# Photo Credits

Attribution for third-party photography used on paidaidmc.com. Pai Dai DMC's own
photography and other owned assets are not listed here.

The images below were sourced from Wikimedia Commons under free-reuse licenses
(CC BY / CC BY-SA / Public Domain). Each entry: file, subject, author, license, source.

## Homepage hero carousel (licensed free-stock — no attribution required; courtesy credit given)

Sourced 2026-07-18 to replace the previous all-landscape rotation with a luxury feeling-arc
(authenticity → awe → intimacy → sanctuary → belonging). All verified real (not AI), no
identifiable faces (model-release-safe), licensed for commercial use with no attribution
required on web download.

- `hero-lux-longtail-arrival-karst.jpg` — Longtail boat approaching limestone karst peaks, Phang Nga, Thailand (arrival POV) — Julian Stiller / Pexels / Pexels License
- `hero-lux-mist-viewpoint-dawn.jpg` — Sea of cloud at dawn, Tà Xùa, Sơn La, Vietnam — Harry Le / Unsplash / Unsplash License
- `hero-lux-candlelit-garden-dinner.jpg` — Candlelit private garden dinner — wewe yang / Pexels / Pexels License
- `hero-lux-pool-dusk-warm.jpg` — Infinity pool at dusk (Mauritius; generic tropical, no landmark) — Jörg Angeli / Unsplash / Unsplash License
- `hero-lux-lantern-boat-river-night.jpg` — Lantern boat on the Thu Bồn River, Hội An, Vietnam — Ha Jang / Unsplash / Unsplash License

## Supplier-licensed photography (attribution required by grant)

These images are the property of the named supplier, shared with Pai Dai DMC and used
under a written marketing-use grant on the condition that the supplier is credited and
the material is used solely to promote that property. Always keep the courtesy credit on
any page or asset using them.

- `banyan-tree-samui-aerial-sunset.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-bay-panorama.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-bay-aerial.jpg`,
  `banyan-tree-samui-arrival-ritual.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-yoga.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-sea-day.jpg`,
  `banyan-tree-samui-dining.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-spa-rainforest.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-pool-villa-exterior.jpg`,
  `banyan-tree-samui-beach.jpg`, `banyan-tree-samui-villa-bedroom.jpg`,
  `banyan-tree-samui-sundown-torch-ritual.jpg` — Banyan Tree Samui
  (koh-samui-wellness-retreat; `-sundown-torch-ritual` also on the homepage services section).
  Photography courtesy of Banyan Tree Samui. Written grant via Palita
  Sakarcheep (Banyan Tree Samui Sales), 2026-06-22. Used solely to promote Banyan Tree Samui.
- `burasari-phuket-courtyard-aerial.jpg`, `burasari-phuket-lobby.jpg`, `burasari-phuket-pool-access-room.jpg`,
  `burasari-phuket-spa-entrance.jpg`, `burasari-phuket-spa-couples.jpg`,
  `burasari-phuket-spa-lounge.jpg`, `burasari-phuket-private-dinner.jpg`,
  `burasari-phuket-pool-evening.jpg`, `burasari-phuket-pool-aerial.jpg` — Burasari Phuket
  (burasari-phuket-romance). Photography courtesy of Burasari Phuket. From the Burasari Phuket Sales Kit
  shared by the property; marketing-use grant recorded on the supplier profile (working basis), 2026-06-20.
  Used solely to promote Burasari Phuket.

## Homepage — services section

- `bangkok-chao-phraya-bang-rak-business-district-dusk.jpg` — The Chao Phraya river through Bangkok's
  Bang Rak business district at dusk, shot from the State Tower on Silom Road. **CC BY requires both
  attribution and an indication of changes**, so reproduce this line as-is (it was cropped to 16:9 and
  resized to 3200x1800):

  > Chao Phraya River view from the State Tower, Bangkok (2017) by Ninara, licensed under CC BY 2.0
  > (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Cropped and resized.

  Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chao_Phraya_River_view_from_the_State_Tower,_Bangkok_2017.jpg
  Original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninara/33379197222/ · Licence corroborated by the
  FlickreviewR 2 bot (2018-05-17), Flickr source archived.

  **Why a cool-toned frame:** this section's scrims are navy (#1C2B4A). A warm source composites to
  ~sat 21 at the chapter zone against ~48 for a cool one — it does not go a wrong colour, it goes
  desaturated grey-mauve mud. A warm Silom sunset frame was sourced, shipped and then pulled for
  exactly this. Treat "must be blue hour / night / cool" as a hard filter for any future full-bleed
  photo that carries type on this section, ranked above composition.

  Commercial use is clean under Thailand's freedom of panorama (Copyright Act B.E. 2537 s.38), which
  carries no non-commercial restriction. Note for future sourcing: **Vietnam is not equivalent** —
  Law 07/2022 (in force 2023-01-01) permits public-space architecture photography only for
  non-commercial purposes, so a CC tag on a post-2023 Vietnamese cityscape covers the photographer's
  copyright but not the architects'. A licence can be genuine and still not cover everything in frame.

## Cambodia & Vietnam (cambodia-vietnam-combined)

- `angkor-wat-gill.jpg` — Angkor Wat, Siem Reap. Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angkor_Wat_with_its_reflection_(cropped).jpg
- `bayon-faces-lascar.jpg` — The Bayon, Angkor Thom. Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faces_on_Prasat_Bayon_-_Angkor_Thom_(6208401646).jpg
- `ta-prohm-maiwald.jpg` — Ta Prohm, Angkor. Phillip Maiwald, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ta_Prohm_Angkor_giant_tree.jpg
- `banteay-srei-leclercq.jpg` — Banteay Srei. Pierre André Leclercq, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambodge_Banteay_Srei_Temple_(2).jpg
- `phnom-penh-royal-palace-maiwald.jpg` — Royal Palace Throne Hall, Phnom Penh. Phillip Maiwald (Nikopol), CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_throne_hall_of_the_royal_palace_-_Phnom_Penh_Cambodia.jpg

## Thailand (thailand-cultural-circuit, northern-thailand-discovery)

- `sukhothai-wat-mahathat-gary-todd.jpg` — Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park. Gary Todd, Public Domain.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Mahathat,_Sukhothai_Historical_Park.jpg
- `chiang-mai-wat-chedi-luang-argenberg.jpg` — Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Chedi_Luang,_Buddhist_temple,_Chiang_Mai,_Thailand.jpg

## Rivers, Ruins & Rainforest (rivers-ruins-rainforest)

- `cheow-lan-lake-khao-sok.jpg` — Karst formations on Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok National Park. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karst_formations_on_Cheow_Lan_Lake,_Thailand.jpg
- `wat-chaiwatthanaram-supinda-ayutthaya.jpg` — Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthaya Historical Park (UNESCO). Supinda, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Chaiwatthanaram.JPG

## Phuket & the Andaman (thailand-beach-extension)

- `promthep-cape-sunset.jpg` — Sunset at Promthep Cape, Phuket. Phuket@photographer.net (Sergei), CC BY 2.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beautiful_Sunset_on_Promthep_Cape,_Phuket_island,_Thailand.jpg
- `phuket-old-town-soi-romanee.jpg` — Soi Rommanee, Old Phuket Town. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soi_Rommanee,_Phuket_Town.jpg
- `phuket-big-buddha-nakkerd.jpg` — The Big Buddha (Phra Puttamingmongkol), Nakkerd Hill, Phuket. CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phuket_Thailand_Big-Buddha-of-Phuket-05.jpg
- `wat-chalong-phuket.jpg` — Grand Pagoda, Wat Chalong, Phuket. Pekka Oilinki, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pagoda_of_Wat_Chalong.jpg
- `karon-viewpoint-phuket.jpg` — Karon (Three Beaches) Viewpoint over Kata Noi, Kata, and Karon, Phuket. Oberpepe, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phuket_Viewpoint.jpg

The following carry no-attribution-required licenses (recorded for provenance; credit not legally required):

- `chiang-mai-elephant-bathing.jpg` — RETIRED 2026-08-18, not in use. Bathing elephants, Chiang Mai. Help Stay, Unsplash License. Do not republish: depicts an activity our animal-welfare standard prohibits.
  https://unsplash.com/photos/hVZRfvr3xXg
- `kata-beach-sunset.jpg` — Sunset over Kata Beach, Phuket. Siarhei Nester, Pexels License.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/stunning-sunset-over-kata-beach-phuket-35129256/

## Bangkok & Southern Islands (bangkok-southern-islands)

- `bangkok-wat-arun.jpg` — Wat Arun from the Chao Phraya, Bangkok. Teodor Kuduschiev, Unsplash License (no attribution required).
- `phang-nga-bay-karst.jpg` — Limestone karst, Phang Nga Bay. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.
- `chao-phraya-night-weber.jpg` — The Chao Phraya River at night, Bangkok. Wolfgang Weber, CC BY 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nightshot_At_The_Chao_Phraya_River_(221664677).jpeg

## Vietnam Express (vietnam-express)

- `saigon-notre-dame.jpg` — Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon. Balon Greyjoy, CC0 (no attribution required).
- `hanoi-hoan-kiem-sunset.jpg` — Hoan Kiem Lake at sunset, Hanoi. Jakub Hałun, CC BY 4.0.
- `cu-chi-tank-greyjoy.jpg` — Destroyed US M41 tank at the Cu Chi Tunnels, near Saigon. Balon Greyjoy, CC0 (no attribution required).
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20190925_Cu_Chi_tunnels_tank_display-1.jpg

## Northern Thailand (northern-thailand-discovery)

- `mekong-golden-triangle.jpg` — Mekong River at the Golden Triangle, Chiang Saen. Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- `wat-doi-tung-chiang-rai.jpg` — Wat Phra That Doi Tung, Chiang Rai. Xiengyod, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `tha-phae-gate-christophe95.jpg` — Tha Phae Gate, Chiang Mai old city. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tha_Phae_Gate_1.jpg
- `chiang-mai-elephant-walk.jpg` — Keeper walking a mother elephant and calf, Chiang Mai. Craig McKay, Unsplash License (no attribution required).
  https://unsplash.com/photos/3OhyP0pRGZM

## Thailand Cultural Circuit (thailand-cultural-circuit)

- `chiang-mai-wat-phra-singh.jpg` — Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai. Kirandeep Singh Walia, Pexels License (no attribution required).

## Cambodia & Vietnam — gap days (cambodia-vietnam-combined)

- `siem-reap-river.jpg` — Siem Reap River, Siem Reap. Uhooep, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `phnom-penh-wat-phnom.jpg` — Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh. Justin Watt / justinsomnia.org, CC BY 3.0.
- `saigon-central-post-office.jpg` — Saigon Central Post Office. Yesvn123, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `cu-chi-tunnels-interior.jpg` — Cu Chi Tunnels interior, near Saigon. Akiyoshi Matsuoka (松岡明芳), CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `hai-van-pass.jpg` — Hai Van Pass, between Da Nang and Hue. Tuabiht Rellahcs, CC BY 2.0.
- `hanoi-huc-bridge.jpg` — The Huc Bridge, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi. Mig Gilbert, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- `hanoi-hoa-phong-tower.jpg` — Hoa Phong Tower, Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi. Daderot, CC0 (no attribution required).

## Destinations city guides (in-body photography)

- `wat-pho-swatowski.jpg` — Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok. TomaszSwatowski, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Pho_Reclining_Buddha.jpg

## Relicensed in-place images (2026-06-24)

These five filenames previously held third-party images with no confirmed license (Canva / Facebook-ad
sources, absent from `content/photo-attributions.json`). Each was overwritten in place with a verified
freely-licensed Wikimedia Commons photograph of the same subject. `hoi-an-japanese-bridge.jpg` is also
used in-body on the Hoi An city guide.

- `hoi-an-dusk-lanterns.jpg` — Hoi An Old Town at night, lantern-lit streets. Alexey Komarov (Alexkom000), CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2024-12-20_Hoi_An_Old_Town_at_night_1.jpg
- `hoi-an-japanese-bridge.jpg` — The Japanese Covered Bridge (Chua Cau), Hoi An. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_bridge_Hoi_An.jpg
- `hoi-an-ancient-town-dusk.jpg` — Thu Bon River at dusk, Hoi An. calflier001, CC BY-SA 2.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HOI_AN_RIVER_AT_DUSK_VIETNAM_JAN_2012_(7060120109).jpg
- `hanoi-temple-of-literature.jpg` — Khue Van Cac pavilion, Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), Hanoi. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Constellation_of_Literature_pavilion_(Temple_of_Literature,_Hanoi).jpg
- `train-night-market-bangkok.jpg` — Street-food stalls in Chinatown (Yaowarat), Bangkok, at night. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Food_stands_in_Chinatown,_Bangkok.jpg

## Hybrid city guides — Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Hoi An (2026-06-24)

Freely-licensed Wikimedia Commons photography sourced for the hybrid city-guide propagation (Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Hoi An). Also tracked in `content/photo-attributions.json`. (`doi-suthep-nalangan.jpg`, `hanoi-huc-bridge.jpg`, `hanoi-hoan-kiem-sunset.jpg`, `hanoi-temple-of-literature.jpg`, `hoi-an-japanese-bridge.jpg`, `hoi-an-dusk-lanterns.jpg`, `hoi-an-ancient-town-dusk.jpg` are already credited above or in the JSON; the `real-*` shots are Pai Dai-owned.)

