Nature
These are the Three Whale Rocks (Hin Sam Wan) in Phu Sing Forest Park, Bueng Kan Province, northeastern Thailand.
They are natural sandstone formations roughly 75 million years old, shaped by erosion into elongated whale-like shapes. From above they look like a family of whales (two adults and a calf) rising from a sea of trees. The largest is about 75-100 meters long.
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Thinking that anchoring a railing into sandstone is just going to make it deteriorate faster. Stuff isn't all that sturdy.
Probably got a little flatter on top just from people walking on it the last few thousand years.
The ultimate nightmare would be slipping into the crevice between two of the "whales", and getting wedged in. Slowly slipping further down with every exhale. Not sure if they're that close at the bottom though, so ya might just go >SPAT<.
Anyway, it seems the markings are a good enough warning not to go too far to the sloping edge.
You can literally find this place on like google maps by just searching three whale rocks. It's in north-eastern Thailand roughly east of Vientiane near the border and you can see people standing on the rock in the satellite images.
He is right, all of us are just a quantum fluctuation in the boot process of A.D.A.M who's sensors are slowly being activated as it becomes aware of the universe. After all it says in Genesis that God put Adam in a deep sleep but it never says he was woken up ...
it has stood for thousands of years already. if my fat ass is the tipping point of it all falling apart then so be it. If I'm going out I prefer it be a once in a millennia event.
I hate this kind of B.S writing: Science "attempts" to explain them? No, there is a perfectly well understood geological reason for them. It's no mystery. You can say that we understand them without diminishing the interesting legends about them and their cultural significe.
Der Phu Sing und die benachbarten Gebiete Phu Tok und Phu Wua bestehen aus rund 75 bis 80 Millionen Jahre alten Sedimentgesteinen, die in einer Zeit entstanden, als die Region aus einer trockenen, wรผstenartigen Landschaft bestand.[3] Geologisch werden die Gesteine der Phu-Thok-Formation zugerechnet; in dem Gebiet wechseln arkosische Sandsteine mit kalkhaltigem Siltstein in einer insgesamt etwa 200 Meter mรคchtigen Schichtenfolge.[3] Da der kalkhaltige Siltstein durch Niederschlagswasser leichter angegriffen wird als der widerstandsfรคhigere Sandstein, entstanden durch Verwitterung und Erosion zurรผckweichende Schichten, Felsรผberhรคnge, Hรถhlen und hervortretende Sandsteinpartien.[3] Hin Sam Wan besteht aus drei parallel wirkenden, gerundeten Felskรถrpern, die aus dem Wald herausragen und besonders aus der Vogelperspektive wie schwimmende Wale erscheinen.[1] Der grรถรte der drei Felsen ist ungefรคhr 100 Meter lang.[1]
No no, you don't need to learn German. Here it is in Italian:
Il Phu Sing e le vicine aree di Phu Tok e Phu Wua sono costituiti da rocce sedimentarie risalenti a circa 75โ80 milioni di anni fa, formatesi quando la regione era caratterizzata da un paesaggio arido e desertico.[3] Dal punto di vista geologico, queste rocce appartengono alla Formazione di Phu Thok; nellโarea si alternano arenarie arcosiche e siltiti calcaree, in una successione stratigrafica dallo spessore complessivo di circa 200 metri.[3] Poichรฉ le siltiti calcaree vengono attaccate dallโacqua piovana piรน facilmente rispetto alle arenarie, piรน resistenti, i processi di alterazione ed erosione hanno causato lโarretramento degli strati meno resistenti, formando sporgenze rocciose, grotte e porzioni di arenaria in rilievo.[3] Hin Sam Wan รจ costituito da tre masse rocciose arrotondate, disposte pressochรฉ parallelamente, che emergono dalla foresta e che, soprattutto dallโalto, ricordano balene intente a nuotare.[1] La piรน grande delle tre rocce รจ lunga circa 100 metri.[1]
For the longest time, I didnโt realize that was happening, but now that I do, I think itโs amazing that we can all chat here together! Yeah auto translate!
Why assume I didnโt do that? Maybe someone has a better explanation than I found. I didnโt know knowledge was a bad thing. But thanks for your considerate reply.
If you hadnโt deleted your first reply I could have just answered your question instead of typing a new reply and attacking me.
Crazy to see this here. It's about 2 hours away from where I live and I have a trail running race at Hin Sam Wan in the morning. 50km and it's been quite hot the last few days. Wish me luck!
The vast majority of humans throughout history haven't had these convenient giants around to stand on the shoulders of.
With no means to access or obtain natural explanations, you really don't get how people will come up with a story that makes sense to the only worldview available to them?
"No official or prominent news reports indicate that anyone has ever died from falling or having a fatal accident on the Three Whale Rocks (Hin Sam Wan) in Bueng Kan Province, Thailand."
