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...

The Adventures of Justin: Year 9

And here’re Justin’s Year 9 photos. And these are only umm… 4 months late, ahem.


Justin crosses a rope bridge, in a rope course outside the Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya, Thailand – Dec 2017


Justin in the Arabian wilderness (he has picnic-crazy parents!) Somewhere along the new route to Hatta, in an area probably belonging to the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (the internal boundaries of the UAE are mighty confusing…) – Feb 2018


Posing with a falcon at his school, Royal Dubai School – Feb 2018


Justin comes home! (From school camp in Kalba). The first time he spent a night outside home, without his family – Mar 2018


Yawn... When’s the wedding starting? It’s past midnight… Justin & Jayden at his aunt’s wedding in Rohini, Delhi, India – Mar 2018


Mommy gave me a go-kart! – Jun 2018
(Nearly lost it, he parked it beside a quiet road, but the road is used by construction vehicles, and a scumbag of a bus driver took it seeing it parked there. Spoke to some construction workers in the site, and managed to get it returned to us on the same day. Thank God!)


Justin builds the Burj Khalifa …the replica I mean (still, no easy task especially with Jayden around) – Jul 2018


Justin in Armenia, outside the Matenadaran (book repository), Yerevan – Jul 2018


In the city of Tbilisi, Georgia – Aug 2018


Justin with his Georgian friends, Ana (I hope I got the name correct) and her sister (her name escapes me), at the friendliest guest house we’ve ever stayed in, the Green House in Telavi, Georgia, run by the girls’ grandparents


At the walls of the old city of Baku, Azerbaijan – Aug 2018


Justin starts Year 4 at GRDS, with his class teacher, Mr Brice Dempster – Oct 2018


And this is his guitar teacher, Sayan


Justin finds a star! With a live starfish at Jumeirah Beach, Dubai – Oct 2018


Justin at the Hatta Dam (the smaller one, there’re 2 dams in Hatta, the big one is immensely popular, and crowded to the brim, so we headed to the smaller one) – Nov 2018


Brrr... "Papa, it's cold!" In breezy, wet weather …signs of winter starting in Dubai, a few days before his 9th birthday

On his 9th birthday, we visited the Miracle Garden in Dubai, …but I don’t have any interesting pictures of him there, so …that’s all folks! Till we meet again…

Jayden Year 4 Part 2: The Adventures Continue

Hello, I’m back! Jayden, Aug 2018, Tbilisi, Georgia

Finally... Continuing with my earlier post, Jayden Year 4 Part 1, which I posted in Nov last year. Here’re the rest of his adventures. I know it’s 5 months late, but heck, what can I do? The workload is unimaginable, the friggin hard disk holding all the photos crashed (and I’m still not done recovering all the data)… and a whole load of other issues, sigh…

Anyway, here goes!


Jayden with Mommy and Mommy’s & Daddy's Chinese friend, who was gonna shift back to China for good, May 2018


Jayden with the twins from Lebanon, friends from the building we’re staying in, Jun 2018


Jayden graduates! (From Foundation Stage 1), Jun 2018


Jayden’s FS1 teacher, Ms Abby Olofin, from Nigeria. (Coincidentally, Justin’s first teacher was also Nigerian)


Wassup Jayden? What’s bothering you?


“Oh, who’s that?”


“Hello, are you a princess?”


“Mommy, she didn’t talk to me…” Jayden meets an Armenian girl, Jul 2018, Khor Virap, Armenia


High up in the Caucasus Mountains, Tusheti National Park, Georgia


Jayden with Captain Pakistan (Romaisa, our neighbour’s little girl and Jayden’s closest friend among the neighbours), Aug 2018


Jayden at a playdate, with his koko, Aria (Justin’s school friend) and Vivah (Aria’s little sister), Aug 2018, PizzaExpress Live, Bay Square, Dubai


That’s what you get when you leave a 3-year-old alone by himself at home – He was trying to be a clown!


Finally, 4 years old! With his koko and Romaisa

A Dark Day in Paradise

Leaving a small tribute to the many innocent lives lost in the insane mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It is a sick attack on defenceless men, women and children, in a peace-loving country that has kept away from the atrocities of the world. I don’t know why he did it, but he deserves the death penalty, if there was one in NZ, and I hope he rots in hell.

As for those who are no longer with us, …God bless them and their loved ones, …Make it easy for those who are still with us, to continue with hope and love…

Putting some photos of the South Island, NZ. These are from the closest place we’ve ever got to Christchurch itself. The South Island is a beautiful place, which has retained much of its natural, unspoilt environment, with a small population. A paradise on earth, I'd say. It’s the last place I think, anyone would attack, being so far away from the rest of the world. …But even this place, didn’t escape the madness that’s going around in the world. Sad.


Lake Pukaki, Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a rainy day, South Island, New Zealand


Lavender Farm, Aoraki / Mt Cook Road


Into the gloom, this was the only rainy day, in our 1 week in the South Island in Dec 2018. Really lucky, considering that some parts of the South Island rains 70% of the time (like Milford Sound)


Reached Mt Cook Village!


The Hermitage Hotel, Aoraki


There, in the gloom, is Aoraki (Mt Cook)! Alas, we couldn’t see it due to the rain


Aoraki National Park, in the rain


On the drive out, Aoraki Mt Cook Road


Lake Pukaki


Anu at Lake Pukaki