yin and yang

No camera today but I decided that an iphone photo is better than no photo at all. I couldn't pass by this scene - the juxtapositions of Thailand are so perfectly shown here. The yellow shrine at the far right of the photo is a "spirit house" where offerings are made to the spirits of the land. It's no problem for Thais to put it right in front of a 24 hour 7 Eleven, symbol of globalized capitalism, where tough guys hang around drinking bottles of beer in the evenings. Until a couple of weeks ago, we lived right behind this building and the bright gold paint on the spirit house was touched up regularly by my husband in the wee hours of the morning. But appeasing the spirits didn't let us stay there. The apartment building is being torn down to make way for a shiny new high rise. The 7-Eleven will suffer the same fate. I wonder whether they'll spare the spirit house. Stay tuned.