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  Wednesday 1st of June and we will go to Rayong to visit a friend from the FSO at Bongkot Gas Field. We will also visit Wat Lahan Rai - วัดละหารไร่. The taxi was here to pick me up at 06:00 and we took off 10 minutes past 6 to go pick up our friend at Samut Prakan. We will also visit Wat Tham Prathun - วัดถ้ำประทุน, but we will visit this temple just because it is an eBird hotspot, Wat Tham Prathun. Took us about 40 minutes to reach Robinsons at Samut Prakan. Our friend was waiting on the road side and we were soon on our way again.  On our way
 We stop to buy refreshments
 We stop to buy refreshments
We stop to buy refreshments, my friends throat must be bone dry as he have been talking NON-STOP since he came in to the taxi. So, we had a couple of minutes of silence while he was drinking his coffee. We arrived to the bird hide and my friend managed to be quiet, well, quite quiet at least. This was a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, he is talking NON-STOP during the time we look for birds. We spent an hour in the bird hide and we only spotted one bird. Very bad, only one Racket-tailed Treepie that came to drink water. But there was a lot of birds to be heard in the trees.  Bird watching at Wat Tham Prathun - วัดถ้ำประทุน
 Bird watching at Wat Tham Prathun - วัดถ้ำประทุน
 Bird watching at Wat Tham Prathun - วัดถ้ำประทุน
There is usually a lot of birds at the bird hide at Wat Tham Prathun, วัดถ้ำประทุน but today there was nothing. We left to go pick up our friend. We had decided to go eat at Homemade Pizza & Steaks Ban Chang. I have been there before and I decided to not come back again. But we will give it one more chance as I know the owner and we were friends 20 years ago. I have not seen him since then, but we can support his restaurant giving the restaurant one more chance. We picked up our friend from the FSO and I was riding with him in his car following my friend in the taxi. We arrived to Homemade Pizza & Steaks Ban Chang and we order our food. We arrive in the middle of the lunch so there are 10 people or so at the restaurant. It was a little bit like it is in Thailand, you know, someone eating their dessert and someone get the starter. But we got our steaks pretty much at the same time so this was impressing. And as we paid 200 to 300 Baht per steak you cannot really expect much. But I should have ordered a hamburger without bread and fries instead.  My friends waiting for food
 Eating like there is no tomorrow
We left the restaurant and we said bye bye to our friend and he drove back home. We continued to Wat Lahan Rai, วัดละหารไร่. We visited the amulet shop first thing at arrival to the temple. I bought some souvenirs at the shop before we walked around to have a look. There were birds in the area but I only got one picture, a Zebra Dove so not very exciting.  Amulet shop
  Only bird picture for today
 Wat Lahan Rai - วัดละหารไร่
   Wat Lahan Rai - วัดละหารไร่
 Today's track at Wat Lahan Rai, วัดละหารไร่
We left the temple and we drove back to Bangkok, we dropped our friend at Samuk Prakan at 6 o'clock, 11 (ELEVEN) hours of NON-STOP talking came to an end. I was back home at 7 and next trip is planned for Sunday and I am looking forward to the excitements. +++++++++++++++
Sunday 5th of June 2022 and my friend arrived with his son at 7 thirty. He will make breakfast before we leave to visit some famous temples in Nakhon Pathom (ศรีษะทอง) We will visit three temples, at least, if we have more time we will visit another temple as well.
• Wat Rai Tang Tong - วัดไร่แตงทอง Wat Thung Sala - วัดสนามแย้ • Wat Sisrathong - วัดศีรษะทอง My friend will make cabbage with chicken and pork and we will drink tea. My friend started to cook and we were ready to eat 30 minutes later. The food was very good and we were full when we left my apartment at 8 thirty.  Making breakfast
 Making breakfast
 Waiting for the tea
  We cross the Chao Praya River and we drive the same road that we used going to Kanchanaburi. My friend asked if I knew about the Phra Pathom Chedi (องค์พระปฐมเจดีย์) and as I had never heard of it we took the detour to have a look at it.
