Bobcock in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

[Bobcock]

Just spent a long weekend in Nakhon Sri Thammarat with the wifes family.

Been a while since I have been down so it was a nice change. Things have moved on a lot since I was first there in 1992. Used to be you had to take a boat to get to the house, but now they have roads.

I was in two minds as to whether to put some of the pictures into my flora / fauna thread, but as these are all taken in the same 4 days I'll put them together

I arrived by plane on the Friday evening and took a taxi into town to stay at the Thai Hotel. 600B for a room with AC and extra bed for the eldest lad. They were already there waiting for me, as they had gone down the week before. Next morning it was of to the house which is about 40-50 kms south of the main town in Amphur Chalermprakiet.

First you take a songthaew to Hua Thanon, the head of the road, where all the other forms of transport head off to the various districts to the south and onto Songkhla. There is a market there, which is where the first batch of pics come from....

1. Maeng Da



2. Dried fish



3. Counting the cash



4. Hairy rambutan



5. Mangosteen

[Bobcock]

6. last one from the market at Hua Thanon.



Got a few things that fly in the next pics.....

7. A helicopter. Nakhon Sri Thammarat is home to a huge army base, used to be the airport there was a military airport but about 10 years ago they had a civilian one built a bit further out of town.



8. Some bird or other



9. Some yellow bird or other



10. Lastly, a devourer of birds.

[smeden]

nice pics

[Bobcock]

11. My brother in law keeps ducks about 900 of the noisy quacky buggers. The eat the flesh of a tree, dunno what type it is. He has to hack the tree into bits and then grid the flesh somewhat like large desiccated coconut for the ducks to eat.



12. Some little buzzy things sitting on an orange flower. Nice eyes, but I couldn't get a great DoF due to the lack of light. Guess I need that nice Canon twin head macro flash.....



13. I've always loved these contraptions, this one being driven my a small lad.....



14. One of the neighbours has this wierd huskie type dog with different coloured eyes. It wails constantly like a Teak door Poster when it's not the centre of attention. It also walks funny.

[benbaaa]

Great pics again, Bob. Can't send flowers.

[Bobcock]

15. Lunch as far as I'm concerned....



16. Not sure who this guy is, he used to turn up at my Sister In Law's house and start brewing up each afternoon. She often has migrant workers around, could be, dunno, didn't ask.



17. A picture of my Sister In Laws dogs playing in the rice field. This is taken from one hell of a distance, about 150m I'd extmate.



18. Long Necked Bird apparently.....technical some of these names.....



19. Neighbours window.

[terry57]

Nice one Bobby Boy.

[Mr Earl]

Excellent pictures man!

[klongmaster]

where's the panorama pic?

[Bobcock]

Didn't get the Dogcather approval, wouldn't want to disappoint....

Best are yet to come in my opinion....

20. Early one morning we went out to the market. On the way we past Wat Don Tro, quite a well known temple in the area. Not the best time to photograph it as it's west facing so I took a deliberate silhouette....



21. and tried a hand held HDR.



22. On the way to the market I also got one of my closest chances at the 'long neck bird'

[Bobcock]

The thing I love photographing mnore than anything else in the world are asian markets, Vietnam, cambodia, thailand and I hope one day India again....

This is the market at Chienkhao on the side of the main road south.

The people here were very friendly asking for their pics to be taken, does help that some of them are relatives of the wife, although none of them are pictured.

23.



24.



25.



26. Not sure what this was, some large plant....



27. Instant snap shot of a couple of lads whizzing past on their bike.

[Bobcock]

28. Had a chat with this rather nice pig that was in the back of a pickup looking sorry for himself....



28.



30.



31. This guy was as happy as can be, but when i took his pic directly he seemed to think I was a Government official and dropped the smile, he just couldn't help it, so I popped the long lense on and waited for him to come over all natural again.



32.

[dirtydog]

The fish man above obviously doesn't know of the dangers of eating news paper wrapped fish

[Bobcock]

33. Later that morning it was off to the local temple for Khao Pansaa. I don't do the monks and religious stuff so I went around looking for interesting thngs to photograph in a not so interesting temple.



34.



35. Damn that DoF, I really need that flash....



36. Inside of the main ubosot, but like so many rural temples the people just don't use it, they like the old building. Never anyone in this place at all.

[Bobcock]

37.



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39. A bees nest has built up around the hear of the 'kroot' on the front of the main ubosot. That is a pretty big nest, don't know if it's occupied now.

[Bobcock]

After the temple my oldest boy and I went on a bike ride up the road the the to Chienyai where there is a temple called Wat Khao Kaew Wichien which is gfamous (within 10km) for it's monkeys.

40.



40. They had a couple of very small ones in the troupe.



42. so it was best to be careful, certainly don't need to be bitten.



43.

[Bobcock]

44. I particularly like this pic, I have a couple of versions of it when the fill in flash didn't discharge and it looks wierd because you cannot see his eyes at all.



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[mysticpaki]

These are really awesome pics.
What camera lenses were u using???

[cdnski12]

Looks like an Egret of some kind?

[masher]

Bobcock, I always enjoy your photos (of wild life outside Bangkok) and respect for locals. The only thing missing from the market photos is the smell. I'll have to dig out my bird books to try and name your feathered friends.

[Bobcock]

What camera lenses were u using???

Various, mostly Canon L Series.

24-105, 20-200, 100-400 and 100 macro.

[ShilohJim]

Bobcock;
That is a dog called Alusky, cross between an Alaskan Malmute and Siberian Husky. I feel sorry for the poor critter living in Thailand, they have the typical coat of two different layers of hair for warmth in cold weather.
Friend had one in Mississippi and it liked being indoors with the air conditioner ON....

Shiloh Jim

[kmart]

Great photos as usual, Bobcock. A couple of real keepers on the first page, especially the b&w pic of that poor pig.

[bobo746]

Nice pics mate looks like you know how to use that camera.

[sunsetter]

good stuff bob, always pleasing to see your work