The Dragonflies'Lair~Thread XXXI

Talented poets and friends of The Dragonflies' Lair | October 5, 2006 | bentfeather/Poets of the Lair

[Soaring Feather]

My Dragon Fly and Me

If I could be a Dragon Fly
and wing my way through the sky
I would never be shy
just me and my Dragon Fly!

By moonlight we ride the wind
chase the comets tail for fun
by day we would hide from the sun
our fragile wings would come undone

On darkest nights we would use
fireflies as our guide
we would dip and we would glide
through the heavens open wide
and scatter diamonds in the night sky
my Dragon Fly and me...

And we would wing past our lovers
silent in the night...
to kiss their face in our flight
much to their surprise and delight
my Dragon Fly and me in sight...

Such a view do we share
away up here in the air
of breezes soft through our hair
my Dragon Fly and me a pair...

bentfeather©
2002

[Soaring Feather]

Wonderful picture tour again! Really interesting to view these ancient ruins. Thanks again!

[tomkow6]

Good morning,

 

Ms Feather!

[starbase]

Well here's the last installment of photos for a while. In fact I'll go back to near-radio silence tomorrow when I head back to Taiwan. So far the only Internet cafe I could find around my apartment in Taiwan is far away. So it will be a few weeks before I have my own phone line and new laptop (I canceled that little palm pilot, just not a big enough screen!)

1. Buddha Head In Tree Roots Almost sounds like a Thai dish, doesn't it? The next seven or eight pictures were of another very large temple complex that was trashed by the Burmese, makes you realize that this whole city was destroyed. Kind of like losing Chicago or New York. This head somehow was embedded in the roots. They ask that you kneel down and take pictures even with the height of the head, so that you don't stand there and look down on old Buddha.



2. Temple Complex Ruins This whole area was kind of depressing. All these beautiful temples (or at least they were once beautiful) completely trashed. The tour guide pointed out that the broken Buddha images, the broken heads and arms, were the work of the Burmese (disrepecting Buddha like that is a major no no in this part of the world).



3. Temple Complex Ruins House after house, and temple structure after temple structure, systematically destroyed by the foriegn army. I asked the tour guide that since the Burmese were Buddhist too how could they trash so many Buddha statues? She said that at that time they didn't think of Buddhism, they just wanted to destroy the super prosperous Thai capital.



4. Temple Complex Ruins Well at least it was a beautiful day to remember the past!



5. Temple Complex Ruins A very beautiful day!!



6. Temple Complex Ruins Here's the gate that failed to keep out the Burmese.



7. Temple Complex Ruins On and on it goes, there are dozens of these complexes around this city.



8. Temple Complex Ruins Look at that!



9. Temple Complex Ruins Not much left of this one, we might have to relocate!



10. Temple Complex Ruins One last look at this once glorious compound. (But on a positive note, see the mircrowave tower in the center background? The future beakons!)



10. Fun With Elephants So after the somber ruins we went to play with the elephants! This baby elephant would pose with picture takers, here is his "mahmout" (or handler) standing with him while he twists his trunk up into his little posing stance.



11. Fun With Elephants After someone takes a picture with him, he holds out his trunk to take the 20 baht bill (about .60 cents). Then he bows formally (which is what he's doing here) while holding the bill (you can see the bill in his trunk) and finally he gives a little toot/honk with his trunk, pretty darn cute, all in all! :-)



12. Fun With Elephants Here are the mighty elephants! I rode on one for about $5. They actually jerk around from side to side a lot as they walk, so it's not the smoothest ride in the world. However, it was pretty awe inspiring to be on the back of such a mighty beastie. You can feel its incredible strength as it strolls along.



13. Fun With Elephants Dinner time! Mmm, grass, my favorite (the elephants were excited to have it too!).



14. A Restored Temple And to finish off this double header of Thai picture posts, here is the one temple from this ancient city that the Thais spent the time and money to restore. Perhaps you can see how it contrasts with the more intricate, and less ancient, temples from the north that I posted a few weeks ago. Once most of the ruined temples had a look similar to this.



Well dear Lairites, that will do it for now. I guess I'll only drop by rarely for the next few weeks. I really hadn't expected to be in Thailand at all this week anyway! So until we meet again, I'll see you all again later on!

Cheers, and here's hoping for a positive election outcome!

starbase

[starbase]

Pinging you to 697 and 703 for some touristy type pictures before I leave Thailand for a while. Perhaps worth a Thai Ping!

Regards,

starbase

[Soaring Feather]

Good evening, starbase.

WOW very nice picture show. Thanks much.


Be safe now - we will wait for your next posting.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!

[ASA Vet]

Starbase has posted some Thai photos on this thread.
Here are links to his posts.

Post 697

Post 703

[killjoy]

2. Temple Complex Ruins This whole area was kind of depressing. All these beautiful temples (or at least they were once beautiful) completely trashed. The tour guide pointed out that the broken Buddha images, the broken heads and arms, were the work of the Burmese (disrepecting Buddha like that is a major no no in this part of the world).

A lot of the statues, and chedis, were destroyed since they held precious stones and other valuable items. A large percentage of the temples were dismantled by the Thais after the Burmese invasion so the bricks could be used to build up the new capital at Bangkok. Don't try getting into an argument with a Thai person about it. You won't win. Trust me, I know that from first hand experience. ;)

[SoldierDad]

Good morning Soaring Feather. May your day be full of Grace and hope.

[ASA Vet]

Don't try getting into an argument with a Thai person about it. You won't win.
Trust me, I know that from first hand experience.

How true, I've tryed to convince some Isarn Thai that the caption and story regarding this photo isn't true.
Running head first into a cement wall would be just as productive.

[Soaring Feather]

Thank You.

[killjoy]

Running head first into a cement wall would be just as productive.

Well, if it is a Thai cement wall, it will at least budge a little bit. ;)

[ASA Vet]

That is so true!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Got leaves?

Good morning....did y'all vote?
I voted at the school just past the backyard.

[Soaring Feather]

Hi Kathy, LOL lots of leaves on the ground.

I am going to vote at 1:00PM.

[Lady Jag]

Thank you so much for your posts, Starbase!!

I have been very busy and unable to reply lately, but I want to assure you that I'm reading your posts and LOVE your photos!! It's all so stunningly beautiful.

Hugs,
LJ

[Lady Jag]

HELLO THERE!!

[Soaring Feather]

Oooooo, wonderful dragon.

Well, voting done!

[Soaring Feather]

Hi, welcome to The Dragonflies' Lair.


What is that thing those guys are holding up, some sort of fish, eel??

[ASA Vet]

It's an Oar Fish.