along it. This is a typical scene of life on a "klong", which is repeated thousands of times throughout Thailand and neighboring countries.
A slice of authentic Thai life.

A shop front  with traditional fish made from palm leaves and colorfully painted. It is a sign of good luck, and is particularly popular along waterways. The sign in the lower right says "big fish" but I am not sure to what it refers; perhaps something on market days. The word in center written in chalk apparently is cryptic, as Thai friends say it is meaningless.

Shadow designs of a railing on a wooden bridge over the canal.

A man paddles his boat past the homes at a canal intersection at the edge of the market.

Altar at a small Chinese Buddhist temple near the market.

This colorful house entrance sits a meter or so above the surface of the canal. The faded paint is the high water mark of flooding that affected much of Thailand a few years ago.

Hand painted wooden dolls sit in a second hand shop that was open.
It is run by a retired teacher and her husband who is a leather smith.

Jeff poses with the couple and holds a leather eyeglass case that was personalized for him by the leather smith. I bought a set of metal chopsticks from his wife at her shop.

Typical scene along the peaceful canal.

This friendly resident cooks and serves pork and noodle dishes along the canal. He is out on the water "Six to eight hours every day."

Here he stops to make a noodle dish for a resident. He also picked up bottled water and ice at this stop.

A man paddles by a large display of orchids, which are common in many Thai homes, parks and in this case, outdoor gardens.

Farms along canals in Thailand include such "livestock" as frogs, as seen here, as well as shrimp and fish. Hydroponic gardens are also common.

A local fisherman lays out his net across the "klong". When asked if he had any luck, he replied, "Not so good today."

Most people use the sun to dry clothes, regardless of social status. Virtually everyone in villages hang clothes wherever convenient.

This man is stripping reeds ("gok") that will later be used in weaving mats and baskets.

Another temple under a beautiful sky beckoned us as we drove toward the city.

Many temples erect huge statues of the Buddha on their premises, often commissioned by wealthy benefactors or as a result of fundraising among the local residents. This framework of welded rebar will be put upright and moved to a platform where it will be covered in cement and then painted.

Jeff photographing the head, giving a sense of scale to this immense figure.

Our next stop was to another Thai Buddhist temple in the countryside leading to the city. We noticed a large Buddha but could not find a way to it. So, we stopped to wander around this temple's grounds. Every temple is similar in basic layout, but no two are exactly alike, and we know that something interesting will turn up. This is the design set in a window frame of a pavilion.

A cemetery on the grounds had both Thai and Chinese burial vaults. This family crypt apparently was opened and the remains removed, perhaps to another location.

Chinese bury their deceased: Thais cremate them. This is a typical Chinese style grave: the rounded shape set into a hill is very common, which makes Chinese burial grounds easy to identify.

A stone mason carefully marks a piece of a design that will be trimmed with an electric circular mason saw. He will later put all of the pieces together and mount them on a wall.

Across from the temple cemetery is a primary school. These students stopped their play during recess to gawk at the foreigners with cameras and pressed against the gate mesh for the best look. We had a great time interacting with them.

Three young children peek through the stone wall to see the big "farang" (foreigners), undoubtedly a rarity in their world.

While at the previous temple, we could see the shiny golden head of a Chinese style Buddha but couldn't find a passageway to get to it. Keeping it in sight, we drove around until we came to the main road into Chachoengsao and found the giant seated Buddha, plump and smiling as are most in the Chinese style. This is the new Chinese cultural center, which is still adding buildings. For a fee, a guide took us around to the various altars and instructed how to pay respect. In the photo above, the Buddha is flanked by two important Chinese buddhist deities: Ji Gong (left), a monk who fought against injustice and was also unpredictable and wild: he is always portrayed with a wine flask in hand; and Guanyin (right), the female goddess of compassion.

Guanyin, "Goddess of Mercy"

The bold colorful paintings, typical in Chinese temples, drew my attention near this door. Jeff captured my recording of a beautiful wall painting...

...which was on the slanted ceiling above a mural with dragon motif. I thought the lines were elegantly painted, resulting in a depiction of women playing instruments while in a graceful dance.

Close up detail of a necklace on a Buddha statue adorned with gold leaf placed by worshippers.

Ringing a large bell at temples traditionally were to summon monks to prayer, or for devotees to show respect to Buddhas and to gain merit. It is now done for positive karma in many temples. This bell has a heavy plank suspended in order to make it easy for people to swing, but I think it can also be to strike the bell in the same place every time, thus limiting the wear in many places over time. Photo by Jeff Harper

Ceiling of the Chinese cultural center main hall

We eventually made our way to the old city on the river, where houses a century old sit on pilings above the water. Homes like the sagging house in this photo are not uncommon: families sometimes abandon their homes, no one buys them and they just collapse into disrepair and rot away, finally dropping into the water as this one will in the not too distant future. In some cases, they are inhabited until the very last minute.

