Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Day Sixteen (2) - Buddhism Photos

 The de-I audience speaks. de-I Listens. You want MORE temples! You are going to get MORE temples. 

HOWEVER, I am going to show my un-freaking-believable compassion for you, my faithful readers by restraining myself and NOT showering your with WAT (the Thai word for temple) 'play on words' jokes. 

The second part of our photo shoot marathon was dedicated to things Buddhist. There was a massive 'BIG BUDDHA' statue (I kid you not, that is the official name). Then two temples Wat Chalong and Wat MongKholNimitPhra.

Big Buddha

The Big Buddha is a relatively new monument. It was first proposed by a major monastery abbot in 2004. It was finally deemed completed in 2010 though it is worked on constantly to this day. the statue is made of reinforced concrete but is covered by small plaques of white marble. People make donations by purchasing these plaques to this day and they are added.The influence of Buddhist faith is ubiquitous in Thailand. The entire complex was funded by donations.

Unfortunately, the light was about as bad as it could be for us to get reasonable pictures. There was full sun and the sun was right behind the statue. It required some creative camera settings to get anything other than a silhouette.

 

Many large Buddha statues we've seen have names like 'Laughing Buddha' or 'Reclining Buddha'. I think I would name this 'Enigmatic Smile Buddha'.

 

 

 

The Serpents/Dragons were much easier to get a shot of

 

 

 "Yo! Down There! It's a Freaking Giant Serpent (or Dragon)!

 

 "We need to do SOMETHING!"

 

 "Sure Babe. Let's get an Instagram-able picture"

 

 Not Buddha (but not sure who)

 

 It was an incredibly steep drive to get to Big Buddha and there were some great Phuket views

 

 

 

 And we could see our next stop - Wat Chalong

 

 Wat Chalong

Wat Chalong was built in the early 19th century and came to prominence when two of its noteworthy monks provided healing and protection during a Chinese coolie rebellion in 1876. 

Exteriors 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Architectural Detail

 

 

 

 

 

 Misc.

I really have no idea who this is

 

 

 On the Benefits of Obtaining Great Merit 

If you are true and dedicated to your practices, you will attain merit. In de-I's case I was blessed with a rare sighting of Espouses Fotograficus Asia Meridiorientalis, the Southeast Asian variety of Fotograficus. She can only be found at very rare intervals.

 

 

 

 Wat MongKholNimitPhra

Built around 1880, it was elevated to third level royal status and has become a center of Buddhist education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Signs of the World

People with white smiles...No! People with red smiles...Yes!

 

 There is a prominent S&M community in Phuket

Asia Mega Tour 2026 - Day Sixteen (1) - Scenic Viewpoint Photos

As I mentioned in the last post, our itinerary was pretty much dictated to us by the person who arranged the tour. We had a driver for up to 7 hours. He was a driver, not a guide. So we were on our own at each place which was fine because we were primarily interested in photography. I had wanted to start much later in the day when the light would have been better and it would have been less hot. As it was, the driver showed up even earlier than what we scheduled. I suppose I should have held firm to our scheduled starting time. But we were off and going at 2:30 in the afternoon. 

We started our day of photo shooting at two look out points that are very close to where we are staying at the southern most tip of the island. I decided to go back over some of the past photo workshops I have documented in the blog. For this shoot, the work we did with Vasils Germanis , of Photo Tours in Athens, seemed particularly appropriate. One of the things we had covered was using under and over exposure to create different effects. One of the problems with shooting in the middle of the day, especially in a place like the tropics is that the harsh light washes out all of the color. So I conjectured that if I underexposed my shots that I would compensate for that. I was pretty pleased with the results (he says modestly...though we all KNOW that modesty and de-I are rarely used in the same sentence!)

 First stop is...

 

 Known to we English speakers as...

 

 (please note that there are few if any geographical places that have their own vanity credit card)

Here, as in so many places in Thailand, there are pictures of the Royal Family

 

 (please note woman with umbrella...there is only so much Royal gaze anyone can take)

ARGH - The Ancient Enemy

 

 Their shock troops stream up to the viewpoint

 

 

 The View

 

 

 

 What is this?

 

 Oh

 

 Fellow Visitors

 

 Our next destination - Windmill Point

 

 There were things that begged the question 'why' and made one wish one had a guide. Such as why these trees were covered in colored clothes? Fortunately I was able to research this after the fact. The clothes are called pha sam see and mark that the tree is inhabited by spirit and should not be hurt or damaged. 

 

 

 There was also the question of Elephants...lots and lots and lots of Elephants

 

 

 

 

 And where there are elephants, there are elephant poachers!

 

 

Noooo leave me alone!

 

 

Somebody save me!

 

 Actually, this is not the case at all. The elephants are left here as offerings, as the cape surrounds the Brahma Elephant Shrine. 

Captain Wife contemplates the vastness of a Brahma year amongst the offerings.

 

 

But no matter what, do not ride the elephants

 

 

On to views from Windmill Point

 

Looking back at Promthep Cape

 

 

"Baby, you can buy me one of those condos, can't you?"

Visitor awe inspired by the beauty

Signs of the World

 

 

Special de-I contest. Put down in the comments section what you think is the functionality of a 'Smart Pole'.