I rushed to the old railway station (Hua Lamphong) to get my reserved train ticket. But I was late, the time limit of the booking codes had expired. I shouldn’t have stopped at the petrol station and had a friendly chat with the two porters at the station. I couldn’t help it as they have become my friends through years of helping me with my boxes and luggages onto the train. I was telling them I missed their trolleys at the new station; no porters and no big trolleys. Life must have been very hard in the countryside as the lady who used to be the boss of these porters with trolley had to come back. She used to have a very big fat cat sitting on her table here; she told me she left her cat at home. I felt very sorry for them that the railway authority had created lots of hardship and difficulties for hard working people and powerless passengers. There seemed to be no ends to the folly and corruptions among people in high positions.
I told them I had to catch up with my late lunch as I decided to visit Talad Noi (Little Market). I was curious to see how this tourist spot has changed after the long lockdown. The hot bus stop about 500 meters from my luncheon destination. The day was very bright and hot making my walk slower. But I was so glad to see more activities around the area. Little Market is located by the river and close by River City and the Sheraton Hotel. River City is the famous antiques market and shopping center full of restaurants. The piers at River City are full of boat cruises and long boats for day trips. Dinner cruises along the river at night has become busy once again. I was glad to see more tourism activities around this area.
Talad Noi (Little Market) is one of the oldest Chinese community whose ancestors had settled down along the river about two hundred years ago. This community was the extension of the growing Chinese community in Chinatown. Most Thais would come to this market for some famous restaurants and coffee shops. I was too late for catching up with street food stalls along the narrow lanes. They all had sold out during lunch time and only a few stalls were available. I had to settle for a simple padthai. The vendor was very kind and accommodating as I asked him not to put sugar, red chili and MSG in my padthai. He told me he didn’t use MSG in his food. I asked him to add extra tofu instead of the small shrimps.
The Catholic Church nearby was very kind to allow these streetfood vendors to set up tables for their customers. The church was right by the river the cooling wind from the river made the place so comfortable. I had my padthai while observing some guided tourists’ bicycle tour going around the area. That was a positive sign seeing demand for cycling tours around tourist spots in Bangkok.
The heat was beating on me so I looked for some coconut ice cream. But I found the traditional Chinese sweet instead. The black jelly made from medicinal plants could be taken with several ingredients and crushed ice topping with cane sugar syrup. This was supposed to cool excess Yang energy in the body and harmonise the Chi. No wonder, I felt much lighter after having my cooling sweet. I realised that I couldn’t cover the whole area of Talad Noi in two hours (I had to get back to the train station for my ticket), so I should survey what I could that afternoon.
The first thing to do was to pay respect to the old Chinese shrine on the riverfront. The Rong Kueak Shrine (Horse Shoes) was built during the reign of King Rama I, this must be over 250 years old. The shrine did show her age; the wall sculptures were totally decimated by the weather and the original colours of the panels had disappeared. It seemed the local community didn’t have the funding for renovation like other more wealthy shrines. Chinese people in this area weren’t wealthy merchants like those around Chinatown district.
Fortunately, some Chinese caretakers and their descendants continue to look after the shrine and keep all antiques safe from thieves. One day, younger generations wouldn’t find this voluntary family obligation very attractive and would leave to make some money. Then old Chinese shrines would be left to perish through time. The future is uncertain, some Chinese leaders might set up a charity to keep this shrine a living heritage from the past.
The shrine was very peaceful and neatly maintained by the elderly caretaker. I was attracted by the old wooden shrines and beautiful wooden carving of Kwan Yin statue. The old metal lamps were from early nineteenth century. The antique objects in Chinese shrines always stirred my imagination. These wooden statues and carvings had to be carefully packed and transported from China on merchant ships. The local Chinese people would have a big inauguration ceremony for welcoming these statues of Chinese gods and goddesses.
Traveling for months on sailing ships on treacherous seas made families of sailors and merchants very nervous about safety. So, holy shrines with sacred Chinese gods and goddesses became their anchors for prayers of safe returns of loved ones from long sea journeys. In the old days, doctors and hospitals were almost nonexistent, so these simple people had to seek divine interventions at local shrines.
This tradition has continued and expanded into paying respects at various Hindu temples around Bangkok. Nowadays, Thai people would flock to Hindu shrines more than old Chinese shrines. Famous film stars and high society people have played a big role in popularise Hindu gods and goddesses. Several astrologers also contributed to the new trend of performing elaborate ceremonies at Hindu shrines. So, old Chinese shrines have been left empty and quiet by younger generations.
The old legends of Chinese gods and goddesses were as complicated and confusing as those of the Greek’s culture. I still couldn’t remember all the names and connections among all the Chinese deities and their factions. There were those who guarded the doors to the different realms or dimensions; the gods who were guardians of eight directions and so on.
