There is lots of things to report today :-) First we caught a ferry this morning, few! BIG news! That was my first time in Thailand ;-) Then we visited the river where huge fish live in large groups. Actually that’s because plenty of tourists come here regularly to feed them. They are not that dumb! After that, we visited that surprising temple (picture above) which has 32 functional doors we can use to enter inside. Which one to use?! Further away. we stopped to visit a Buddha factory and its jewelery. The people there do a super job, I must say, brilliant job :-) During breakfast time, we met an old guy who is passionated about wooden weapons. He makes them himself and shoot with mud balls. He builds slingshot, bow and extra long riffle. Impressive :-)
Map.
Back to this morning… No, we are not in prison, that’s the place where we were allowed to sleep.
The place was quiet except this very early morning. I was half asleep, certainly dreaming but something was interacting with it. Firstly, I did not noticed until, when I woke up the first time around 4:30am maybe, a morning market was taking place. It’s now around 6am and people keep moving like ants. Temples reserve always surprises. It can be quiet when you arrive the previous evening and suddenly, very late or super early, activities start around you. That’s why I always pick up on the map a temple in remote places, wishing that they are not going to organise a party, a funeral, a market or whatever these temple can handle!
Pita came back from that market with that. That’s handmade, beautiful and it smells very good :-)
Here we are at the ferry station. Actually we are already onto the ferry. I told Pita that we would eat something when waiting for the ferry but it was here when we arrived.
Good thing, it’s free for cyclist. Free!
Our destination is not really far away. No time to have something to eat here too!
We left early this morning. Good :-)
A long-tail boat again.
We did a bit of cycling and arrived at the first checkpoint :-) This temple is famous for its large amount of large fish which live around this area.
Seeing the number of fish there is here I thought there we enclosed by a net but these fish are completely free.
We walk on the platform which is normally covered with tourists except that tourists are still sleeping in their bus on the way here. Good!
The line in the water is not a net, only a limitation for the boats I guess.
I should catch a video but my battery was very short. They are so many already waiting for breakfast I presume.
Cannot see very well but yes, that’s a big one :-)
Pita has cut in piece one of the croissant she boat for us this morning. Lucky fat fish! They are so existed now.
We continue our tour around. We started with the place on the bottom left hand corner and are now going to visit the big golden temple at the top part of the map. Yes, the one that looks like a pyramide.
Nothing fantastic here. Just note that they already put the Buddha inside this unfinished construction because now, they have still the place to fit them in! Clever :-)
The wrapped Buddha are waiting patiently for their new place to be finished. Buddha was a patient man so that’s ok ;-)
Ouuuh, that’s the one. It doesn’t look like any other temple I’ve seen until now.
Temples in Thailand are only build by donation. In 2004 there was more than 40.000 Buddhist temples in Thailand! Maybe this one did not exist yet. That 12 years ago. How many today? 42000? more? No idea.
Apparently, they are building that very long wall around the whole area. It has a first floor where dozen of Buddha sit next to each other. Impressive!
If you tell me that you don’t see the decorations, I don’t know how to call this!
Hello!
That’s inside! A woman is actually opening door after door. They is 8 doors par face so 32! The ground is so clean that is makes nearly a perfect reflection. Rah! if I had a better camera…
Crazy all the effort they put in temples like this one. That’s huge and I’m sure there is bigger.
That’s one row opened. Is she going to open them all? No idea…
The golden ceiling :-)
One door. All of them are decorated that way.
Bloody dog, move out of the way!
Reflections!
More reflections :-)
I must try another one! Is that better? Every milimetre you moved is lights different facets for an incredible effect. Well done!
We keep on going. If we wanted to visit each of these temple we would have to spend a day or two.
Look at that huge “Buddha wall”! The road is calling us so, let’s go!
Maybe 10 minutes later… There is something interesting here. Very common for Pita but interesting for me :-) This is how they make Buddha. These molds look scary.
And that’s one result.
Those women at the back are sanding down the statue to get rid of the imperfections.
Then, she primes them in white, then yellow and finally paint them in gold.
That’s the base of the previous golden Buddha I guess.
She cuts piece after piece, makes each pattern all by hand. That’s two days of work.
More molds!
Once that golden Buddha is done, he needs his dress. This woman is gluing Swarovski crystals on him! Same, one after each other.
When everyone is working so hard, this mimi cat is… doing nothing… Lazy!
This poor cat is attached inside…
I like the way they work here :-)
That’s a lot of Buddha and even more crystals!
They have an order for these clocks. Someone wants 25 like this.
Just before we live, look at one of their masterpiece. This must cost… millions of Baht!
From construction to deconstruction. That’s a nice transition :-)
We are actually sitting few metres away from here, originally having breakfast, but we just met a guy who was rolling balls. We asked what he was doing naturally. He is making mud balls. Ok, what for? For slingshot!
Ready?
Bim!
That’s the mud balls I talked about. This guy is a pro. Such a pro that someone order him 50.000 of those! His wife complains because he doesn’t take care of their shop. He prefers doing this and go to different competitions around the country. He won several prizes and money!
They look perfect! Then they will dry under the sun before being smashed against cans.
That’s the beast :-)
When he understood I was interested on what he is doing, he hoped home quickly and came back with this one. A bamboo bow that can shoot mud balls, haha :-) Very well made! He can make one per day. Actually this man has another order from somebody else. That person wants 25 of them!
That’s more for me to remember how it’s made in case one day… ;-)
The placement for the ball.
Everything is made in bamboo.
This bamboo must be as plain as possible. The plain one are the best but it’s difficult to find. This one is slightly hollow.
And the other end.
Then! He came back from his home a second time to show us this! That weapon still shoots only mud balls (fortunately!). Handmade too!
Okay, I will try.
This one is very hard. Targeting is easy but when you shoot, it vibrates so much that I didn’t see where the ball went so I cannot correct myself.
I think the bow is even worse… I prefer the slingshot, definitely easier.
Mister mud ball has to work :-)
Roll and Roll!
Yes, that’s a hard day, isn’t it dog?
After breakfast we came back on the road until the heat forced us to stop again. We bought some lunch and are going to rest here for the next 4 to 5 hours.
I set up my mini-studio to work on my picture! ;-)
4:30pm, time to get back on the saddle! This is still hot but bearable. For a start, that’s a nice ride along the river.
Finally, that’s where we are going to sleep tonight: in one more temple. Good night!
Hi Damien, that is a great photo essay !… The Thais certainly have a lot of time and effort for the temples…
Jolies les bouboules ! On dirait des picorettes !