Making our way into the old market, I came across this intriguing space along a walkway. It appears that the person is living out in the open surrounded by personal possessions.

In the middle of the (mostly) inactive market--it was not the weekend--I came across this man slicing husks off of coconuts. The husks are piled to be used for other things such as a medium for growing plants, and the hard inner coconut is placed in another pile, to be sold later. This pile represents three days of hard work.

Many windows and doors are likely original from the construction of the homes and businesses in this area a century ago. Wonderful textures and colors.

Time for a nap. In Thailand, one sleeps wherever a horizontal space is available, indoors or out.

Old traditional folding wooden doors.

After our walk through the market, we found a fabulous rustic restaurant on the river that is run by a large family. The smile is for the ice cold brew that is coming.
Photo by Jeff Harper.

A scene from our vantage point at the restaurant.

Plank siding, corrugated roofs and a family "spirit house" that pays homage to ancestors.

A wider view of the homes across the river from the restaurant.

On our way back to the car, we passed people engaged in a variety of activities, all in less than 100 meters. Table games are very popular in Thailand and are played anywhere and everywhere. Here two men concentrate during a chess game.

This elderly man was teaching his grandsons how to straighten bamboo before it is used to make ladders. The bamboo is heated, but not charred, and then bent straight by placing it into a small space between blocks and then applying pressure. Many physics lessons applied here.

Ice is chipped and packed for delivery to restaurants, bars and drink carts. Blocks, which melt much more slowly, are sold to fruit vendors who can keep it all day in 90F/33C heat.

After leaving the old city, we traveled to the stunning
Wat Sothon Warawihan, the world's largest Buddhist temple. Caught in the late afternoon sunlight, it positively glows.

On the grounds of Wat Sothon are many beautiful pavilions.

Our last stop, which I unfortunately miscalculated the daylight, was to a temple that has thousands of fruit bats resting in trees. These amazing mammals are quite large and look impressive as they fly across the sky. Here they assemble and appear like plump fruit. Unfortunately, I was unable to get clear photos due to the low light and the bats' movements.

To view Jeff's outstanding photos of the trip visit his photo blog: http://drjeffbangkok.squarespace.com/journal/category/chachoengsao-thailand 

Bangkok's rural "klong" life

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Bangkok was known by European writers as the "Venice of the East"; it may have been better to call Venice the "Bangkok of the West", as the number and total length of Thailand's (then Siam) capital's canals, or "klongs" far surpassed that of its watery European sister. Indeed, today, although much of the city's klongs have long been filled in and paved, this Asian metropolis still has more miles (or kilometers if you will) of canals than Venice.

Tourists to Bangkok can catch glimpses of traditional Thai life along the city's central waterways, but to have a more authentic klong experience, one must venture farther from the city center to the outskirts and beyond. Even local residents are often unaware of the many tiny villages that straddle klongs around the city's farthest reaches and carry on with traditional ways of life, albeit often with motorcycles, cell phones and cable TV.

I recently made three trips along one of the many klongs that criss cross eastern Bangkok, which was mainly farmland only a few decades ago, but now experiencing rapid growth, traffic slowdowns and construction of a new skytrain. Yet, only a mere 200 meters from Ramkhamhaeng Road, one of Bangkok's heavily traveled six lane thoroughfares, I found people living quiet, simple lives along the canals much as their grandparents did. Two of my walks to the village were with videographer Jeremiah Boulware and on one we were accompanied by Paijit Odsuai, who, as a native Thai speaker allowed for greater understanding of "klong life" than my basic and often faulty grasp of Thai ever could. To both I owe a big "thank you" for their insight and companionship: it's fun to share the experience. Our latest "ramble" is now being made into a mini documentary.

What follows is a compilation of the three rambles along a klong village between Ramkhamhaeng and Seri Thai Roads. I hope that these images and brief descriptions will give the reader a sense of the life along Bangkok's canals, and the great enjoyment experiencing it can bring.

Note: Whether a resident of Bangkok or contemplating a visit, if you are interested in going on a photo ramble, please let me know or visit @photoramblers on Facebook.

All photos are copyright © by John R Stiles. It is illegal to use images without permission.

Small rural villages can be found in many locations within the Bangkok city limits. Here a man cycles past livestock that frequently graze in fields next to one of the busiest roads in the city.

Village head man who chatted with me each of the three times I visited.

A mother and child return home after walking another child to the main road to catch a bus to school. Many of the village children attend a school in the village; others go to different public schools nearby.