If you use Firefox just hit the "reading mode" button (page with text icon next to the URL bar) to get only text and inline reference images. Works great! No ads or anything, just plain text (white text/black background for me to protect my eyes), and the related images (tap for full resolution) for the article. Honestly surprised more people don't know/don't utilize Firefox just for its amazing reading mode and built-in adblocking. I can't even imagine browsing the web without it...give it a try!
I replied to the comment above with a solution for *most* websites. Check it out if ya want, I won't repost the whole thing here, but you may not see my reply to the comment you replied to, so, here is your notification!
I used reading mode on Firefox and it displays like the old internet. Great feature! Zero ads, just text and related images. I'm not sure which browser you use, but if this kind of thing frustrates you, maybe try Firefox?
Three Whale Rock (Hin Sam Wan) is a spectacular sandstone formation in Phu Singh Forest Park, Bueng Kan Province, northeastern Thailand. The site is named for its three massive, whale-shaped boulders that rest side-by-side on a high cliff, resembling a family of whalesโfather, mother, and calfโemerging from a โseaโ of forest. From the rockโs summit, visitors can enjoy sweeping views of the Mekong River, the mountains of Laos, and the surrounding Phu Wua Wildlife Sanctuary.
The rocks sit on the Khorat Plateau in northeastern Thailand, a region famous for dinosaur-bearing sandstones, broad escarpments, and striking mesas. Three Whale Rock is composed of quartz-rich sandstone of the Phu Phan Formation (Khorat Group), deposited in river and floodplain environments during the Early Cretaceou. Over millions of years, weathering and erosion sculpted the resistant sandstone into smooth, elongated shapes that strikingly resemble whales.
Three Whale Rock (Hin Sam Wan) is a quartz-rich sandstone unit deposited in fluvial (river, braided-stream, and floodplain) environments within the Khorat Basin during the Early Cretaceous (BarremianโAptian, ~130โ115 million years ago).
Sediment Deposition and Lithification: Ancient rivers spread thick beds of sand and mud across the Khorat Plateau. Over millions of years, burial pressure and silica-rich groundwater cemented these sediments into hard sandstone.
Tectonic Uplift: After deposition, the Khorat Plateau experienced gentle but repeated Cretaceous to Cenozoic uplift, which exposed the sandstone to surface weathering and erosion.
Differential Erosion: Softer surrounding rocks weathered away more rapidly than the durable quartz-rich sandstone, leaving resistant ridges and isolated blocks standing above the plateau.
Spheroidal Weathering: Tropical rainfall and daily temperature changes penetrated joints in the sandstone. Chemical dissolution of mineral cements and mechanical expansion caused outer layers to peel away, gradually rounding the blocks into smooth, elongated forms that resemble a family of whales.
Present Landscape: Today, massive sandstone slabs with curved tops and steep flanks rise above the forested plateau, a striking record of Early Cretaceous sedimentation and millions of years of tropical weathering.
I bet what the voice is saying is just pure, legendary nonsense that they tell tourists. I doubt that people in a region deep in the jungle, hundreds of kilometers from the ocean, even knew what whales were hundreds of years ago. I'm pretty sure the name wasn't given until just a few decades ago.
Yes it actually is a pretty recent moniker. The formations around the Phu Sing territory are what the name comes from as Phu Sing roughly translates to Lion Mountain.
You'd think a spot buddhists chose for their sacred location because it looked like it was guarded by gigantic lions would be more bad ass but I guess whales are what sells for international tourism
I mean, what's more likely? That rocks just happened to "erode" over millions of years to look just like a family of whales, or that it's actually a family of preserved whales? It just Occam's razor folks.
The answer is that there's no real history of it being called that prior to about 20 years ago. It was still a place people went, just as a cool cliff instead of "three whale rock"
They didn't. It was known as roughly the "lion mountains" or "mountains guarded by giant lions" until recently.
I buy more into the history that they chose the spot because it looked like giant lions or lion paws from the ground protecting a sacred buddhist area rather than just some random whales
Why wouldn't they know what whales look like from above? That's the most normal way for a person in a boat to see a whale, and on top of that, whales sometimes breach and reveal themselves in all three dimensions
I could only imagine what it must have been like living in an age before machines and technology just people existing in the land and coming across these formations and then telling others about it etc..
Interestingly there are no recorded deaths. You can watch YT videos of people walking out on them, it's good traction when not wet, you could ride a bike on them without much worry (not that anyone in their right mind would) but common sense would keep you alive here.
What people need to understand in countries like Thailand is the warning signs and guardrails don't exist like the USA, use your brain or get hurt.
There is safety on the rocks, the park rangers have placed sticky tape down the length of the protruding rocks on either side, so stick to the centre. There is also a windsock.
There are so many petrified giants in Thailand. I absolutely love it. You'll see giant elephants, snakes, lizards, and even whales - it's just phenomenal.
This legend seems to me to explain it as well as any other. I have never seen sandstone with such a texture before. Would love to hear a geologistโs interpretation here.
โข
u/BeAmazed-ModBot Subreddit Bot 11d ago
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