The Thailand Photo Thread

[JAFO]

Jafo, Going to Chiang Mai in a few weeks. Will have a few free days, any suggestions and do nit misses? Thanks, Sun and Fun

Sunandfun,

Are you driving or just flying in? I will post things I did and think are noteworthy. But I am an "Off the beaten path" guy and prefer trekking around and finding things. I am not certain your desires so I will guess here a bit. If you are driving there is a ton to stop and see on your way up there in Lumphon, Tak, Lampang. My Gf and I took off and had no rooms booked, no set time to return back and no agenda. Made the trip very fun and we saw so much stuff.

For Chiang Mai;

I recommend Thaksinmaharat National forest. The key thing to go see in the the 700 year old Krabach trees at the base of the valley. It is on the way to Chiang Mai. If you are flying into Chiang Mai then this may not be convenient. I enjoyed the hike down into the valley. It is a good hike staight down on a descent path. Great exercise.

Doi Suthep Temple at the top of the mountain. I think this is a must see if your first time. Very famous and quite interesting. Hopefully the smoke has cleared as when we were there the smoke in the valley was so thick you could not see anything. I have been there a few times over last few years and still have yet to see the valley floor.

Wachirathan water fall in Doi Intanon(Chiang Mai) Very cool. Make sure you hike up to the top and look down.

The weekend night market is fun to walk at night. But if you are not a crowd person then I recommend you avoid. It is quite jammed. The things being sold are what you will find at most night markets through out Thailand.

If you are Rainbow Trout(Fish) person we found an actual Trout Farm and stopped in and had one fresh for lunch. I am a big fly fisherman when I lived in the states and had not had one in a lonnnnng time. Very cool how he built the farm. It is Doi Intanon by the water power plant. Was very random but cool to see.

Have fun on your trip

[JAFO]

Here are some pictures of the southern swing. I will say the South is simply beautiful. There are areas where you feel you are not sure where you are. The scenery, beaches, jungle, vegetation, roads, and mountains are simply awesome. I had never taken on a road trip. I usually flew to an area and rented a scooter. Driving there is so much more rewarding and with no agenda, no hotel rented and no time line the trip was stellar.



The primary industry(outside of tourism) is rubber tree orchards and palm tree orchards. Here is a pic of a rubber tree orchard. These covered paths go on for hundreds and hundred of yards and when you get way in you find them to be something out of a Werewolf movie or something. Dark and very open air. Must be really strange and night.



The forest down south is simply stunning. We loved the greenery, the quietness, and the air quality was excellent. What I found to be noteworthy is There was no garbage, No soi dogs and no congestion. We found some of the best restaurants.....



Another lush vegetation and mtn picture.



From Car on the 415 freeway heading towards Krabi



While far away what looks like birds is actually Huge Fruit bats.



One of the best things I came across on the trip. A golden Orb Weaver spider. I am a big spider and insect fan and these Spiders are gorgeous. While they cannot kill and human they sure pack a wallop if you are bitten. this one had a spun web of about 6 feet. These have been known to trap small birds. They get much bigger then this "Lil" fella.



Another picture



This is actually a limestone run off creek from a hot water spring in Ao Luk. FIsh actually live in it as you can see



My GF and I went on a 5 mile Kayak trek up a river to see Pee Hua To and Lod Caves. there were ancient paintings on the wall and you got to Kayak into the caves



Inside the Lod Cave



Ancient wall painting dating back thousands of years in the Pee Hua To cave



Ceiling of the Lod Cave as we Kayaked into it



I hired a private boat for us to do a 4 island trek. I wanted to have time to relax and Scuba, Snorkel, swim and sight see. The fee was 5500 baht for the entire day excluding my Scuba Gear. The skipper was very cool and we did a ton more then you get on a packed tour boat. We left at 8am and returned at 6. I tossed him a few beers and we anchored for lunch by Tub Island. I highly recommend you charter a boat and take your time.



Shore line was stunning



The undercut boulders in the area were beautiful and was excellent to scuba dive and snorkel. If you go watch out for jelly fish. There are many in the waters.



