Monkeys of Wat Kuti by Bicycle, Thailand

After two weeks without rain the garden needed watering so I went for a bike ride. I'll make it up to the plants tomorrow.

I took the medium-small roads heading north out of Petchaburi at the top of the Thai peninsular. Cows graze the verges everywhere here but the only real hazard is their dung, and that's only a hazard to cyclists without "mud" guards on their bike.

Most of the rice in this area has recently been harvested although a few fields are still ripening. Our local scare-crows are extremely rudimentary and seem totally ineffective. At least, I think that's what these are.

Having a young lad fishing the flooded fields is probably more effective, although this is after the harvest so there's little need, it's just for his fun.

Other flooded fields had other fishers like this great egret trying to see through the duckweed.

This colourful old gate really caught my eye as I passed it in the afternoon sunshine. I love weathered old stuff!

I ended up at Wat Kuti, a Buddhist temple on the banks of the Petchaburi River four kilometres north of town. It can be spotted from afar by the tall and very grand trees in its grounds. They represent what is left of the area's original forest and are often the best way to spot a temple.

One of the road-signs leading up to the temple has lost all practical purpose becoming weathered to the point of being very hard to read but it actually has a quite beautiful cracked pattern of old age across its surface. More lovely old stuff!

However, the entrance to the temple itself is as ornate, new and stylishly crafted as any of the local residents would expect of their focal point.

As with many Thai temples it acts as a sanctuary and is heavy with dogs but they are familiar with people passing through so behave themselves unless you focus on them too much in which case the nervous barking begins.

The main interest at this temple is the large troop of long-tailed macaques that line the lanes in the hope of hand-outs, spillages or perhaps even the chance to mug somebody.

They get on surprisingly well with the dogs with no obvious tension. A case of familiarity breeds acceptance I guess, and most of them will have known each other since birth.

Many monkeys had dark marks on their chests and arms which I presume is part of a healthcare or population control project. There is always something going on with these monkeys whether its hanging from the wires in contemplation or doing some repairs! (Please also appreciate how I avoided photographing everything this monkey had on display.)

There were some really cute newly-born baby macaques but the mothers were so nervous at being looked at that I didn't take their picture. However, some of the other wildlife, like this great myna, seemed keen to compete for attention with the ornate roof decorations, even doing a little dance.

The fascinating monkeys kept my attention much longer than I expected so without bike lights it was a bit of a race against the sun to get home before dark.

Such rural temples are a haven of tranquility and yet are always busy with lots of interesting details and bursts of activity. These photographs show my skewed view focused on my particular interests but there was a lot more I could have looked at such as all the human activity going on. Another time maybe.