We find Phra Pathom Chedi and we spot some birds at the parking area, but we never got out of the car. Sunday and there was a lot of people visiting the area. So, we left driving toward the first temple on our list, Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง)  Eurasian Tree Sparrow / นกกระจอกบ้าน
 Eurasian Tree Sparrow / นกกระจอกบ้าน
 Eurasian Tree Sparrow / นกกระจอกบ้าน
 Today's track at Phra Pathom Chedi
We are soon finding ourself on the country side. Nice to get out of the city and we are surrounded by a beautiful landscape. My friend have to stop a couple of times to ask for directions to the temple. We are passing Wat Thung Sala (วัดสนามแย้) so we know that we are close to Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง). Luang Poo (a revered monk) lĭw (หลวงปู่หลิว) started at Wat Thung Sala (วัดสนามแย้) and then he moved on to Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง). He is famous for the turtle shaped amulets and the temple is very popular and we expect there to be a lot of people visiting the temple.  On the country side
 We notice that we are approaching Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง)
 We notice that we are approaching Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง)
 Amulet shop
We arrive to the temple at 10:54, at least this is the time I started my eBird app. Of course, there was Feral Pigeons and Mynas. We found a parking place, not easy as there was a lot of people visiting the temple. We start to look for the Thai Buddha amulets (พระเครื่อง) shop, and as my friend already have given me 2 amulets from this temple so no need to buy any amulet. But I am looking for a holy cloth (ผ้ายัน) to put on my wall for good luck and protection against “Black Magic” and bad luck. And I will buy one for our friend as well, he is working in Bangkok today so he could not join us today. I got the holy cloths (ผ้ายัน) and we left the shop. We went in to see the big turtle and yet again, I had to take off my shoes. We entered and instantly, we could see the big turtle.  We find the house with the giant turtle
 The giant turtle
 The giant turtle
 There is a small turtle in front of the giant turtle
 Putting gold on the turtle
 There was a lot of people putting gold leafs on the turtles and I don't know why, but it is not the first time, but walking around some holy thing three times will give you luck. So, we made three lapses and the last lapse was done while making a video of the excitement. So now we will be very lucky, but just to make sure my friend was trying to get some sound out from a gong by rubbing it. Too much people and noise so we could not hear the “holy” and “lucky” sound. I don't know if it is necessary to hear the sound, I think the intention is enough to give us good luck. We walked out from the house leaving all the turtles behind. We went to find water and I was surprised to find out that the water was for free. I had seen what I needed to see of the temple and I had bought my holy cloth (ผ้ายัน) and we walked through the temple to see if there was any birds behind the temple. We spotted one Malaysian Pied-Fantail outside the turtle house. Walking out to the back and we discover that they are construction something, maybe an extension for the temple. There was some kind of meadow between the gravel road and the fence to the paved road. A pile of sand, maybe 4 to 5 meters in height. Well, looking like a small hill. I see three birds flying towards the sand hill and I see that the last one is a Bee-eater. But too far away for any ID.  Bee-eater nests in the sand
There are many nests in the sand hill so there might be babies that require food and care. We sit down to finish our water and we see Red-wattled Lapwings and my friend spot one female Oriental Magpie-robin. I cannot see the bird until it have changed tree the third time. I spotted at least two Paddyfield Pipits in the meadow. I spotted a couple of the Bee-eaters on the fence so I went to investigate while my friend went to get the car. There was also Bee-eaters sitting on a branch in a small tree and I discovered that it was juvenile Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters.     Chestnut-headed Bee-eater / นกจาบคาหัวสีส้ม
 Chestnut-headed Bee-eater / นกจาบคาหัวสีส้ม
There was a hole in the ground where the temple seem to put their garbage. There were also Bee-eaters hunting insects and I spotted the second Malaysian Pied-Fantail for today. I walk around and I see more Red-wattled Lapwing. And of course, there are many sparrows. It was darn hot so I was very happy when my friend arrived with the car and he handed me a bottle of cold water and I was very happy to get in to the car.
