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tomscribbler.bsky.social
Tom the Scribbler
@tomscribbler.bsky.social
460 followers 1.1K following 66 posts
Stories and wanderlust. Cat lover. Feminist. Closet Goth. 🇵🇸 🏳️‍⚧️

Posts on Ancient civilizations | Mythology | Folklore.
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tomscribbler.bsky.social
The beautifully preserved/restored Prambanan temple complex in Central Java, Indonesia, built 9th century CE by the Mataram Kingdom and dedicated to Siva, Vishnu and Brahma

📸 mine #archaeology #Ancientbluesky #temple
An ancient stone temple, elaborately carved, with a layered pyramidal top. In the foreground, a stone walkway with a line of round, crown like decorations on its wall
September 9, 2025 at 10:36 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
A beautiful Oriental Pied Hornbill (and doesn’t he know it!)

📸 my own. Pangkor island, Malaysia
#birds #nature #birdphotography
A large black and white hornbill with a long, curving beak, yellow with and a bony prominence running along the top
August 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Beautiful mossy forest in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia (jungle trail 3 - 5 is the way to go!)
📸 my own #forestfriday #treemagic #forests #moss
A cluster of gnarled trees covered in thick moss and lichen, dark and atmospheric like something otherworldly lives there
August 15, 2025 at 10:32 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Sunset at Taman Negara in Malaysia, the second oldest rainforest in the world at 130 million years old (meaning it was a rainforest when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth!)
Rainforested hillside in silhouette with the orange clouds of a sunset above
August 11, 2025 at 2:29 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
A short thread of street art from George Town, Malaysia

📸 my own

1/5 by Alex Face
Street mural of cartoon boy with blue and yellow eyes dressed in a cat costume riding a scooter
August 9, 2025 at 9:42 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Phra Nang Beach, Krabi, Thailand
Wave breaking lightly onto sand between limestone rocks with green, rocky islands and turquoise sea in middle distance
July 18, 2025 at 10:15 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Surat Thani, Thailand, passing through

#liminalspaces
A telecoms tower in white and red with crisscrossed telegraph wires, partly lit red, in the foreground and a green traffic light at street level
July 14, 2025 at 2:41 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
The gleaming temple of Wat Pra That Doi Suthep, just outside of Chiang Mai

Taken last Thursday (July 10) on the Buddhist holiday of Asalha Puja, also known as Dharma Day, celebrating the day the Buddha gave his first sermon.

melting photographer not pictured, which is for the best 🥵
Buddhist temple with shining gold stupa, golden statues of the Buddha, and worshippers walking it around holding flowers. More flower offerings in the foreground along with red and green paper lanterns overhead
July 12, 2025 at 8:52 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
He really doesn’t like it.
Sign in a Thai temple reading ‘Don’t touch the dragon’ in English and Thai.
July 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Chinatown, Bangkok
A row of four story city buildings, one green-yellow, one dark pink, one black/brown, and one pale pink, with balconies on each floor and shuttered windows
July 4, 2025 at 2:56 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
‘Personally I’m a big fan of their early material’

250+ years before Angkor Wat, there was Bakong. It was the 1st Khmer temple mountain - a representation of Mt Meru, centre of the universe & home of the gods in Hindu myth 1/2

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_a...
📸 mine #ancientsite #Ancientbluesky
A 5 tiered pyramid style temple with a tower on top, located at the end of a stone then dirt path fringed with tall trees
June 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Ruins of the 11th century temple, Wat Banan, just outside of Battambang, Cambodia

(built by King Udayadityavarman II) #ancientsite #Ancientbluesky
📸 my own

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Banan
Two crumbling stone temples about 10 meters high, roughly pyramidal with a thick stone framed doorway and dark interior. Ground littered with stone and overgrown with flowering plants
June 19, 2025 at 4:21 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
A 10th century temple at the Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary in Central Vietnam, built by the ancient Hindu kingdom of Champa
📸 my own (this is temple B5 I think) #Ancientbluesky #ancientsite
more info here www.vietnamcoracle.com/my-son-sanct...
A crumbling brick temple with statues and decorated pillars on either side of a dark doorway. Trees in background
June 1, 2025 at 10:48 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Entrance to Bich Dong Pagoda, northern Vietnam, a Buddhist site featuring cave temples dating from 15th to 18th centuries.

📸 my own
Buddhist gateway across a narrow stone bridge with water and boats beside the bridge and lush green hills in the background
May 23, 2025 at 2:46 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Exploring the 'City of Silence', Pakistan’s vast city of the dead

Read my article about Makli, one of the largest necropolises in the world. Published by Globetrotters mag over on Medium

medium.com/globetrotter...

#Ancientbluesky #Findsfriday
📸 my own: Tomb of Nawab Shurfa Khan
Large, Mughal era mausoleum made of red brick with a blue tiled dome and blue tiled calligraphy over the 4 arched entrances. Built 1639.
May 23, 2025 at 3:19 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
One of the of the Bản Giốc Waterfalls on the border of Vietnam and China (on the Vietnam side)
Waterfall from green cliffs with aquamarine pool in foreground and green hills in backfield
May 17, 2025 at 3:36 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Rice and corn terraces, North Vietnam, just outside of Sa Pa, with our guide Su sporting a lovely purple umbrella

Highly recommend these folks for trekking if you’re ever in the area: sapaochau.org/sapa-trekkin...
Steep hills with rice terraces and corn. Guide in foreground with purple umbrella. Mountains in distance.
May 14, 2025 at 4:54 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
A work shift ended (1963)

By NGUYỄN SỸ NGỌC (1919 - 1990)
Lacquer painting

📸 taken from original
Vietnamese lacquer painting showing workers standing and walking, including a woman in loose black clothing and a traditional hat
May 10, 2025 at 3:21 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Statue of Avalokitesvara at Vietnam National Museum of History, Hanoi (museum replica, original 1656)

Artist Trương (family name), from Northern Vietnam
📸 my own
Large painted red wooden statue of seated bodhisattva with many arms and heads
May 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Statue of the Fasting Buddha, from the Gandhara civilization, 2nd century AD

Excavated from Sikri in modern day Pakistan
#FindsFriday

📸 my own via Lahore Museum
Dark stone statue of an emaciated Buddha in meditation posture
May 2, 2025 at 10:53 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Glacial river in Passu, northern Pakistan
Aquamarine river in foreground with spectacular white capped mountains in distance
April 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
A view of the Himalayas from 35,000 feet, somewhere between Islamabad and Skardu
High altitude mountain range covered in snow and cloud
April 24, 2025 at 5:16 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
This week I was lucky enough to visit the 4,500 year old ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan. Built by the Indus Valley Civilization, it was roughly contemporary with Stonehenge & featured advanced urban planning, public baths (in foreground) & even a sophisticated sewer system

📸 my own #ancientsite
Ancient brick ruins with steps leading down to a bathing area in foreground and a large mound in the distance
April 22, 2025 at 5:26 PM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
The mysterious script of the Indus valley civilization still hasn’t been deciphered.
These seals are at least 4,200 years old, but no one knows what they say or even what they’re for

📸 my own. Taken at the National Museum at Karachi, Pakistan #FindsFriday
White clay seal with bull and pictograph inscription
April 18, 2025 at 11:19 AM
tomscribbler.bsky.social
Ceiling of the Shah Jahan Mosque in Thatta, Pakistan (17th century)

📸 my own
Elaborately tiled mosque ceiling, with blue yellow and orange tiles arranged in a complex geometric pattern
April 13, 2025 at 1:05 PM