The Naga

This Naga statue stands in Songkhla, Thailand and Kimberly tells me that it spits out water where the lake and the ocean meet and points out the shipping containers in the background.

The Naga or Great Serpent is a mythical snake with supernatural power and it is told that the Naga and water were at the creation of all things. The spraying water is supposed to bring health, good luck and happiness and washes away sins. This sculpture was designed by lecturers from the Thaksin University Fine Arts Faculty.

One of the episodes of The Water Margin started with the memorable quote  "Do not despise the snake for having no horns,for who is to say it will not become a dragon?"" so from this huge Naga it is appropriate that this card came with

two 2013 Year of the Snake stamps with star constellations.  The other stamps two pink lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera) which although it does not show up in the scan are coated with pearly ink. The yellow flower is the national flower of Thailand, the  wonderfully named Golden Shower Tree (Cassia fishla), a definitive stamp first issued in 2010.