Inside a Mythical Elephant

The world inside an elephant!

I’m back! From a short and hectic 2-week break. First trip overseas since the beginning of 2020!!! Went home to my in-laws in India for the first time after 5 years. (Our last India home visit was in Mar 2017).

But that home trip story would have to wait. (What? It’s a long story, OK? And all the photos are still in the phones. Plus, so many unexpected things happened. We planned like for a hundred things to be done, and we ended up with ummm… OK, more than half done! Not that bad after all). Anyway, while I pick up the bits from where I left off from work, and recover from the holiday blues, here’s a short picture post to commemorate the many festivals and new years that are happening this week! Happy Vaisakhi! Happy Easter! Ramadan Mubarak! Happy New Year to the Tamils, Keralites (Vishu), Thais (Songkran), Bengalis, Nepalis, Assamese (Bihu), Sri Lankans, Burmese (Thingyan), Laotians, Cambodians! Etc, etc, etc.

Since it’s Songkran, here’s something from Thailand! Ever gone inside a mythical creature? Here we go, venturing into the body of a mythical three-headed elephant!


Whoa, what’s that? A towering elephant monster?


The Erawan Museum, Thailand

This is the last of Khun (Mr) Lek Viriyaphan’s creation featured in this blog. (Yep, we happened to visit all three!) Khun Lek was an eccentric Thai millionaire businessman and arts patron who created fantastic landmarks such as Ancient Siam (aka Ancient City) and the Sanctuary of Truth, in addition to the Erawan Museum.


Anu, Erawan Museum, Thailand


Guess who this is? Yes, it’s chubby Jayden when he was 3 years old! This visit was in Dec 2017. What about Justin? Check out this post for Justin’s pics at that time.


And that’s Dad and Hazel!




The intricately ornate shrines inside the Erawan Museum’s main elephant structure




Peaceful grounds of the Erawan Museum


Finally, the shrine in the belly of the mythical elephant

On this day of celebrations and festivities, God, grant us humans the wisdom to make peace, instead of war. Let cooler heads prevail, oh God. Amen.

Rock, Flower, Creatures

Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month, is expected to start in 2 days’ time. And Songkran, Thailand’s New Year (which incidentally coincides with many new years in South Asia and South East Asia) will also happen at the same time. This year, the festivals will, I think, be like last year, low key, with social distancing and masks. COVID-19 unfortunately, is still around and thriving, sigh!

I’m going back to flower parks for my post (that’s what I posted two posts back – Dubai’s Miracle Garden). Here’s a park I called the Confused Park of Thailand. You’ll see why in a moment…


The Confused Park of Thailand

The official name of the park is, wait for it… the Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm. Nice long, descriptive name, what else do you want? So it’s a park of million-year-old stones (from who knows where? It’s either in Thai or not labelled. Besides, how do they even know that it's a million years old?) It has nice, manicured plants (it's a park, OK?) And of course, crocodiles, because it's a friggin Crocodile Farm, so sez its name. And no, that’s not all, there’re also giraffes (yeah, in friggin Thailand), giant catfish, and you name it. So it should be more appropriately named as the Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm, and Zoo, and Lake Gardens. See for yourself, here goes.


Oh, there IS A LABEL! It sez ‘Ancient wood changed into stone by nature’


No label on this humongous stone though


More stones for your enjoyment


Anu & Hazel, Million Years Stone Park, Pattaya, Thailand


Potted Plant Arch!


Jurassic World… Nah, just a waterfall pool


Yours truly, at Million Years Stone Park


CROCODILES!!! It’s a crocodile farm, didn’t I tell you? It comes complete with a crocodile stunt show where a performer sticks his head into the opened jaws of a crocodile and pulls it out seconds before the crocodile snaps it shut. I’d have probably done the same if I were that crocodile. Who’d want to taste the oily head of a man? Yecch…


And of all creatures. …Giraffes!?! How did they get here from Africa???


Giant catfish


The kids with their granddad feeding the carps (and here’s a link to another photo of the kids and granddad at Million Years Stone Park)


A shrine at the Million Years Stone Park & Crocodile Farm, Pattaya, Thailand

OK, see you. For those who’re fasting, Ramadan Kareem. For those who’re celebrating their new years, Happy New Year! Stay healthy, stay safe. May you have a blessed time wherever you are.

