Ponto de Vista

Bhumisparsh

At the UNESCO heritage village of SukhoThai, the seated Buddha in bhoomisparsh mudra. Elegant, graceful, serene. Nina and I got there early is, on a scooter (with helmets, thank you very much) and explored much of the old ruins on foot. A lot of people had the same idea though. We saved the best for last and although it got hot, at least the crowds had thinned. We got a private audience with many Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.
The audio guide was useful, but the site map was confusing. And no one told us there was a separate entry fee for the other older park, but we snuck into a section of the old kilns anyway. I think two nights in the city were plenty, and we stayed in such a fantastic Ruen Thai hotel, made in the old Lanna style with solid teak, structured around a swimming pool. Great breakfast, helpful staff, free bicycles, sturdy tree furniture. And a bus stand pickup we somehow missed. Oh well. Still a superlative layover.

Even in white, there is color. This moulin (or mill) is maybe a few hundred years old, but could have formed overnight, too. And there are rich veins of blue, compacted ice exposed as the hole widens. Breathtaking.
(Breiðamerkurjökull glacier tongue, near Jökulsárlón, Iceland, October, 2013)

There are sunsets, and then there are sunsets when just for a brief slice of time you feel humbled and breathless from being bathed in this kind of ineffable beauty.

The queens’ hamam at the Alcázar of Seville. The guide told us it used to be open air but the arches are so cool, so pretty.