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.

Remnant of an Empire

Hey, isn’t that the Colosseum? But why are there camels??

The news of the Russia-Ukraine war is highly disturbing. To me, nothing justifies war. Is it really necessary to bomb and kill countless innocent people to teach another nation a lesson? To deter them from going against your wishes? Are you their overlord? Toe the line or die? Any person who does that (i.e. invade, kill) to a non-cooperative neighbour would be guilty of manslaughter, murder, etc, etc, etc. But when governments fight, all gloves are off, I guess.

Despite the clear circumstances of Russia being the aggressor here, unfortunately, there’re still scores of people (especially from the east, the China-Islamic sphere of influence I call) who’re blaming the west. I don’t completely blame them. Some of the west’s actions are clearly self-centred and aimed at undermining their opponents, like this time where the USA can easily declare that Ukraine isn’t gonna be admitted into the NATO. Simple, right? Nah, not apparently for the US. Maybe they want the war to happen. There’s nothing to lose for the US, and everything to lose for the Russians and the Ukrainians. But still, it is the Russians who blatantly invaded an independent country whose people had chosen to go their own way. Is that acceptable? Did Ukraine attack Russia or carry out any acts of aggression against Russia? I dunno what Putin actually wants. To recreate the USSR’s sphere of influence before the collapse of communism? He should understand that it’s not gonna be so easy if the people decide to resist. Just look at Yemen and see how long the Saudi-led coalition is stuck battling a ragtag group of tribal clans.

Borders are manmade and they change throughout history, especially when empires break apart, and new nations are born. We’ve seen that in the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, among others. The USSR being a successor of the Russian Empire is no different. Isn’t it better to win a nation by an act of benevolence, than by the use of force and fear? Especially in this age of information? I don’t see any nation that’ll stay content if their nation is forced to accept the lordship of another foreign nation, whether they’re related or not. Anyway, I hope Russia stops the war soon, and some settlement is reached. Pray that no more civilians die or lose their homes. Pray that normalcy and sanity returns. Pray that Ukrainians and Russians can live together again. Choose peace, not war. There’re a lot of reasons for peace, if both sides can just forget about bloody defence and weapons. I’d love to visit Russia and Ukraine. In fact, in Dec 2019, we were choosing between Ukraine and Tunisia to visit and finally settled on Tunisia, due to the blizzard in Ukraine. And we had planned to visit Russia in the summer of 2020 if friggin COVID hadn’t hit. I’ve aborted visiting Russia numerous times since 1995, when I was a student in the UK and nearly booked an Aeroflot flight transiting Moscow en route from Manchester back to KL. Looks like it’ll take some time for it to materialize, sigh…

Talking about empires and holidays, here’s a picture post about an empire long gone – when the Romans ruled North Africa.


This is the El Jem Amphitheatre in El Jem, Tunisia


It is nearly 1800 years old and was the amphitheatre of the town of Thysdrus during Roman times

We stayed a night in an El Jem hotel in between our journey from Kairouan to Gabes, and visited the amphitheatre in the morning. This is the best ‘reasonably priced’ hotel we’ve stayed in so far as a family! Just look at the bathroom!!


Bathroom of the Hotel Julius, complete with a smackin Jacuzzi!


The boys loved it! Till now, they talk about going back to Hotel Julius!


The hotel upgraded us for free. It was some sort of a suite I think, separate bedroom and living room, with generous amounts of bath soaps, shampoos, toiletries, towels, coffee, tea sachets, etc. And there’s even a large balcony with a nice view of the city and the amphitheatre. What more can we ask for? – View from Hotel Julius, El Jem, Tunisia

The only problem with the hotel, was that it seems to be the favourite meeting place for the locals and their cigarettes, effectively converting the entire lobby into a huge smoking room. And because the hotel rooms are on the upper floors of the hotel surrounding the large central open lobby, the smell of smoke seeps into the rooms. We resorted to stuffing towels below the room door to keep the cigarette smoke out, and luckily our bedroom had a separate door from the living room…


The smoking lobby…


View of El Jem city from the amphitheatre. The yellow building in the middle left, below the communication tower, is Hotel Julius, and the 2 upper windows just left of the dome, was our room


Justin, dwarfed by the immense ruins…




Ruins of the Thysdrus Amphitheatre, El Jem, Tunisia


This is the underground part where the gladiators and lions are kept I suppose


Bye! Family pic, El Jem Amphitheatre, Tunisia, Dec 2019

A Day for Flowers

A farm of flowers, Asimah Village, Fujairah Emirate


Happy Valentine’s Day! Now, if only I know what to get the missus… Of course, there’ll be flowers, that’s friggin MANDATORY (even if it costs a bomb on Valentine’s), that and a card. That’s a really small price, compared to the things she’s done for me. I’m talking about the other gift… ummm… gimme some inspiration, God.

Anyway, here’s a quick picture post of a flower farm we visited last year just for the occasion. It’s in Asimah village in the Emirate of Fujairah.














