Learning to shoot wildlife with a camera

When I was in Thailand recently, my friend, Larry, suggested we go to visit Michel in Kanchanaburi. Michel and his wife, Nong, take fantastic photos of wildlife which they put on flickr. They invited us to come and stay in their house for a few days. Here they are with Nong's grandson.


When we arrived we went to see the Bridge over the River Kwai which was famous in World War II. There was a movie made about it.


The next day we went off into the bush to take photos of wildlife.


Michel is going to give us some tips on taking great wildlife pictures.

After a while, he stopped the Land Cruiser and said 'See, there.'

'What?'

'In the bamboo. Squirrels.'

'Squirrels? I don't see any squirrels. All I see is lots of bamboo.'


Michel pointed and I saw it. Can you see it in the photo above?

Later I got this close-up shot.


I learned the first lesson of shooting wildlife (with a camera). Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

A little further along the track we stopped again beside another clump of bamboo. 'See the bird?'


It took me a while. But I could see it. It's tiny. How did he see it while he was driving?

I got this shot.


And I've learned the second important lesson of shooting wildlife. It's the same as the first. Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

Later we got out of the car and took a walk in the bush. I got this shot all by myself.


OK, so it's only a chicken. But it was free in the bush and it was hard to see against the colour of the straw. Can you see the baby chicken?

Dinosaur adventure

Once upon a time when Grandpa was visiting Kalasin in north-east Thailand his friend Larry said, 'You know, John, Kalasin is famous because they found a complete dinosaur skeleton here.'

'I wonder if there are still any dinosaurs around,' said Grandpa.

'Na. Don't you know anything? They died out years ago. But if you like we could go and take a look where they used to be.'

So Larry and Grandpa set out on Larry's motorcycle. When they stopped Grandpa noticed there were lots of pools of water lying on the ground.

'Hey Larry, what do these pools of water look like to you?'

'They look like pools of water. It is the rainy season you know.'

'Yeah but, haven't you noticed they are shaped like dinosaur footprints.'

'John, you have a wonderful imagination.'

'Yeah. Well what do you reckon that is?'

'Larry,' said Grandpa, 'that sure looks like a somethingorothersaurus to me. I wonder if it's friendly.

'John. Don't go any closer.'

'Well there's only one and there's two of us.'

'Oh, yeah? Well look over there.'

'Wow,' said Grandpa. 'This is really cool. Wait'll I tell my grandkids about this.'

'You can only tell them if we get out alive. Look, they're coming closer.



Just then Grandpa felt something bight him on the bum. He turned around and this whatsitosaurus looked like it was looking for a fight. As you can see, Grandpa wasn't afraid he squared right up to it.

And hit it so hard that he pushed its head out of the top of the picture that Larry was taking.

But there were too many of them.

'I think we're done for,' said Larry.

But just then…

...this guy turned up out of nowhere, grabbed Larry and Grandpa in each of its hands and with one mighty leap took them all the way to Bangkok where Grandpa was able to take this picture.

'Now, how am I going to get my motorbike back?' said Larry.

'I guess that's another story,' said Grandpa.

The End

Trikes

In Australia mostly little kids ride tricycles. Here in Thailand and other Asian countries it is very common to see adults riding tricycles. Some have motors and some have pedals. Here are two motorcycle tricycles that I saw in my street the other day.




love from Grandpa

Basket vendor

A vendor is someone who sells something. In most Asian countries you can see many vendors in the streets. Some set up stalls and sell to people who pass, just like a little shop on the side of the road. Some vendors walk carrying whatever it is they are selling.

This vendor has a motorbike with a sidecar. He has all different kinds of baskets that he sells to people. The baskets are used for many different purposes.

In this picture you can hardly see the vendor. The men wearing orange vests are motorcycle-taxi drivers. If you take a bus home it stops along the main road. Perhaps you live a long way from the main road and it is too far to walk. You can take a motorcycle taxi. They will drive you to your home.

I don't know what kind of baskets the motorcycle-taxi drivers bought but they look very interested in these baskets.

PS. At the moment I live just around the corner from this spot.

love from Grandpa

Free the birds

When we visited Wat Sala Loi in Korat there was a man who had these birds in a cage. They were for sale. When people buy them they don't take them home. These are not pet birds, they are wild birds. People buy them to set them free. They think that by setting the birds free they will make merit.

The next day the man will be back at the temple selling wild birds again. He has caught some more. Maybe they are even the same birds. I don't think there is any merit from buying these birds. If people stopped buying the birds the man would stop catching them and selling them. The birds would always be free. What do you think?

Cave temple

Once I went to a Buddhist temple that was inside a big cave, a real cave. In Korat there is one they call 'the cave in the city'. But it is not a real cave.

