When you're not expecting it....

Ok, so, I'm currently reading a book called Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. It's kind of a steam punk sci-fi/fantasy novel. Anyway, to the point. The book borrows many various creatures from the mythology of different countries. The creatures I've noticed so far have mostly been fairly unknown in the Greek/Roman/sometimes Norse mythology most people (in New Zealand at least) seem to know. Examples of these would be the khepri and the vodyanoi. Another of these creatures is a garuda. He's pretty important to the plot too. Now, I KNEW I knew the name garuda, and the description of the creature struck me as somewhat familiar too. Part human, part bird, warrior like. So I googled it. The garuda is the freaking national symbol of Thailand. I definitely know what a garuda is and what it's meant to look like. I suppose it just didn't click because I hardly expected one to be in a weird fantasy novel written by a British guy, but there you go. Maybe I'm just a little thick sometimes.