Chiang Mai:
- `warorot-market-christophe95.jpg` — Warorot Market (Kad Luang), Chiang Mai. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Warorot_market_1.jpg
- `doi-inthanon-pagodas-harrison.jpg` — Twin royal pagodas, Doi Inthanon, Chiang Mai. JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phra_Maha_Dhatu_Naphamethinidon_and_Naphaphonphumisiri_Pagoda_-_Doi_Inthanon.jpg
- `bua-tong-waterfall-tufa-cascade.jpg` — Bua Tong (Sticky) Waterfall, Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai. Martin Borchert, CC BY-SA 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/photos/71784511@N02/8503374572/ (resized to 2400x1600 for web; no other changes). Replaced `bua-tong-waterfall-chootrong.jpg` on 2026-08-15 — that file showed six people, five of them children, at least one frontal and recognisable, with no model release on record.
- `chiang-mai-sunday-walking-street-takeaway.jpg` — Sunday Walking Street, Chiang Mai old city. Takeaway, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiang_Mai_sunday_evening_walking_street.jpg
- `khao-soi-takeaway.jpg` — Khao soi kai (northern Thai curry noodle soup). Takeaway, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019_01_Khao_Soi_Kai.jpg

Hanoi:
- `hanoi-imperial-citadel-christophe95.jpg` — Doan Mon Gate, Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Hanoi. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Doan_Mon_Gate_1.jpg
- `hanoi-old-quarter.jpg` — Old Quarter market street, Hanoi. Jakub Halun, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Quarter_market,_Hanoi,_20240123_1811_3411.jpg
- `hanoi-mausoleum.jpg` — Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ba Dinh, Hanoi. CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hanoi_Vietnam_Mausoleum-of-Ho-Chi-Minh-03.jpg
- `hanoi-water-puppets.jpg` — Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, Hanoi. Jean-Pierre Dalbera, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_de_marionnettes_sur_l%27eau_Thang_Long_(Hanoi).jpg
- `hanoi-train-street.jpg` — Hanoi Train Street. kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Going_about_their_business_on_Train_Street,_Hanoi_-_54455819249.jpg

Hoi An:
- `hoi-an-fujian.jpg` — Fujian (Phuc Kien) Assembly Hall, Hoi An. Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fujian_Assembly_Hall,_Hoi_An_20190920.jpg
- `hoi-an-tan-ky.jpg` — Old House of Tan Ky, Hoi An. YukioSanjo, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSC1051_-Vecchia_casa_di_Tan_Ky.jpg
- `hoi-an-my-son.jpg` — My Son Sanctuary, Quang Nam. Ms Sarah Welch, CC0 (no attribution required but credited). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0040223_My_Son_Group_B-C-D,_Cham_Hindu_temples_complex,_Vietnam_072.jpg
- `hoi-an-tra-que.jpg` — Tra Que Vegetable Village (herb-growing beds), Hoi An. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vegetables_in_Tr%C3%A0_Qu%E1%BA%BF_1.jpg

Chiang Rai (2026-06-25):
- `white-temple-neubert.jpg` — Wat Rong Khun (White Temple), Chiang Rai. Hans-Jürgen Neubert, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_Temple_XXI.jpg
- `blue-temple-chainwit.jpg` — Wat Rong Suea Ten (Blue Temple), Chiang Rai. Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Rong_Suea_Ten_(Blue_Temple,_Chiang_Rai)_(October_2021)_-_img_01.jpg
- `chiang-rai-black-house-jones.jpg` — Baan Dam Museum (Black House) by Thawan Duchanee, Chiang Rai. Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baan_Dum_(Black_House)_-_By_Thawan_Duchanee_-_Chiang_Rai_-_Thailand_-_01_(35262883756).jpg
- `golden-triangle-aranas.jpg` — Golden Buddha of Sop Ruak (Golden Triangle), Chiang Saen. CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sop-Ruak_Thailand_Golden-Triangle-01.jpg
- `choui-fong-tea-plantation.jpg` — Choui Fong Tea Plantation, Mae Chan, Chiang Rai. Denchai (Pixabay), CC0 (no attribution required but credited). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choui_Fong_tea_plantation.jpg
- `singha-park-chiang-rai.jpg` — Singha statue at Singha Park, Chiang Rai. Spaway (Pixabay), CC0 (no attribution required but credited). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Singha_Park_Chiang_Rai.jpg
- `chiang-rai-night-bazaar-fussan.jpg` — Lan Klang Wiang restaurant courtyard, Chiang Rai (**not** the Night Bazaar market: the sign in frame, "ลานกลางเวียง / NIGHT BAZAAR RESTAURANT", is the restaurant's trading name. Empty courtyard in overcast daylight; no stalls, no Clock Tower, no night. Filename, Commons title and EXIF all mislead — see `content/photo-attributions.json`). Stefan Fussan, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiang_Rai_-_Night_Bazaar_-_0001.jpg

## Hybrid city guides — Ayutthaya (2026-06-25)

Freely-licensed Wikimedia Commons photography sourced for the Ayutthaya hybrid city guide. Also tracked in `content/photo-attributions.json`. Each license + the depicted place was verified against the live Commons API (`extmetadata`) and independently re-checked.

- `wat-chaiwatthanaram-ayutthaya.jpg` — Wat Chaiwatthanaram (riverside Khmer-style temple), Ayutthaya. JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Chai_Watthanaram_-_Ayutthaya.jpg
- `ayutthaya-bodhi-head-chun.jpg` — Buddha head in bodhi tree roots, Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya. Brian Chun, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buddha_Head_in_Tree_Roots,_Wat_Mahathat,_Ayutthaya.jpg
- `wat-phra-si-sanphet-ayutthaya.jpg` — Three royal chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Ayutthaya. Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Chedi(s)_of_Wat_Phra_Si_Sanphet.jpg
- `wat-yai-chai-mongkhon-gunther.jpg` — Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon chedi and saffron-draped Buddhas, Ayutthaya. Michael Gunther, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Yai_Chai_Mongkol,_Ayutthaya_b125.jpg
- `wat-ratchaburana-ayutthaya.jpg` — Phra Prang of Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya. Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phra_Prang_of_Wat_Ratchaburana_(Ayutthaya).jpg
- `ayutthaya-historical-park-ruins.jpg` — Ayutthaya Historical Park ruins (UNESCO), Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya. Gary Todd, CC0 (public domain, no attribution required but credited). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ayutthaya_Historical_Park_(44638637840).jpg
- `bang-pa-in-palace-ayutthaya.jpg` — Aisawan Thiphya-Art pavilion, Bang Pa-In Royal Palace, Ayutthaya Province. JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bang_Pa-In_Royal_Palace_-_Bang_Pa-In.jpg

## Destinations city guides — attribution reconciliation (2026-06-25)

Reconciled so this file and the machine-readable `content/photo-attributions.json` master (which the website reads for image alt/caption attribution, and the PDF generators read) cover the same superset of third-party city-guide images. The four below were already in the JSON master but missing here; `chinatown-gate.jpg` is newly documented (a real photo whose license had not been recorded). A build-time check (`scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs`) now fails the build if a city guide references a third-party image absent from the JSON master.

- `chinatown-gate.jpg` — Chinatown Gate (Odeon Circle arch), Yaowarat, Bangkok. Photogoddle, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinatown_Gate,_Bangkok.jpg
- `grand-palace-nawit.jpg` — Grand Palace / Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok. Nawit science, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_of_the_Emerald_Buddha.jpg
- `maeklong-railway-market-goh.jpg` — Maeklong Railway Market, Samut Songkhram. Jason Goh, CC0 (no attribution required but credited). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Train_passing_through_Maeklong_Railway_Market_(public_domain).jpg
- `phang-nga-sunrise-argenberg.jpg` — Dreamy sunrise over Phang Nga Bay, Koh Yao. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dreamy_ethereal_sunrise_over_Phang_Nga_bay,_Koh_Yao_tropical_island,_Thailand.jpg
- `wat-traimit-shivashanky.jpg` — Golden Buddha, Wat Traimit, Bangkok. Shivashanky, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Buddha_at_Wat_Traimit.jpg
- `damnoen-saduak-floating-market.jpg` — Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Ratchaburi Province. Mr. Niwat Tantayanusorn, Ph.D., CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ratchaburi_Damnoen_Saduak_Floating_Market_3.jpg

## Journal (updates posts)

- `thai-airways-a350-4300streetcar.jpg` — Thai Airways A350-900 (HS-THB) on a service from Bangkok, landing at Taipei Taoyuan. Cover of the Thai Airways Bangkok to Amsterdam journal post. 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thai_Airways_Airbus_A350-900_HS-THB_landing_at_Taoyuan_February_2026.jpg

---

Note: some earlier Wikimedia Commons images on the site carry the photographer's
surname as a filename suffix (e.g. `white-temple-neubert.jpg`). Their full attribution
predates this file and is tracked at the source filenames; a consolidated attribution
pass for those is a separate follow-up. (`wat-pho-swatowski.jpg` is now formally credited above.)

## City guide image refresh (2026-07-10 audit)

Replacements sourced during the destination-guide audit (originals were real but under-delivered the caption). ~~Owned An Bang Beach swap (`real-an-bang-beach-hoi-an.jpg`) is a Pai Dai-owned photo, not listed here.~~ **WITHDRAWN 2026-08-17 — that claim is false and the file is not ours.** Its own metadata says otherwise: XMP `Creator` and IPTC `By-line` both read "Upto invest", `CreatorTool` is Canva, the embedded title is "Hoi An - An Bang Beach", and it is 1350x900 — the Canva/"Upto invest" fingerprint *and* the 1350x900 web-download fingerprint, at once. The `real-` prefix exempted it from the attribution gate for as long as the claim stood. No credit is substituted here, because no licence chain is recoverable; it is recorded in `OWNERSHIP_UNVERIFIED` in `scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs` and needs a rights answer and a replacement, not a credit. Still live on 6 surfaces.

`wat-lokayasutharam-reclining-buddha-anon.jpg` — The great open-air reclining Buddha of Wat Lokayasutharam, Ayutthaya, Thailand. Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%98%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B5%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%98%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A1_%E0%B9%91_-_Reclining_Buddha_image_at_Wat_Lokayasutharam_1.jpg
`wat-phra-kaew-chiang-rai-chainwit.jpg` — Wat Phra Kaew in Chiang Rai, Thailand — the ubosot (ordination hall) establishing shot. Photo: Chainwit. / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Phra_Kaew_Chiang_Rai_Ubosot_%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%A7_%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2_%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B8%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%96.jpg
`nai-yang-beach-sirinat-mitchell.jpg` — Nai Yang Beach, Sirinat National Park, Phuket, Thailand — casuarina pine leaning over the quiet sand arc, calm gentle bay with the forested headland behind. Photo: Andy Mitchell / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nai_Yang_Beach,_Phuket_(4448621322).jpg
`hcmc-bui-vien.jpg` — Bui Vien Walking Street at night, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (replaced: prior file showed two tourists posed prominently in the foreground with identifiable faces, off-brand for a luxury travel site). Photo: Alexkom000 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2024-11-16_Ho_Chi_Minh_City,_Bui_Vien_Street_at_night_2.jpg
- `hcmc-skyline-dusk.jpg` — Ho Chi Minh City skyline at blue hour (Landmark 81, Saigon River). Radek Kucharski, CC BY 2.0.
- `hcmc-notre-dame.jpg` — Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica. hiyang.on.flickr, CC BY 2.0.
- `hcmc-central-post-office.jpg` — Saigon Central Post Office. Yesvn123, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `hcmc-reunification-palace.jpg` — Reunification Palace (Independence Palace), Ho Chi Minh City. Diego Delso, delso.photo, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `hcmc-war-remnants-museum.jpg` — War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `hcmc-ben-thanh-market.jpg` — Ben Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City. Diego Delso, delso.photo, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `hcmc-nguyen-hue.jpg` — Nguyen Hue Walking Street and People's Committee building, Ho Chi Minh City. Steffen Schmitz (Carschten), CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `hcmc-cu-chi-tunnels.jpg` — Cu Chi Tunnels entrance. Balon Greyjoy, CC0 (public domain).
- `hcmc-mekong-delta.jpg` — Cai Rang floating market, Mekong Delta. Vyacheslav Argenberg / vascoplanet.com, CC BY 4.0.
- `halong-bay-junk.jpg` — Traditional junk boat, Ha Long Bay. Andrea Schaffer, CC BY 2.0.
- `halong-karst-panorama.jpg` — Ha Long Bay panorama. Jean-Marc Astesana, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- `halong-thien-cung-cave.jpg` — Sung Sot (Surprise) Cave, Ha Long Bay. Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `halong-ti-top-island.jpg` — View from Ti Top Island, Ha Long Bay. Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0.
- `halong-floating-village.jpg` — Floating fishing village, Ha Long Bay. Andrea Schaffer, CC BY 2.0.
- `halong-kayak.jpg` — Kayaking in Ha Long Bay. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `halong-cruise-boat.jpg` — Cruise boats, Ha Long Bay. Shyamal L., CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `halong-lan-ha-bay.jpg` — Lan Ha Bay. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `halong-cat-ba-island.jpg` — Sea view from Cannon Fort, Cat Ba Island. Jakub Halun, CC BY 4.0.
- `halong-sunset.jpg` — Ha Long Bay sunset. Mustang Joe, CC0 (public domain).
- `hue-imperial-city.jpg` — Ngo Mon (Meridian Gate), Imperial City of Hue. Supanut Arunoprayote, CC BY 4.0.
- `hue-thai-hoa-palace.jpg` — Thai Hoa Palace throne hall, Hue. Gary Todd, CC0 (public domain).
- `hue-thien-mu-pagoda.jpg` — Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue. CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `hue-khai-dinh-tomb.jpg` — Tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh, Hue. Chainwit., CC BY 4.0.
- `hue-tu-duc-tomb.jpg` — Xung Khiem Pavilion, Tomb of Tu Duc, Hue. Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- `hue-minh-mang-tomb.jpg` — Minh Lau pavilion, Tomb of Minh Mang, Hue. Chainwit., CC BY 4.0.
- `hue-perfume-river.jpg` — Dragon boat, Perfume River, Hue. David McKelvey, CC BY 2.0.
- `hue-dong-ba-market.jpg` — Dong Ba Market entrance, Hue. Chainwit., CC BY 4.0.
- `hue-hai-van-pass.jpg` — Hai Van Pass overlooking Lang Co bay. Steffen Schmitz (Carschten), CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `hue-perfume-river-sunset.jpg` — Sunset on the Perfume River, Hue. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `phu-chi-fa-first-light-safeown.jpg` — Dawn sea of mist at Phu Chi Fa, Chiang Rai. SAFEOWN, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `chiang-rai-tea-terraces-miner.jpg` — Tea plantation rows, Chiang Rai Province. cloud.shepherd (Brian Miner), CC BY 2.0.

## Timely Updates posts (airports, visas, entry)

Sourced from Wikimedia Commons for the Updates-category Journal posts on entry, visas and airports (aviation and immigration subjects are not in the owned photo library). Pixels personally viewed 2026-07-14 for real-photo, correct-subject and no-watermark verification.

- `hoi-an-lanterns-christophe95.jpg` — Silk lanterns over the ancient town at dusk, Hoi An, Vietnam. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lanterns_in_Hoi_An_4.jpg
- `tan-son-nhat-terminal-3-biodin.jpg` — Apron and terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City. Biodin, CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tan_Son_Nhat_Terminal_3_Jan_25,_2025.jpg
- `ha-long-bay-hirsch.jpg` — Limestone karst towers, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Thomas Hirsch (User:Ravn), CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halong_Bay_in_Vietnam.jpg
- `suvarnabhumi-concourse-rogerprice.jpg` — Concourse interior under the tensile roof, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Roger Price, CC BY 2.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suvarnabhumi_Airport,_Bangkok,_Thailand_2.jpg
- `suvarnabhumi-departures-khaosaming.jpg` — Departures hall and check-in area, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Khaosaming, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suvarnabhumi_Airport_Departures_Hall_Bangkok_Thailand.jpg
- `suvarnabhumi-arrival-hall-terenceong.jpg` — Arrival hall interior, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Terence Ong, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suvarnabhumi_Airport,_Arrival_Hall.JPG
- `wat-arun-night-delso.jpg` — Wat Arun illuminated at night on the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok. Diego Delso (delso.photo), CC BY-SA.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Templo_Wat_Arun,_Bangkok,_Tailandia,_2013-08-22,_DD_37.jpg
- `khao-sok-raft-houses-cheow-lan-argenberg.jpg` — Golden-hour floating raft houses and longtail boats, Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok National Park. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cheow_Lan_Lake,_Floating_houses,_Khao_Sok,_Thailand.jpg
- `khao-sok-rainforest-stream-ninara.jpg` — Rainforest stream over mossy boulders, Khao Sok National Park. Nina R (Ninara, Flickr), CC BY 2.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khao_Sok,_Thailand_(49738650921).jpg
- `wat-phra-si-sanphet-ayutthaya-sabyk.jpg` — The three restored chedis of Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Ayutthaya Historical Park (UNESCO). Sabyk2001, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Phra_Sri_Sanphet,_Ayutthaya_Historical_Park,_Thailand.jpg
- `thai-sleeper-train-carriage-maurits.jpg` — State Railway of Thailand 1st-class sleeping carriage no. 102, Bangkok. Maurits90, CC0 1.0 (Public Domain).
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_Railways_Thailand_sleeping_carriage_1st_class_number_102.jpg
- `khao-sok-raft-house-row-jurriaanh.jpg` — Row of thatched floating raft houses on turquoise water, Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok National Park. JurriaanH, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rafthouses_in_Khao_Sok_national_park.jpg
- `chao-phraya-dusk-boats-swatowski.jpg` — Traditional Thai river boats at dusk on the Chao Phraya with the Bangkok skyline. TomaszSwatowski, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chao_Phraya_river_sunset.jpg
- `cheow-lan-lake-misty-dawn-argenberg.jpg` — Misty pre-dawn with a longtail boat on Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok, Surat Thani. Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Early_morning_on_Cheow_Lan_Lake,_Surat_Thani,_Thailand.jpg

## Homepage hero rotation

Slides 1, 3, 4 and 5 are Pai Dai's own photography — no attribution owed.

