Not having posted anything of earth-shaking news (more on that later) lately, I have only this snapshot of a Bangkok street scene to share which features, whatelse, orchids. Though of the most common denominator variety, these farm-produced orchids are sold by the bunch for pennies, along with jasmine and marigold in wreaths (or leis?)
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Whenever you see a flower stand just as this one, you'll know that there is gonna be a shrine around the corner. In this instance we are in front of our local Big C (the equivalent of Ralphs on the West Coast) and the shrine is off to the side of the car lane that leads to the parking structure in the back of the building.
About the size of a commercial kiosk, the local shrine is to the local populace what the holy water basin is to a church's congregation if it were outdoors. People would stop by for a second or minute or two and do their worship- ritual thing, every morning some clerk from the store would bring out a tray of offerings and leave it at the base.
The most well known shrine of Bangkok is the Erawan shrine in the center of the city, which features among other things, folk dancing in traditional costume on the hour (just like the Changing of the Guards in front of Buckingham Palace).
Tragically it was also the scene of the first international terrorist bombing in the history of Bangkok that occurred a few months ago. The first of its kind that claimed innocent lives en masse. Security since then has been ratcheted up considerably. Two days ago, the day before Nov 13, there was a long-anticipated soccer match at the National Stadium which happens to be just half a mile away from this flower stand. The whole neighborhood was awashed in blue as fans donned shirts of the team's color. Police forces and K9 bomb squads swarmed the whole area. I was sipping coffee outside at the base of the stadium before the match began, kind of self contentedly boasting to the barista lady, "Oh, nothing will happen, this is just between Thai and Taiwanese teams, the bad guys won't be bothered..."
Little did I know what would happen the following day on the other side of the world...
Paris, je vous aime!
A change of scenery
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