Locals cry foul as farang climbs on sacred Samui landmark

[webfact]

Locals cry foul as farang climbs on sacred Samui landmark

 

Image: Sanook

 

SAMUI: -- Locals on Koh Samui are furious after a picture was posted on Facebook of a western man climbing up and sitting on the famous landmark of "Hin Ta".

 

The rock is a tourist attraction and is in the shape of a penis. It is part of a rocky area known as Hin Ta Hin Yai (Grandfather and Grandmother rocks). Hin Yai is a crevice that resembles a vagina, reported Sanook.

 

The rocks have a shrine near them and are considered a sacred place for people on Samui.

 

The westerner was pictured climbing to the top of the phallic rock and it was posted on the Ruam Phon Ton Mui page for the online world to see.

 

Jirasak Wannabuan of the local authority went with other officials to the area on Monday and found that a sign forbidding climbing had fallen into disrepair. 

 

He has ordered that a new clear sign be made that makes it clear that this is a sacred area and that climbing on Hin Ta is not permitted. He said the fine is 5,000 baht for offenders.

 

Jan Amphorn, 63, who has been selling a famous brand of caramel at the site for 20 years said that it was wrong for tourists to climb at the site. 

 

She said that it was an important and sacred area for the locals.

 

Most tourists visit the rocks and many buy souvenirs and caramel sweets at the site, she said.

 

Source: Sanook

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-08-23

[thai3]

It's just a rock, how stupid can the outraged get?  I thought it was going to be a Buddha image or the like 

[taichiplanet]

probably just loved Samui so much that he wanted to make the island have a happy ending.

[Foreign Jim]

A 'sacred' rock in the shape of a penis with a crevasse like a vagina that locals worship:  that rock is just begging to be climbed.  Who gives a toss?

[hansnl]

37 minutes ago, thai3 said:

It's just a rock, how stupid can the outraged get?  I thought it was going to be a Buddha image or the like 

Selective outrage is the norm.

Wonder how many of these "outrages" are fuelled by a small, select group of xenophobic Chinese, oops, sorry, Thai, having the MKS syndrome.

 

How long before the realisation will set in that tourism from Western countries, could dry up completely.

Followed by others?

[Kerryd]

It sounds like they need to make it a lot more obvious that the rock(s) are off-limits. People these days (well, not just these days) are far more concerned about their own self-interests than anyone else's and seem to have fewer qualms about doing things that previous generations would have almost never considered.

 

Like that American scout leader who pushed over one of those ancient boulders that was perched on top of a smaller stone pedestal that took millions of years to create (and then claimed, after he got caught of course, that he was trying to protect people that might get hurt if that boulder ever fell on it's own. Naturally. Maybe another million or so years from now.)

 

Or like that kid that defaced a 5,000 year old rock carving in Norway because he wanted to make it easier to see.

Or the woman that is (now) banned from every National Park in the US for defacing protected rocks and spray painting her social media name on them. 

Or the people that go to ancient temples and take lewd photographs.

 

Where I grew up as a kid, we used to have to ride a barge (pushed by an old tugboat) 36 miles up a lake to get to our community. In the summertime the barge used to stop at one spot where you could look at (really, really old but probably not "ancient") rock paintings that could only be seen from the water. The paintings told the story of Blackfoot raiding parties that used to cross the Rocky Mountains in the early spring to raid the Shuswaps for women (and horses eventually). (It was said that the Shuswaps were lazy and easy to defeat, but they had beautiful women). 

They would then travel back across the Rockies to the prairies before the winter snows blocked the passes. Back when they were still using canoes to get up to the top end of the lake, the Blackfoot would stop at that one spot and paint the story of their raid (or raids) on the rock wall.

People on the barge would take pictures while the kids swam in the lake and then 15-20 minutes later the barge would continue on.

The paintings were there for who knows how long (possibly hundreds of years) until word got around and people on houseboats would travel to that spot. 

 

What happened next ? Well of course, taking a picture just wasn't good enough for some people so they started chipping off pieces of the rocks. Apparently (word of mouth rumours) more of the paintings ended up in the lake than into people's hands as most people were just using rocks or hammers to bash the paintings while trying to break off a nice hunk. It was far enough away from any people that no one would ever know you'd ever been there (even now). Naturally, there's nothing left of it now so another small piece of history has disappeared forever.

 

Never doubt that there are people who are willing to purposefully destroy all manner of history for their own selfish interests. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mickmouse1]

The guy was so excited & impressed he simply wanted to end his experience with a high climax?

[Mister Fixit]

Looks like a dick climbing a dick ...

[goldenbrwn1]

8 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Selective outrage is the norm.

Wonder how many of these "outrages" are fuelled by a small, select group of xenophobic Chinese, oops, sorry, Thai, having the MKS syndrome.

