Snakes as the Buddha's Assistant...

Once you step into Nong Khai Province of Northeast Thailand, you will have this sense of weirdness, why do i say so, you may ask??? The legend has it that before the Bodhisattva gained enlightenment under the bodhi tree, there was a big storm gathering towards him. The Big Python began to wrap itself around the Bodhisattva to enable him to concentrate on his enlightenment and hide him from the storm. No wonder, there was so much of this kind of statue where the viper or python circles around the body of the Buddha being sculpted and revered here. The locals up here feels that the snake is luck to them and hence it is revered as a holy item.