GO THERE! …or wait until it’s finished.
Thursday, February 20, 2025
The Sanctuary of Truth is a temple in Pattaya, Thailand, visualized by Thai businessman Lek Viriyaphant in 1981. The sanctuary is an all-wood building filled with Visionary art carvings based on traditional Buddhist and Hindu motifs. A team of 250 carvers contribute to the project, which is technically not scheduled to be completed until 2025. But at this point we think it’s awesome enough to check out as is.
Art Stop: Trucking Around the World
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Russian artist, Andrey Gordeev takes us on a unique journey with his series, Â Around the World in Twelve Months, where we see the world from the perspective of the indispensable truck driver. Stereotypes lovingly included 🙂
Valentine’s Day Around the World Video!
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Learn how they celebrate love in Scotland, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Denmark, Singapore, Finland, England, and Italy!
Culture Buzz: Wax Off!
Thursday, February 6, 2025
In the bustling cities of many Asian countries, including China, India and Japan, you are likely to run into an ear cleaning station here and there. Yes, the meticulous ear cleaners of Asia will, for a small fee, use an array of specially crafted instruments to clean the insides of your brain, (at least that’s what it feels like.) Don’t try it at home, you can really mess things up in there! America has not yet caught the street-side-ear-cleaning buzz, probably because they couldn’t hear it, -with all the wax up in there. But, who knows? Someday ear cleaning stands may become as common as taco trucks. Just so long as they never mix the two 😛
GO THERE! Hope you like stairs!
Saturday, January 25, 2025
In central Burma, high atop Mount Popa, nestles the Popa Taungkalat Temple, a shrine to the 37 “Nats”, (spirits of the Burmese Buddhist faith.) It’s a popular place to check out during the full moon of Naylon, (May/June) when the Thingyan Festival is held.
Just be prepared; before ascending all 777 steps to the top, you will be asked to remove your socks and shoes. The Nats aren’t crazy about footwear. Also, don’t wear red. Or black. Or green. And definitely do NOT bring meat, especially pork. You don’t want to get the Nats all up in your face, do ya? Besides, the masses of local monkeys will harass you all the way up the mountain with that bacon in your pocket.
![By Ed Brambley (originally posted to Flickr as Mt Popa) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.teammarcopolo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/449px-Mt_Popa_Myanmar.jpg)
By Ed Brambley (originally posted to Flickr as Mt Popa) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
GO THERE! And you thought the holidays were over!
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Grab your broomstick and pointy hat and fly out to Italy this Monday, the best place to be for the Epiphany
Maggas at en.wikipedia [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Friday, December 6, 2024
Did you put your shoes out? Now that’s change you can believe in!
History Schmistory, March 30: Hank wants a new toy!
Thursday, March 30, 2023
1533 – Henry VIII divorces his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon, which leads to the creation of the Anglican church, lots of bloody history over the next hundred years, and several good Shakespeare plays.
Culture Buzz: Shadows of their former selves…
Sunday, January 30, 2022
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Wayang_%28shadow_puppets%29_from_central_Java%2C_a_scene_from_%27Irawan%27s_Wedding%27.jpg
These aren’t your mamma’s shadow puppets! Unless your mamma is a Javanese puppet master. The incredibly detailed puppets of Wayang Kulit, the ancient Indonesian brand of shadow theater, continue to enchant audiences to this day, bringing to life the magical stories of Hindu-Javanese folklore on a simple backlit cotton screen. Kulit means skin, and refers to the buffalo leather construction of the puppets that are painstakingly chiseled with very fine tools and supported with carefully shaped buffalo horn handles and control rods.
Got a sheet, a bright light and a buffalo? Then, by all means, TRY THIS AT HOME!
-Maybe use construction paper though 🙂
Culture Buzz: “Lotus pray…”
Sunday, January 23, 2022
To say the lotus flower is an important symbol in India would really be an understatement. The potent and resilient plant, which has no trouble thriving in the muddiest of swamps without breaking a sweat, or even getting dirty, has become the supreme icon of beauty, strength, longevity and fertility in Indian culture. In Hinduism, the lotus is also a symbol of divinity that seems to turn up everywhere, even growing from Vishnu’s belly-button! In fact, they believe the spirit of the Lotus itself exists within every human being. That’s a lot of lotuses… Loti?
Anyhoo, it is only fitting that there is a temple in New Delhi bearing semblance to a giant lotus flower preparing to bloom. Pretty sweet.
Also looks a bit like a citrus juicer.
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