- `hero-pu-luong-dawn-aerial.jpg` — Dawn over Pu Luong, Vietnam. Pai Dai own trip
  archive. Upscaled from a phone original; native file not yet recovered.
- `hero-pu-luong-terraces-sunset.jpg` — Pu Luong at sunset, Vietnam. Pai Dai own
  trip archive. Upscaled from a phone original; native file not yet recovered.
- `hero-ban-rak-thai-blue-hour.jpg` — Ban Rak Thai, Mae Hong Son, at dusk. Shot by
  Ryan & Sally, iPhone 14, 24 Dec 2025. GPS-confirmed 19°35'N 97°56'E. Ours.
- `hero-koh-surin-reef-aerial.jpg` — Koh Surin reef from the air. Pai Dai drone,
  13 Apr 2026. Ours.

- `hero-ba-na-hills-cloud-sea.jpg` — **NOT ours. Supplier-provided.** Pagodas above
  cloud, Ba Na Hills, Da Nang. Source file `5. Photography/2. Vietnam/Cities/
  1. Ba Na Hills/1. Ba Na Hills.jpg` (DJI FC6310, shot 2019-03-26, edited in
  Photoshop CC 2015 — predates Pai Dai's own drone work).
  **Usage rights: confirmed by Ryan, 2026-07-17** ("we have the rights").
  No written licence is on file in this repo; the confirmation is verbal.
  ⚠ The wider `1. Ba Na Hills/` folder is a COLLECTED third-party set — 17 distinct
  camera bodies, capture dates 2014–2024, and an explicit `Artist: AXEO` /
  `Copyright: AXEO` tag on at least one file. This confirmation covers THIS image
  only. Any other file from that folder needs its own rights answer before use.

## Wat Pa Phu Kon journal guide (2026-07-17)

Freely-licensed Wikimedia Commons photography sourced for the Wat Pa Phu Kon (Udon Thani) journal guide. Also tracked in `content/photo-attributions.json`.

- `wat-pa-phu-kon-vihara-endimione.jpg` — Great vihara of Wat Pa Phu Kon, Udon Thani. Endimione / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `wat-pa-phu-kon-chedi-endimione.jpg` — Chedi and stairway at Wat Pa Phu Kon, Udon Thani. Endimione / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- `sala-kaeo-ku-nong-khai-christophe95.jpg` — Sala Kaeo Ku sculpture park, Nong Khai. Christophe95 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- `srt-cnr-sleeper-berth-mnxanl.jpg` — First-class berth, SRT modern sleeper stock. MNXANL / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

### Photo expansion, 2026-07-17 — Wikimedia Commons additions

- `khao-lam-bamboo-sticky-rice-weldonkennedy.jpg` — Khao lam (bamboo sticky rice), Thailand. Weldon Kennedy / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
- `e-taek-farm-tractor-marshallastor.jpg` — E-taek single-axle farm tractor, Yodakeng, Thailand. Marshall Astor / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

### Photo expansion, 2026-07-17 — Canva-licensed images (⚠ 480,000-pixel cap)

> **These eight files are licensed via Canva (Canva Content License), NOT owned and NOT Creative Commons.**
> The licence caps use in online/electronic publications at **480,000 total pixels per file**. Every file
> below is committed **pre-capped** (≈923×519, under the limit) and **MUST NOT be re-exported, upscaled, or
> replaced with a larger version** — doing so breaches the licence. Do not add a `real-`/`paidai-`/`team-`
> prefix (these are not owned). Temple-subject identifications guaranteed by Ryan, 2026-07-17.
> Ref: https://www.canva.com/policies/content-license-agreement/

- `wat-pa-phu-kon-aerial-forest.jpg` — Aerial of Wat Pa Phu Kon in forest, Na Yung, Udon Thani. Canva.
- `wat-pa-phu-kon-vihara-interior-monk.jpg` — Monk in the vihara interior, Wat Pa Phu Kon. Canva.
- `wat-pa-phu-kon-reclining-buddha-marble.jpg` — Carrara-marble reclining Buddha (head/robe), Wat Pa Phu Kon. Canva.
- `wat-pa-phu-kon-reclining-buddha-length.jpg` — Reclining Buddha, full length, Wat Pa Phu Kon. Canva.
- `wat-pa-phu-kon-vihara-blue-hour.jpg` — Vihara at dusk with terrace reflection, Wat Pa Phu Kon. Canva.
- `mekong-sunset-nong-khai.jpg` — Mekong sunset with moored boats, Nong Khai. Canva.
- `phu-phra-bat-hor-nang-usa.jpg` — Sandstone tower, Phu Phra Bat Historical Park, Udon Thani. Canva.
- `red-lotus-sea-nong-han-kumphawapi.jpg` — Red Lotus Sea, Nong Han Kumphawapi, Udon Thani. Canva.

## Destinations city guides — Sukhothai (2026-07-18)

Freely-licensed Wikimedia Commons photography sourced for the Sukhothai hybrid city guide. Also tracked in `content/photo-attributions.json`. Each license and the depicted place were verified against the live Commons API and the pixels personally viewed 2026-07-18 (real photography, correct subject, no watermark/overlay contradicting the CC tag).

- `wat-si-chum-phra-achana-sukhothai.jpg` — the giant seated Buddha Phra Achana framed by the tall mondop slot, Wat Si Chum. Chainwit., CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buddha_statue_Phra_Achana_%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B0_%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A1_(2025)_-_img_12.jpg
- `wat-mahathat-sukhothai.jpg` — central seated Buddha with the lotus-bud chedi and laterite columns, Wat Mahathat. media lib (Wikimedia Commons username; own work, no fuller real name given in metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buddha_Wat_Mahathat_Sukhothai.jpg
- `wat-sa-si-sukhothai.jpg` — the island bell-chedi reflected across the lotus pond, Wat Sa Si. Dominic Nelson (Commons username: BigDom), CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sukhothai_-_Wat_Sa_Si_seen_across_the_lotus_pond_Jan_2024.jpg
- `wat-traphang-ngoen-sukhothai.jpg` — the bell-chedi and walking Buddha mirrored in the pond, Wat Traphang Ngoen. Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Wat_Traphang_Ngoen_from_the_bridge.jpg
- `wat-sri-sawai-sukhothai.jpg` — the three Khmer-style prangs, Wat Si Sawai. Gary Todd, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Si_Sawai,_Sukhothai_Historical_Park.jpg
- `wat-chang-lom-si-satchanalai.jpg` — the elephant-ringed bell chedi, Wat Chang Lom, Si Satchanalai. Gary Todd, Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13th_Century_Thai_City_of_Si_Satchanalai-_Wat_Chang_Lom_2.jpg
- `loy-krathong-sukhothai.jpg` — the illuminated ruins and candlelit floats during Loi Krathong, Sukhothai Historical Park. Tang2bar, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sukhothai_Historical_Park_during_the_Loy_Krathong_Festival!.jpg
- `sukhothai-historical-park.jpg` — a wide central-zone view, chedi and Buddha reflected across the pond with misty mountains, Sukhothai Historical Park. Adam Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Central_Zone_View_-_Old_City_-_Sukhothai_-_Thailand_-_01_(35231197851).jpg

## Destinations city guides — Krabi (2026-07-18)

Photography sourced for the Krabi hybrid city guide. Also tracked in `content/photo-attributions.json`. The Wikimedia Commons images below are freely licensed; each licence and the depicted place were verified against the live Commons file page and the pixels personally viewed 2026-07-18 (real photography, correct subject, no watermark/overlay contradicting the CC tag). The cover (Railay) and full-bleed (Maya Bay) are ~2400px CC originals.

- `railay-phra-nang-krabi.jpg` — Longtail boats and limestone cliffs at Railay West Beach, Krabi (cover). Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boats_at_West_Rai_Leh_(2).jpg
- `maya-bay-phi-phi-krabi.jpg` — Maya Bay's cliff-ringed cove and turquoise water, Ko Phi Phi Leh, Krabi (full-bleed). Nnthurber, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maya_Bay_enclosed_limestone_cliffs_and_turquoise_water_Ko_Phi_Phi_Le.jpg
- `railay-rock-climbing-krabi.jpg` — Rock climbers on the limestone sea-cliffs at Phra Nang, Railay peninsula, Krabi. Kallerna, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_climber_Phra_Nang_3.jpg

### Krabi Canva-licensed images (⚠ 480,000-pixel cap)

> **These seven files are licensed via Canva (Canva Content License), NOT owned and NOT Creative Commons.**
> The licence caps use in online/electronic publications at **480,000 total pixels per file**. Every file
> below is committed **pre-capped** (≈848×565, under the limit) and **MUST NOT be re-exported, upscaled, or
> replaced with a larger version** — doing so breaches the licence. Do not add a `real-`/`paidai-`/`team-`
> prefix (these are not owned). Six were cropped to remove baked-in pillarbox bars before capping. Source PNGs
> archived in Dropbox `5. Photography/Website - Journal Photos (Royalty-Free)/Krabi`.
> Ref: https://www.canva.com/policies/content-license-agreement/

- `phra-nang-cave-beach-krabi.jpg` — Golden limestone cliff of Phra Nang Cave Beach on the Railay peninsula. Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `phi-phi-viewpoint-krabi.jpg` — Ko Phi Phi Don's twin bays from the jungle viewpoint. Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `four-islands-thale-waek-krabi.jpg` — The Thale Waek "separated sea" sandbar of the Four Islands. Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `hong-island-lagoon-krabi.jpg` — The emerald lagoon and curved beach of Ko Hong (Hong Island). Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `tiger-cave-temple-krabi.jpg` — The golden summit Buddha of Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Sua) above the Krabi karst panorama. Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `emerald-pool-krabi.jpg` — The turquoise jungle bathing pool of the Emerald Pool (Sa Morakot). Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).
- `ao-nang-beach-krabi.jpg` — Traditional Thai longtail boats on Ao Nang Beach beneath the karst cliffs. Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).

## Northern Thailand luxury guide (2026-07-18)

Photography for the Northern Thailand luxury private-tour journal guide (post #6). The Golden Triangle image is Pai Dai's own (`real-golden-triangle-archway.jpg`, no credit owed). Source PNGs archived in Dropbox `5. Photography/Website - Journal Photos (Royalty-Free)/Northern Thailand`.

### Cover photo — high-res replacement (2026-07-19)

`phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-sunrise.jpg` was originally a 916x515 Canva-licensed placeholder (see the Canva-capped list below at the time); it has been replaced in place with a full-resolution, genuinely-licensed photograph of the same subject. The filename is unchanged, so this entry supersedes any earlier Canva reference to it.

- `phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-sunrise.jpg` — Sea of fog and sunrise over the Doi Pha Mon range and the cliffs of Phu Chi Fa National Park, Thoeng District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand (cover). Pongsathorn Chaiyapat, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, 5000x3333.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea_of_fog_at_Phu_Chi_fa_National_Park.jpg

### Canva-licensed images (480,000-pixel cap)

> These six files are licensed via Canva (Canva Content License), NOT owned and NOT Creative Commons. The licence caps use in online/electronic publications at 480,000 total pixels per file. Every file below is committed pre-capped (916x515, under the limit) and MUST NOT be re-exported, upscaled, or replaced with a larger version. Do not add a real-/paidai-/team- prefix. Ref: https://www.canva.com/policies/content-license-agreement/

- `forest-deck-restaurant-northern-hills.jpg` — Timber deck restaurant set on a forested hillside (northern-hills dining register, illustrative). Canva (Canva Content License, capped 480,000 px).

The six files above (`doi-inthanon-twin-chedis-sunset.jpg`, `wat-phra-that-lampang-luang-compound.jpg`, `wat-rong-khun-white-temple-reflection.jpg`, `doi-mae-salong-tea-terraces.jpg`, `mae-fah-luang-garden-doi-tung.jpg`, `luxury-tented-camp-lantern-interior.jpg`) plus `wat-chedi-luang-chiang-mai.jpg`, `northern-thailand-tea-hills-mist.jpg`, `blue-temple-wat-rong-suea-ten.jpg`, and `phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-panorama.jpg` were Canva placeholders as of 2026-07-18 (still capped at 916x515/848x564). Task C2 (2026-07-19, imagery-sourcing rebuild) **replaced every one of them in place with genuine, full-resolution, licensed photography** — see "Task C2 full-res imagery rebuild" below. The Canva entries above no longer apply to those ten filenames. (The eleventh, `jungle-infinity-pool-forest.jpg`, was later removed entirely — its off-region Bali frame was replaced by `chiang-rai-resort-pavilions-dusk-miner.jpg` on 2026-07-19.)

### Task C2 full-res imagery rebuild (2026-07-19)

Real photography (Wikimedia Commons CC / Pexels License), pixel-verified at 100% crop (sharp, no watermark / photographer mark / rights-overlay contradicting the tag, no AI) before placement. Filenames unchanged; each replaces a prior Canva placeholder or, for the three new files, fills a gap in the imagery plan.

