Monument sights in Asia
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Chua Ong Pagoda
Founded by Hué's Fujian Chinese Congregation during the reign of Vietnamese emperor Tu Duc (1848-83), Chua Ong Pagoda was severely damaged during the Tet Offensive when a nearby ammunition ship blew up. A gold Buddha sits in a glass case opposite the main doors of the sanctuary. The left-hand altar is dedicated to the goddess of the sea, Thien Hau Thanh Mau, who is flanked by her two assistants, 1000-eyed Thien Ly Nhan and red-faced Thuan Phong Nhi, who can hear for 1000 miles.
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Wat Sampeau Moi Roi
About 250m northwest of the church, a road leads through a three-towered gate to lichen-caked Wat Sampeau Moi Roi, known as Five Boats Wat because some say the five oddly-sculpted rocks nearby resemble boats (although what they were smoking at the time is up for debate). Built in 1924, it affords tremendous views over the jungle to the coastline below, including Vietnam's Phu Quoc Island. Four cement supports that once anchored a Khmer Rouge radar station still stand just outside.
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Victoria Memorial
Set in an attractive, well-tended park, the incredible Victoria Memorial is a vast, beautifully proportioned confection of white marble domes: think US Capitol meets Taj Mahal. Built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 1901 diamond jubilee, the structure was finally finished nearly 20 years after her death. Had it been built for a beautiful Indian princess rather than a dead colonial queen, it would surely rate as one of India’s greatest buildings.
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Samadhi Buddha
East from the Abhayagiri is this 4th-century statue, seated in the meditation pose and regarded as one of the finest Buddha statues in Sri Lanka. Pandit Nehru, a prominent leader in India’s independence movement, is said to have maintained his composure while imprisoned by the British by regular contemplation of a photo of this statue.
Local authorities recently erected a modern metal roof over the statue, somewhat spoiling the artistic integrity of this masterpiece.
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Anusawari Sam Kasat Bronze Sculptures
These three Anusawari Sam Kasat bronze sculptures portray men standing in 14th-century royal costume. They represent Phaya Ngam Meuang, Phaya Mengrai and Phaya Khun Ramkhamhaeng, the three northern Thai-Lao kings most associated with Lanna history. The statuary has become a shrine to local residents, who regularly leave offerings of flowers, incense and candles at the bronze feet in return for (hoped for) blessings from the powerful spirits of the three kings.
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Padang Merdeka
Padang Merdeka is a strip of grass that was established as a memorial following WWI. It is best known as the place where the British exhibited the body of Tok Janggut (Father Beard), a respected elder who was killed at Pasir Puteh in 1915 after leading a 2000-strong uprising against British colonial land taxes. The real attraction of the Padang Merdeka area is the cluster of museums close by. There is one central phone number (748 2266) for all museums.
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Ziarat Rahman Baba
The tomb of Ziarat Rahman Baba in green surroundings on the southern outskirts of Peshawar is a shrine to the 17th century poet Rahman Baba, one of the masters of Pashto poetry. It's a quiet and contemplative place and a popular centre for Peshawar's Sufis, who welcome respectful visitors. On Thursday nights there is Sufi devotional singing and music after evening prayers and into the night, a low-key but intimate version of the Sufi music of Lahore.
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Statue of Chinggis
Öndörkhaan being the capital of Chinggis Khaan's old stomping grounds, local authorities have put much effort in recent years towards elevating the conqueror's cult status. Look out for a bronze Statue of Chinggis seated on his horse; it's just outside the Ethnography Museum. The statue was commissioned as part of the celebrations to mark 800 years of statehood, in 2006. Nearby, opposite the Government House, is a stone statue of Chinggis.
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Bronze Mermaid
The residents are taking better care of the windy strip of white sand along Hat Samila, and it is now quite a pleasant beach for strolling along or for an early morning read. A Bronze Mermaid, depicted squeezing water from her long hair in tribute to Mae Thorani (the Hindu-Buddhist earth goddess), sits atop some rocks at the northern end of the beach. Nearby are the cat and rat sculptures, named for the Cat and Rat Islands (Ko Yo and Ko Losin).
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Looking at the Past Pavilion
The Looking at the Past Pavilion was raised for tourists at a cost of over one million yuán. It's famed for a unique design using dozens of four-storey pillars - unfortunately these were culled from northern Yúnnán old-growth forests. A path (with English signs) leads from Old Market Sq. It acts as a sentinel of sorts for the town. Sit on the slope in the early morning and watch the mist clearing as the old town comes to life.
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Akama-jingū shrine
Bright vermilion, this postwar Akama-jingū shrine is dedicated to the 8-year-old emperor Antoku, who died in 1185 in the naval battle of Dan-no-ura. In the Hōichi Hall stands a statue of the splendidly monikered Earless Hōichi, the hero of a traditional ghost story retold by Japanophile Lafcadio Hearn. The shrine is between Karato and Hino-yama. Get off the bus (¥230, 10 minutes) at the Akama-jingū-mae bus stop.
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Cantonese Congregation Pagoda
Occupying a splendid location facing the Can Tho River, this small Chinese pagoda, the Cantonese Congregation Pagoda, was built by the Cantonese Congregation. The original one was constructed on a different site about 70 years ago. The current pagoda was built with funds donated by overseas Chinese more recently. Can Tho used to have a large ethnic-Chinese population, but most of them fled after the anti-Chinese persecutions (1978-79).
