A change of scenery

[Wathepleela]

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!

[RosieC]

Really interesting insight into another part of the world.

Yes we never know what may happen. My thoughts and prayers go out to Paris today

[No-Pro-mwa]

Indeed nice to see the scene.

It is so very sad what happened, why does there have to be such bad people in the world. Thoughts and prayers are with them.

[Wathepleela]

Thanks Rosie and Shannon for sharing the sentiment. This week the police presence here has been beefed up considerably, everybody silently fretting over the thought of another Erawan bombing. Silently because of the superstitious norm in this part of the world, if you say something bad out loud the devil will hear it and make it come true!

To get us over the prevailing gloom and doom here’s a cheerfully multicolored pic of my “daily bread”. A typical “plat du jour” from the canteen on the campus across the street from my apartment.

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Let’s see what we have here: sweet and sour chicken with bell peppers, and ground pork sautéed in mushroom. The more interesting part is the veggie condiments that you can help yourself to. I always start with some leafy green and cucumber slices, then pile more on the top with today’s selection: fresh young ginger (yellow, fragrant and sweet), petits aubergines (purple), cut string beans, and the blue stuff are boiled “sunshine” flowers - they are tasteless but for me it’s fun to put something blue in my mouth, you can also make a beverage off them and food makers use them as food dye. Their “make my day” electric blue always puts a smile on my face!

Hope it does yours too.

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