**Wikimedia Commons (CC BY / CC BY-SA — attribution required):**

- `wat-chedi-luang-chiang-mai.jpg` — The great weathered brick chedi of Wat Chedi Luang with its elephant buttresses, daytime, Chiang Mai. Douglas Perkins, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, 4000x3000 (placed 2800x2100). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Chedi_Luang_Diagonal.jpg
- `doi-inthanon-twin-chedis-sunset.jpg` — Both royal chedis of Doi Inthanon (Phra Mahathat Naphamethanidon and Naphaphonphumisiri) above the summit flower garden and reflecting pool. JJ Harrison, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, 5120x2560 (placed 2800x1400). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phra_Maha_Dhatu_Naphamethinidon_and_Naphaphonphumisiri_Pagoda_-_Doi_Inthanon.jpg
- `wat-phra-that-lampang-luang-compound.jpg` — The gold-tiered chedi and teak viharn of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, daytime. Thanate Tan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, 3872x2592 (placed 2800x1874). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Phra_That_Lampang_Luang_(29337638274).jpg
- `wat-rong-khun-white-temple-reflection.jpg` — Wat Rong Khun's ornate white filigree hall and spire against blue sky. Ddalbiez, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, 6084x4196 (placed 2800x1931). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Rong_Khun-pano-1.jpg
- `blue-temple-wat-rong-suea-ten.jpg` — The indigo-and-gold facade and white standing Buddha of Wat Rong Suea Ten (Blue Temple). Alexey Komarov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, 4204x2803 (placed 2800x1867). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Rong_Suea_Ten_2023-04-10-3.jpg
- `mae-fah-luang-garden-doi-tung.jpg` — The formal circular flowerbeds of Mae Fah Luang Garden, Doi Tung, overlook framing. Elgaard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, 5184x3456 (placed 2800x1867). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DoiTungGarden.JPG
- `northern-thailand-tea-hills-mist.jpg` — Morning haze over layered forested ridges near Mae Sai, northern Thailand. Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, 3072x2048 (placed 2800x1867). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mae_Sai_hills,_Northern_Thailand.jpg
- `mekong-longtail-frontier.jpg` — A covered longtail-style boat on the Mekong at the Golden Triangle (Chiang Saen), hazy frontier light. Vyacheslav Argenberg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, 3072x2048 (placed 2800x1867). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiang_Saen,_Golden_Triangle,_Mekong_River,_Thailand.jpg
- `doi-mae-salong-tea-terraces.jpg` — Sweeping oolong tea terrace rows stepping down a ridge under a dramatic sky. cloud.shepherd (Brian Miner), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, 7360x4912 (placed 3200x2136). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tea_farm_(18809655441).jpg
- `phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-panorama.jpg` — A distinct Phu Chi Fa sea-of-mist frame (foreground tussock grass and rock, visible sun disc, layered ridgelines) — a different photographer and composition from the cover. Pulperm Phungprachit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, 9137x4921 (placed 3600x1939). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_at_Pu_Chi_Fah_03.jpg
- `chiang-rai-resort-pavilions-dusk-miner.jpg` — Lanna-style resort pavilions with warmly-lit balconies reflected in a still lagoon at blue hour, Chiang Rai (Le Méridien Chiang Rai Resort); no property named on the page. cloud.shepherd (Brian Miner), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, 7360x4327 (placed 2800x1646). Added 2026-07-19, replaced an off-region Bali stand-in. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_(18738743525).jpg

**Pexels (Pexels License — free commercial use, attribution credited as courtesy):**

- `luxury-tented-camp-lantern-interior.jpg` — A boho-elegant glamping tent interior lit by candlelight, bed and dried-flower basket. cottonbro studio, Pexels License, 4083x6124 (placed 1867x2800). https://www.pexels.com/photo/bed-and-candles-inside-a-luxurious-tent-5358926/
- `northern-highland-suite-view.jpg` — A dark chic interior opening through arched shutters onto a palm-filled balcony. Claudia Schmalz, Pexels License, 6000x4000 (placed 2800x1867). https://www.pexels.com/photo/5953742/
- `northern-thailand-private-service-moment.jpg` — A hotel server presenting a coffee tray at a guest-room doorway, no visible branding. Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels License, 7680x5120 (placed 2800x1867). https://www.pexels.com/photo/3770110/

### Free-stock images (Pexels / Unsplash, no attribution required, credited as courtesy)

> Free commercial-use licences (Pexels License / Unsplash License), not owned and not Canva. Pixels personally viewed 2026-07-18 during the post #6 rebuild (real photography, correct subject, no watermark / stock-mark / AI). All are illustrative register images; no specific property is named.

- `tea-tasting-yunnanese-hills.jpg` — Chinese/Yunnanese-style tea pour and tasting on a wooden tray (Doi Mae Salong register). Ivan Samkov, Pexels License, re-sourced at full 5304x3538 resolution 2026-07-19 (placed 2800x1868, was 1600x1068). https://www.pexels.com/photo/8952094/
- `lantern-lit-outdoor-dinner.jpg` — Intimate lantern-lit outdoor dinner table under a tree canopy at night (illustrative). Roman Odintsov, Pexels License, 4969x7450 (placed 1868x2800). Swapped 2026-07-19: replaces the prior Rachel Claire/Pexels photo at this filename, which read as a coconut-palm white-beach-resort dusk dinner (Maldives/Caribbean register) — off-region for the Northern Thailand highland circuit. https://www.pexels.com/photo/11025241/
- `mekong-golden-hour-frontier.jpg` — Boat on a wide river at golden hour (Mekong frontier register). Ren Pisal, Unsplash License. https://unsplash.com/license — re-verified sharp at 100% crop 2026-07-19, unchanged (1600x1066).
- `spa-hot-stone-treatment.jpg` — Basalt hot stones on skin with warm bokeh fairy lights (illustrative). Anete Lusina, Pexels License, 3342x5005 (placed 1870x2800). Replaces the prior Taylor Heery/Unsplash photo at this filename (that Unsplash source URL was never recorded, so it could not be re-sourced at full res; this is a different photo of the same subject). https://www.pexels.com/photo/5240636/

## Journal cover images — Wave 2 cover fixes (2026-08-01)

> Free commercial-use licences (Pexels License / CC0). Attribution is not required under either
> licence; courtesy credit is given here. Licence pages read before use, and every file's pixels
> viewed at 100% (real photography, correct subject, no watermark, no stock-mark, no AI).
> Sourced because the Licensed Stock library holds no Mekong-delta, airport or Vietnamese-interior
> frame — verified with `paidai-image-find` before sourcing. All four are also filed back into
> `5. Photography/08 - Licensed Stock`.

- `mekong-delta-timber-barge-vinh-long.jpg` — Timber-laden river barge under way on a delta channel, An Hoi, Vinh Long, Vietnam. Flint Huynh, Pexels License, 4000x2667 original (placed 4000x1760, reframed so the barge sits vertically centred for the `object-cover` hero crop). Replaces `/vietnam-cultural-sampan-joy-paidai.jpg`, a Ninh Binh sampan frame that was covering a flat-delta post. https://www.pexels.com/photo/river-barge-with-timber-in-an-hoi-vietnam-36873987/
- `suvarnabhumi-concourse-vault.jpg` — Vaulted glazed concourse and boarding walkway, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Hoai Nam (nenq), Pexels License, 4000x5334 portrait original (placed 4000x2400, a landscape band cropped from it). Architecture is the subject rather than signage, so it survives the hero crop at every viewport including the mobile axis flip. Replaces `/bangkok-wat-arun.jpg`. https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-modern-airport-in-bangkok-16167720/
- `phetchaburi-coast-dusk.jpg` — Rock shelf, shell sand and long-exposure surf at dusk, Tambon Bang Kao, Phetchaburi, Thailand. Uploaded via Flickr, CC0 (Free to use) via Pexels, 4000x2250. Replaces `/bangkok-wat-arun.jpg`. https://www.pexels.com/photo/seashore-during-sunset-photography-149293/
- `vietnam-hotel-reception-desk.jpg` — Hotel reception desk (`LỄ TÂN / RECEPTION`) at a quiet hour, navy joinery and gilded Art Deco screen, Vietnam. Quang Nguyen Vinh, Pexels License, 4000x2668 original (placed 3640x2668, right edge trimmed). Replaces `/real-guide-ninh-binh.jpg`. (That file has since been retired entirely, cover included, on 2026-08-13: see the client-face sweep section below.) https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-behind-the-desk-at-the-reception-in-a-luxurious-hotel-14036251/

### Mekong Delta day-trip post — body photography (added 2026-08-02)

> The post ran with a cover and one SVG diagram and **zero body photographs**. The owned library
> holds no Mekong Delta photography at all: all 40 VN group folders are Pu Luong, Ninh Binh,
> Hoi An/Da Nang/Hue/Saigon, Ha Long or Mai Chau, and the coconut-candy and *don ca tai tu*
> briefs return nothing. External sourcing was run across Pexels, Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons;
> 19 candidates were pixel-checked and 17 rejected — Ninh Binh karst, identifiable faces, Pepsi and
> Coca-Cola logos, a dense postcard wall of boats that would have refuted the copy beside it, a
> 180-degree EXIF rotation, and heavy HDR grading.

- `mekong-delta-sampan-canal.jpg` — Hand-paddled sampan under a closed nipa-palm canopy on a narrow brown canal, Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam. Vitaly Gariev, Pexels License, 4030x2689 master (placed 1600x1067, a **new tighter 3:2 crop** — left 605, top 705, 2922x1948 — not the full-frame downscale). **Known, accepted reuse defect:** this is the third surface using this frame (also `mekong-delta-palm-canal.jpg` on `vietnam-cambodia-mekong-luxury-trips` and `mekong-delta-cu-chi.json`); permitted by Ryan 2026-08-02 only after the external attempt above failed. https://www.pexels.com/photo/serene-boat-ride-through-mekong-delta-s-palm-groves-36713998/
- `mekong-delta-working-canal.jpg` — A man poling a narrow wooden boat loaded with water hyacinth along a palm-lined canal, Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam. Tran Le Tuan, Pexels License, 3840x5760 portrait original (placed 1600x1067, a landscape 3:2 band cropped from it to match the slot above — the journal body render path has no aspect box, so mismatched source aspects read as ragged). New to the site; appears on no other page. https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-man-transporting-green-plants-in-a-canoe-14761906/


## Client-face consent sweep — private Vietnam cultural circuit cluster (2026-08-13)


- `ninh-binh-karst-valley.jpg` — River winding through paddy between forested limestone karst ridges, Ninh Binh, Vietnam. Hugo Guillemard, Pexels License, 9528x6328 original (placed 4000x2657, no crop). Cover of `private-vietnam-cultural-circuit-case-study`, all 5 locales. Replaces the retired `/vietnam-cultural-tam-coc-paidai.jpg`. Two sampans on the river resolve as figures only at 100%. https://www.pexels.com/photo/scenic-view-of-tam-coc-valley-in-ninh-binh-37457669/
- `hue-gate-mosaic-dragon.jpg` — Dragon mask built up from cut glazed porcelain shards above an archway, Hien Nhon Gate, Hue Citadel. **lightwrite / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 — attribution IS required for this one, unlike the Pexels frames beside it, and our resized copy is a derivative carrying the same ShareAlike terms.** 2560x1920 original (placed 2400x1800, no crop). Replaces the retired `/vietnam-cultural-heritage-relief-paidai.jpg`. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_guard_demon,_Hue_Citadel_gates.jpg
- `hue-imperial-city-urns.jpg` — Bronze dynastic urn in a courtyard of the Imperial City, Hue, ochre tiled colonnade behind. Valeria Drozdova, Pexels License, 5908x3928 original (placed 2400x1596, no crop). Replaces the retired `/vietnam-cultural-group-paidai.jpg`. No person in frame. https://www.pexels.com/photo/historic-courtyard-of-hue-imperial-city-vietnam-37855972/
- `vietnam-karst-river-gorge.jpg` — Karst river gorge framed by the mouth of a cave, still green water running out to the far peaks. Daniel Stiel, Unsplash License, 3840x2555 (placed 2400x1597, no crop). Replaces the retired `/vietnam-cultural-sampan-joy-paidai.jpg`. A single distant sampan carries three or four figures in conical hats and life jackets; enlarged 2x from 100% they stay colour shapes with no feature resolvable. Place is source-tagged only, so the alt claims none. https://unsplash.com/photos/limestone-mountains-rise-above-a-tranquil-river-9B-3bymCzTs

- `hoi-an-thu-bon-boats.jpg` — Wooden boats moored on the Thu Bon river, ochre shophouse facades of Hoi An Ancient Town reflected behind. Nguyen Anh Vu, Pexels License, 3543x2362 original (placed 2400x1600, no crop). Body image on `what-european-agents-should-know-thailand-vietnam`, all 5 locales, replacing the retired `/vietnam-cultural-tam-coc-paidai.jpg`. Two helmeted riders on the far bank, roughly 40px tall, nothing resolvable at 100%. https://www.pexels.com/photo/docked-boats-on-river-2796643/
- `vietnam-sampan-karst-cliff.jpg` — Single green sampan, hull numbered 145, rowed close under a mossy limestone cliff. Talha Kılıç, Pexels License, 6240x4160 original (placed 2400x1600, no crop). Day 6 of the `northern-vietnam-sapa` experience, all 5 locales. The rower's face is doubly obscured by hat brim and face mask; nothing resolves at 100%. **Provenance caution:** the source page titles the photo "Trang An" but geotags it "Hanoi", roughly 90 km apart, so neither the filename nor the alt claims a place. https://www.pexels.com/photo/scenic-rowboat-journey-in-trang-an-vietnam-38017051/


## Attribution reconciliation — CC files with no credit line (2026-08-13)

Nine files carried a CC licence in `content/photo-attributions.json` but had no credit line here.
Found by diffing the ledger against this file during the client-face consent sweep: of 204 ledger
entries, 147 are under a CC licence requiring credit, and 138 of those were already listed. These
are the remaining nine. All are Thailand destination-guide imagery from Wikimedia Commons.

The gap went unnoticed because `scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs` checks only that a
`content/destinations/**` image HAS a ledger entry — it never checks that the entry's credit
actually reaches a reader. This file is now linked from the site footer, which is what makes the
CC BY / BY-SA credit obligation genuinely satisfied rather than merely recorded.

- `phi-phi-le-delso.jpg` — Ko Phi Phi Le, Krabi Province. Diego Delso, delso.photo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Isla_Phi_Phi_Lay,_Tailandia,_2013-08-19,_DD_22.JPG
- `river-kwai-bridge-mickers.jpg` — Bridge over the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi. Niels Mickers, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 NL. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_bridge_over_the_river_kwai.JPG
- `phra-chinnarat-arunoprayote.jpg` — Phra Buddha Chinnarat, Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat, Phitsanulok. Supanut Arunoprayote, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phra_Phuttha_Chinnarat_(II).jpg
- `wat-muang-great-buddha-chainwit.jpg` — Great Buddha of Thailand (92m), Wat Muang, Ang Thong. Chainwit., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ang_Thong_-_Wiset_Chai_Chan_(2024)_Great_Buddha_of_Thailand,_Wat_Muang_-_img_13.jpg
- `wat-si-chum-nalangan.jpg` — Wat Si Chum, the Phra Achana Buddha's hand, Sukhothai Historical Park. Philip Nalangan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Si_Chum_Sukhothai_Thailand.jpg
- `lampang-luang-bienvenue.jpg` — Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, Lanna chedi and wooden viharas, Lampang. Bienvenue en Thaïlande, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wat_Phra_That_Lampang_Luang_7.jpg
- `mae-kampong-village-zeuzcloud8.jpg` — Mae Kampong village, Mae On District, Chiang Mai Province. CK.Soithong, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B9%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%9A%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87_%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88.jpg
- `sankamphaeng-hot-springs-deror-avi.jpg` — San Kamphaeng Hot Springs, Chiang Mai Province. Deror Avi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sankhanpang_Hot_Springs_P1110820.JPG
- `kew-mae-pan-panorama-perkins.jpg` — Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail, Doi Inthanon National Park, Chiang Mai Province. Douglas Perkins, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kew_Mae_Pan_Nature_Trail_Panorama_1.jpg

## Client-face consent sweep — vietnam-classic-group-hanoi-paidai retired (2026-08-13)

`vietnam-classic-group-hanoi-paidai.jpg` was withdrawn from all 10 of its references. Owning the
copyright settles the photographer's permission and says nothing about the people in the frame.

