Lumpini encounter

What a beautiful day. I think I'll find a sunny spot in this tree to sunbake.



Oh no. A pesky photographer has spotted me. Go away, pleeeease.



He won't go away. I'm outa here.



Bye bye. Don't try to follow me.



photos taken Lumpini Park, Bangkok

Snake temple

Many years ago there was a Chinese Buddhist monk named Chor Soo Kong who came to live in Penang. Like the Buddha he cared for all living creatures—even poisonous snakes. It is said that he gave shelter to snakes from the jungle.

A temple was built in his memory. It was finished about 1850. After it was completed vipers, poisonous snakes, came to stay in the temple. Vipers are still living in the temple today. Although their venom is deadly to humans, they have never been known to attack anyone. The correct name of the temple is Hock Kin Keong, sometimes it's also called the Temple of the Azure Cloud but most people call it the snake temple.


I visited the snake temple recently. There is a room in the temple where there are quite a few snakes. There are some big pythons. You can have your picture taken with them if you wish. There are also a few little guys like this.


Actually, when I got there these snakes were not moving at all. I thought they must be fakes. I asked someone and he said 'No, they like to rest in the daytime. They move around more at night.' Most of them were on a tall stand but this one was on a stand about one metre high. The man prodded it and it started to move. So I took a few photos.


The man explained that all the snakes on the high stand are venomous. They have poison that can kill a man. This one has had the venom removed. They put a red mark on its forehead so they know which one is safe.

I went out the back of the temple where there are some gardens. In trees in the gardens you can see more snakes sleeping.


When I came back inside I took this closeup shot of the snake without any venom.


Some of the others were moving around a little too. So I got on a chair and took this pic of one of them.

Learning to shoot wildlife with a camera

When I was in Thailand recently, my friend, Larry, suggested we go to visit Michel in Kanchanaburi. Michel and his wife, Nong, take fantastic photos of wildlife which they put on flickr. They invited us to come and stay in their house for a few days. Here they are with Nong's grandson.


When we arrived we went to see the Bridge over the River Kwai which was famous in World War II. There was a movie made about it.


The next day we went off into the bush to take photos of wildlife.


Michel is going to give us some tips on taking great wildlife pictures.

After a while, he stopped the Land Cruiser and said 'See, there.'

'What?'

'In the bamboo. Squirrels.'

'Squirrels? I don't see any squirrels. All I see is lots of bamboo.'


Michel pointed and I saw it. Can you see it in the photo above?

Later I got this close-up shot.


I learned the first lesson of shooting wildlife (with a camera). Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

A little further along the track we stopped again beside another clump of bamboo. 'See the bird?'


It took me a while. But I could see it. It's tiny. How did he see it while he was driving?

I got this shot.


And I've learned the second important lesson of shooting wildlife. It's the same as the first. Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

Later we got out of the car and took a walk in the bush. I got this shot all by myself.


OK, so it's only a chicken. But it was free in the bush and it was hard to see against the colour of the straw. Can you see the baby chicken?

Thaipusam

At the moment I am staying in Penang in Malaysia. Like Australia, Malaysia is a country with people from many other countries. There are many Indian people who live here. Indians have many different gods. One of those gods is called Murugan.

Each year in Penang, and in other places, a festival is held so that people can ask for help from the god Murugan. To get Murugan's help people carry a burden. The more difficult the burden, the more help they hope to get.

Some people carry a kavadi on their shoulders for a long walk to the temple.



Some put little hooks in their backs.



Some put big hooks in their backs. Remember, the more pain the more help you want.



Some pierce their mouths and their tongues.



I even saw one who put hooks in his face with coconuts hanging off them.



All this happens at a festival called Thaipusam. You can see more photos I took at the Thaipusam festival here.

love from Grandpa

Butterfly escape

Once upon a time when Grandpa was in Penang his friend took him to visit Penang Butterfly Park.

Penang Butterfly Park has many interesting butterflies and other interesting things too.

Grandpa saw many beautiful butterflies but he didn't touch them.



He saw a delightful duck but he didn't touch it.



He saw a terrifying tarantula and he definitely didn't touch it.



He got really close to a scary scorpion and even though Grandpa is a scorpion too, he didn't touch it.



When Grandpa met the biggest bug he'd ever seen in his life he became very excited. He looked around and everyone seemed to be looking the other way so he kissed it.



Next Grandpa was arrested by a Butterfly Park policeman who pointed to a sign.



They put Grandpa in Butterfly Park jail.



But don't worry, in the middle of the night while Grandpa was asleep a million butterflies flew into the jail and together they picked Grandpa up and flew with him out through a big hole in the roof of the jail. They placed Grandpa gently on the lawn outside the butterfly park.

The next morning when Grandpa woke he realised he was free. He got out of there as quickly as he could.

The end

Dinosaur adventure

Once upon a time when Grandpa was visiting Kalasin in north-east Thailand his friend Larry said, 'You know, John, Kalasin is famous because they found a complete dinosaur skeleton here.'

'I wonder if there are still any dinosaurs around,' said Grandpa.

'Na. Don't you know anything? They died out years ago. But if you like we could go and take a look where they used to be.'

So Larry and Grandpa set out on Larry's motorcycle. When they stopped Grandpa noticed there were lots of pools of water lying on the ground.