Christmas in a Tainted Paradise

Family Pic – Garden Cliff Hotel, Pattaya, Thailand

Merry Christmas everyone! Just in time to squeeze in one Christmas post before the day itself!

All this sad news lately, and work, and clearing some accumulated annual leaves before the end of the year, leaves me pretty little time to write or to sort thru the huge amount of photos we’ve taken thru the years, and boy, we take photos like there’s no tomorrow…

So here’s a picture post from the past, of photos I’ve sorted out before. It’s sort of a continuation from my Bangkok post a couple of posts back. It’s on our family trip to Pattaya. Here goes…




Let’s start with Christmas Trees. How can you have Christmas without Christmas trees? – Central Festival Pattaya


Christmas Tree at the lobby of the Garden Cliff Resort, the hotel we finally ended up with after the room we booked sold us out. We booked an apartment on Booking.com in advance, kept calling before we arrived but no one responded, went to the place but couldn’t get in. Ended up having to book another room… Pah, piece of shit!




More views of the Garden Cliff Hotel – Nice pool but didn’t get a chance to swim




You can see the Sanctuary of Truth from the hotel, but there’s no direct access. You gotta go by car – Views from Garden Cliff Resort, Pattaya




Seafood! Our hotel is in the north part of Pattaya (Na Kluea), a fishing area – here’s the fishing dock where we had seafood in a restaurant just in front of the docks (which Google Maps labelled as Shell Tangkay)




Finally, Pattaya’s famous Walking Street filled with pubs, night clubs, massage parlours, what have you, etc. That’s what attracts party-goers and youngsters here… The last we visited Pattaya were with Alan and friends in ummm… the early 2000’s. I can remember quite clearly because we were stopped and fined by the police for riding our motorbikes without helmets, “but our Thai friends said no need…” We had to visit the police station at midnight, and pay the fine to retrieve our rented bikes. It’s not really hefty, but I was surprised to see a long queue of foreigners, white, yellow, black, whatever, at midnight, all waiting for their turns to pay fines… Nice, compared to Malaysia, where you’d have probably bribed the police to let you go as it’s such a hassle to pay your fine (then, in the early 2000s). I sure hope they’ve changed now. The idea I got from this is that if you wanna stem out bribery, you should make it somewhat affordable, and dead easy for offenders to pay

I also remember the jet skis and banana boats we went on in the early 2000’s in the beach. I think it was Jomtien Beach. It was incredible fun, but that was when yours truly was much younger, ahem. Now, you kinda prefer a li’l peace and quiet, don’t ya, haha? Didn’t visit the beach this time round. Went down only to the hotel beach, to snap some photos, nothing much. But Pattaya feels really congested, filled chock-a-block with high-rises and buildings. Still nice, but I think more suited to the younger hip crowd.

That’s all for now folks. If I don’t see you before the year end, Happy 2021 ! ! !

A Visit to a Feisty Aunt

This is a continuation of my last post, remembering my feisty aunt who passed away about 2 weeks back. She had a sharp tongue that would shoot down nonsense a mile away. This post is of the time we visited our aunt in Bangkok in Dec 2017, after we learnt of her sickness from my dad. She was at that time, staying with my cousin brother Alan (her son) and his wife in Bangkok. We arranged to meet up with Dad and Hazel in Bangkok, and we visited our aunt in Bangkok’s Nakornthorn Hospital just a day before she was transferred back to our hometown of Ipoh, Malaysia. Her children (my cousins Emily and Alan) had arranged this to keep aunt happy, because she felt more at home in Ipoh. We knew of this only after we finalized our Bangkok trip. Had we known before, we might not have taken the Bangkok trip at all, since we would also be back in Ipoh, later on, on the same trip. But it was nice to see my aunt and uncle, my cousins (their children) Emily, and Alan and his wife altogether in one place.

Aunt’s tongue was as sharp as ever, sarcastic at the slightest opportunity, and funny. Although her body was frail, more so in 2019 in Ipoh when we last met her, there was no dent in her mind, or her spirit. Despite being only a housewife, she's knowledgeable beyond what you'd expect. I remember her telling me years ago (yup, I’m quite chatty with my elders, hehe) that she’d read every article in the newspapers when she was younger to pass time while doing part time baby-sitting work at home in Ipoh. God bless her.