Two different photographs from a single 2017 shoot replace it, one per post, no file reused. Both
are cropped, which CC BY 2.0 permits and requires be stated.

- `hanoi-tran-quoc-pagoda-tower.jpg` — The terracotta tower of Tran Quoc Pagoda on West Lake, Hanoi, white Buddha figures in its niches, palm and foliage either side under a clear sky. Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. **Cropped** to 16:9 from a 4000x6000 portrait original (kept y=1080-3330), placed 2400x1350. Body image of `how-to-vet-a-dmc-thailand-vietnam`, all 5 locales. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tran_Quoc_Buddhist_Pagoda,_Hanoi,_6th_century_(33)_(24625169968).jpg
- `hanoi-tran-quoc-stupas-garden.jpg` — Brick stupas with gold trim and a lotus panel in the garden of Tran Quoc Pagoda, Hanoi, the pagoda tower rising behind. Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. **Cropped** to 16:9 from a 6000x4000 original (kept y=300-3675), placed 2400x1350. Body image of `vietnam-classic-circuit-case-study`, all 5 locales. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tran_Quoc_Buddhist_Pagoda,_Hanoi,_6th_century_(30)_(26721640419).jpg


### `real-guide-ninh-binh.jpg` retired — both slots (2026-08-13)


- `beachfront-dinner-sunset.jpg` — A dinner table laid on a beach at sunset: navy linen, upturned wine glasses catching the last gold light, a candle jar and set cutlery, open sea behind. Pexels License, 2400x1597, placed unmodified from the Pai Dai licensed-stock library. No crop, no resize. No person, signage or brand mark anywhere in the frame. Now the cover of `what-is-a-dmc-vs-tour-operator`, all 5 locales. https://www.pexels.com/photo/romantic-dinner-setting-at-sunset-beach-28408459/
- `pu-luong-infinity-pool.jpg` — Infinity pool at a hillside lodge in Pu Luong, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, thatched pavilion at the left, vermilion flowers along the far coping, layered karst ridges beyond. Quang Nguyen Vinh, Pexels License. **Cropped**, and the crop is the point: the source is a 14826x4910 panorama whose right-hand third carries a legible `Puluong Eco Restaurant` fascia, a person at the entrance and a second figure at the bar. The delivered image is the region x 2450-8000, y 600-4300 (5550x3700, exactly 3:2), resized to 2400x1600, which excludes all of it. Body image on `how-to-read-a-dmc-quote`, all 5 locales. https://www.pexels.com/photo/swimming-pool-with-sunbeds-near-tropical-hotel-6130045/


### `hue-imperial-city.jpg` retired on the luxury bar (2026-08-13)


- `hue-imperial-gate-daylight.jpg` — A gate in the imperial complex at Hue, Vietnam: two tiers of ochre roof tile, polychrome dragon ridge ornaments, a timber upper storey and a broad stone stair, under a clear blue sky. Cuong Nguyen Manh, Pexels License, cropped 16:9 top-weighted to 2400x1350, which excludes a plastic water bottle on the steps of the source frame. No person anywhere in the delivered frame. https://www.pexels.com/photo/34571815/


### `hoi-an-dusk-lanterns.jpg` retired on the luxury bar (2026-08-13)


- `hoi-an-old-town-aerial.jpg` — Hoi An Ancient Town from the air at dusk: tiled roofs and lit yellow merchant houses along the Thu Bon riverfront, lantern boats on the water below. Vietnam Hidden Light, Pexels License, cropped from a 6048x8064 portrait original to y 1100-5132 and resized to 2400x1600, bpp 2.342. https://www.pexels.com/photo/33501215/
- `hoi-an-lantern-canopy.jpg` — A dense canopy of hand-painted Hoi An silk lanterns lit from within, turquoise, magenta, rose, yellow and indigo, with blossom and koi motifs. Nguyễn Thị Thảo Ha, Pexels License, cropped from a 4000x6000 portrait original to y 1400-4067 and resized to 2400x1600. No person and no signage anywhere in the frame. https://www.pexels.com/photo/33186289/


### `mai-chau-touring-minibus.jpg` retired on the luxury bar (2026-08-13)


- `andaman-longtail-moored.jpg` — An empty wooden longtail boat moored offshore over a turquoise-to-navy water gradient, Thailand. Leo Wang, Pexels License, resized 5310x3540 to 2400x1600 with no crop, the source already being exactly 3:2. No people, no hull registration, no signage. https://www.pexels.com/photo/36609167/


### `real-cyclo-hoi-an.jpg` + the vietnam-heritage-route gallery, first tranche (2026-08-13)

Four Wikimedia Commons photographs replacing three withdrawn owned files across the two Vietnam
experience pages, all 5 locales. Pixels personally viewed at 100% before filing; every licence page
read directly on the day. The three CC BY-SA 4.0 files below **require** the credit line as written.

- `hoi-an-riverfront-shophouses.jpg` — Hoi An Ancient Town riverfront in full daylight, ochre
  shophouses mirrored in the canal. Photo: Steffen Schmitz / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
  Resized 4244x2468 to 2000x1163, no crop.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%E1%BB%99i_An,_Ancient_Town,_2020-01_CN-01.jpg
- `hoi-an-trieu-chau-assembly-hall.jpg` — facade of the Trieu Chau (Teochew) Assembly Hall, Hoi An.
  Photo: Steffen Schmitz / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized 4351x2771 to 2000x1273, no crop.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%E1%BB%99i_An,_Trieu_Chau_Assembly_Hall,_2020-01_CN-02.jpg
- `hoi-an-hong-lanh-bridge.jpg` — Hong Lanh Bridge, Hoi An, strung with lanterns and reflected in the
  canal. **Not** the Japanese Covered Bridge. Photo: Steffen Schmitz / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
  Resized 4552x2896 to 2000x1272, no crop.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H%E1%BB%99i_An,_H%E1%BB%93ng_L%C3%A3nh_Bridge,_2020-01_CN-01.jpg
- `halong-dau-go-cave.jpg` — a daylight shaft inside Dau Go Cave, Ha Long Bay. Photo: Joe deSousa /
  Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0, credited as a courtesy rather than by obligation. Resized 6016x4016 to
  2000x1335, no crop. Dau Go was chosen because Thien Cung cave is already live on the site.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dau_Go_cave,_H%E1%BA%A1_Long_Bay,_Vietnam_(54146979492).jpg


### `vh/guide-at-temple.jpg` retired, Hue day 5 (2026-08-13)

- `hue-the-mieu-temple.jpg` — the courtyard facade of The Mieu, the Nguyen-dynasty ancestor-worship
  temple inside Hue's Imperial Citadel. Photo: Suicasmo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
  Resized 5184x3456 to 2000x1333, no crop.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Mieu_Temple_20190917.jpg


### `vh/airport-greeting.jpg` + `vh/group-at-pagoda.jpg` retired (2026-08-14)

- `hcmc-city-hall-dusk.jpg` — Ho Chi Minh City Hall, the People's Committee Building in District 1,
  floodlit gold against a deep-blue dusk sky with the national flag lit on the clock tower.
  Photo: GiveMeMollusks / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0, credit offered as courtesy, not required.
  **Cropped** to the top 79% of a 4624x3468 original (kept y=0-2739), placed 2000x1184. Day 1 image
  of `vietnam-heritage-route`, all 5 locales.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ho_Chi_Minh_City_Hall_at_dusk.jpg

- `hanoi-presidential-palace.jpg` — the Presidential Palace of Vietnam in Ba Dinh, Hanoi, a
  mustard-yellow French colonial building of 1900-1906 behind clipped bonsai and a tiered fountain.
  Photo: dronepicr / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0. **Cropped** to drop the foreground road from a
  5142x3428 original (kept y=0-3040), placed 2000x1182. Gallery image of `vietnam-heritage-route`,
  all 5 locales.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Presidential_Palace_Hanoi_(38834565094).jpg


### `vh/lantern-boat-night.jpg` retired, Hoi An day 3 (2026-08-14)

- `hoi-an-ancient-town-rooftops.jpg` — an elevated view across the terracotta tiled roofs and ochre
  walls of Hoi An Ancient Town under a deep blue sky. Photo: Tuan Vy / Pexels, no attribution
  required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** from a 5856x3903 original (kept x=2100-5100,
  y=1100-3050), placed 2000x1300. Day 3 image of `vietnam-heritage-route`, all 5 locales.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/historic-rooftops-of-hoi-an-under-blue-skies-38207532/


### `vh/group-dinner.jpg` retired from the Experience Menu PDF (2026-08-14)

- `experiences/vietnamese-cooking-class.jpg` — grilled-pork rice-paper rolls (nem nuong cuon) with
  peanut dipping sauce, plated on dark wood. Photo: Snappr / Pexels, no attribution required,
  credited as courtesy. Resized 5272x3508 to 2000x1330, no crop. Vietnamese Cooking Class card of the
  Experience Menu PDF. Not used on the website.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/32469669/


### `vh/full-group-temple.jpg` + `vh/temple-prayer.jpg` withdrawn, not replaced (2026-08-14)

No replacement was placed for either. Both slots now run without a photo, on Ryan's call: free stock
for these subjects is exhausted and paid stock is not in budget right now, so the honest options were
a client's face or no face. Day 10 falls back to the designed "destination plate" already built into
`ChapterDays.tsx` — navy-to-teal gradient, gold ghost numeral, hairline frame — and the gallery drops
from six tiles to five.

### Day 10 now carries a photograph after all (2026-08-14)

The Day 10 fallback above has been replaced. The earlier search failed on subject choice, not on
supply: it looked only at Nhat Tan Bridge and Noi Bai airport, where all 17 candidates carried a
legible LOTTE or PVcomBank mark or an airline livery. Widening the subject from the airport road to a
last calm morning in Hanoi opened it up immediately. Long Bien is also the only major Hanoi subject
not already spent on this page.

- `hanoi-long-bien-cosmos-dawn.jpg` — Long Bien Bridge, Hanoi, at sunrise in river mist: the steel
  truss under a graded blue-to-peach sky, a dense field of orange cosmos on the bank below. Photo:
  Nguyen Giang / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** centre to 4:5
  portrait from a 5486x3662 original (kept x=1278-4208, full height), resized to 1600x2000. The crop
  is the frame `ChapterDays` actually renders, so nothing is trimmed again at display time. One
  figure with a pale parasol stands on the bridge deck and stays an unresolvable colour shape at 2x
  from 100%. https://www.pexels.com/photo/long-bien-bridge-in-fog-with-yellow-wildflowers-29749171/

The gallery still runs five tiles rather than six.

### Unledgered PDF images withdrawn (2026-08-14)

`spa-thai-massage.jpg` and `vip-transfer-arrival.png` shipped in the Experience Menu PDF with no entry
in `content/photo-attributions.json`, so the licence we held was unknown. Neither showed a Pai Dai
client, so this is a rights question rather than a consent one, and Ryan ruled both out.

The spa frame failed on a second count as well: a therapist in a branded uniform with a legible name
badge, in front of an identifiable resort's over-water villas. It read as that resort's own marketing
photograph, which is the same defect that retired `real-mice-ballroom`.

- `experiences/spa-herbal-compress-tray.jpg` — Flat lay on a turquoise glazed tray over rustic wood: a
  luk pra kob herbal compress ball tied with twine, lemongrass stalks, a lime, star anise, a cinnamon
  quill and a black basalt stone. Photo: Anna Tarazevich / Pexels, no attribution required, credited
  as courtesy. **Cropped** centre to 1.088:1 from a 2667x4000 portrait original, resized to 1800x1654.
  That ratio is measured from the generator, not assumed: A4 is 210x297mm and the hero box runs 65% of
  page height on the agent page. No person, no text, no branding in frame. It was chosen over three
  other clean candidates because it is the only one that shows what the card actually sells: the copy
  promises warm herbal compresses and the scent of lemongrass, and both are in the picture.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/6560254/
- `experiences/vip-arrival-car-door.jpg` — A suited arm reaching for the rear door handle of a black
  saloon on a wet day, rain beaded across the paint, white shirt cuff at the wrist. Photo: Pavel
  Danilyuk / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** centre to 1.088:1 from
  a 3916x5866 portrait original, resized to 1800x1654; the per-photo focal override the old image
  carried was dropped rather than retuned, because the delivered file already is the hero crop. Only a
  hand, wrist and sleeve appear, with no face at any crop. The tyre sidewall carries statutory DOT
  moulding and no brand wordmark, and the alloy centre cap falls outside the frame.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/8425057/


### /services page — two of another company's photos withdrawn (2026-08-14)

Both were flagged by the decorrelated rendered-page reviewer and reproduced independently. Neither had
an entry in `content/photo-attributions.json`.

`services-mice-events.jpg` carried a fully legible VINPEARL wordmark and logo on the projection screen,
so the MICE block was advertising a Vietnamese hotel group. `services-hero-bangkok.jpg` was an empty
colonial-style hotel restaurant interior, plainly a specific property's own marketing shot, sitting
under an alt that claimed a Bangkok skyline at dusk over the Chao Phraya. Both alts were rewritten from
the new frames in all five locales rather than translated, so no language inherited the old claim.

- `bangkok-wat-arun-chao-phraya-dusk.jpg` — Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, across the Chao Phraya at
  sunset: the central prang and two flanking prangs against a peach sky, the temple's river pier and
  Thai national and royal flags along the bank. Photo: Margarita K / Pexels, no attribution required,
  credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to the wide hero shape and resized to 2400x1524 from 4498x2857. A
  few figures stand on the pier; backlit, they are dark silhouettes about 20px tall with nothing
  resolvable. https://www.pexels.com/photo/35981279/
- `mice-ballroom-candelabra.jpg` — Crystal candelabra, cut glassware and a dark floral arrangement on a
  table set for a gala dinner, warm candlelight in front, the stage behind defocused past legibility.
  Photo: Vidal Balielo Jr. / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:3
  from 5472x3648 and resized to 1800x1350. No person in focus anywhere.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/12689009/
- `halong-cave-arch-rowboat.jpg` — A traditional wooden rowboat passing beneath a vast limestone sea
  arch in Ha Long Bay, stalactites overhead, jade water below. Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels, no
  attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:5 portrait from 5704x3803 and resized
  to 1520x1900. No face resolves at 100 percent.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/view-of-a-natural-arch-6871185/
- `halong-junk-fleet-golden-hour.jpg` — Cruise junks at anchor in Ha Long Bay under a low sun, karst
  silhouettes receding into haze. Photo: Duc Nguyen / Unsplash, no attribution required, credited as
  courtesy. **Cropped** to 2.4:1 from 6000x4000 and resized to 2800x1167. No person resolvable.
  https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-of-boats-floating-on-top-of-a-body-of-water-xIgu_NOcSDg

## New photography for the Vietnam experience pages (2026-08-14)

Sourced to replace six slots where the photograph disagreed with the copy beside it, or where one
image was doing duty on two different tour pages. All six are Pexels-licensed, free for commercial
use with no attribution required; credit is given here as a courtesy. Every frame was opened at full
resolution and simulated at its real slot ratio before placement. None contains an identifiable face
or third-party branding.

