Ghost Tree is a famed big wave surfing location off the 18th hole of Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California.

17 mile Drive

The Batu Caves is one of the most popular tourist points in Kuala Lumpur. The cave is one of the most visited Tamil shrines outside India, and is dedicated to Lord Murugan (Tamil God Murugan Tamil: தமிழ் கடவுள் முருகன்). It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.*

The Thaipusam celebration at the Batu Caves often attracts over one million devotees and tens of thousands of tourists. The grand procession to the caves starts at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur and proceeds for 12 kilometers to the caves, an 8 hour journey ending with a climb of 272 steps to the top. The Hindu devotees will carry pots containing milk as offering to Lord Murugan either by hand or in huge decorated carriers on their shoulders called kavadi.

The statue was unveiled in 2006. Murugan is Shiva’s son and the brother of Ganesha. The opening of the cave recalls the shape of Murugan’s divine spear called a vel.

*Wikipedia

The temple was founded in 1891 and Thaipusam has been celebrated there since 1892. In 1920, a wooden staircase leading to the temple cave was built and was replaced with a 272 step concrete staircase in the 1940s to facilitate devotees and tourists to reach the temple cave.

(Information plaque at the Batu Caves)

Purification rites are required before entering the main cave.

There are three Hindu temples at the Batu Caves.The first at the foot of the stairway, the second in the largest main cave the the top of the grand staircase and a smaller one at the of the second stairs.

Kavadi Attam (Tamil:காவடி ஆட்டம்) ("Burden Dance") is a ceremonial sacrifice and offering practiced by devotees during the worship of Lord Murugan, the Hindu God of War. It is a central part of the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The kavadi ("burden") itself is a physical burden, the bearing of which is used by the devotee to implore Murugan for assistance, usually on behalf of a loved one who is in need of healing, or as a means of balancing a spiritual debt. Devotees process and dance along a pilgrimage route while bearing these burdens. (Wikipedia)

Photocredit: By tajai - https://www.flickr.com/photos/cayce/104669064/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1001051

Hanuman opens his chest to reveal that Rama and Sita reside in his heart.

The Ramayana Cave, officially consecrated in November 2001.

The small figures that surround the sleeping giant are life size.

Kumbhakarna (Sanskrit: कुम्भकर्ण, lit. pot-eared) is a named rakshasa and younger brother of Ravana in the famous Hindu Legends in the events of Ramayana. Despite his monstrous size and great appetite, he was described to be of good character and great warrior. Kumbhakarna slept for six months and when he awoke, he ate everything in the vicinity, including humans. Wikipedia

*Wikipedia Commons

Tataka and her sons Maricha and Subahu liked to harass the sages (rishis) in the region and destroy their yajna sacrifices. The great sage Vishvamitra was living in the area near the forest of Tataka and was doing penance and yajna with his disciples, and being tormented by Tataka and her sons.

When Vishvamitra and the princes were passing through the forest of Tadaka, Tadaka attacked them. Rama, aided by Lakshamana, slew her with his arrow. Vishvamitra blessed Rama, as the gods rejoiced in the end of Tadaka. The sage gave him divine weapons as a reward. Vishvamitra then began his six-day yajna, with the princes standing on guard.

"Taraka vadh," a print by the Ravi Varma Press, c.1910's

Ravanna with his ten heads

Sugarcane is the most important harvest of the season. It signifies prosperity and well being. The significance of sugarcane is also marked by a fact that life is a mixture of both good and bad, agony and ecstasy, bitter and sweet so on, which epitomizes that life is an assortment of balances and the great balancing act is what makes an individual attain self-actualization.
hinduismtoday.com

Svayambhu (Suyambu) is a Sanskrit word that means "self-manifested", "self-existing", or "that is created by its own accord". The word swayambhu is used to describe a self manifested image of a deity, otr ku (Tibetan) which was not made by human hands, but instead is naturally arisen, or generated by nature. Wikipedia

August 18, 2019

"Big Mike" and other Giant Fiberglass statues.

Muffler Men are large moulded fiberglass sculptures that are placed as advertising icons, roadside attractions or for decorative purposes, predominantly in America. Standing approximately 18–25 feet tall, the first figure was a Paul Bunyan character designed to hold an axe. Derivatives of that figure were widely used to hold full-sized car mufflers, tires, or other items promoting various roadside businesses.*

*Wikipedia

Huge figures, classic cars and free hot dogs are a big draw on a hot Sunday morning in Hayward.

Vacuum forming is a process of changing plastics from one shape into a different shape. It involves heating a piece of plastic until it becomes soft and pliable. Then the pliable plastic is pulled over a mold. Vacuum remove the air between the plastic and the mold allowing the plastic to conform to the mold.*

*description from the Bell Plastics Website

Doggie Diner was a small fast food restaurant chain serving hot dogs and hamburgers in San Francisco and Oakland, California that operated from 1948 to 1986. The most notable feature of the Doggie Diner chain was the sign: a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) rotating fiberglass head of a wide-eyed, grinning dachshund, wearing a bow tie and a chef's hat.*

Wikipedia