Here’re pictures of our time in Bangkok 2017. No, there’re no pictures of aunt or the hospital visit (who friggin snaps photos in a sick ward?).


Bhumibol Bridge across the Menam (River) Chao Phraya, Bangkok – view from our hotel room at Riverfront Residence, SV City, Bangkok




More views of the Menam Chao Phraya from SV City – This is the usual place we stay at, in Bangkok, if we’re on a family trip, as it’s close to cousin Alan’s apartment. Incidentally, this was also the same place we stayed at, on our previous family trip to Bangkok in 2005, with dear ol’ grandma when she was still alive… Alas, it was granny's last overseas trip... I miss her still


The kids with Dad and Hazel in our hired van for our visit. Road trip ahead!




The Three-Headed Elephant (Erawan Museum) was one of the places we visited. We also visited Pattaya, since we had an extra 3 days in Thailand, but that’ll be another story, ahem…


We actually visited Bangkok TWICE in one trip in Dec 2017. That’s because we booked a return flight to Bangkok from Dubai, not to Malaysia. We first visited Bangkok to visit our aunt, then flew back to Malaysia, and when we were due to return to Dubai, flew back to Bangkok from Malaysia to board our return flight! For the flights to and from Malaysia, we used Bangkok's old Don Mueang Airport. For the flights to Dubai, it's the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, quite a lot of hassle actually. Here we're having dinner at a road side restaurant in Lat Krabang near Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, where we put up a night before our flight back to Dubai on the next day. How’s the Tom Yam Justin? You think he'd try?!? Anyway, it was yummy!


Sawatdeekha! Enjoy your food! At Lat Krabang (on a corner shop at Prachathon Rd, near the Wat Sangkha Ratcha)


Fried Pork Rice


Pork Neck, one of cousin Alan’s favourite food…


Justin and a pet bunny… or is it a squirrel? …or something else? (I’m pretty bad at animals)


Bye-bye Krung Thep (that’s Thai for Bangkok) – Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand (Hint: In Thai, Suvarnabhumi is pronounced ‘Su-vanna-phoom’, no ‘r’, no ‘bh’… Live with it, that's Thai)

The Sanctuary of Truth

The Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya, Thailand

To those who are celebrating their new years in April, Happy New Year!

This is my yearly (almost) Songkran (Thai New Year) post. I love festivals. They are my shortcuts to updating my blog. Just post a whole bunch of photos, and wish everyone for the occasion! Hah!

The Sanctuary of Truth (Prasat Satjatham) is an incredible temple monument work of art dreamt up by Mr Lek Viriyaphant, an eccentric Thai millionaire, who lived between 1914 and 2000. The entire structure, all 105m tall of it, is constructed completely from wood, without a single metal nail (or so claims some website). Construction started in the 80’s and is still going on. (It’s projected to be completed between 2025 to friggin 2050!) It’s like a continuously built structure, with old parts being replaced and refurbished, as new parts are being completed, due to it being made entirely from timber, and is located on a small sandy promontory jutting out into the sea. This interestingly, creates continuous work for woodcarvers, improving their skills, and preserving the art. By the way, this is the second creation of Khun Lek (Mr Lek) featured in my blog, the first being Ancient City. Enjoy!


It’s a family visit! The kids, with dad and Hazel – Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya, Chonburi Province, Thailand


Anu & Hazel at the Sanctuary of Truth. And here’s a selfie taken at the Sanctuary of Truth


We have to wear hard hats to enter the Sanctuary! It’s a construction site after all…


Justin and a gong (no, the gong is metal, but everything else is wood)


Heck, even the lift is wooden!


It contains Thai, Cambodian, Chinese and Indian motifs


Elaborate windows


Decorations in the interior


Can you spot Justin?


There you are, little Jayden!


Justin on a rope bridge (aka Burma bridge) on a rope course outside the Sanctuary of Truth. Nope, no one else from our family tried. Saw other adults struggling to get thru with some giving up! Justin did fine though.

Happy Songkran! Happy Thingyan! Happy Vaisakhi! Happy Bohag Bihu! Happy Vishu! Happy New Year to all the others that I've not managed to name...