The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

I work as a director and professor at a Thai public university.  On most days I take an express boat 40 minutes to and from my office on the Chao Phraya River . . . but due to the COVID-19 virus, I am now working from home as my university has closed the campus.

After a short public bus ride, I catch this Chao Phraya River Express Boat (green flag) for the 40 minute ride down the fascinating and picturesque river to my office.

These are the docks where I catch my commuter boat. Pakkret Pier.

I am not the only person out on my morning commute and rounds . . . .

Many long-tail river taxi boats lined up taking merchants back to their small businesses after visiting the morning wet market.

I join in a mass movement of people on their way to work along, on, and across the Chao Phraya River. Here a 3 baht ferry.

The journey down river begins by passing through a narrow 'cut' canal in the river that passes a beautiful, and sacred, tilted chedi on the point of Koh Kret (island) at Wat Poramai Yikawat.

Facing Koh Kret is the magnificent Wat Sanam Nuea and a ferry terminal . . . the main way to get to the island.

There is a continuous line of houses up on stilts along the Koh Kret cut. This is what my daily mundane life looks like . . . my supramundane.

I know these houses by heart . . . I 'study' them every morning in the calm serenity and languid humidity of the tropical morning.

My express boat rattles some, and its old diesel engine chugs along in a rhythmic manner . . . but it's cadences are broken when a long-tail boat, a kind of hot rod river taxi,  roars past.  What a way to get to school or market!

When I moved to Thailand 23 years ago I spent a good deal of time for two years trying to find one of these river houses to rent . . . and never could find one.

Every morning I have been watching this new construction of a traditional Thai-style house going up on the island side of the canal. Beautiful.  I want to live here.

I can see myself sitting on one of these porches watching the boats go by . . . but this dream is not to be.

There is a charming mixture of houses along the canal: a traditional restaurent beside a stick and stucco modern house.

All along the canal small ferries offer a 'short cut' off the island.

On most mornings these small ferries are full of school children on their way to school.

The river is itself a busy part of the city in places. Here a collection of work boats busily raising the banks of the river.

The river, even here at 75 miles from the ocean (Gulf of Thailand), is estuarial.  As such, it is subject to the effects of climate change and sea level rise.  The city and national government are making a huge effort to raise the banks along many, many miles of the river.

One of the great sights on the river each morning are the coming and goings of the barge trains, always four barges long.  These barges are empty and sitting high in the water . . . easily managed by a single tug boat on the ebb tide.

Magnificent and powerful: a Chao Phraya River tug boat.

Many fabulous Buddhist wats can be seen on my morning journey.

A loaded barge train passes a giant Buddha statue.  I watched this colossal Buddha being built over the last three years from my seat on the express boat.  It is now finished.  I must make a pilgrimage to this wat soon to pay my respects and make a donation in thanks for the wonderful reminder it provides every morning to make something of my consciousness.

Traditional Thai architecture, old and new.

Another of my dream houses. I've been following its renovation from afar for quite some time.

I pass under four bridges on my way to work.

Further down the river and into fast growing Bangkok, a city of 14 million people . . . and the dusty, smoky air that it creates.

The river tug boats come in many sizes and colors.

These barges, known as rice barges, were made of teak wood in former days.  They are often now converted to self-propelled cabin boats for the tourist trade.

Whenever I see this particular Buddha image I wai and get up and walk to the disembarkation deck of the express boat; my stop is next.

This is where I would normally get off the express boat, at the Rama VII Bridge, and walk the remaining one kilometer to my university job . . . but I am travelling on into the city this morning with a friend to see the Pak Khlong Flower Market.

Down near the touristy part of the city are parked the large restaurant barges that specialize in night dining cruises through the lit city. I've done it.  

Many tourist boats on the lower river . . . but almost no tourists in Thailand today.  I worry for the Thai people who depend on tourist-related income.

We got off the green flag Chao Phraya Express boat near here.  The long-tail boat jockeys maneuvering for a fare.

I miss all of this.  This is my normal . . .