The Old Man and the Dragons Part of my road trip in December 2023, in the districts of Trang and Songkhla, took me to this beautiful and quite spectacular “Dragon Garden” in some 48hectres of land there is a minimum of some 88 Dragons. In this slideshow you will see a good selection of what I saw on the day.
The sign in the center of the sculpture park reads “Pay respect to the Earth” in Thai. Others scattered along walking paths offer words of wisdom in two languages, including “Be powerful like a dragon.” I’m didn’t feel so powerful in this tropical heat, just five minutes in the sun turning my shirt into a sweaty mess.
Holding court in a shaded pavilion was the man behind all this, Mr. Jaroon Keawla-eiad. (“That’s probably not a perfect spelling,” my guide explained. “Some Thai words don’t translate very well into English letters.”) He is a retired local schoolteacher that took over this land of theptaro trees many decades ago and made a dragon from the curvy tree’s roots. Then he made another, and one after that, then kept going. There are now 88 of them on the property.
Journeys From A Small Room 