Southern Thailand is one tropical paradise after another. Some are touristy. Some are overrun with partiers. But some are low-key and filled with nature, beauty, and adventure.

I could tell you how nice it was to hang out in such a paradise, to hike in the jungle, to bike through the rainforest mountains, or for a swim in the beautiful water before relaxing and reading a book and sipping $3 cocktails in the warm tropical sun when at home it’s the dead of winter. I could tell you all about how awesome that is. But I’m sure you already know that.

On the same island as the above rainforest, I saw one kid beat another kid until he could no longer stand. Neither kid looked to me to be older than 12. A crowd of onlookers cheered as one child pounded another to the ground, where he lay for quite some time.

Any trip to Southeast Asia is not safe without a rock to keep tigers away. The anti-tiger effect was first pointed out in this dialogue from The Simpsons:

Lisa: [to Homer] By your logic I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.

Homer: Oh, how does it work?

Lisa: It doesn’t work.

Homer: Uh huh.

Lisa: It’s just a stupid rock.

Homer: Uh huh.

Lisa: But I don’t see any tigers around, do you?

Homer: Lisa, I want to buy your rock.

It is hard to argue with this reasoning demonstrating the powerful anti-tiger properties of certain “stupid rocks”. Though it might appear the rock “doesn’t work”, Lisa demonstrates that the statistical evidence is clear. There are tigers in Thailand, so I purchased one as soon as I got to Bangkok (a bargain at 2000 Thai Baht) and by carrying it around with me I saw, in fact, no tigers at all for almost two weeks.

But one one trip to Mae Rim, in the rainforests of northern Thailand, my rock must have ran out of power or something, because this happened:

This is Wat Pho, or more accurately, a small corner of the 20 acre complex.