Bangkok: Erawan Shrine through the Red Shirts

The second day in Bangkok, we visited the Four Faced Buddha shrine a.k.a. Erawan Shrine nestled right in the heart of Bangkok city. However, Ratchaprasong intersection where opposite Erawan Shrine was flooded with the Red Shirts. The streets were closed and occupied with the Red Shirts and their vehicles, camps and stalls. The tour guide had to stop the car at somewhere far and walked us to the shrine. None of us was wearing in red or yellow to show that we did not support either side.

Erawan Shrine is hindu and was built in 1956, it features the Four Faced Buddha named Brahama. The shrine was built to eliminate the bad karma of the Erawan Hotel (In 1987 the old Erawan Hotel was torn down and the 5 star Grand Hyatt was built, the shrine remained however). The hotel laid the foundation on the wrong date and encountered a massive number of challenges and missteps during construction, including injuries to workers and boats with raw materials for the construction being lost at sea. Upon completion of the shrine, the missteps and bad luck ceased.

The guide didn’t want us to stay at the area for long to ensure our safety from the Red Shirts. In fact, she stood with the opposite side. According to the tour guide, her work was greatly affected as the Red Shirts’ protest battering the tourism industry in Bangkok. After paying homage to Brahama and made wishes, we left the shrine.

I still don’t understand the reason I didn’t snap any photo of the shrine. However, on our way in and out the shrine, I managed to take some shots of the Red Shirts:

 

Here came the MCA representative, Boon-Huat from Malaysia to understand the situation and trying to peacefully resolve the issue between the Red Shirts and the government. <– joke

There are many legends and stories of the Erawan Shrine. Hundreds of people are visiting Erawan Shrine daily and many believe that their wishes and prayers get answered. It was really great that we visited the shrine on our trip as it’s more difficult to go there. The conflict and violence between the Red Shirts and the law enforcers erupt again as I read the news today. We hope that both sides able to solve the mutual problems. May the Thai people find peace.