Though not
a Wat, the shrine is an important Thai religious edifice.
As mentioned in chapter Religion in the first part of this book,
Buddhism is a religion not concerned with the existence or non-existence
of God, or gods, or spirits. The believe in supernatural elements,
however, is part of the common religious life of the Thai people.
They worship heavenly beings in various forms, and for fairly
earthly wishes, such as money or fertility.
In Bangkok,
the preferred site to do so is Erawan Shrine, located at the intersection
of Rama I Road and Rajadamri Road, next to the new
Hyatt Hotel. It's a place tourists staying in the Sukhumvit Road
area will pass by automatically when going either to the Silom
Road area or the old city center.
Even though
the site of the Erawan Shrine is a corner heavily polluted
by Bangkok road traffic, it's still the smell of incense sticks
that predominates the air; indeed they are burned by the hundreds.
While many
worshipping Thai just knee down and pray, some also hire the musicians
and dancers available on site - in order to give their
requests more weight. For a tourist, this offers the opportunity
to see authentic traditional Thai dance and hear authentic
traditional Thai music played on traditional instruments - not
tainted by what tourism managers believe as being appealing to
foreign visitors, and free of charge above that.
Another common
practice seen at the Erawan Shrine is the offering of flower
garlands and small wooden elephants (symbols of luck)
both of which are sold by street vendors outside the shrine. The
traveller will notice that he passes by the shrine when most Thai
riding in the same bus will perform a Wai towards the location
of the shrine.
It's amazing
how undisturbed the traditional activities go on in spite
of the proximity to modern day city life.
