Monday, January 7, 2008

Tidbits: Heaven and Hell

I rented a bike in Phang Nga, Thailand and set off to see a National Park and the Heaven and Hell Temple. The National Park was beautiful, full of waterfalls, caves, cliffs and other limestone formations. I went swimming with a bunch of Thai school girls who had coaxed me into the water. They like most Thai's went swimming fully clothed. It was a good start to the day. When I finished seeing the park and had a spicy ass lunch I headed over to the Heaven and Hell Temple. It was hard to find but when I did it started out as a pretty cool thing. A huge dragon was the entry point (in the pictures) and you had to walk through it's mouth and belly to get to the temple. Coming out of the dragon I was assaulted. The temple weirded me out. (The pictures are on the blog now.) In an area of about one acre there were fifty or so statues of people killing other people in every horrible way imaginable. People being smashed between huge rollers and coming out crinkled and bloody. Large screws being turned into people's bellies, spears into various orifices, and people being eaten by dogs, wolves and other predators. All the people being killed had horrified looks on their faces, blood painted in the appropriate places, and occasionally entrails hanging out of their bodies. It was creepy to say the least. I left as quickly as I could. They asked for a donation. I refused.

1 comment:

Elaine Suess said...

Good for you for keeping that cash in your pocket! Those pictures are something. Wonder who thought that was a good idea?

elaine