Flower Farm, Asimah, Fujairah, UAE


Flowers & hills, a view from the Al Taiba Heritage Museum, Fujairah Emirate, UAE


And I’m chucking in photos of the nearby Al Taiba ‘Haritage’ Museum also. This is a ‘museum’ set up by some locals for the benefit of all. Entrance is free!




Al Taiba Heritage Museum


And here’s another free place, next to the Heritage Museum, the Flag Fort, with views of the oasis nearby.

Have a lovely Valentine’s all of you! Now, gotta go gift hunting…

Justin’s Last Year of Childhood

Justin, at Oli-Oli, Dubai, half a month after his 11th birthday, Dec 2020

Justin’s finally becoming an adolescent. He turned 12, two months back. To all of us, he’s a kid, but try booking an air ticket or a hotel stay for him, and you’d find him grouped with the adults! COVID has just made us lose out 2 years of all the fun we could have travelling when he’s just a kid. Here’s a look back at his 12th year’s adventures (it’s only 2 months late, OK?). Like his 11th year, this was a complete year of being stuck in the UAE. UAE’s not bad actually (but just imagine the money we would’ve saved while travelling when Justin’s just a ‘kid’.)


A day at the zoo. Justin’s not really a fan of animals (unlike Jayden), but any outing’s better than none, Dubai Safari Park, Jan 2021


I can flyyyyyy! One of his favourite activities at home, especially when he’s thinking, or in between doing something, like practicing his guitar, or piano… He’s a restless boy, …when he’s not on his computer or tablet that is


At Wadi Shawka, Ras Al Khaimah (the southern part), Feb 2021 – The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah (or RAK for short) is divided into 2 parts which are not joined together. The capital (which is also named Ras Al Khaimah), international airport, ports, etc, are all in the north part of RAK. Southern RAK is an inland exclave consisting of hills, wadis and rural villages near the town of Hatta which belongs to Dubai. (Yup, it’s complicated. Just Google it, willya?)


An outing to a flower farm in the hill village of Asimah, Fujairah, Mar 2021


Another adventure, Wadi Ghub, Fujairah, Mar 2021 – This was our last hiking trip / picnic for the winter season of 2020-2021. From April onwards, the heat goes up and we’d have to wait for the end of the year to get out again!


Oh, stuck in the house again. Playing with his new instrument now, the piano! No, couldn’t find a teacher, so he just used YouTube tutorials, you know the ones where coloured bars fall onto the piano keys where you were supposed to play. He’s getting quite good at it actually. Who says it couldn’t work? – May 2021


The end of Year 6, yippee! Here’s an end-of-the-year outing with his Year 6 classmates at Bounce, Dubai, a trampoline park – June 2021. Some of his best friends are here: from the left, Matei (from Romania), Anton (from Vietnam) and Shaun Linz (from India)


Their first ice skating! At the Galleria Ice Rink, Hyatt Regency Dubai, Jul 2021. Not that difficult, said Justin. Actually, April, May, June and July were the ‘skating months’, where the kids spent almost every other weekend in the Skate Park at Nshama Town Square, with Justin skateboarding and Jayden on roller skates, but somehow, I failed to save many of the photos of those few months into my hard disk. Many of them are gone now from Anu’s phone unfortunately…


After watching La Perle by Dragone, at Al Habtoor City, Dubai – Aug 2021. La Perle is a water-themed theatrical acrobatic show created by the renowned Belgian theatre director, Franco Dragone who was one of the key architects of the famed theatrical circus, the Cirque du Soleil. The La Perle show is staged in a custom made aquatic theatre with pools that can overflow and waterfalls and rain that suddenly appear… Nice!


A trip to Abu Dhabi! At Al Wathba Long Salt Lake – Sep 2021. Finally, a relaxation of the Abu Dhabi border pandemic controls, after more than a year. This is the family’s first trip into Abu Dhabi after ummm… 3 years maybe…


Dubai Expo 2020 opens! …In 2021. Ahhh, what the heck, at least it opened. And it’s fabulous, so many things to see, so many concerts and performances. Here’s Justin trying to 'lift' the Mobility Pavilion, Alif – Oct 2021


At the Kyrgyzstan Pavilion, Dubai Expo2020, Oct 2021


Happy Diwali! Nov 2021


‘A Diwali gift for me?!! Thanks Mommy!’


Justin’s 12th Birthday at home, with a few friends! Jamal (sitting, in red) is a classmate from Kyrgyzstan. The brothers Malik (left), Musab (centre) and Moaz (right) from Egypt stay in the same apartment block as us and go to the same school as Justin and Jayden (the school is just next door to our apartment and can be seen from our house). Moaz and Malik are in the same grade as Justin (although Moaz is a year older than Malik) and Moaz is Justin’s classmate. Musab is in the same grade as Jayden but in different classes

That’s it. And here’s wishing all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Chinese New Year to those who’re still celebrating!! !! !!