 Today's track at Wat Rai Tang Tong - วัดไร่แตงทอง
We left the temple and we drove down the road towards Wat Thung Sala (วัดสนามแย้) and I started the eBird app 7 minutes after having stopped the app at Wat Rai Tang Tong (วัดไร่แตงทอง) We spotted a huge group of Feral Pigeons and many House and Tree Sparrows under a tree when we came in on the temple area. My friend spotted a Hoopoe but I never saw the bird so I could not report the bird in my eBird app. We stayed for a while but the only other bird we spotted was a Malaysian Pied-Fantail. We left the tree to go have a look for the Thai Buddha amulets (พระเครื่อง) shop to look for amulets and holy cloth (ผ้ายัน)  I only got one picture out of the visit to the tree, a male House Sparrow. We parked the car and we went to look for some people to talk to. We find the shop and we step inside. Luang Poo (a revered monk) (หลวงปู่) arrived with a car after a minute, but he was busy as he was attending to someone that had died so he was soon leaving the temple again. The amulets looked the same as in the previous temple so I never bought any. And I could not see any holy cloth (ผ้ายัน) so we went out again.  Wat Thung Sala (วัดสนามแย้)
  Time for prayer
We walk to the car and my friend discover the same “GONG” they had had at the previous temple. It was quiet and now I understand what he was trying to show me at the previous temple. Now I could hear the sound from the “GONG” and now I know why it look like it does.
 Today's track at Wat Thung Sala (วัดสนามแย้)
We leave the temple and we drive back to Bangkok with a stop at the Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง) I have one amulet from this temple so I was very interested in stopping to have a look. I turn on my eBird app at 14:12 and as no surprise, the first bird to report was a Feral Pigeon. There were many sparrows but I only managed to ID 3 of them as House Sparrows. They were flying around never to sit down so not possible to ID.  Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
 Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
 Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
 Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
 Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
 Today's track at Wat Sisrathong (วัดศีรษะทอง)
There was a lot of people at this temple as well as it is a very popular temple. Last Friday was a holiday so it is what we call a long weekend and we expect a lot of traffic going back to Bangkok Sunday afternoon. But we were lucky and we were hauling behinds going back to Bangkok. There was a construction on the elevated highway so the traffic flow slowed down. But otherwise, it was OK and we were soon on Sukhumvit Road Soi 23. We were hungry so we stopped to eat at the steak house that turned out to have been closed down a long time ago. So, we went to the Korean restaurant on the third floor and we had Korean BBQ  Korean BBQ
 Korean BBQ
+++++++++++++++
Friday 10th of June 2022 and I had started to prepare breakfast when my friend woke up at 5 o'clock. The taxi will be here to pick us up at 6 o'clock. We will go visit the Wat Sri Marukataiyawan (Wat Ko Ta Put) (วัดมฤคะทายวัน) and Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย)
It is Friday so I will have to skip the yoga and boxing. My friend is busy Sundays, and of course, the temples will be full Saturdays and Sundays, at least the popular temples. I started my new “BLACK SEXY” video series yesterday so I will have to continue with this work next week. Today it will be temples and birds. We leave a few minutes after 6 o'clock and the first stop is after 50 meters at my local 7 Eleven. I little refreshments and we are soon on the way again. We are soon on road #4 and we are early to beat the morning traffic. We are on the same road as we used to go to Nakhon Pathom (นครปฐม) and Kanchanaburi (กาญจนบุรี) and by now I recognize the stuff we are passing on our way. But today we are going to Ratchaburi (ราชบุรี) south of Nakhon Pathom (นครปฐม) so we are soon plunging towards South through a new landscape. My friend are excited to meet Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) and the spirit is high. We reach Wat Ko Ta Put (วัดมฤคะทายวัน) and I start my eBird app at 08:21.  On the way to Wat Ko Ta Put (วัดมฤคะทายวัน)