- `hcmc-independence-palace-fountain.jpg` — Independence Palace, Ho Chi Minh City: the full symmetric
  1960s modernist facade with its concrete lattice screen, the national flag on the roof and the
  forecourt fountain playing. Photo: Le Duc Khanh / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as
  courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:5 from 4800x3200 and resized to 1600x2000. No person in frame.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/independence-palace-front-view-in-ho-chi-minh-city-34230016/
- `hanoi-ho-chi-minh-mausoleum.jpg` — The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi: grey granite
  colonnade carrying its own carved inscription, clipped topiary and red planters on an empty plaza.
  Photo: Haneul Trac / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:5 from
  6000x4000 and resized to 1600x2000. No person in frame. Two small blue-and-white signs in the lower
  third are Vietnamese state signage, not third-party brand marks.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/ho-chi-minh-mausoleum-in-hanoi-vietnam-34361934/
- `hanoi-presidential-palace-garden.jpg` — The Presidential Palace in Ba Dinh, Hanoi: mustard-yellow
  French colonial mansion with a red-tiled roof and the national flag at the gable, seen past a mature
  tree over conical topiary. Photo: Valeria Drozdova / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as
  courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:5 from 4000x6016 and resized to 1600x2000. No person in frame. A distinct
  photograph from the dronepicr frame already credited above as `hanoi-presidential-palace.jpg`.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/historic-colonial-building-in-hanoi-vietnam-38049705/
- `hoi-an-rice-paddy-farmer-dusk.jpg` — Lowland rice paddy outside Hoi An at dusk: a single farmer in
  a conical hat, small and turned away, on a field path through green rice. Flat Quang Nam lowland,
  not terraced northern rice. Photo: Nicolette Amara / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as
  courtesy. **Cropped** to 4:5 from 3024x4032, taking the lower frame to reduce sky, and resized to
  1600x2000. The farmer resolves to no facial feature at 100 percent.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/rice-farmer-working-in-paddy-fields-at-sunset-in-hoi-an-vietnam-28157387/
- `halong-sampan-first-light.jpg` — Ha Long Bay at sunrise: a single sampan on gold backlit water with
  silhouetted karsts closing both sides. Carries the "first light" full-bleed band, and the page it
  came from is titled "Serene Sunrise Boat Ride"; measured sky warmth R-B **+10.9** on the shipped
  crop, against -14 for the daylight frame it replaces. Photo: Ama Journey / Pexels, no attribution
  required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to 10:7 from 3602x2421 and resized to 2000x1400.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/serene-sunrise-boat-ride-in-vietnam-s-halong-bay-34635617/
- `halong-bay-sunrise-aerial.jpg` — Aerial over Ha Long Bay at sunrise: limestone karsts across still
  water with warm low light on their tops, one cruise ship lower right. The source page describes it
  as taken "during sunrise" and tags it Sunrise, Dawn and Morning Images; measured sky warmth R-B
  **+32.9** on the shipped crop, against -36 for the daylight frame it replaces. The hull was
  inspected at 100 percent and carries no legible vessel name or operator mark. Photo: Quang Nguyen
  Vinh / Pexels, no attribution required, credited as courtesy. **Cropped** to 10:7 from 7721x5791 and
  resized to 2000x1400. No person resolvable.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/cruise-ship-in-sea-6348805/

## Experience gallery + day-card placement (2026-08-15)

Real photography under the Pexels License (free commercial use, attribution not required,
credited here as a courtesy). Every photographer name was read from the Pexels photo page
itself, not the search listing — search listings expose usernames and have been wrong before.
Pixels viewed at 100% before placement: no watermark, stock-mark or rights overlay
contradicting the licence, and not AI.

- `hue-citadel-ceremonial-gate.jpg` — Free-standing ceremonial gate, Hue Imperial Citadel:
  porcelain-mosaic dragon crest over an oxblood arch, mustard-ochre panels, weathered stucco to
  raw brick. Replaces `hoi-an-hong-lanh-bridge.jpg` on the vietnam-heritage-route gallery.
  No people, no logos. Photo: Valeria Drozdova / Pexels, Pexels License. Resized 4000x6016 to
  1463x2200, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/37855975/
- `bangkok-monk-robes-drying.jpg` — Monk robes drying on lines in a Bangkok temple courtyard,
  saffron and ochre in low raking sun. Zero people in frame. Placed on a non-hero gallery tile
  of bangkok-city-optional-tours. Photo: Mathias Arseneau / Pexels, Pexels License. Resized
  5946x3964 to 2200x1467, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/31393077/
- `damnoen-saduak-vendor-paddle.jpg` — Vendor seen from behind at Damnoen Saduak floating
  market, Ratchaburi: conical hat, both hands on the paddle, boat laden with bananas, rambutan
  and longan. **Sourced specifically for consent**: the hat brim fully occludes the face
  (verified illegible at 100%), and the one other vendor in the wide original falls outside the
  shipped crop. Replaces `damnoen-saduak-floating-market.jpg` on the Day 2 card, which carried
  multiple identifiable faces at that size. Photo: Miguel Cuenca / Pexels, Pexels License.
  **Cropped** to 4:5 centred from 8256x5504 and resized to 1600x2000.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/28381596/
- `mekong-rice-paper-drying.jpg` — Golden rice-paper (bánh tráng) sheets drying on racks in a
  Mekong Delta workshop. No people, no plastic, no logos, swept across five regions at 100%.
  Replaces `saigon-central-post-office.jpg` on the mekong-delta-cu-chi gallery, which was a
  duplicate of that same page's full-bleed image. Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh / Pexels, Pexels
  License. Resized 7952x5304 to 2200x1467, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/8280888/

## Vietnam luxury honeymoon hero (2026-08-15)

Real photography under the Pexels License (free commercial use, attribution not required,
credited here as a courtesy). The photographer name was read from the Pexels photo page itself,
twice and independently, not the search listing — search listings expose usernames and have been
wrong every time checked. Pixels viewed at 100% before placement: no watermark, stock-mark or
rights overlay contradicting the licence, and not AI.

- `da-nang-sunrise-fishing-boat.jpg` — Sunrise over the sea off Da Nang on Vietnam's central
  coast, My Khe Beach: a small open fishing boat in silhouette on the horizon, lines of
  aquaculture floats across the water, low surf in the foreground, sky in a soft rose, lilac and
  gold band. No identifiable faces (the one figure is an unlit silhouette a few pixels tall on
  the horizon), no logos, no signage. Becomes the `coverImage` of vietnam-luxury-honeymoon in all
  5 locales, replacing `/hero-halong.jpg` — which was simultaneously the cover of the
  vietnam-heritage-route group tour, so a private honeymoon and a group departure were opening on
  the same photograph. Desktop (2.87:1) and portrait mobile (0.65:1) crops were rendered and
  viewed rather than inferred; both retain sun, boat and horizon under default centring, so no
  `coverImagePosition` is set. Photo: Nhà văn / Pexels, Pexels License. Used at native 3000x2000,
  no crop, no resize, EXIF stripped.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/stunning-sunrise-over-da-n-ng-beach-36123469/

## Vietnam Express gallery — the first of the nine empty galleries (2026-08-15)

Real photography under the Pexels License (free commercial use, attribution not required,
credited here as a courtesy). Licence pages were opened and read on the day, and each one
confirmed the item as a free Pexels photo rather than a sponsored iStock result, which the
search pages do mix in. Every frame was viewed at full resolution AND as the rendered 1:1
square crop the gallery actually applies, because PhotoGrid centre-crops every tile.

Consent standard applied here is **recognisable, not frontal** — a sharp side profile
identifies a person perfectly well. Nothing below carries a recognisable face.

- `hanoi-long-bien-truss-corridor.jpg` — Standing on the deck of Long Bien Bridge, Hanoi,
  looking down the single-track railway through the rusted steel truss corridor, girders
  receding to a vanishing point. Weathered orange-ochre rust that sits with Heritage Gold
  rather than fighting it. No person in the delivered frame; the only distant figures sit at
  the extreme right of the original and the square crop removes them. Photo: Duong Nguyen /
  Pexels, Pexels License. Resized 6000x3376 to 2400x1350, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/rustic-charm-of-long-bien-bridge-in-hanoi-38036943/
- `hanoi-old-quarter-hang-ruoi-street.jpg` — Corner shophouse in weathered ochre on the Hàng
  Mã / Hàng Rươi corner of Hanoi's Old Quarter: carved timber balcony and Chinese-charactered
  roof crest above a lantern-lit votive-and-festival-goods stall in full trade, motorbikes
  crossing in motion blur. **The place proves itself from inside the frame** — the municipal
  blue plate reads PHỐ HÀNG RƯƠI and the awning reads PHONG AN 66 HÀNG MÃ, so the guild-street
  claim rests on signage in the photograph, not on the filename. Faces checked by zooming the
  pavement at native 4480x6720: both men at the loaded motorbike are back-turned, the woman at
  right walks away, both foreground riders are motion-blurred to abstraction, the seated stall
  figures are shadowed and defocused. Photo: Hson / Pexels, Pexels License. Resized 4480x6720
  to 1600x2400; the square crop removes the blown white sky at the top.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-street-with-a-market-and-motorcycles-27551102/
- `vietnam-pho-bowls-herbs.jpg` — Two bowls of pho on a dark table: sliced beef, coriander,
  spring onion and bean sprouts in a clear broth, shallow depth of field. No person, no hand,
  no signage, no restaurant mark on the bowls. Chosen specifically for **legibility at the
  171px mobile tile** — the frame it replaces was technically clean but degraded to an
  unreadable smear at that size. Six candidates were opened and rejected first, including a
  coffee glass carrying a Viet Cong flag sticker, a Ba Na Hills theme-park cart, and a pho bowl
  printed with a legible Phở 813 restaurant logo. Photo: RDNE Stock project / Pexels, Pexels
  License. Resized 4413x6620 to 1600x2400, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/6646029/
- `hcmc-street-food-cart-night.jpg` — A street-food vendor riding his motorbike-mounted glass
  display cart at night in Ho Chi Minh City, hand-painted BÒ TÔM CA sign, warm amber street
  light with bokeh city lights behind. **The place proves itself from inside the frame** — the
  plate reads 59-V1 137.75 and the 59 prefix is Ho Chi Minh City's own registration series.
  The rider's face is occluded by the cart frame and his cap throughout; every background
  figure is small and well out of focus. Photo: Nghia .8pm / Pexels, Pexels License. Resized
  5231x3486 to 2400x1599, no crop.
  https://www.pexels.com/photo/11495723/

## Attribution-gap sweep — 27 unattributed images (2026-08-15)

Every image referenced from `content/**` and `src/**` was enumerated and diffed against both
this file and `content/photo-attributions.json`. 27 third-party images had a ledger entry in
NEITHER surface (a separate 5 `koh-surin-*-paidai.jpg` files also showed up unattributed, but
are Pai Dai's own drone photography per the vault Photography Library Index — "Authentic Pai
Dai drone originals, Apr 2026" — and correctly need no third-party credit here).

Method: check EXIF/IPTC first (`exiftool`), then git history (this repo's history is a single
squashed import commit, `5059eb6`, so no per-file PR/commit trail exists for anything already
live before that commit), then look for a sibling entry describing the same shoot, then
WebSearch/WebFetch to try to match the exact source file — never just the subject.

**One of the 27 got a real, verified credit** — added below. **The other 26 do NOT have an
entry added here or in the JSON ledger**, because no real photographer/licence could be
established for them; a guessed credit would be a false claim on a commercial site, which is
worse than an admitted gap. That includes 3 files (`hanoi-hang-dau-water-tower.jpg`,
`bangkok-islands-cover.jpg`, `hue-imperial-citadel-dusk.jpg`)
whose EXIF shows `Creator Tool: Canva`, `Creator`/`By-line: Upto invest` — a real signal, but not
a verifiable open licence chain (unlike the Pexels/Unsplash/Commons entries throughout this
file, none of which give a licence page to read), so they stay off the ledger rather than
being credited to a name I cannot confirm holds the rights. One of those three titles also
names a DIFFERENT place than the filename claims (`bangkok-islands-cover.jpg`'s embedded title
is "Koh Lipe") — pixels were not re-verified against those titles because the licence gap
already rules them out.

**`northern-thailand-cover.jpg` was the fourth of this group and is GONE as of 2026-08-23.**
Its embedded title was "Thi Lo Su Waterfall", Tak Province, while all five locale captions on
`is-thailand-right-for-mice-incentive-groups` claimed hills near Chiang Mai — so it was both
uncreditable AND factually wrong to a reader. All of its remaining placements (that post in 5
locales, the Sunrise Temple card in `content/experiences-menu.json`, and day 5 of
`content/sample-itineraries/thailand-adventure.json`) moved to
`doi-suthep-chedi-dusk-cho.jpg` — Gije Cho / Pexels, no attribution required, 2880x1923, which
also retires the 2.06x DPR2 upscale the old 1400x923 file forced on a 1440px full-bleed hero.
**The blob was deleted in the same change**, because dropping the references does not stop the
file being served in full at its public URL. Do not republish it.
Also unresolved: `contact-bg-resort.jpg` and `services-business-travel.jpg`, both real NIKON
D850 photography (same camera serial, same processing session) with no name or grant on file —
these read like uncredited supplier/property marketing photos, not stock. Full list of the 26,
plus the separate 3-image rights investigation below, is in the session report, not restated
here to avoid a second copy that can drift.

- `bangkok-chinatown-gate.jpg` — The Chinatown Gate (Odeon Circle memorial arch), entrance to
  Bangkok's Chinatown/Yaowarat district. Pixels compared directly against the Commons file:
  identical subject, and the local 1178x1024 file's aspect ratio (1.150) matches the Commons
  original 3302x2871 (1.150) to three decimal places, confirming a downsized copy rather than a
  coincidental filename match. Photo: Photogoddle / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinatown_Gate,_Bangkok.jpg

## Rights-unclear fingerprint — 3-image investigation, no ledger entry (2026-08-15)

`ha-long-bay-classic.jpg`, `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` and `ninh-binh-mua-cave.jpg` were flagged
for a shared fingerprint: exactly 1350x900 or 1013x675, zero EXIF, no ledger entry. The vault
Photography Library Index (`Work/Pai Dai/Brand/Photography Library Index.md`) independently
documents a "Vietnam / Cities (148 curated files)" folder matching this exact description —
"curated, descriptively-named **web downloads**... mostly 1013×675 or 1350×900" — verified as
real photography but never licence-tracked. All three files match that fingerprint exactly, and
the vault entry for the Ninh Binh folder even names `mua cave hang mua.png` and the Ha Long Bay
folder names `Dinh Huong Islet, Halong Bay.png` as standout shots — the same subjects.
`real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` additionally carries the `real-` prefix this repo's own naming
convention reserves for Pai Dai-owned photography (`OWNED_PREFIXES` in
`scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs`), which its own fingerprint (1350x900, zero EXIF)
contradicts — a false ownership label on what is most likely the same unlicensed web-download
pool. No row added for any of the three; verdicts and full evidence are in the session report.
This file's own convention (line 115 of the vault index) is "web-sourced = note source" — none
of the three do, which is itself evidence they predate or bypassed that convention.