This is the Saen Saeb canal that runs the entire east-west length of Bangkok. It is the city's largest; the village is at the crossroads of it and two north-south feeder klongs. Here Jeremiah captures footage for an upcoming documentary. Notice the mosque in the distance. This part of Bangkok has a large Muslim population, thus there are many mosques along the Saen Saeb.

Many people pass over the bridges that span the klongs; they walk or take motorcycles or bicycles over. Along the big Saen Saeb, the bridges are arched concrete for strength as they are longer than those across the feeder klongs, which are mainly made of wood.

A typical happy scene at the entrance to a house along the Saen Saeb. On this (south) side, the homes are owned; across the canal are rooms for rent, bunched together and with corrugated tin roofs, many of them nearly rusted through after decades of use.

A villager plucks whiskers, a very common practice everywhere in Thailand.

Two feline residents. Dogs and cats are numerous along the canals.

Laundry day!

A beautifully restored century old Chinese Buddhist temple
along the northern klong tributary.

A man proudly displays his prized fighting cock. Cock fights are very popular in Thailand, a tradition that is centuries old. As a graduate of the University of Iowa I was surprised and amused to see his choice of boxer shorts.

At a very convenient spot on the klong near Seri Thai Road, this woman cooks up "guaytiow gai" (noodle soup with chicken) in huge bowls for 35 baht ($1). After two hot hours of rambling, it hit the spot and was chased down with ice cold beer.

Small fish caught in the klong and then set out to dry. People generally use them for cooking, but may also snack on the tough and stiff fish.

A cute resident of the village.

Water lilies (also lotuses) are ubiquitous in Thailand, growing in large ceramic pots ("aungs"), often sharing the space with small fish that people put in to eat mosquito larvae.  

These two friendly men turned the tables on us, taking photos of the two photographers visiting their village! (This happened on two different trips.)

This young boy appeared with his mother and gave us each a bottle of chilled fruit juice. The people in Thai villages are generally very friendly and inviting. It is refreshing to be welcomed by genuinely kind hearted people.

This woman wheels her cart through the village daily, selling home made sauces 
and soups.

Ice is big business in Thailand. This man delivers huge bags of ice to shops in the village. I asked him if he got tired carrying so much weight, and he replied, "No, they aren't that heavy." Sure. Call the chiropractor!

This pleasant lady chatted with us about life on the klong. She has lived in one of the rental rooms for 30 years. The rent is 500 "baht" ($15) per month. When she first moved in the rent was 5 baht! When asked what she liked about living in the village, she said, "I like the weather, and being on the water."

This young man married into a large family that has occupied homes in the village for 100 years. He raises Japanese chickens, turkeys and crayfish on a small organic farm. He gave us several fresh eggs to take with us.

The farmer's young son and wife.

The wife of the village head man spends a quiet moment on the klong. She and her husband are well known for their style of cooking various mushrooms, which they were preparing when we passed by and chatted with them.

I hope that you have enjoyed this virtual tour of a village in eastern Bangkok. Today the people of course have many modern conveniences, but still live a simple life, not much different than their grandparents did decades ago. They are kind hearted, happy and friendly. Not only is this a nice way to experience Thai culture, but it teaches me something about savoring and appreciating the simple things in life.

Windows and doors of Viet Nam

Window in Tra Son district near My Khe beach in Da Nang.
These beautiful shutters, faded by time behind a
neglected barbed wire fence caught my eye. 

During a recent visit to Viet Nam's mid coast, I was attracted to the many colorful doors and windows in Da Nang's Son Tra district and the ancient city of Hoi An. As I wandered through the small streets and alleyways, I was enthralled by their simple beauty and rich colors. Here is but a sampling. I plan to add to them in future visits!

Doors on a small temple near My Khe beach in Da Nang.

This was the first window I saw that caught my attention and it
completely captivated me. I had decided to take a short walk
through the small back streets near My Khe beach. Many
windows displayed beautiful lines and unique character. My short walk turned into a much longer one.

The combination of the color of this gorgeous wall and wooden window shutter in the ancient city of Hôi An was stunning in its simple beauty.

Another colorful doorway in Hôi An.

In a small fishing village near Hôi An, the tiny streets have very old houses that are home to fishermen and their families. 

Hôi An

The aesthetic and somewhat abstract beauty of this scene caught my eye from the main street in the fishing village.

I felt that this dirty window imbedded in a stained wall held a nostalgic beauty all its own.

 The unique character of the windows and doors of each home and small temple in the area weave a colorful tapestry of the history of this place, a story I want to continue following when I return to the lovely country of Viet Nam.