Phra Raj Wimonmelee, the head monk of Wat Phayup, once found some pieces of rock that had come from inside a cave. There had been an explosion, perhaps the cave was in a mine and it was blown up. When Phra Raj Wimonmelee found it many of the stalactites and stalagmites were there as well as other rocks from inside the cave. He bought them and had them sent back to his temple. There a cave was constructed inside a building. When you go into the building it is like you are inside a cave.

love from Grandpa

Temple dogs

Buddhist monks must never harm a living thing. Usually they will not even kill a mosquito. To kill anything, even a mosquito, is to make bad karma. If you go to a Buddhist temple it is OK to wear an insect repellent to keep the mosquitos away from you but you shouldn't kill them.

Lots of animals seem to know that they are safe in a Buddhist monastery and they make their way there. If there is a river next to the wat often the fish come to that spot and monks or other people feed them. There is even one temple in Thailand that is famous because of the tigers there. No one harms the tigers and the tigers don't harm anyone but they are still wild tigers.

In Thailand there are many stray dogs. People often feed stray dogs because that is a way of making merit. Often the dogs find their way to Buddhist temples and the monks look after them. It is usual to see lots of dogs as well as other animals in Buddhist temples in Thailand.

When I visited Wat Phayup with Nid we saw this dog. Its back legs seemed to be a little crippled. It could still walk but its legs didn't work properly. If it tried to scratch itself with its left hind leg, the leg wouldn't reach the itchy spot. The dog would keep trying but just kept going around in circles. We felt sorry for this dog but in the end he needed to scratch his right side and that worked. So then we were happy for it.

love from Grandpa

Making merit

Many Buddhists believe in karma. If you want good things to happen to you then you should do good things. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. Because of this, many Thai people like to do things to 'make merit' ('tam boon' in Thai language) so that good things will happen to them.

Buddhist monks don't usually buy food for themselves. They are usually only allowed to eat food that is given to them by others. Some monks live in areas where people are very poor so the monks don't get a lot to eat. Others are lucky and get more food than they can eat because lots of people like to make merit by feeding the monks.


At certain times of the year people are invited to make merit by coming to the temple and donating things to the monks, necessary things like clothes, soap, toothpaste, anything they might need on a regular basis.

I went to visit a temple near Mahasarakham with my friend. This temple in known as Wat Wangleung. In Thailand there are two types of monks, the regular ones and forest monks. Forest monks are more strict and follow more rules than the others. For example, they only eat one meal a day. Wat Wangleung is a temple for forest monks.

It was Sunday when I visited so many people had come along to make merit. There was a lot of food. First the food was offered to the monks who each took a little from each tray that was offered. After all the food was offered to the monks, what was left over was put on a table and all the people who had come along were able to share it.

Later there was a special ceremony. My friend's family had donated a sala to the temple. A sala is like a hall but it is open at the sides. People can gather there for ceremonies or to talk with the monks. This sala had just been built and a ceremony was held to hand it over to the monks.

After the ceremony I had a chat with the head monk. He invited me to come and stay at the temple next time I come back to Thailand. Maybe I will.

If you want to see more photos that I took during my visit to Wat Wangleung, just click here.

When you write Wat Wangleung in Thai it looks like this: วัดวังเลีง

love from Grandpa

These are my students

I teach English two days a week at a primary school in Mahasarakham. I have three different classes. They are grade 4, grade 5 and grade 6. Can you tell which is which? Can you pick which one in the pictures is your grandfather?

love from your Granddad

Life in Mahasarakham

I went to visit a village in Mahasarakham province and took this photo to show you how the people live. This is a house. In the daytime, the cattle go out in the fields and eat the grass. In the night time the cattle come and stay under the house. The big pot is for keeping water in. There are no taps and they collect water off the roof when it rains. Do you think you would like to live in a house like this?

love from your Granddad

Spiky and smelly

Have you ever seen this fruit? It's called durian. It's also called the king of fruits and it's very popular in Thailand and other Asian countries. If you want to eat it, first you have to peel it. Those spikes are sharp. You need gloves and a sharp knife to cut it open. Usually I let the vendor who sells it to me peel it for me. When it is cut open it has a very strong smell. Some people don't like the smell. Me? I like it. Some people don't like the taste either. Me? I like the taste too. There is a lot of durian around in Thailand now. Come to visit me and you can taste it for yourself.

love from Grandpa John

Strange creature

What do you think is happening here? I took this photo of a wood carving on a temple door in Mahasarakham. The creature on the left looks a little like a giant bird and a little like a dragon but it has tusks and a trunk like an elephant. I wonder what it is going to do with the elephant. Do you think it is going to eat it? The elephant doesn't seem to be trying to fight it. Maybe it is rescuing the elephant. From what? I don't know. What do you think?

love from Granddad

Meet the elephant

On the weekend I went to visit my friend who lives on a main road in Mahasarakham. While I was there a procession came down the road so we went outside to take a look. While we were watching the procession these two guys were walking up the other side of the road with this little elephant. They have some kind of food in the bags and if you want to feed the elephant you can buy the food from them.