 On the way to Wat Ko Ta Put (วัดมฤคะทายวัน)
 Signing in
We park the car and we went in to the temple where Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) is waiting for people that want to be blessed. But first my friend have to report himself in a guest book and then we take off our shoes and we go in to visit Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) is blind so he have an assistant sitting next to him helping out. There are gift baskets on a shelf and we take one each and then we put money in a pot. And we go stand in front of Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) to hand over the gift baskets.  Luang Poo Othai (หลวงพ่ออุทัย) and his assistant
 Putting money in the pot
 Ready with our gift baskets
 My friend hands over his gift basket
 My friend is ready to get blessed
I was looking for a holy cloth (ผ้ายัน) and I don't need any Thai Buddha amulet (พระเครื่อง) as I already have one from this temple. And old amulet, 20 years ++ old and actually, everyone spotting the amulet ask where I have got it. The amulet is not available anymore, anyway, the Thai Buddha amulet (พระเครื่อง) shop is closed so no cloth (ผ้ายัน). I got my amulet from my friend and he could not stop talking about how everyone had been interested in my amulet and asked where I had got it. When we are blessed, we go to look for birds around the temple. It was very hot walking around in the blazing sun.  Wat Ko Ta Put (วัดมฤคะทายวัน)
 Red Collared Dove
 Zebra Dove and Tree Sparrow
 Today's track at Wat Ko Ta Put (วัดมฤคะทายวัน)
We leave the temple and we drive to the eBird hotspot: Huai Mai Teng Reservoir (general area). We reach the Huai Mai Teng Reservoir and I start the eBird app at 09:42. We drove along the Reservoir for a while before we found a dirt road going down to the water front. There were quite a few birds at the waterfront and it was a beautiful area. There were Small Pratincoles and I got a picture and I can but this bird on my list of observed birds in Thailand. I have seen the bird before, in Nepal and also in Thailand, but no pictures from Thailand. The last bird before turning of my eBird app was a Eurasian Hoopoe. So, I was quite happy with the visit to the Huai Mai Teng Reservoir.    Scaly-breasted Munia / นกกระติ๊ดขี้หมู
  Small Pratincole / นกแอ่นทุ่งเล็ก
  Paddyfield Pipit / นกเด้าดินทุ่งเล็ก
 Today's track at Huai Mai Teng Reservoir (general area)
We drive back towards Bangkok in order to beat the Friday afternoon traffic. We will stop at my apartment to pick up some amulets that we will bring to Samut Prakan to cover at the gold shop. But we have time for some birding and we will pass another eBird hotspot on the way back to Bangkok. So, we program the GPS and we drive towards eBird hotspot: Bo Kradan paddies  Female Baya Weaver at nest
 Female Baya Weaver at nest
 Zebra Dove
 We drove around and there were quite a few birds, most of them sitting on the wires along the dirt road. We spotted two Kingfishers but only one on picture. The first Kingfisher dived for food in one of the ponds and I could not ID the bird. We drove around for about 45 minutes before I turned off my eBird app and we got out on the highway going back to Bangkok.  White-throated Kingfisher
 Green Bee-eater
 Great White Egret
 Today's track at eBird hotspot: Bo Kradan paddies
 Tea time at S & P
We stop at my apartment to pick up the amulets before we continue to Robinson in Samut Prakan. We go to S&P to have lunch and I have been there with my friend several times now. My friend  really like their Cappuccino and I like their chicken with a pot of tea.
I always order their chicken without any rice so it is very good for my diet. We finish the meal and we walk across Sukhumvit via the sky train station to the gold shop at Big-C. It will take them one and a half hour to cover the amulets. Me and my friend go to the third floor to see if we can find a foot massage to kill the time while waiting. We find a massage place, there is only one and no people so we could get foot massage.  Foot massage
 Foot massage
 Foot massage
 Foot massage
 Foot massage
+++++++++++++++
Thursday 16th of June 2022 and we leave 10 minutes after 6 o'clock in the morning.
