I understood that Thailand was a deeply religious country before coming here, but I didn't realize what that would look like until I spent some time roaming around the city. Something like 95% of the country is practicing Buddhist, and you'll see a shrine to someone in the Buddhist pantheon about every three or four blocks. Just about every hotel has one just outside the main entrance, and you'll see them scattered about everywhere. They get quite elaborate and creative, too. Here's just a sampling of the ones I saw just around my hotel.
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| This was near a hotel. I saw a couple of people pray to it but it would have been creepy and insensitive to take a picture. |
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| All of the shrines are riots of color. I couldn't get a good picture of this one without shadows, but maybe that just makes it an art shot. |
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These were arranged in front of the previous shrine. Stuff like this was common in the ones I saw.
I was impressed with the level of commitment and detail here. |
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| Yet another hotel shrine, and so impressively put together. Just beautiful |
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| The offerings in front of the previous shrine. Again, I can't get over the amount of work that goes into these things. |
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| The variety and creativity in the shrines was something else to see. |
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| These offering were left in front of one. I don't know the significance of these particular items but I'm sure there is some. |
In addition to the beauty of the shrines, there were some depressingly ordinary things to see. In just about every side street you'll find these massive tangles of power wires, thicker and more complicated than anything I've seen elsewhere. I can't imagine what it's like to be an electrician for the city. Just look at what they would have to deal with:
I did not expect to see a 7-11 every few blocks, but they are all over the place in Bangkok.
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| I took a bunch of shots of these, but you've seen one you've seen them all, right? |
It was mid-november, but there were Christmas trees at the mall just down the road. It's almost like I was still in the United States.
The fact that a pagan festival appropriated by Christians and turned into the avatar of consumerism was so prominent in a Buddhist country made me giggle, I'm not going to lie.
I mentioned in the previous entry that the hotel I was staying in had a rooftop bar with an incredible view. I went there the first night and took a few pictures of what I could see. It was quite the introduction to Bangkok, 32 floors up and with a couple of Whiskeys Old Fashioned in me.
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| It's a little grainy because I was just using the basic settings on my camera, but the colors are right on. |
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| Just look at that skyline. This is a City, capital C. |
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| Just look at this place. Gorgeous. Some people are happy in rural areas, but it's the city life for me. Always. |
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Not much to say about this shot except that I like how it turned out. See those scooters on the road? There are hundreds of them all over.
Most of the guys who ride them will take you where you need to go for a minimal fee. |
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Yeah. Bangkok's pretty cool.
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I'm going to leave you with something that's amusing to me, and probably to most people from the United States. Thai toilets are all equipped with something completely foreign to people like me: something that looks like a garden hose. The British call it a "bum gun" and that should give you an idea of what it's supposed to be used for. This was my first experience with one, and I was hesitant about it at first. "You want me to spray WHAT in my WHERE?" I'm willing to try most anything once, so I did and...it's not bad. I could see using it on a regular basis if I lived somewhere that had it. I'm sure I used less toilet paper than I usually do, and I definitely felt cleaner.
Look up how to use one online first, though. You'll save yourself some trouble.
Here, in all its glory then, is the Thai toilet:
I can't think of anything better to end on, so enjoy that!
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