Later they came back down our side. The elephant came right up to me and was pushing me with its head, looking for some food. It is only a little elephant but very strong. My friend bought some food and gave it to the elephant but it was still looking for some from me. But I didn't feed it because I was too busy trying to get this picture for you.

love from Grandpa John

Dangerous weapon

I saw this for sale in a street stall in Mahasarakham the other day. It sounds really dangerous. Would you like to be shot by a pooh squirt gun? I'd hate someone to squirt pooh on me. Yuk!

It didn't smell too bad. I guess it wasn't loaded so I decided to take a closer look.

Hey, it doesn't squirt pooh after all. It's a water pistol with a reserve tank in the shape of Pooh Bear. I'm so glad. I don't mind being squirted with water. But pooh? No way!

love from your Granddad

I survived Songkran

Well, actually this is an old picture. This is what happened to me in Songkran 2001. But don't worry it all washed off.

Here in Mahasarakham there were a few people throwing water around. Sometimes people could see that I had my camera with me so I only got a little bit wet. On the days when I didn't have my camera I got really wet.

Sa wat dee be mai.

Happy Thai new year

Hi everyone, here in Thailand right now it's new year. They call it Songkran. At Songkran people like to wash the hands of their parents and other people who are important to them. It is supposed to wash away bad luck. But often people get a bit excited by this and start throwing water over anybody. Once I was on a bus and when it stopped someone threw water in the door. This will go on for the next five days. Most people don't mind very much because it's very hot here right now.

To say happy new year to a Thai person, you say 'sa wat dee be mai'.

Happy new year from Grandpa

Bangkok street vendors

Hello

Just want to show you what some of the streets in Bangkok look like because they are quite different from streets in Australia.

On this street there is not much room to walk along the footpath because there are people who take up most of the footpath to sell things. You can see in this picture that people walk down the road instead of on the footpath. Do you think it is dangerous? But sometimes when you are walking on the footpath someone will ride a motorbike along it. You have to be very careful all the time.

These people are vendors. They sell things. The first one sells nice smelling flowers that are strung together. People buy them to give as an offering to a Buddha image. The next one is a girl selling hand towels. They are very cheap. I bought a couple. There are more vendors on the footpath on the other side of the road. You can find all sorts of things for sale on the streets of Bangkok.

Talk to you later.

Love from Grandpa.

Fun with snakes

When we went to the zoo restaurant we didn't only see the lorises. We also got to meet some snakes. Do you like snakes? Some snakes are dangerous so you shouldn't pick up snakes unless you know what they are and have an adult with you. At the zoo they had some cobras. They are very dangerous. We didn't feel like dying so we left them alone. But this one was quite friendly and doesn't bite people. It is called a corn snake. Grandpa got to play with this snake for quite a while. Do you remember the python that kissed me? This one kissed me on the nose with its tongue.



love from Grandpa John

Grandpa's new friends

Hello

The other night I went to a restaurant in Bangkok that has a zoo. I made some new friends.

This beautiful little animal I have in my hands is called a slow loris. It is a primate. That means it is a little bit like us and a little bit like a monkey. Usually they live in the jungle. They sleep in the daytime and at night they move slowly around the trees. When they see an insect they move quickly and grab the insect because they like to eat insects. They also like to eat fruit.

The one I am holding is a girl. She moves very gently and holds onto my hands so softly and she stares at me with those big beautiful eyes. Oh, I think I fell in love with her. I wanted to take her home. But she has to stay at the zoo. Maybe I can go back and visit her another day.

This is a picture of my friend Ti-tee. The young woman is Ti-tee the other one in the picture is another slow loris. He is the father of the little girl in the first picture. I had a bowl of fruit. I took the pieces out one at a time. He would take them out of my hands and put them in his mouth. He would eat them slowly and then look to me to give him another piece. When it was all gone he looked at me again as if to say 'Do you have any more?' I held the empty bowl up to show him that there was no more. He took the bowl in his two hands and put his head in it and licked all the juice out.

Oh, they are so cute. I hope one day you come to Bangkok and I can take you to meet them.

love from your Grandpa

Another Australian in Bangkok

Do you know what this is? It is a bearded dragon, an Australian lizard. Maybe you don't see so many where you live but if you lived in Brisbane you would see a lot. I saw this one in a market in Bangkok. How did it get there?

The man in the market said it came from America. Perhaps this one did but the lizards have been taken from Australia and bred in America. It is against the law to take Australian lizards out of Australia. Do you know why? If people take too many away from Australia one day there might be none left in Australia. And we would have more of the insects that this lizard eats. Keeping the lizards in Australia helps to keep the balance of nature so we don't get too many insects.

Some people don't care about this. They know that people in America will pay them a lot of money to get one of these lizards as a pet. They catch wild lizards and they give them a drug to put them to sleep. They pack them in a suitcase and send them to America. Sometimes many lizards die on the way but the people who do this don't care because they can still make a lot of money from selling the ones that live.

Occasionally some of these people are caught trying to smuggle lizards out of Australia. They have to pay a lot of money as a fine. Perhaps they might even go to jail.