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Camel Peak
A further attraction at Seven Stars park is Camel Peak, which indeed resembles a ruminating ship of the desert. View the hill from the front for its two-hump Bactrian camel impersonation or from the rear for its impression of a single-hump dromedary camel. In front of Camel Peak is a weather-beaten podium used by ex-President Bill Clinton when making a speech here; nearby is a sad-looking zoo, eager for both investment and visitors.
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Pillars
Of the scattered remains of pillars, the most important is Pillar 10, erected by Ashoka and later broken by a local landowner. Two upper sections of this beautifully proportioned and executed shaft lie side by side under a shelter 20m away; the capital (pillar's top, usually sculpted) is in the museum. Pillar 25, dating from the Sunga period (2nd century BC) and the 5th-century AD Pillar 35 are not as fine as the earlier pillar.
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Chieu Ung Pagoda
Founded by the Hainan Chinese Congregation in the mid-19th century, Chieu Ung Pagoda was rebuilt in 1908. The pagoda's sanctuary retains its original ornamentation, which is becoming faded but has been mercifully unaffected by the third-rate modernistic renovations that have marred other such structures. The pagoda was built as a memorial to 108 Hainan merchants, who were mistaken for pirates and killed in Vietnam in 1851.
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Tokugawa Mausoleum
Built in 1643, the Tokugawa Mausoleum consists of two adjoining structures that serve as the mausoleums of Tokugawa Ieyasu (on the right) and Tokugawa Hidetada (on the left), the first and second Tokugawa shōguns, respectively. They are ornately decorated, as with most structures associated with the Tokugawa shōguns. The mausoleum is not far from the Namikiri-fudō-mae bus stop (波切不動前バス亭).
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Pile of Rubble
Most of Anlong Veng's sights are connected with the terrible Khmer Rouge years. An Angkorian temple used to stand in the southeast corner of the yard behind Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School - formerly Ta Mok Primary School - but it was turned into a jumble of laterite and sandstone blocks by Ta Mok and his army in their search for ancient statues to sell to the Thais. The school is 600m east of the roundabout.
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Pha That Luang
The Pha That Luang is the most important national monument in Laos, a symbol of both the Buddhist religion and Lao sovereignty. The monument looks almost like a gilded missile cluster from a distance. Surrounding it is a high-walled cloister with tiny windows, added by King Anouvong in the early 19th century as a defence against invaders.
The temple is the site of a major festival held in early November.
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Admiral Yi Sun-Sin’s Statue
This statue is a downtown landmark. Seoul-born Yi Sun-sin (1545–98) designed a new type of metal-clad warship called geobukseon (turtle boats), and used them to help achieve a series of stunning victories over the much larger Japanese navy that attacked Korea at the end of the 16th century. A geobukseon replica can be seen in the War Memorial & Museum.
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Mausoleum of Shao Hao
Mausoleum of Shao, one of the five legendary emperors of Chinese antiquity, Shao Hao's pyramidal Song dynasty tomb, 4km northeast of Qūfù, is constructed from huge stone blocks, 25m wide at the base and 6m high, topped with a small temple. Today the temple is deserted, but the atmosphere is serene. Bus 2 from the bus station will drop you 350m south of the tomb, or take a taxi or pedicab.
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Statue of Timur
Tashkent's main streets radiate from Amir Timur Maydoni, where a glowering bust of Marx has been replaced by a suitably patriotic Statue of Timur on horseback. A glance under the statue reveals that the stallion has been divested of a certain reproductive appendage. Just who stole it is one of Tashkent's great mysteries. Fortunately the horse's formidable family jewels remain intact - for now.
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Statue of Hammering Man
The moving metallic shadow of a hammering man towers five storeys above the street. Funded by a local insurance company, the superman of a blacksmith has been silently hammering since 2002. It was made out of 50 tonnes of steel by American artist Jonathan Borofsky, whose art is humanist but mechanical, simple but thought-provoking. Is work just a meaningless ritual that dominates our lives?
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Balbal
A well-preserved Turkic-era Balbal is 7km west of Öndörkhaan, past the airport. The squat-figured statue, covered in blue silk hadak (ritual scarf), has a disproportionately large head with pronounced eyebrows and deep-set eyes. His long hair is curled behind his ears, an unusual feature for this type of statue. Locals refer to the statue as 'Gelen', a religious title.
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Crying Mother Monument
North of Mustaqillik maydoni is the Crying Mother Monument. Fronted by an eternal flame, it was constructed in 1999 to honour the 400,000 Uzbek soldiers who died in WWII. The niches along its two corridors house their names. Karimov has built a nearly identical monument near the centre of most major Uzbek cities. Hey, at least he's not building Turkmenbashi-style monuments to himself.
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Monument to the Crossing of the Yangzi River
Monument to the Crossing of the Yangzi River . In the northwest of the city on Zhongshan Beilu, this monument, erected in April 1979, commemorates the crossing of the river on 23 April 1949 and the capture of Nánjīng from the Kuomintang by the communist army. The characters on the monument are in the calligraphy of Deng Xiaoping. To get there catch bus 31 from Taiping Lu.
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