Some cliffs as we passed by them



Snorkeling here was beautiful. The water was crystal clear



View from boat, water clarity was nearly 30 feet. It was almost more fun to free dive then scuba in water like this.

Anyway these are just a few pics of the trip. FWIIW I took all of these pictures with my BB smartphone.

[traveller2]

Thanks for the stunning photos JAFO. Reminds us of our holiday last year in Phang Nga Bay.



t2

[SunandFun]

Thanks Jafo, What incredible pictures. This is some great advise. We are flying in to Chiang Mai. I have a Golf Tournament at Alpine Golf Resort. Will be staying there from 24-29 April. Will have some free time during this. Then we will stay on until May 1. So we have Sunday and Monday completely free. We love the "off the beaten path" things. Given this any more suggestions. And thanks for everything you have given thus far.
Best, Sun and Fun. Will buy you a beer after we reach Hua Hin May 1.

[JAFO]

Sun and Fun,
In the Doi Intanon area which is about 70kms out of Chiang Mai(About an hour drive) there are a lot of very cool waterfalls and a few caves. I do not know the names specifically but finding a brochure with a map in Chiang Mai should be very easy. In fact a lot of things we did was just that. We would see a road sign that said " xxxx cave or xxxxx waterfall or xxxx forest and we took off to go see. None of them were disappointing. There is water park in Chiang Mai where you can rent paddle boats and buzz around the lake. It was a good way to relax on the lake for a few hours and eat lunch.

Time really flies when you do not have an agenda or specific time line. I was surprised how fast 2+ weeks went and how many miles we logged. One thing I recommend for the future, if you have time, is road trips. They are easy and finding places to stay is no problem and quite affordable. You do not need to lock yourself in to having to go to one place and stay a week and only see the small area.

Thanks for the offer on the beer, unfortunately I will be moving my stuff Ayutthaya soon then at the end of the month trek back to the US for awhile. I will return in a few years but will set up new digs pretty far down south. I think I have found where I may want to stay long term but we will see after I rent there for a year or so.

Enjoy the trip and good luck on the golf tourney.

[leoedgar]

After all the nice pictures, something different. Just spend a couble of nights at the City Hotel in Rayoung, and took this picture in the room. They obviosly think that all the guest are steeling from the room, so there is a price list for everything in the room. I took the water heater, because there was no price on it.
Leo

[JAFO]

I thought I would post a few more random pictures being I cleaned out my BB SSID card.



From my local night market....Ya dong anyone. He had several aging brews there with a ton of mixed herbs.



This guy was about to take up a spot over a huge artery I think...



This big fella along with 3 of his friends have been hanging around in my plants now for about 5 months. They follow my GF around as she waters.



Praying Mantis's are quite fun to watch.



This guy waits in one of my Lotus flowers for his dinner



These beetles are plentiful. their underbelly is bright red.



When I had my place still in BKK. Looked like a scene right out of Independence day

[buksida]

Here are a few I made yesterday ...

[wiki]

Lovely stuff Buksida, do you have any special gear for the underwater shots?

[wiki]

In the right place this time I hope (sorry)

[wiki]

And some night shots of Bangkok. I thought it might have been a bit cooler - wrong!
These are all close to Wat Pho, near the Grand Palace.

[buksida]

Lovely stuff Buksida, do you have any special gear for the underwater shots?

Ikelite housing, LED focus light, and a standard 7MP Sony point and shoot - its good for Macro stuff but useless for anything else without serious strobes.

[hhfarang]

Buksi, does your housing have connections for serious strobes? I guess they would have to be slave strobes though (with that camera) that would trigger off the camera flash. Correct? (I ask because I still have a few underwater strobes packed away).

[buksida]

Yes, the housing does have attachments for larger strobes. The price of the damn things has put be off buying them!

http://www.ikelite.com/web_two/sony_w90.html

[Homer]

Read something recently about rust colored water then had an idea ...

Location: Fishing pier, Hua HIn.