Tag: Culture
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Transience
Transience I like visibly run-down constructions, their abandonment, nature slowly invading the remains. It provokes contemplation, about impermanence, about people and the things that pass. Here we are in a dilapidated spa on the wooded bank of the Namkhan River. Once finished, the spa soon fell into disuse. Nature has not yet entered but is…
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The Outing
The Outing Ten Lao ladies at a visit to Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang. Ten different dresses (sinhs) but all the same. Unity in diversity the Lao way. Photo of the week: Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang, Laos 2020
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Fish meal pedicure
Fish meal pedicure Letting a shoal of hungry small fish nibble away dead skin from your feet and in addition having to pay for it! With free wifi as sweetener. Photos of the week: Massage parlour, China Town, Bangkok, Thailand 2019
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Fusion
Fusion A river –on this side and on that side –shadows and light mergingin a night-time dream. Photo of the week: A restaurant and Wat Arun on two sides of the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand 2019
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She herself(ie)
She herself(ie) She visited Wat Arun, the white plastered Buddhist tower inlaid with pieces of colourful porcelain. The monument has Hindu influences and its three levels have symbolic Buddhist significance. The people below her at the base are wandering through the realms of existence. She herself(ie) is at the middle level where all desires are…
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Tiptoeing toddler
Tiptoeing toddler It’s always lovely to see toddlers – human or animal – explore the world. With curiosity and playful candour they dare moving away ever further from their mother’s nest. Photo of the week: Wat Arun compound, Bangkok, Thailand 2019
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In honour of the Queen
In honour of the Queen That is, Queen Shri Phatcharinthra, for her 50th birthday in 1913. A Pig Memorial because she was born in the year of the Pig. The little piggies and other knickknacks at the foot of the memorial reveal the childish taste which is typical of popular Thai culture. This tendency is…
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Wat Pho
Wat Pho The stone statue is clearly recognizable as Chinese; the way in which the tree’s branches have been trained as they grew betrays Japanese influences; and the Buddha statues in the background are clearly Thai. Three examples of three Asian aesthetic traditions that come together harmoniously in a corner of the Wat Pho temple…
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Food stalls, cars, Buddha’s
Food stalls, cars, Buddha’s I always like the unlikely mingling of different cultural elements. It hints at a lively, easy going interaction between people, with a light-hearted attitude to life. Bangkok has it, especially by night. But what about that Buddha Brigade, in a country yearning for freedom from military rule?! Photo of the week:…
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Lavishly adorned
Lavishly adorned In the villages of the Brokpa (also known as Drokpa or Dards) along the Indus in Ladakh, just before the river flows into Pakistan, these richly adorned women are a common sight, particularly on festive occasions. The floral arrangements on their heads are truly astonishing. The Brokpa on the other side of the…
καιρός remembered 