2002-02-10

Back to Botter's village

Another elephant eating by the side of the road. There seems to be nothing to prevent them from wandering off (not that a fence would stop one.)

The shrine at Botter's house. You see one of these on almost every property. Little spaces are reserved outside of houses, offices, stores and fields for shrines and spirit houses. The Thais, in addition to being Buddhist, are also animists and believe there is a god to just about everything. The shrine is a little place to make offerings and keep in their good graces. If you look closely you'll see the little Coca Cola cup on the shrine.

The spirit houses look similar and I am not sure how to tell them apart but there purpose is different. They house the spirits that reside on the land and if they don't have a little house of their own, or if the house is not suitable for some reason, they will move into your house and cause all sorts of trouble. Some of the spirit houses are lavishly equipped with little doll-like furniture and even a television! I wonder what they would think if they saw a Barbie doll house in the U.S. Would they assume it was a spirit house?

I don't believe in this and neither does Botter but he understands and respects the beliefs of the Thais. It wouldn't be a good idea to pooh-pooh it, as some foreigners do, since the neighbors and locals would ascribe any bad luck that came your way to the doings of the spirits.

Botter and I were outside after dark when we heard a motorcycle coming down the road. I could see its headlight and another very odd looking light moving along with it. It looked like a flourescent light. Why would anyone have a flourescent light on a motorcycle? The driver pulled up to us and now I could see it was a mobile restaurant serving dinner. The sidecar carries a propane canister, gas stove, wok, utensils, food ingredients and sauces.

I told him that we didn't have anything like this in America and even if you tried the police would stop you. I could just imagine all of the safety laws such a vehicle must violate not to mention the health permits for selling food. He laughed and said in Thailand you were free to do what you want.