Sala Keoku,Sculpture Park, Thailand

I spent the weekend in Nong Khai, a wonderful and serene city in the north east of Thailand with the giant Mekong river flowing between the neighboring Laos and Thailand. One of the sights to see is the impressive Sala Keoku Sculpture Park.

The heat in the park was borderline-unbearable. Even though we are still in the monsoon season where it rains pretty much daily and the skies are mostly overcast, on this day it was clear and the sun was bearing down on me. The tropics, on a sunny day, can be very daunting…But I digress.

Sala Keoku is a sculpture park featuring magnificent giant concrete sculptures inspired by the Buddhist/Hindu faith. It is located on the outskirts of Nong Khai, Thailand, quite close to Thai-Lao border and the Mekong river. Sala Keoku is an extension of project that began in Vientiane (the capital city of Laos) and was inspired - created by the late Bunleua Sulilat, a Shaman priest. He was born in Nong Khai and began the Sala Keoku Project in 1978.

Some of the sculptures reach up to 25m in the sky. Most impressive is a monumental depiction of Buddha meditating under the protection of a seven-headed Naga - snake. The artworks themselves are highly unusual, stylized, sometimes naturalistic.

The sculptures are made from concrete. Possibly they will not last eternally but the rapid erosion and the weathering of the statues actually makes them hauntingly beautiful. Most of them represent some mythical and mystical meaning that relates to the Buddhist and Hindu faiths.