 

How long before the realisation will set in that tourism from Western countries, could dry up completely.

Followed by others?

 

There does seem to be a lot of petty outrages aimed at far rang of late, well more than usual. Could this be part of the regimes campaign to get the populace to stop hating on their big neighbour and turn their pathetic outrages towards western tourists? 

 

[shirtless]

When you sold out to tourism , what did you expect

[williamgeorgeallen]

45 minutes ago, Foreign Jim said:

A 'sacred' rock in the shape of a penis with a crevasse like a vagina that locals worship:  that rock is just begging to be climbed.  Who gives a toss?

thailand loves to blame foreigners for everything and i guess many other countries around the world do as well. in some ways it is being patriotic believing that ones own people are perfect and foreigners are not, which of course is a little misguided. samui locals might be better off getting upset about the massing of trash that will soon get into their ground water.

[JHolmesJr]

Ive been down there….never even crossed my mind to want to climb it...

 

I was more taken by the little market they have on the way there...

[AlphMichaels]

Lightbulb moment - place a sign near the "monument" in English, Mandarin, and (probably) Swedish...., No climbing the Cock Rock or you will be fined - 5000THB.  

[NongKhaiKid]

Did he know he was doing wrong as it's admitted the warning sign has   '  fallen into disrepair  '   although it might not have made any difference to him   ?   

On the other hand I'm sure many locals will say He Should Have Known simply because they're offended and no explanation is acceptable.

[fullcave]

How dare someone climb the sacred penis rock! 

[sahibji]

1 hour ago, thai3 said:

It's just a rock, how stupid can the outraged get?  I thought it was going to be a Buddha image or the like 

 

thai3

it is the belief that is important. if these rocks are considered sacred, they are and no one should defy that.

[klauskunkel]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Jan Amphorn, 63, who has been selling a famous brand of caramel at the site for 20 years said that it was wrong for tourists to climb at the site. 

She said that it was an important and sacred area for the locals.

...and for caramel vendors

[sahibji]

11 minutes ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Did he know he was doing wrong as it's admitted the warning sign has   '  fallen into disrepair  '   although it might not have made any difference to him   ?   

On the other hand I'm sure many locals will say He Should Have Known simply because they're offended and no explanation is acceptable.

it would be fair that a prominently visible signage should be constructed so that visitors to the site can and should respect that.

[happy Joe]

In Paris at Pere Lachaise cemetery Victor Noir tomb is daily climbed by women in need of love.

 

These practices at the limit of decency lasted for over a century.

 

Well, for girls it is acceptable, but when they are males as in Ko Samui, one fears to discover the horrible truth ...

 

[NongKhaiKid]

5 minutes ago, sahibji said:

 

thai3

it is the belief that is important. if these rocks are considered sacred, they are and no one should defy that.

Even if perhaps they have no idea how sacred they are and they're doing wrong   ?

It's an entirely different story if someone knows how sacred they are and goes ahead anyway.

[sahibji]

22 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

Ive been down there….never even crossed my mind to want to climb it...

 

I was more taken by the little market they have on the way there...

 

life would be so much more pleasant with considerate souls like you.

[sahibji]

28 minutes ago, shirtless said:

When you sold out to tourism , what did you expect

tourism does not mean that visitors can go around offending local beliefs.

[sahibji]

37 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

Looks like a dick climbing a dick ...

we should respect local beliefs even though we may not agree with the concept. remember you are just a visitor.

[gchurch259]

This place is over endowed with Prurient Interest, and Dumb enough this they are sacred !!

 

I know it may be wrong to make like of peoples customs, but some are ill guided.

[freebyrd]

What ever happened to that frequently uttered phrase "Mai pen rai" and the accompanying smile. I had some good years in Thailand but they seem to be becoming more PC than most.

[Reigntax]

8 minutes ago, sahibji said:

 

thai3

it is the belief that is important. if these rocks are considered sacred, they are and no one should defy that.

 

Yes. Well there is no shortage of fools in this world and anyone who believes that a rock is sacred is heading the pack.

[GarryP]

30 odd years ago nary an eye was batted by the locals when tourists did all kinds of stuff on and around those rocks. I assume their sacredness is a relatively new phenomenon, which came about as a money spinner. Those stones are about as sacred as somtam.   

[bark]

Good thing he climbed on Top. Can you imagine if he liked being on the Bottom ??

[12DrinkMore]

If the thing was made of soap the police would be all over it and Samui would be charged for display of an indecent object.

[12DrinkMore]

6 minutes ago, bark said:

Good thing he climbed on Top. Can you imagine if he liked being on the Bottom ??

 

If he sat on the top it would have been a painfully penetrating experience.