Real life Pulpy temple

[mikedemana]

I just returned from almost three weeks in Taiwan and Vietnam. One of my favorite sights was Lotus Lake, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has a number of temples around its shores and some even built out on piers onto the surface of the lake itself. One of those just screamed "Pulp" to me, so I took a lot of photos and thought I'd post them up on a thread.

The temple is to Xuantian Shang-di, the Emperor of the Dark Heaven, and guardian of the north. There is a huge 24 meter high statue of him wielding a sword, his foot resting on a turtle and dragon. He is impressive enough to look at, but I really enjoyed his guardians. These are dozens of gray stone statues along the pier -- every fifteen feet or so. They are of fierce demons or deities, armed with various weapons. Each is mounted on a different beast, including dragons, lions, deer, and even a goose. I think they'd make an excellent line of miniatures, if someone would want to cast them up!

If you'd like to read my account of my travels in Taiwan and Vietnam, I keep up a travel blog. The link for my Taiwan entries is here: http://world-wide-mike.travellerspoint.com/co/198/
And for Vietnam, here: http://world-wide-mike.travellerspoint.com/co/221/

The approach to the temple along the pier


The 24 meter high statue of Xuantian Shang-di


Another view of the Emperor of Dark Heaven, and guardian of the north


But perhaps best of all, the line of statues that are the emperor's guardians


My personal favorite -- who'd want to mess with this guy?


Here's one mounted on a deer


More guardians...


Mounted on a goose or some other form of bird


Couldn't you imagine these coming to life in your game?


I was tempted to take a picture of every single one...ha, ha!


Enjoy....I know I did!

Mike Demana

[Amalric]

Why do I picture those statues coming to life Harryhausen style to pummel the irreverent hero's?

Nice pics, very inspirational.

[Prof. Dinglebat. Phd.]

"Couldn't you imagine these coming to life in your game?"

NOOOOOOO. THe cat would have a bloody fit. 

[Valerik]

Quite possibly TOO Pulpy, for my personal tastes that is...

Rather a case of Idolatry Gone Wild isn't it!!

Hafta find some serious 54mm Chinese Cavalry to do that little lot justice!!

"Couldn't you imagine these coming to life in your game?"

NOOOOOOO. THe cat would have a bloody fit.  

Yeah.

BUT...

Your side WOULD win.

Presuming Kitty is on YOUR side that is!!

One ought never underestimate, the power, speed and alacrity of a startled cat.



Cats, killing humanity's vermin for food and sport these past 10,000 years...

Valerik

who bears the scars to prove it


EDIT:  my miserable spelling

[d phipps]

WOW, Wow, and more Wow! 

THANKS for sharing, Mike!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Fantastic photos, Mike. You must have had a marvellous trip. I'm going to read your travel blog now and turn green with envy! 

[magokiron]

Pulpy indeed!

Lots of inspiration here.

Thanks for sharing.

[syrinx0]

Great looking photo's. That must of been a fun trip.

[Neotacha]

Wow!  How big are those guardian statues?  They look like they'd absolutely  loom over a person standing near them.

[Tars Tarkas]

Great photos and more proof that real life is pulpier than pulp.
If someone had painted these in miniature only, I'd probably say they were too "over the top," but I'd be dead wrong!

[mikedemana]

Wow!  How big are those guardian statues?  They look like they'd absolutely  loom over a person standing near them.

The fourth photo has a person for scale. Roughly man-sized, but probably a tad smaller....

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone....!

Mike Demana

[Wolf Girl]

Amazing photo. I can definitely see something like these coming to life in a scenario.