statues in Nong Khai

I figured I'd go see the park hidden amongst a forest of trees in Nong
Khai, the main attraction here (although I still think the draw here
is the Mekong). Cycling down a dirt road all of a sudden I could see
concrete face smiling at me, towering over the coconut palms and
various foliage along the path I was on, and seemingly coming up from
within the low hanging clouds. It was one of the 100's of massive
stone carved statues in Sala Keoku. This place reminded me of a coral
sculpture park I saw with my family in Forida. So this quaint little
park,has both the small scale flower pots along the edges of the
footpath as well as these massive hinduist and buddhist-inspired
statues dotted in between the pots.... making you feel like you're
somhow in ¨middle earth¨. It's not an old relic although the mold has
grown on the concrete giving it an air of wisdom and age that is most
becoming. After all, it was built in the 1970's by a fleeing Laotian
royalist. As I walked along on a very hot and humid afternoon I
noticed that all the statues, without exception, had very long ears
and huge eyes. Very large but oddly not disproportionate to the rest
of their features. How cunning, I thought. This must be indeed a way
of protraying the importance of listening and observing over the habit
of mindless speech. At least that as what I took out of my stroll
around the park. The wheel of life was also quite interesting in how
it depicted the different stages and influences on our lives, no
matter what hemisphere you may find yourself in.