This image of a Buddha in a tree, also known as the Bodhi Tree in Thailand, is perhaps one of the more iconic images you will find being sold at nearly any shop selling photos in Thailand.  The Buddha is actually made out of sandstone & isn’t carved out of the tree as some suspect. If you travel to Ayutthaya one of these days, you should be sure to visit Wat Mahatat to get your own image so you don’t have to pay for one.

Ayutthaya is one of the old kingdoms of Thailand that was sacked by the Burmese. If you visit the main city of Ayutthaya,  which is an easy trip of about 1.5-2 hours outside of Bangkok, you will notice that nearly all the Buddha statues in the area had their heads cut off by the invading Burmese forces (kind of odd because both countries were then Buddhist, if I’m not mistaken).

Related articles

• Exploring Thailands former capital – Ayutthaya, Thailand (travelpod.com)
• Golden Buddha at Wat Tham Suea in Kanchanaburi, Thailand (damonbillian.com)

My wife and I recently made a trip to Kanchanaburi, Thailand because it is one of the few tourist areas we hadn’t been to yet in Thailand. While the initial draw to Kanchanaburi was visiting The Tiger Temple and the River Kwai, we were very surprised to find a lovely temple called Wat Tham Suea in the region as well. The temple had a very impressive Golden Buddha in the temple, and also appeared to have both Chinese (a pagoda)  and Burmese influences in the design of the temple.

As an aside: While visiting the Tiger Temple was cool because of all of the tigers present there, I must admit to being a little bit disappointed because it seemed that there was more of a focus on rushing tourists through “Tiger Canyon” to take a photo (and yes, I do contribute to the problem by visiting there).  I think I would have been a little happier if the animals were in a more “natural enclosure” and if some of the animals were entirely off-limits to visitors.

A Buddha photo taken on a trip to Sukhothai, Thailand with my wife and brother a few years ago. While I don’t consider myself to be a spiritual person, at least in the traditional sense, I do have to admit to feeling a sense of wonder walking amongst the various artifacts of one of the old Thai Kingdoms (a lot of people don’t realize that Bangkok hasn’t always been the center of activity for Thailand).

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jade Buddha from B.C., via Australia and Thailand, welcomed to Seattle (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Top 5 Must-See Places in Bangkok (hotelclub.com)

This Buddha picture was taken a few years ago in Sukhothai, Thailand. I didn’t, however, use any real computer special effects to take this particular picture. I dropped the shutter speed way down on the camera to do a long exposure, then I manually zoomed the lens in and out to see what would happen (I did a quick auto correct on Picnik, as I normally do, to clean the picture up a little bit).

Note: The Sukhothai Airport is one of the smallest, but cutest, airports I’ve been to.

Sukhothai, while not quite having the scenic splendor of  the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia , is one of my favorite places I’ve been to in Thailand. Getting around to the many temples is at least a full-day affair, and I could definitely spend more time there taking pictures.

Sukhothai, Thailand

Originally uploaded by dbillian

Now this picture was obviously modified a fair amount. Since the photo was taken in the middle of the day – which means the sun tends to wash things out and/or contribute to overexposed pictures – I had to do a lot of tweaking to get the picture the way I wanted it (I liked the composition enough, so I just needed to take a little time to adjust other aspects of the photo). If you have a chance to visit Sukhothai in Thailand, I can assure you that you will have many opportunities to take a lot of your own quality images (Sukhothai is kind of like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, just a bit smaller and not quite as grand).

I personally don’t use Photoshop at this time, largely due to the fact that work historically takes up a great deal of my time and learning a fairly complex piece of software would chew up the little free time I do have. Picnik, at least for now, fulfills most of my needs because I am not trying to become a professional photographer (I have nowhere near the consistency required to be a pro, nor do I *think* like a photographer would when looking for a shot).

Buddha at Sukhothai, Thailand

Originally uploaded by dbillian

The primary picture was taken by doing a zoom by zooming the SLR lens in & out, and then I did some very basic modifications on Picnik.com (via Flickr) to get the picture to color the way that like it (I tend to be attracted to deeper colors and hues).

Sukhothai, Thailand is a fantastic place to visit for photography & the weather is generally a little cooler than other parts of Thailand. While I was rushed there my first time visiting, my next trip to Sukhothai will not be as hurried (I was traveling with two other people).