'Hey Larry, what do these pools of water look like to you?'

'They look like pools of water. It is the rainy season you know.'

'Yeah but, haven't you noticed they are shaped like dinosaur footprints.'

'John, you have a wonderful imagination.'

'Yeah. Well what do you reckon that is?'

'Larry,' said Grandpa, 'that sure looks like a somethingorothersaurus to me. I wonder if it's friendly.

'John. Don't go any closer.'

'Well there's only one and there's two of us.'

'Oh, yeah? Well look over there.'

'Wow,' said Grandpa. 'This is really cool. Wait'll I tell my grandkids about this.'

'You can only tell them if we get out alive. Look, they're coming closer.



Just then Grandpa felt something bight him on the bum. He turned around and this whatsitosaurus looked like it was looking for a fight. As you can see, Grandpa wasn't afraid he squared right up to it.

And hit it so hard that he pushed its head out of the top of the picture that Larry was taking.

But there were too many of them.

'I think we're done for,' said Larry.

But just then…

...this guy turned up out of nowhere, grabbed Larry and Grandpa in each of its hands and with one mighty leap took them all the way to Bangkok where Grandpa was able to take this picture.

'Now, how am I going to get my motorbike back?' said Larry.

'I guess that's another story,' said Grandpa.

The End

A visit to Hell

In Vientiane there is a place called Buddha Park which has lots of statues of Buddha but it has other statues that are not so friendly as the Buddha statues. It also has this strange building. Inside the building is Heaven, Earth and Hell.


To get into the building you have to go into the monster's mouth. When you are inside it is dark.


You climb some stairs and there are windows so you can look out on the park.


Eventually you come out at the top. But there is another entrance at the top. This one takes you first to Heaven, then to Earth and then…


...to visit the monsters in Hell.

Quick get me outta here!

Would you dare to visit the monsters in Hell?

There are more pictures of Buddha Park here.

love from Grandpa

Sujata

Once upon a time there was a young, beautiful girl named Sujata who wanted a husband and a son. She was told to go to a banyan tree near the river and pray to the tree god.

Later she married a good man and they had a son. Sujata was very happy and always wanted to serve the tree god to show her appreciation.

Sujata had many cows that gave sweet milk. She used this milk to make sweet rice to give as an offering to the tree god.

One day, Sujata's servant went to clean the area under the tree but was surprised to see someone meditating there. The servant ran back to Sujata and said, 'The tree god is meditating under the tree. Now you will be able to give him rice in person.'

But it was not the tree god. It was Siddhartha Gautama meditating under the banyan tree. He was meditating so that he could become the Buddha.

Sujata took the bowl of rice to Siddhartha and bowed respectfully. She said, 'Please accept this rice from me. May you be as successful in obtaining your wishes as I have been.'

Siddhartha ate the rice. He continued to meditate under that tree and in time became enlightened. He achieved his wishes and became the Buddha.

The End

The sculpture of Siddhartha and Sujata was on the wall of a temple in Vientiane, Laos.

Rich Grandpa

Before I left Thailand, I took some money out of the bank and brought it with me to spend on my travels. In Thailand the money is called baht. If you have an Australian dollar and change it into Thai baht you get about 28 baht or maybe not so much now.

The money was in Thai notes each worth 1,000 baht. (Can you work out how many dollars that is worth?)

When I am in another country I go to the money changer and change my Thai baht for the local money. When I am in Cambodia, I get 130,000 reil for 1,000 baht. Now I am in Laos. Today I went to the money changer with 3,000 baht. I got 780,000 kip. (You can see it all in the picture.) I had another 1,000 baht in my pocket. If I had changed it I would have got over one million kip. I would have been a millionaire.

But unfortunately all that money doesn't buy so much. When I buy my lunch it costs me about 15,000 kip or more. I don't think my million kip will last for a long time.

School for monks

These guys are monks at Wat Xam in Kompong Chhnang. This is a temple with a school for monks. There are over 100 monks who live at the temple. Most of them are there because their parents are very poor and can't afford to send them to school. So they become monks and go to live at the temple. Every morning they walk around the neighbourhood and people give them food. Sometimes they get a lot. Sometimes, not so much. Sometimes they get water in bottles too. Sometimes they don't get enough and they have to drink the water from under the ground. It isn't always clean but it's cleaner than the water from the river.

After the monks finish school here, many will go to Phnom Penh and study at the Buddhist University there. Most will stop being monks after they finish studying. Then they'll have to try to find a job.

I used to teach the monks at this school about four years ago. I visited last week to see if any of my old students were there but they weren't. They must have all moved to Phnom Penh or stopped being monks.

Don't walk—run

In Australia, on a busy street, you have a 'walk' and 'don't walk' sign to tell you when to cross the road.

In Phnom Penh many intersections don't have lights. You have to get across the best way you can. Sometimes cars and motorcycles are going in all directions and even on the footpath.

Some busy intersections now have lights and also signs to help pedestrians. When the light turns green there are two lights to guide you. The top one tells you how many seconds you have to get across. The bottom one is animated and shows someone—no, they're not walking—they look like they're really running across the street.

I'm not sure but they seem to go faster as the time runs out.