We will go to visit Wat Tako (วัดตะโก) in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (จ้งหวัดอยุทธายา), well, in short Ayutthaya. Wat Tako (วัดตะโก) was the home to Luang Poo Roy (หลวงพ่อรวย) until his death. So, the temple is the main attraction for today, plus a little bird watching. My friend had spent the night in my guest room as we are leaving early morning. So, he had dinner here yesterday evening and also a glass of Whiskey. He say that it is making him sleep very well.  My friend had a glass of Whiskey
We started to make breakfast at 5 o'clock and I checked my sugar, 84 before breakfast so it was very good. We left Bangkok and we were soon on our way north. I have planned for one birding stop on the way, the eBird hotspot: Wat Phai Lom & Wat Ampu Wararam Non-hunting Area in Pathum Thani.  On our way north
I am half asleep in the backseat while driving north, but my friend is going on and on speaking endlessly in the front seat. I turned on the eBird app at 07:04 and the first birds we spotted was the Asian Golden Weavers attending to their young and nest. We drove around for about 30 minutes before we left continuing towards Wat Tako (วัดตะโก)  Asian Golden Weaver
 Asian Golden Weaver
  White-rumped Munia / นกกระติ๊ดตะโพกขาว
 Today's track at eBird hotspot:
Wat Phai Lom & Wat Ampu Wararam Non-hunting Area in Pathum Thani We arrive to Wat Tako (วัดตะโก) and I started my eBird app at 08:49. We had to park at a huge parking lot and there were mini busses taking us to the temple. We could see a huge statue of Luang Poo Roy (หลวงพ่อรวย) from the parking. It takes just a few minutes to get to the entrance with the buss and we see a coffee shop and there is an ATM and money exchange service when we get in to the temple. So it is obvious that they want to make money on the visitors.  Getting on the buss
 Buss to the temple
 Buss to the temple
 Statue of Luang Poo Roy (หลวงพ่อรวย)
We found the amulet shop and as I already have two amulets made by Luang Poo Roy (หลวงพ่อรวย) so I only bought one for my friend. But I bought one holy cloth (ผ้ายัน) before we left the shop. We walked around the temple and it was very well maintained, like a park and I had no doubt that it was to attract visitors and money. My friend found something holy that he could pray to so he will buy lottery tickets when he is ready. In Thailand, they come to the temple to pray for good luck and then they buy lottery tickets on sale in and around the temple. So it is a little like visiting Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland. Well, as I child I sent wish lists to Santa, but when I was 7 I did not believe in Santa anymore. Anyway, I was sitting outside watching a few Scaly-breasted Munias and to have a look at the temple.  Scaly-breasted Munia
 My friend is praying for good luck
 My friend is praying for good luck
 I am outside looking at the beautiful temple
 I am outside looking at the beautiful temple
 Scaly-breasted Munia building nest
 Scaly-breasted Munia building nest
We left and I found a pair of Scaly-breasted Munias building a nest under the roof at one of the buildings. In the building across they had a shrine for Luang Poo Roy (หลวงพ่อรวย) and we went inside to have a look. Thursday and there was a lot of people coming to visit and pray. My friend kneeled for his prayer and I did not get any video so I asked him to do a second prayer. My friend had another prayer and I took the opportunity to make a video.  Time for more prayers
 Time for more prayers
 Selfies had to be taken
 Selfies had to be taken
   I go to have a look at the munia nest
 Red Collared Dove
After all the prayers we were in the hurry to go find the lottery tickets and there was a lot of them. I stopped to check the munia nest and I got a picture of a Red Collared Dove. There was like a market outside the temple and they sold amulets and holy cloths and I could not help wondering why people buy them there instead of in the temple shop. And there were a lot of people selling lottery tickets.  Plenty lottery tickets to choose from
 Plenty lottery tickets to choose from
 Plenty lottery tickets to choose from
 Plenty lottery tickets to choose from
 Today's track at Wat Tako (วัดตะโก)
We left Wat Tako (วัดตะโก) to go check out one eBird hotspot outside Ayutthaya, a swamp and we could not find any access so we continued to the city centre to find a place for lunch. We stopped at Robinsons but no restaurant we wanted to have lunch at. So we left and as it was pouring down I decided to skip the bird watching and go back home. The month of June 2022 passed by vert quickly and the month of July will start with a safari in Kaeng Krachan and Kui Buri. Click HERE to check it out! 
    
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