Temples and Spirit Houses

A modern rail line connects the airport with center city Bangkok: Oh, that Washington could come here and feel the shame of not having the Metro extend out to Dulles! 

Silom Road:  This section of Bangkok used to be on the outskirts of the city, its landscape that of canals, rice fields and wind mills.  Now, it is the financial quarter of modern Bangkok.  One of the sights of Silom Road is the Hindu temple called Wat Khaek Silom.  It was built by south Indians (specifically, Tamils) and looks nothing like the north Indian temples I have been seeing in India.  It is intricate and colorful both outside and in, but it does have a typical tapering top.  On the streets all around are vendors selling flowers and other offerings for those who plan to pray.  Thailand is not a Hindu nation, but migrants from India have been arriving for centuries.  Plus, I am discovering that the line between Hinduism and Buddhism is very blurry.  The deity of the spirit houses in this neighborhood all look like Hindu gods to me.  They are, someone told me, but they have equivalents in Buddhism.  The four-faced Hindu god is the same as the four-faced Buddha.  Boundary lines don’t seem to matter much here.  In fact, within a few hundred meters of the temple is a masjid (a.k.a., mosque) for Muslims (Mirasuddeen mosque) and a church for Christians.  Bangkok is actually more diverse than I thought it would be, but my view may be biased by the thin slice of the city I have seen thus far, just Silom Road, which has always been a focus of foreign businesses

Outside almost every condominium, office complex, and hotel is a spirit house where prayers are offered and offerings left.  Flowers are the most popular, but also a glass of juice or something else just purchased from the local 7-11.  Yes, 7-11.  I wandered into a small grocery store to buy something to drink (very hot here), and when I went to check out I discovered it was a 7-11.  That was after I just arrived, and now I see 7-11s everywhere.  Do you think it is a US chain?  Think again.  It was bought by a Japanese company, so it is really more at home here in Thailand than in the U.S.  The original one, though, was in Dallas as I recall.  By the way, Tesco (so common in London) is also here in large numbers, and Boots is, too.

Geographically yours,

D.J.Z.