### RESOLVED for 1 of the 3 — `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` retired from all placements (2026-08-16)

All 27 live placements now point at `hanoi-huc-bridge-dusk.jpg`, a licence-clean replacement of
the same subject (see its entry below). Swapped across both repos in one change, because 3 of the
27 project in from `paidai-programs/data/B-website-import.json` and a site-only edit is reverted
by the next `npm run web`.

Subject match was the constraint, not aspect ratio. `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` is the Huc Bridge
at dusk, and `content/destinations/*/hanoi.md` storyBeats[0] names it in prose — heading "Hoan
Kiem and the scarlet Huc Bridge", body "the bright red Huc Bridge arches across to the little
island temple of Ngoc Son". Any replacement that was not the Huc Bridge would have put the copy
and the image in contradiction, so a generic Hanoi landmark was rejected even though one was
already on hand.

~~The file itself is still on disk and still publicly served at its URL.~~ **Deleted 2026-08-16.**
It was measured at HTTP 200 / 196,640 bytes immediately after the placements were retired — a
zero-reference orphan that a static host still served in full. Removing the references was not the
same as removing the file, and only the second closes a rights exposure.

### RESOLVED for the remaining 2 — both retired (2026-08-16)

`ha-long-bay-classic.jpg` and `ninh-binh-mua-cave.jpg` are retired from every live placement and
deleted from `public/`, closing the 3-image fingerprint set.

A third file belonged to the set and was not in the original count: `experiences/ha-long-bay-classic.png`
— the **same photograph** at 4096x2731, feeding the Experience Menu PDF via
`content/experiences-menu.json`. It is a WebP carrying a `.png` extension, 12.7 MB, absent from both
ledgers. A page-level audit could not see it, because it never appeared on a page — it shipped inside
a client-facing PDF. **When retiring an image for rights, search the PDF and trade-pack data by
filename stem, not only the site's rendered pages.**

Library-first was run before sourcing and returned nothing usable, which is a result worth recording
so the next pass does not reopen the same files: `halong-bay-sunset-lone-boat-01` is tagged
`luxury-fail` in the library manifest and its "lone boat" is a navigation buoy;
`tam-coc-pagoda-mist-01` carries `identifiable_faces: yes`; `ninh-binh-karst-valley-river-01` is
already live as `ninh-binh-karst-valley.jpg`.

Seven external candidates were opened at 100% and six rejected: a competitor's "BLACK PEARL CRUISE"
branding alongside roughly thirty identifiable people at a private event; a file tagged
**"Public domain"** on Wikimedia that carries a visible "Anh Tuan 2018" signature watermark in the
pixels; a rusted working-harbour scene; one soft at 100%; one obscured by deck rigging; and one
showing Ha Long City rather than the karst seascape. **The watermark case is the second recorded
instance in this repo of a Commons licence tag contradicting the pixels** — the first was the
"Public domain" A350 marked "All rights reserved". A licence tag remains a claim, not proof.

## Ha Long Bay — view from Titov Island (2026-08-16)

`halong-titov-island-bay-view.jpg` — 2400x1601, downsized from a 6018x4016 original.
`experiences/halong-titov-island-bay-view.jpg` — 4096x2734 print variant of the same frame, used by
the Experience Menu PDF.
Photo: Jakub Halun / Wikimedia Commons, **CC BY 4.0** — attribution required.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_sea_from_Titov_Island,_Ha_Long_Bay,_Vietnam,_20240128_1343_3738.jpg

No identifiable faces: figures on the boat decks do not resolve at any scale in the 6018x4016
original. Vessel registration markings such as "HAI LONG 88" are visible; these are statutory
registrations, not operator brand marks.

## Ninh Binh — view from Hang Mua over the Tam Coc valley (2026-08-16)

`ninh-binh-hang-mua-valley.jpg` — 2400x1600, a central 3:2 crop of a 4000x1800 original.
Photo: Shyamal / Wikimedia Commons, **CC BY-SA 4.0** — attribution and share-alike required.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_from_Hang_Mua.jpg

Two distant figures in conical hats stand on the stone steps at the right edge of the original;
neither face is discernible at 100%, and the delivered file is a central crop. Presence as evidence,
not portrait.

## Hanoi — Huc Bridge at dusk (2026-08-16)

`hanoi-huc-bridge-dusk.jpg` — 2400x1600, cropped from a 7610x5077 original.
Photo: Fernando B M / Pexels. Pexels Licence — free for commercial use, attribution not required
(licence page read 2026-08-16; credited here anyway for traceability and a takedown path).
https://www.pexels.com/photo/beautiful-red-bridge-over-hoan-kiem-lake-at-dusk-29670142/
Filed to the Licensed Stock library as `Vietnam/Hanoi/hanoi-huc-bridge-hoan-kiem-dusk-01__pexels.jpg`.

## Erawan Falls, Kanchanaburi (2026-08-16)

`erawan-falls-kanchanaburi.jpg` - 2000x1444, resized from the 2400x1733 Licensed Stock original.
Photo: BerryJ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Attribution IS required under this licence.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erawan_Waterfall_1.jpg
Licence page fetched 2026-08-16 (HTTP 200): Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0, author
BerryJ, Own work. Cover for the `thailand-or-vietnam` journal post in all 5 locales.
No person appears in the frame, so no model release is in question.

## Real transfer times journal post (2026-08-17)

Three images for the `real-transfer-times-thailand-vietnam` journal post, all 5 locales. All three are
Pexels License: free for commercial use, modification allowed, **no attribution required**. Courtesy
credit given below per house practice. Each was pixel-inspected before use, and none carries a
watermark, photographer mark or rights overlay contradicting its licence tag. The owned library was
searched first and returned no usable match for any of the three slots, because every on-theme photo
it holds is already spent on the live site. All three are now filed into Licensed Stock and indexed.

`halong-pier-boats-moored.jpg` - 2560x1707, resized from the 4896x3264 original.
Photo: Huong Loan / Pexels. Cover image.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/cruise-boats-at-scenic-ha-long-bay-dock-31807107/
Cruise boats moored beam-to-beam at a stone promenade pier below a karst cliff. Around eight
pedestrians appear at distant scale on the promenade; none is identifiable, so no model release
is in question. Place is from the Pexels title only and is NOT independently verified, so the
library manifest records `place_verified: false`. The boats are modern steel and fibreglass hulls
styled as junks, not classic dark-timber junks, which is what Ha Long tourism actually operates.

`ha-giang-valley-road-farmhouse.jpg` - 2400x1597, resized from the 4256x2832 original.
Photo: TUAN PHAN / Pexels. In-body, Vietnam section.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/scenic-landscape-of-ha-giang-mountains-vietnam-34574527/
Paved mountain road curving past a farmhouse below a limestone peak, terraced fields lower left.
Location confirmed on the source page as Ha Giang, Vietnam. No people, no vehicles, no logos.
NOTE: this is Ha Giang, NOT the Hanoi to Sapa road it sits beside in the article. The alt text in
all 5 locales says Ha Giang explicitly and hedges with "like this one", so the image illustrates
the terrain class without claiming to be the corridor under discussion.

`ayutthaya-chedi-ruins-wide.jpg` - 2400x1600, resized from the 5472x3648 original.
Photo: Jennifer / Pexels. In-body, northern Thailand section.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/historic-brick-ruins-and-pagoda-under-clear-blue-sky-35681357/
Brick chedi and ruined walls among trees under clear sky, wide with landscape context rather than
a tight postcard macro. Location confirmed on the source page as Ayutthaya, Thailand. No people in
frame. Distinct from the site's existing Ayutthaya files, which are different compositions of named
wats; this is an unnamed ruin cluster.

## Northern Thailand programme case study (2026-08-17)

Two in-body images for the `northern-thailand-program-case-study` journal post, all 5 locales, taking
the post from one visual (the route diagram) to three and so to parity with both sibling case studies.
Both are Wikimedia Commons, **CC BY-SA 4.0 — attribution IS required**, and both licences were read on
the file page itself rather than trusted from a search-result tag. Neither page carries a deletion
notice, copyright dispute, personality-rights template or any restriction template. Pixels were opened
at 100%, not at thumbnail size; neither carries a watermark, photographer mark or rights overlay.

The owned library was searched first across the whole `5. Photography` tree and returned **nothing** for
either slot — no mahout or keeper image exists in it at all, and there is no Chiang Mai folder for a
Mae Chaem homestay photo to live in. External sourcing was the only route. Both files are now filed
into Licensed Stock and indexed.

`northern-thailand-mae-chaem-cover.jpg` - 3200x960, cropped and resized from the 10402x2761 original,
EXIF stripped. Photo: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. COVER image, all 5 locales.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Pano_Mae_Chaem_District_2.jpg
Layered forested ridges above harvested maize terraces, Mae Chaem District, Chiang Mai, seen from road
1263. Shot 2013-12-27 on an Olympus E-PL5, stitched in Hugin; geotagged 18°45'53"N 98°11'07"E, so the
place is verified from the source page. No people, no signage, no vehicles, no structures.
Cropped to a full-height 3.333:1 window matching the rendered 1440x432 hero band, RIGHT-ALIGNED rather
than centred so an out-of-focus twig intruding at the original's left edge falls outside the crop.
Replaces `/northern-thailand-cover.jpg` **on this post only**, for three reasons a decorrelated reviewer
surfaced: (1) the old file is **1400x923** driving a 1440px full-bleed hero — a 1.03x upscale at DPR1 and
a **2.06x upscale at DPR2**, which no `srcset` can rescue because `/_next/image` cannot manufacture width
a file does not have; (2) the old file has **no attribution entry at all**, and the prebuild validator
never caught it because `validate-image-attributions.mjs` scans `content/destinations/**` only; (3) it was
serving as cover for **two different posts at once**, which the site's own no-lazy-reuse rule forbids.
✅ **CLOSED 2026-08-23.** The old blob has since been **deleted**: its two remaining referrers
(`is-thailand-right-for-mice-incentive-groups` in 5 locales, and day 5 of
`content/sample-itineraries/thailand-adventure.json`, plus the Sunrise Temple card in
`content/experiences-menu.json`) all moved to `doi-suthep-chedi-dusk-cho.jpg`. The missing
attribution and the under-resolution are no longer open anywhere. See the retirement note above.

`mae-wang-elephant-sanctuary.jpg` - 2400x1800, resized from the 4032x3024 original, EXIF stripped.
Photo: Gracemontse / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. In-body, "Our approach".
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elefante_en_Mae_Wang,_Chiang_Mai.jpg
A single elephant standing free on a mud bank, jungle behind and open sky above. Shot 2024-10-18 on an
iPhone 11 Pro Max at ISO 32 in bright daylight; geotagged 18°39'48"N 98°37'38"E, Mae Wang, Chiang Mai,
so the place IS verified from the source page rather than inferred from a title.
The animal carries no saddle, no howdah, no basket, no harness, no rope and no chain, and stands
unrestrained in its own terrain. The post's own `proof.trust` claims the sanctuary was "vetted against
a genuine no-riding model", and this frame EVIDENCES that claim rather than merely not contradicting it.
NO people in frame at all, so no model release is in question — which matters more than it sounds, because
CC BY-SA conveys copyright only and never personality rights, so "nobody in frame" is what makes this file
safe to use without a release that could not be obtained from a stranger in a third-party photo.
KNOWN MARKS, corrected: an earlier draft of this entry claimed "no litter anywhere in frame." That absolute
was not defensible. A teal-painted tyre lies half-buried in grass at source x1817-1890, y1088-1105, with two
darker tyres beside it — roughly 19x6 px at the delivered 704px body width. It reads as sanctuary enrichment
or a planter rather than dumped rubbish, but the claim is now qualified rather than absolute.

**Why this replaced the first pick, and the rule it trades away.** The original choice for this slot was
`mae-wang-mahout-elephant-river.jpg` — same sanctuary, same photographer, same day, a mahout wading a
river beside a free-walking elephant holding cut sugarcane (checked at 100% to confirm sugarcane and NOT
a bullhook). It satisfied the house rule that this slot show *a mahout or keeper with the elephant*. A
decorrelated reviewer then measured the mahout as **face-identifiable in the 1920w variant that actually
ships on retina**, and no model release is obtainable from a stranger in a third-party CC photo — CC
BY-SA conveys copyright only, never personality rights. Swapped rather than shipped: the consent risk was
real and unfixable, while the keeper rule is a house preference whose underlying intent (show the
no-riding model) this frame meets at least as well. The rejected file stays in Licensed Stock, flagged
`identifiable_faces=true`, available if a release is ever obtained.

Rejected first, all opened at pixel level: five Commons "mahout" frames showing mahouts seated on the
elephants' necks with bullhooks and neck chains; a Thai Elephant Conservation Center line-up with the
same; a posed trunk-around-the-head tourist moment with a legible branded cap and tourists in
background; a Western tourist hand-feeding across a steel handrail; an Elephant Nature Park frame that
was subject-clean but failed the luxury bar on a blown white sky, a green tarp, a corrugated shed and a
debris-strewn foreground; and a Maesa Elephant Camp frame rejected on provenance, since naming a camp
that is not a no-riding operation would undercut the post regardless of how clean the frame looked.

`mae-klang-luang-rice-terraces.jpg` - 2400x1600, resized from the 4752x3168 original, EXIF stripped,
and COLOUR GRADED. The source was saturation-clipped — mean saturation 0.760, p90 1.000, with 8.78% of
pixels crushed to near-black — and a decorrelated reviewer failed it on quality as an over-cooked
postcard rather than premium editorial, and failed the SET on the 0.46 saturation gap between it and its
neighbour. Regraded from the original rather than by re-compressing the shipped file: saturation pulled
to 58% toward luminance, black floor lifted 6%. Measured after: mean 0.364, p90 0.574, near-black 0.03%,
which sits 0.04 from the elephant image beside it.
Photo: Voranat Rajchatan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. In-body, "On the ground".
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rice_terrace_at_Ban_Mae_Klang_Luang.jpg
Rice terraces stepping down a slope below a stilted timber field house with a corrugated roof. Shot
2018-08-12 on a Canon EOS 50D at 17mm, f/7.1, ISO 200 — real camera EXIF, genuine photography, not AI.
Geotagged 18°32'12"N 98°31'17"E, Ban Mae Klang Luang, Doi Inthanon National Park, Chiang Mai. Place
verified from the source page. Ban Mae Klang Luang is a Karen community-run homestay village on the
Doi Inthanon side of the Chom Thong–Mae Chaem road, which is the closest genuine match available to
the post's "one night up in the hills toward Mae Chaem".
NO people in frame at all, so no model release is in question and the "no identifiable faces" rule for
this slot is satisfied absolutely rather than by judgement. No signage, no logos, no vehicles. Human
presence reads only as evidence — a working field house and cultivated terraces — which is what the slot
brief asked for.
KNOWN MARKS, corrected: an earlier draft of this entry claimed "no litter, no plastic anywhere in frame."
That was false. A white plastic bucket and a blue plastic container sit under the stilted field house at
source x995-1025, y500-520 — roughly 9x5 px at the delivered 704px body width, not discernible on screen.
The image is unchanged; the record is.
SUPPLIER CLAIM, withdrawn: the alt text originally read "the Karen community that hosts the group's one
night in the hills", which named a specific village as OUR homestay supplier on a public page. The geotag
verifies where the photo was taken, not who hosts our groups, and the body copy never names a village —
it says "the hills toward Mae Chaem". Alt text in all 5 locales now reads "in the Karen hill country
where the group spends one night", describing the region rather than claiming the supplier. If Ban Mae
Klang Luang genuinely IS the homestay, the stronger wording can be restored on supplier confirmation.
Rejected first: the entire Commons "Karen people in Thailand" category, which is dominated by a
commercial **Pattaya "ethnic village"** attraction — the literal staged performance this post disavows
in its own body copy, and a serious authenticity trap for anyone matching on the word "Karen" alone.
Also rejected: three "Chang Khoeng, Mae Chaem District" panoramio uploads whose geotags are wrong —
they are actually Doi Inthanon summit attractions, one of them an ornamental flower garden with
elephant statues, legible Thai signage and tourists; a Mae Chaem terrace shot whose left third is
slash-and-burn scar under a blown sky, which is a poor thing to publish while the Travelife
application is open; and a 3.77:1 Mae Chaem panorama that both rendered as a thin 187px strip at body
width and closely echoed the site's existing `chiang-mai-doi-inthanon-hills-argenberg.jpg`.

