Spirit Houses

All over Thailand and Bangkok there are Spirit Houses.  They can range from quite small to very large and elaborate.  Spirit houses serve as shrines to protective spirits.  The spirits are thought to protect homes and businesses from misfortune.

Spirit houses are usually placed in a favorable location chosen after consultation with a Brahmin priest, often in a corner of the property that does not get shade.  Normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, spirit houses are often mounted on a single pillar or on a dais.

This spirit house was situated on a roof and was visible from the train as it passed by.

The elephant is an important symbol in Thailand - animal representations are often included as part of a spirit house.

The spirit house provides shelter for spirits that could cause problems for the people if not appeased. The shrines often include images of people and animals.  Offerings of food, drink, incense and flowers are left to nurture the spirits.  In return the spirits offer protection and good fortune.

On this particular day, the spirits must have taken the form of pigeons when they visited the spirit house to accept the offerings of food and drink!

 While walking around Bangkok, it was interesting to note that the spirit houses come in many different sizes and shapes and range from very simple to very intricate and complex.

 The spirit houses are also another example of the contrasts found in Bangkok.  It's an ultra modern city of sky scrapers, high rise apartments and some of the best medical care in the world, yet a multi-million dollar construction project can't or won't proceed until a spirit house has been properly established on the property.  Failure to do so could bring unimaginable bad luck. 

These contrasts or ironies are also a major part of Thailand's charm and appeal.  It's rather cool that there is room for both modern progress and ancient beliefs in this amazing country.

Temples

Given that 95% of the population of Thailand is Buddhist, it's no surprise that there are an estimated 40,000 temples in Thailand.  Thai temple complexes usually include a temple or wat, feature a tall bell-shaped stupa which is a place for relics and the ashes of monks, ordination and sermon halls, a space for shrines and Buddha images and a residence for the monks.

The public is welcome at most temples.  When visiting the temples, please show respect by observing the following guidelines:

Take your shoes off before entering the temple.

Make sure shoulders are covered and wear long pants (or long skirts for women).

Remove hats and sunglasses, don't chew gum or smoke and speak quietly.

After entering the temple, sit on the floor with your feet under you and try not to put yourself in a position where you are higher than any Buddha statues or Buddhist monks.

It's ok to take photographs unless there are signs forbidding it, but don't use a flash.

With their ornate appearance, the temples are easily recognizable.

These are peaceful places, and even if not Buddhist, one may feel the urge to reflect or meditate while visiting.

Beautiful arrangements of fresh flowers adorn the interior of the temples and they are spectacular:

The interior of the temples are dominated by Buddha statues.  Buddha statues are made out of many different materials from gold plate to stone to wood to clay.  One famous statue, the Golden Buddha (not pictured below), was thought to be made of plaster until it was being moved to a new location in 1954.  Ropes supporting the statue snapped causing the statue to fall to the floor.  The fall resulted in some of the plaster chipping off allowing the gold surface underneath to be seen.  After carefully removing the plaster it was discovered that the statue was solid gold.  It is believed that it was covered over with plaster in the 1700's to prevent theft, although at 5.5 tons stealing it would be a daunting task!

The interior of the temples include beautifully embellished shutters and ceilings.

Detailed murals cover the walls:

Buddhist monks live a simple life with few material possessions.  They rise early in order to go out and collect alm which is the giving of food to the monks by lay people.  Monks are not allowed to have contact with women, therefore, any food offered by a woman must be handed to a man and then passed to the monk or put in a bowl left on the ground.  Monks are allowed to eat each day between sunrise and noon.

A walk through the temple grounds is a visual treat:

Many of the temples are surrounded by park like areas making them a quiet oasis in the middle of the city:

Bangkok is a very large, very busy, very noisy place and an afternoon spent at a temple is a nice way to have a few hours of restorative quiet time before heading back into the hustle and bustle that makes the city so exciting.

Food Courts

Food courts are popular in Bangkok and it's no wonder.  They offer an incredible variety of foods from Vietnamese to Indian to Chinese to Indonesian to Thai to Japanese and much, much more.  They are also inexpensive with a typical meal ranging from 55 to 100 baht.  Keep in mind 100 baht equals $3 U.S.

The large food courts are usually located in shopping malls, but it's not uncommon to see smaller neighborhood versions.  A feature I haven't seen before at American food courts is the method of payment.  First one goes to a cashier's station to purchase a debit card in an amount specified by the customer.  The amount can be whatever the customer wishes but should be enough to cover all food court purchases.  As purchases are made at various food stations, the card is run through a scanner and the cost of the item is deducted from the card.  At the end of the meal, the customer returns the card to the cashier's station and if there is any credit left on the card receives a refund for the full amount.

So many choices.   Decisions, decisions.

Yum:

Time for dessert:

These fruit juices remind me of precious gem stones:

The ambiance is great too - love this crab sculpture:

The downside of the food courts is not being able to sample everything - we gave it our best shot!

Taste Sensations

To say that the food in Thailand is delicious would be an understatement of epic proportions.  The food is not only delicious, it is fresh and bright and exciting and much of it is exotic to this Westerner.  Fried bugs, anyone?

We ate at food courts, restaurants and from street vendors and I'm happy to report that we never had any food related issues or illnesses.  There are street vendors who keep their carts meticulously clean and others not so much.  To be on the safe side, we opted to purchase and eat food from those who had clean carts, fresh fish and seafood well packed in ice, vegetables that were still in their prime and who had a lot of customers.

Our running joke was that the woks were so hot that nothing would survive that experience anyway!

A favorite snack was chicken, pork or beef skewers.  Small pieces of marinated meat are placed on skewers along with a piece of pineapple and chili pepper and grilled over coals while you wait.  Yum.

Containers full of hot coals glow eerily in the night:

Examples of some of the street food we devoured - a wonderful meal can be had for less than 100 baht or $3.  Pad Thai soon became one of my favorite go to meals.

Chinese Kale with Crispy Pork:

Catfish Laab - laab or larb consists of well seasoned cooked ground meat that is usually served at room temperature.  It is often accompanied by fresh herbs such as mint:

Cashew Chicken tends to be on the sweet side:

I don't remember what this dish was called but I do remember that it was tasty!

Tom Yum Soup was also a favorite dish of mine.  Spicy with a hint of lime, it definitely lives up to the "yum" in it's name:

Another spicy dish is this Green Chicken Curry"

Morning Glory or Water Spinach is a popular green.  Crisp and light, not only is it healthy, but it tastes great too:

Grilled squid - we usually like squid, but found it to be rather dry and tasteless when grilled.  Maybe it was just us, because it was a very popular item and often sold out before the evening was over:

We meant to try the grilled fish, but our time in Thailand ran out before we had a chance:

This vendor sold many different varieties of grilled mushrooms on skewers:

The waitresses at Mulligan's warned us that this fresh shrimp salad was spicy.  We assured them that we like spicy which seemed to please them.  It was indeed spicy and we ate every bite!

I'm not sure what this dish was, but I imagine it was hot.  Look at all those chiles - there's fish in there too:

Remember earlier when I mentioned exotic?  I wasn't brave enough to try the chicken feet, but they are a popular dish.  Most often they were deep fried but sometimes they show up in soup:

When it comes to exotic, the chicken feet are actually quite tame.  I'm not sure that there will ever come a time that we're ready to try lung soup or intestines or some of the other things served here.  While we consider ourselves to be fairly adventurous when it comes to food, there are some things that are difficult to get past.  Of course, much of this has to do with what people grow up eating; I'm sure we eat things that others wouldn't want to eat due to their upbringing.  Still hoping to work up the courage to try the fried bugs someday though!