Wednesday, October 19, 2005

My numerology fortune by Buddha...I got lucky number 11. Not even sure if this is legible... Posted by Picasa
At the Big Buddha temple complex on Koh Samui, Thailand, you can read your numerology horoscope via Buddha. First, you have to find the Buddha of your day. There is a different Buddha pose for each day of the week. This is the Sunday Buddha, which is apparently hard to find....I have been looking for one for some time, but as they say, you can't just go shopping for a Buddha, it has to find you. I did find three Sunday Buddhas, but two were only an inch tall, and the one about 10 inches tall had previously been in pieces and glued back together. So, I have yet to be found by my Sunday Buddha. So, this is the Sunday Buddha. You put a coin in the slot, and whatever number lights up is the number fortune card that you must find. Posted by Picasa
Front of temple. Posted by Picasa
Temple entrance. Posted by Picasa
Golden Buddha, Koh Samui, Thailand. Posted by Picasa
Temple detail. Posted by Picasa
Interior of a Buddhist temple, Koh Samui, Thailand. Posted by Picasa
I came across a (cement) Buddha's footprint, so had to go for the karma points and make a wish. Posted by Picasa
Wait....maybe it is a multi-armed Buddha!! Posted by Picasa
Full Frontal Shiva!!! Posted by Picasa
I did not catch the name of this temple, and everything I have in print is packed or en route back to the U.S. So, I can't even research this at the moment. Well, I could online, but I am being lazy.  Posted by Picasa
These flowers were poking through the sidewalk at the Big Buddha temple on Koh Samui. Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 10, 2005

Next....a few photos of Thailand.

To finish up my Nepal trip and trek, because it worked so well last time, I thought I would spend a few days on a beach in Thailand to do a complete and total mind-dump, catch up on some journal writing, catch up on some reading (knocked out 5 books on this trip), do some kayaking, moped around the island (this time without sliding backward down the tallest hill on Koh Samui and damaging a bike), check out a few temples, and have a few massages to unkink my recently rubberized / vulcanized legs. Basically, a nice relaxing time after trekking. In the next day or so I will post some snapshots around Koh Samui. I keep thinking about vacations where people take time off of work to do nothing. I cannot imagine anything like it. To me, time away from work is the only real wholesale time you get to live, so I try to cram as much living into vacation time as I can. I try to sleep on return flights. I hope expectations when I return to work for the first day are not outrageous. That is my rest time. There will always be the golden years later to relax. Although, a two hour massage in which you are rolled up like a little ball of dough and flattened out as with a rolling pin is a pretty nice way to relax!!!!
A final shot of Nepal....prayer wheels along a temple, worn shiny at the bottom from many years of spinning. For the right Nepal chronology, maybe you should start lower in the post......maybe next time I will get the order posting right.  Posted by Picasa
I love this one. Dualing photos! I bet hers isn't blurry......but then by this time I have noticed that my beer glass keeps getting miraculously refilled. I had a wonderful meal and evening sharing with the Begale family....many thanks to them for opening their home and sharing Dasain with me! Posted by Picasa