Killer Thai Snakes and Dogs on Scooters

Dear International Living Reader,

My guide and driver have abandoned me to make prayers and offerings to the Buddha. I'm left gazing up at a goddess as tall as a seven-story building, trying to make sense of Sala Keu Koo's bizarre sculptures. We're in Isaan, the name given to north-eastern Thailand--and it's so unvisited, I had to devise my own day-excursion! The brothers eventually return, but, as neither has been here before, they can't provide much help until they read the Thai inscription behind each giant sculpture.

Set in a large flowery garden, Sala Keu Koo is a temple complex two miles from Nong Khai, a Mekong River town. The complex was started in 1978 by Luang Pu Bunleua Surirat, a shamanic priest who fled the Communist regime in Laos. His fusion of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy attracted a large following both sides of the border.

Several hundred statues here depict characters from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Kali the Destroyer, Ganesh the elephant god, Buddhas of all sizes. Most are bizarre towering concrete creations over 100 feet high. Dwarfing the trees in one corner, and guarding a Buddha beneath, is a sinister seven-headed Naga or snake: imagine Gaudi let loose in Jurassic Park. The serpent's heads with their long forked tongues and razor-like teeth look quite capable of bending down and biting you in half.

Step through the gaping maw of a stone mouth with more fearsome-looking teeth, and you're at the heart of a wheel of life. Birth... childhood... adolescence... military service... love... marriage. Then comes a twist. Opposite a happy skeletal couple sitting hand-in-hand on a bench, another stone husband is beating his wife. A younger stone wench laughingly looks on. My guides think it's funny. "New wife," they say, shrugging their shoulders. I remind myself this is Thailand.

One really whimsical sculpture has an elephant surrounded by hundreds of dogs indulging in strange antics. One dog rides a push-scooter, another listens to his personal stereo, yet another is behind the wheel of a speed-boat. According to my guides, it conveys the message that a righteous man doesn't need to worry about noisy rumors--just like the elephant doesn't need to worry about barking dogs.

Luang Pu died in 1996. His corpse is displayed in a glass dome in the complex's main shrine. After ordering me to get down on my knees, one of his followers explains that although his body was not embalmed in any way, it remains free of decay. Judging by the number of people--mostly women--kneeling in rapt homage, the cult lives on.

There's no entrance fee to Sala Keu Koo as such, but you're asked to make a 10 baht donation (about 25 cents).

Steenie Harvey
For International Living