## KNOWN_GAPS reconciliation — 38 credits that existed here and nowhere else (2026-08-17)

The frozen attribution-debt ledger in `scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs` went from **64
entries to 26**. Nothing was researched and nothing was sourced: all 38 already had a real, named,
dated credit **in this file** and no row in `content/photo-attributions.json`, which is the file the
website and the PDF generators actually read. The credit existed and reached no reader.

The worst of it was the two **supplier grants**. 10 of the 12 `banyan-tree-samui-*` files and 8 of
the 9 `burasari-phuket-*` files were listed in the grant block at the top of this file — named
contact, dated, "used solely to promote" — while only one of each set had a machine-readable entry.
For those two properties the courtesy credit is a **condition of the grant**, so the missing rows
were a breach risk rather than untidiness. The other 20 were Wikimedia Commons and Pexels/Unsplash
frames credited in the sections above: **7 under CC BY or CC BY-SA, where attribution is legally
required** (`cu-chi-tunnels-interior`, `hai-van-pass`, `mekong-golden-triangle`,
`phnom-penh-wat-phnom`, `saigon-central-post-office`, `siem-reap-river`, `wat-doi-tung-chiang-rai`),
and 13 under CC0, Public Domain, Pexels or Unsplash terms where the credit is courtesy only.

All seven attribution-required rows carry **no `sourceUrl`**, because this file never recorded
one for them and none was invented — the field is omitted rather than guessed. Recovering those
Commons file URLs is the obvious next pass; the photographer and licence are on record, so the
obligation is met in the meantime.

One resolution was checked mechanically rather than taken on trust. `mekong-delta-palm-canal.jpg`
had no credit line of its own; it is named *inside* the `mekong-delta-sampan-canal.jpg` record as
another surface of the same Vitaly Gariev frame. Cropping the palm-canal file to the documented
sampan region of the 4030x2689 Pexels master and diffing the two gives a mean absolute channel
difference of **0.97/255** — the same master, not a similar photo.

**The 26 that remain are refusals, not a backlog.** The reason for each is recorded once, in the
`KNOWN_GAPS` comment block in `scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs`, and deliberately not
copied here: the four groups are Canva/"Upto invest" files with no readable licence chain (9 — five
more than the four found on 2026-08-15: `halong-dinh-huong`, `ninh-binh-trang-an`, `saigon-skyline`,
`sapa-fansipan-summit`, `sapa-muong-hoa-terraces` all carry the same by-line), the 1350x900 /
1013x675 zero-EXIF web-download fingerprint (4), DJI FC6310 aerials from the collected third-party
Ba Na Hills folder (4 — `partners-hero.jpg` matches `hero-ba-na-hills-cloud-sea.jpg`'s camera body,
capture date *and* Photoshop version, so it is from the folder this file already warns about), and
real photography with no name recorded anywhere (10, including both `-argenberg`-suffixed files —
a filename suffix is not a licence).

`saigon-skyline.jpg` is the one to fix first: 31 references, more than any other unattributed file
on the site, and its embedded title is "Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Skyline" over a Canva render.

### Orphans — attribution rows that outlived their photographs

The ratchet only ever ran one way: it caught an image with no credit, never a credit with no image.
It now also warns on the reverse. Four rows pointed at files nothing referenced any more, **12.97 MB
still served in full at their public URLs** (byte counts below, decimal):

- `chiang-rai-night-bazaar-fussan.jpg` — 12.01 MB, by far the largest
- `hoi-an-hong-lanh-bridge.jpg` — 574 KB, replaced by `hue-citadel-ceremonial-gate.jpg` on 2026-08-15
- `phu-chi-fa-first-light-safeown.jpg` — 47 KB
- `chiang-rai-tea-terraces-miner.jpg` — 333 KB

**DELETED 2026-08-17 — all four files, 12,968,271 bytes.** The exposure was measured live first, the
way `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` was: each of the four answered **HTTP 200 `image/jpeg`** at its public
URL with a `content-length` byte-identical to the file on disk. Zero references were confirmed across
`content/`, `src/`, `cli/`, `scripts/`, `messages/` and the root configs — including a template-literal
and glob sweep, because a plain filename grep cannot see a path a template assembles, and on this
branch that distinction already spared the IndexNow key and the eight trade-pack PDFs. Nothing on the
site builds a destination photo path that way, and the near-miss filenames that share their
fragments — `chiang-rai-resort-pavilions-dusk-miner.jpg`, `doi-mae-salong-tea-terraces.jpg`,
`halong-sampan-first-light.jpg`, `phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-panorama.jpg`, `phu-chi-fa-sea-of-mist-sunrise.jpg` —
are different, still-live photographs and were left untouched.

**The credit lines above and in the dated sections stay, permanently.** They are the record that we
held a licence and honoured its attribution term while the image was published; deleting them would
erase the evidence rather than the exposure. The four `content/photo-attributions.json` rows were
removed in the same pass, per the procedure `scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs` prescribes at
its orphan check. Deletion closes the exposure only once the site redeploys — until then the CDN
still serves what is no longer in the repo.

Also unreferenced, and *not* caught by that check because it has no ledger row at all:
`experiences-hero.jpg`, 724 KB, whose only surviving trace anywhere in the repo is a passing mention
inside another entry's `modifications` note. That one is still undeleted — it is outside this pass's
file scope — and as `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` established on 2026-08-16, retiring the references is
not the same as closing the exposure.

Two images shipping in the client-facing Experience Menu PDF have **no entry in either ledger**:
`experiences/northern-thailand/local-food.jpg` (447 KB) and `experiences/hoi-an-dusk.png` (13.3 MB).
The page-level gate cannot see them because `content/experiences-menu.json` writes its paths without
a leading slash, which is the same class of blind spot that hid `experiences/ha-long-bay-classic.png`
until 2026-08-16.

## The owned-image exemption was a filename, and it was wrong three times (2026-08-17)

`scripts/validate-image-attributions.mjs` exempts `public/real-*`, `public/team/`, `public/paidai-*`
and `*-paidai.jpg` from needing any credit — **on the strength of the filename alone.** So naming a
third-party photograph `real-something.jpg` made it permanently invisible to the gate, and the gate
could never record its own negative case. That is not theoretical. It has now happened three times:

1. `real-hanoi-red-bridge.jpg` — caught 2026-08-15, retired and deleted 2026-08-16 as most likely an
   unlicensed web download (1350x900, zero EXIF).
2. `real-an-bang-beach-hoi-an.jpg` — **Canva, by-line "Upto invest", 1350x900.** Worse than the
   first, because this file had an affirmative written claim of Pai Dai ownership in *this file*,
   now withdrawn above.
3. `paidai-drone-temple-mist.jpg` — **byte-identical (md5 `975e83bf52…`) to `partners-hero.jpg`**,
   which sits in `KNOWN_GAPS` as unattributed third-party debt. One photograph, two filenames, and
   the two names put the same bytes on opposite sides of the rights ledger: "ours, no credit owed"
   under one, "unattributed debt" under the other. Its EXIF (DJI FC6310, 2019-03-26 05:42:05,
   Photoshop CC 2015, GPS 15°59'51"N) is the Ba Na Hills fingerprint this file already warns about
   as a *collected third-party* folder carrying an "AXEO" copyright tag and predating Pai Dai's own
   drone work.

A fourth is implicated by session forensics rather than by a single tag.
`paidai-bangkok-corporate-hotel.jpg` carries **NIKON D850 serial 6035771, AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G,
Photoshop 24.0, 2022-12-10 08:25** — the same body, the same lens and the same edit session as
`contact-bg-resort.jpg` (10:33 that same morning) and `services-business-travel.jpg` (2022-12-06),
both of which this file already describes as reading "like uncredited supplier/property marketing
photos, not stock". Either all three are ours or none are. Today only the prefix decides, and it
decides on nothing. `real-mice-ballroom.jpg` (1620x1080) and `real-hotel-lobby.jpg` (1657x1080)
share that delivery geometry with EXIF stripped.

**The fix: a second frozen ledger, `OWNERSHIP_UNVERIFIED`, on the same ratchet terms as
`KNOWN_GAPS`.** Seven live files claim ownership through a filename with nothing behind it; they are
warned and counted on every build, never silent, and the list may shrink but never grow. A **NEW**
`real-*` / `paidai-*` / `*-paidai.jpg` image now **fails the build** unless a ledger entry records
*why* it is ours — camera and date, trip, library folder, vault index row. That makes the exemption
additive-only, which is the property it lacked. Corroboration deliberately means a
`content/photo-attributions.json` entry and **not** a mention in this file: `real-an-bang-beach-hoi-an.jpg`
was mentioned here, and the mention was the false claim itself.

Six files were cleared into the ledger the same day, which sets the bar:

- `koh-surin-beach-paidai.jpg`, `koh-surin-island-paidai.jpg`, `koh-surin-longtail-paidai.jpg`,
  `koh-surin-reef-paidai.jpg`, `koh-surin-snorkeling-paidai.jpg` — Pai Dai's own drone originals,
  April 2026, per the vault Photography Library Index and corroborated by this file's own hero-section
  record of the same session (`hero-koh-surin-reef-aerial.jpg`, "Pai Dai drone, 13 Apr 2026. Ours.").
  EXIF stripped by the delivery resize, so the written record is the evidence.
- `real-golden-triangle-archway.jpg` — corroborated three ways: the positive statement in the
  2026-07-18 section of this file, **intact camera EXIF** (Apple iPhone 14, 2025-12-19 14:48:45,
  GPS 20°21'11.52"N, which is the Sop Ruak area the filename claims), and the same camera and trip as
  `hero-ban-rak-thai-blue-hour.jpg` ("Ryan & Sally, iPhone 14, 24 Dec 2025"), five days apart.

`public/team/` is exempt from the new check by design, not by oversight: those eight files are
portraits of named team members produced by an in-repo pipeline
(`scripts/process-team-photos.mjs`), so provenance is structural, and a rights row per staff headshot
would be paperwork with no rights question behind it.

**Contradiction to settle, unrelated to licensing:** the 2026-08-14 `/services` section above refers
to "the same defect that retired `real-mice-ballroom`" — but that file is still live on 6 surfaces.
Either the retirement never happened or the note is wrong.

## How to brief a DMC journal post (2026-08-23)

One Pexels-licensed file for `how-to-brief-a-dmc-thailand-vietnam` across all five locales. The
owned Dropbox library was searched first and returned nothing usable: it holds no office, document
or workshop photography at all, so this is external by necessity rather than convenience. It carries
no owned prefix and no `-paidai.jpg` suffix, because it is not ours.

- `tailor-workbench-cutting-fabric.jpg` — Hands and forearms guiding shears through chalk-marked dark
  cloth on a tailor's cutting table; no face, the person is cropped at the collar. Pavel Danilyuk /
  Pexels / Pexels License. 3600x2403. Chosen as the cover because the post's analogy runs on a tailor
  from the opening line to the closing one. Lower-band luminance was measured, not eyeballed
  (mean 38.8/255), because a pale lower frame put a previous post's headline at 1.43:1 against a 3:1
  bar. Measured on the rendered page after placement: worst glyph pixel 9.99:1.

**A second image was sourced for this post, placed, and then pulled. Recording it because the
failure mode is the reusable part.** `printed-cost-sheet-pen-desk.jpg` (RDNE Stock project / Pexels)
was a printed accounting statement, chosen to sit under a paragraph about a costing sheet. The
sourcing pass cropped the organisation's name out of the top of the frame and cleared it. The
RENDERED page then showed what the source-level check could not: the surviving column labels read
`Senior Housing`, `Senior Centers`, `Fundraising`, `Bad debt expense`, identifying it as a US
non-profit's FY2018 functional-expense statement, in dollars, directly contradicting the paragraph
above it, which describes rows for Hotel, Guide, Vehicle, Entrances and Meals. Two decorrelated
reviewers caught it independently on the rendered page; neither the attribution gate nor the cover
gate could have. **Cropping an identifying header does not de-identify a document: the body of a
form often names its own domain, and only reading it at render size finds that out.** File deleted,
ledger entry removed, post ships cover-only.

## Thailand 450 baht tourist fee journal post (2026-08-23)

- `thailand-limestone-karsts-twilight.jpg` — Limestone karsts standing in glassy water at twilight on
  the Andaman coast, Thailand. No people, no boats, no signage anywhere in frame. Olivier Bergeron /
  Pexels / Pexels License. 2880x1745, 389KB.
  Licence page read 2026-08-23 and quoted in the ledger: "All photos and videos on Pexels are free to
  use", "Attribution is not required", "You can modify the photos and videos from Pexels". Each
  restriction was checked rather than assumed: no identifiable people appear, the file is modified
  (cropped, resized, re-encoded) rather than resold unaltered, no endorsement is implied, it is not
  redistributed to another stock platform, and it is not used as any trade or service mark.
  **Place claim is deliberately country level only.** The Pexels description says Thailand and the
  uploader tags read Phang Nga Bay, but that sub location rests entirely on uploader supplied
  metadata and nothing corroborates it, so neither the filename nor the page names Phang Nga. Ha Long
  and Krabi produce near identical karst silhouettes, which is exactly why a tag is not evidence.
  Chosen over six stronger looking Chao Phraya and Wat Arun frames because `public/` already holds
  six of those, and `wat-arun-night-delso.jpg` already carries this same "the trip itself is
  unchanged" argument inside the sibling post that links here. A seventh river frame would have put
  two near identical pictures side by side in the related posts rail.
  Sunset frames were rejected as a class: a golden sky sells a destination, and this post exists to
  tell an operator that nothing has happened yet and to check a contract clause. Blue hour reports,
  it does not seduce.