Stand By Your Big Buddha...

Tonight’s Stand By Your Thai statue comes from the Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat temple, in the northern province of Phitsanulok! It is just one of the thousands of Buddha monuments that are scattered around the country (and a relatively small one at that), Thailand being a predominantly Buddhist country.

Big Rain In Bangkok...

Thought I would share a couple of snaps from one of my favourite countries in the world, Thailand, over the next couple of days…

The Grand Palace is one of the more popular tourist sites in Bangkok, and consists of a collection of beautiful temples and royal residencies built over the last 250 years or so.

The picture doesn’t truly show it but it was absolutely lashing it down with rain the day I visited. The climate is very humid in Thailand, so a massive all out proper downpour is quite common – none of this mild showers business that we get over here. So, having been on a work trip out there for two weeks, and on one of our first days off, we hopped into a tuk tuk to get to the Palace and a few minutes later the heavens opened in a big way. The roads are quite busy in Bangkok at the best of times – but hairing around in a tuk tuk in a massive huge great downpour was just complete carnage - and massively fun to boot!

Still, the elements didn’t stop me from standing next to this statue of a ninja chap, although it did ruin the hairstyle a little bit.

The Heat Is On...

It’s not all just Standing By Statues, y’know.

My apologies for the slightly lower level of postings in recent times as illness has struck a bit. Must get back on it though as I still have loads of photos here. You’re gonna have to put up with this ‘ole blog for a little while longer yet I’m afraid…

This impressive piece of Stand By And Take A Hold Of Your Sun action was submitted to me by one Swiss Toni, thoroughly nice gentleman that he is.

Huge Crete-ture...

We continue with our esteemed visitors gallery and this shot of a rather large man in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Kate’s boyfriend is six foot four and looks positively tiny when taking his statue by the hand.

Benchsitting Bedlam II: The Flat Capped Man Strikes Back

More benchsitting bedlam this evening courtesy of this picture of Ryan from Saskatoon in Canada sitting next to a mysterious man in a flat cap in downtown Toronto. The flat-capped one does get around a bit doesn’t he? He was in Madrid last time I saw him!

(Many thanks to Noreen King for sending this photo in).

Benchsitting Bedlam...

Very nice to see that some kind-hearted people appreciate the fact that statues should enjoy a nice sit down too.

Many thanks to Lorna for sending me this photo of her daughter Emily, comfortably Sat Alongside Her Statue on a bench in Seattle. This is a fine example of a statue sat by his hat alongside a girl who is sat by her hat. I wonder what they’re looking at?



Unbelievably, there is another bench in Seattle on which a statue is taking a break, and Lorna has another daughter, Sarah, who is also Sat By Her Statue. Who’d have thought it!

A little bit of research has uncovered that these statues are named He and She, in case you were curious.

Mini-Ramses III

Staying in Egypt, tonight we take a crusie down the Nile to the mysterious southern city of Luxor, home to a myriad of beautiful temples, as well as the Valley of the Kings.

In this photo we find Nick Parkhouse assisting his daughter Maddie in a spot of Stand By Your Statue training in front of a statue of Ramses III at the temple of Medinet Habu, on the outskirts of Luxor.

The age differential between Ramses III and his imitator, mini-Ramses III (ahem, Maddie), is quite phenomenal at approximately 3,175 years! A fantastic effort to imitate the last great pharaoh at such a young age!

Walk Like An Egyptian...

Egypt. Such a fascinating country to visit. It is just so mind blowing how old everything is over there. Amongst the ancient remains stand some of the oldest statues in the world. Thanks to Dave Wood for sending me this particular photo from a trek he took around Egypt in 2004. Unfortunately I am unsure as to exactly where this particular bearded statue is situated, but this is a typical picture of the ancient tombs and remains that still lie in the country. I’d hasten to guess that the statue could be around 2,500-4,500 years old!

Of course it is not too typical a picture as we have three guys participating in an excellent spot of statue imitation, which is almost as inspirational as the history of the country itself!

Chucking A Banana And Lobster On The Barbie

Tonight I present a slight detour from the usual Standing By Your Statue shenanigans.

We travel to the other side of the world, to the gorgeous country that is Australia. As seems appropriate for one of the largest islands on this planet, the Aussies are obsessed with big stuff. Indeed they seem to have a fabulous website dedicated to this obsession, from which, by clicking on the 'statistics' section, you’ll find that there are 146 registered big things in the country!

One of these is this big banana. Funnily enough, it is located in Coffs Harbour, north of Sydney. Here my friend Sean Hanford takes the strain and gives it your classic Stand By Your Big Banana pose. Top banana, I hope you agree.



Down in the south in Kingston you will stumble upon this mighty fine big lobster, which is seventeen metres high and weighs four tonnes. A little less bulky is friend Jamie Parish, pincers out happily Standing By Your Big Lobster.

Which leaves us with just another 144 big Australian things to stand by! If you have stood by one of them then please send me your photos and I’ll endeavour to publish them. You can do this via email by clicking on my profile in the top right hand corner of the site. Many thanks to all the lovely folks who have sent me their photos so far, some more of which I’ll be publishing next week…

The Undisputed Demigod Of Rock...

Jimi Hendrix. Legend.

I’ll leave it at that.

Giving it some maximum riffage in honour of Sir James here is housemate John. This statue of fretwork magic can be found in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle, on the main Broadway drag. It rocks!