Out and About Thailand

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

South Andaman Diving - October 2014

We did four days of diving in the South Andaman aboard the MV Tapana. Mam took her Advance Open Water dive course while on the boat.

Mam looking calm and cool on the first dive.

Second day sunrise at Lipe.

Morning coffee at Lipe.

Only the restrooms had these heavy duty portholes.

Beautiful soft corals at Stonehenge dive site near Lipe.

Six minute YouTube video of the dive trip.

Yes, the boat has a barbecue.

Lipe in the distance.

Lipe panorama

Koh Ha sunset.

Koh Ha Lagoon. One of my favorite dive sites.

Koh Ha Lagoon.

Koh Ha

Mam completes her Advanced Open Water dive class.

Yours truly emerging from a cave at Koh Ha.

Koh Ha Sunset

Ko Ha Panorama

Koh Phi Phi

Mam with a giant Gorgonian Sea Fan at Koh Phi Phi Le.

Stonefish at Koh Phi Phi Le.

Returning to Phuket.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Diving Losin and the Southern Gulf of Thailand

We did a three day liveaboard trip on the MV Scubanet to Losin and a few other dive sites in the southern Gulf of Thailand.

Losin is a pinnacle that barely breaks the surface of the sea. It is located east of Songkhla in the Gulf of Thailand

Morning coffee at sea.

Dive guide draws a map of the Losin dive site.

A whale shark came to the surface at the stern of the boat.

Another one showed up for one of the dives.

Five minute YouTube video of the dive including whale sharks, a big jellyfish, sunken T69 tanks and more.

The sea was nice and calm with almost no breeze.

There were four dive boats at Losin.

Yes, it's Mam.

I found a Canon G15 in about 20 meters of water. It was returned to the owner on another dive boat.

Not far from Losin is an artificial reef made from old T69 tanks.

Another reef has been made with old railway cars.

All delicious Thai food all the time on the MV Scubanet.

A new dive site for me was Lopi, another pinnacle. This off the coast of Narathiwat.

Lopi is a beautiful dive site.

On the way back.

Last sunset at sea.

Songkhla harbor.

On the way to the airport we had dim sum in downtown Hat Yai.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Wat Bon

Wat Bon is a pile of bricks and stone that was probably a Khmer prang. It has not be reconstructed or, as far as I can tell, even investigated. It is located in Phutsa, Nakhon Ratchasima.

I rode my bicycle to Ban Phutsa which is about 11K north of my house. This is the Lam Takhong River.

I asked some of the local residents what this place was called and they said, "Wat Bon". No idea how it got that name.

The pile consists of lots of bricks and hunks of sandstone.

I'm sure that the bigger pieces have been moved quite a bit.

Lots of recent stuff piled on top to show respect.

Wat Bon is a few hundred meters from the restored Khmer Prang at Wat Prang Torng.

Probably a support for a wooden post.

These people live in the neighborhood. They were kind enough to offer me ice water and a chair and to answer my questions.

These stone fragments are in a pile at nearby Wat Suriya Yen. The big stone in the upper photo was probably the top stone for the Wat Bon prang. The curved stone at the lower right was probably part of the support for the top stone. In the lower left is a Sema stone, probably added after the Khmer empire collapsed and local Buddhists began using the site as a place of worship.

This communal spirit house is located just outside of the grounds of Wat Prang Torng.

Prasat Ban Prang

Prasat Ban Prang is a recently reconstructed Khmer Prang (tower) in the Khong district of Nakhon Ratchasima. It is located about 60 kilometers north of Korat City.

We took a short cut on a bad road.

The prang sits in a very open space surrounded by a moat.

It has a weird brick porch appended, off-center, to the eastern side.

The entrance is on the east side, as usual. The prang is constructed of large sandstone blocks and some brick. There is no laterite stone. Some blocks were recreated to complete the reconstruction. No attempt was made at aging them.