loy krathong; capitalism

Two places I avoid in the states: malls and Starbucks. Yet, much of my month-long stay in Bangkok has been spent, of all places, at a various mall Starbuckses, where I could work and download TV shows via the best internet in town, before returning to the hospital with TV and western food court food for Con and her mother (deep fried chicken donut delight).

So.. last night's Loy Krathong celebration was fitting. As is the case much of the time while traveling, I had little clue to what we were doing. You light this or that little candle, and then do this or that little chant and honor this or that god. Culture!

In some parts of Thailand, Loy Krathong looks like this:


In Bangkok, Loy Krathong (I think) honors the goddess of the Chao Phraya (the big river rolling through BKK). But in order to avoid Chao crowds, we set our krathongs sailing onto a man-made pond next to a mall, before spending the rest of the evening at a Starbucks. As such, our experience looked more like this:


It felt like teaching your kid about nature by camping on a golf course.