Walking through Bangkok

From the 40 meter Buddha, we walked to the Marble Temple. We walked through the streets in the early evening, and the sun had already set. Walking through the streets in Thailand seemed more dangerous than I was used to. The main road was very wide, and it was not clear to me when it was safe to cross, since right turns on red lights were common. When I thought that it was safe enough, we simply ran across, and luckily, we didn’t get hit by any cars.

Another interesting feature of the cityscape was the ever present image of the king. There were large posters at every intersection (even at the smaller streets), of the king of Thailand in various activities. Apparently, he likes photography, playing saxaphone, and talking to the locals. In addition to pictures of his activities, there were also several official looking portraits with him posing next to his wife. It astonished me that any one man should be so revered in a country. I cannot imagine what this might look like in the United States. I also could not imagine how someone so rich puts on such a display in a nation where there are so many poor people.