I walked around the old shrine, taking photos and saying my greetings to all the old statues. They probably thought I was an alien from outer planet as I didn’t know how to perform the proper ritual or protocols in their presence. Luckily, they were very kind and amused by my lame attempt to pay respect on my peculiar manner. I was glad they didn’t pull a trick on me or teach me a lesson for my weird manner. The elderly caretaker looked at me and walked back to her kitchen. I had so many questions for these deities but they refused to tell me their secrets.
I had a glimpse of the river under the glaring sun. So, I took a shaded path to the garden next door. The big old tree in the garden was very impressive. Evidently, the tree spirits must have been very powerful and magical. People who had their wishes granted had been back with gifts of colourful traditional Thai dresses. Distressed people would seek the help of tree spirits with their live life, career, lottery tickets and health problems. They would promise to return the favour by offering new costumes, lots of sweets and flowers, some dancers with Thai instruments, and animal dolls. The more gifts on the tree often reflected the generosity and magical power of particular tree spirits. I was never successful in seeking tree spirits’ help as I couldn’t promise to offer much in return for their favour. I was afraid of what I had promised to these tree spirits!
The modern skyscrapers along the river made me puzzled at the contrast between material progress and spiritual development in our society. It seemed like we were living in parallel universe somehow. I bid my goodbye to the Horse Shoes Shrine and headed to the old bank by the river. An old college senior friend introduced me to this banking building when she launched her historical book in this garden several years ago. The neoclassic building had been recently renovated so the whole place looked very beautiful and neat.
I slowly walked towards the garden to take some photos of the grand old trees and river views. Over a hundred years ago, many old trees were dotted along the riverbank and old Bangkok looked like a big park with forest trees scattered around the city. Nowadays only the old Banyan and Pho trees were left untouched as people were afraid of tree spirits’ anger. There were lots of stories of people going crazy after they cut down old trees. Some people were even told not to touch these trees in their dreams; so workmen refused to cut down some old trees.
Gardeners in places where there are big old trees would naturally set up shrines or regularly offer sweets and flowers to tree spirits for their protection. I realised that tree spirits were not mere stories when one day I was asked to find out why so many bad things were happening in a family’s house. I was mystified by my senior friend’s request but I had to know the whole story. So I went along with her to a very nice house surrounded by tall trees. My friend was a Feng Shui practitioner and her clients needed help with strange or ghostly incidents in their house.
My old friend was very serious and anxious about the case without telling me any details of the problems. I was like a second opinion to her case; so I was asked to feel the house to find out whether something went wrong or some spirits were inside the house. I was totally puzzled by the request as I had no training in this field. My old friend trusted my psychic ability but I told her I wasn’t a practitioner. She insisted that I tried things my way. So, I went to talk to a tree by the house, just in case the tree would be kind enough to let me know the truth.
The whole thing was unbelievable; the tree spirit actually told me what had happened without words but by showing me pictures of what had happened around the house. I drew pictures in the air for my old friend and she started to cry. She rushed to the lady of the house and told me to describe what I saw. Then they were both in tears. I asked them what had happened to the thing which looked like a big long nest on the tree. The workers came to cut the big branches of this tree. They saw a long shaped nest dangling on the branch; it was some insects’ nest. These workers took the nest and cooked all the eggs inside for food. I was quite horrified by these workers’ action. But I saw an old man’s face inside the nest. He was the tree spirit; so the two ladies cried as they thought the tree spirit had been killed or injured by these workers.
The atmosphere inside the house was very still and quiet. I had no details of what strange things had happened to this family. It seemed they were haunted by some ghosts; they refused to tell me everything. They asked me whether the tree spirit was very angry with the family for allowing the cutting of big branches and destroying the nest. I told them that the old man wasn’t angry but the karmic consequences had to be paid! Those insects and their young ones died miserably. The tree spirit became homeless and probably had to suffer the drifting to another dimension. I really had no idea of the whole situation as they were kept as secrets. It’s my Feng Shui friend’s job to fix the whole house.
I felt rather badly used by my old friend that’s probably why I tried to stay away from her since that time. She just made used of my ability and got me involved in other people’s problems without any requests or warning. I always tried to stay away from the misuse of my gift and never tried to make profit from this; my guardians would never approved of me exploiting this gift which was supposed to be used in time of crisis or emergency only. In the end the family had to leave the house and move to Singapore. My old friend never told me how she redressed the situation or what ceremonies they had performed for the tree spirit. I had to respect their decisions and stayed away from any complications.
Sometimes it baffled me that my psychic Feng Shui friend couldn’t get what I was trying to communicate to her. She’s a famous and well known practitioner among wealthy people and Chinese businessmen. We used to play games about seeing people’s auric colours. That’s when she realised I was also psychic. She kept giving me gifts of nice chunks of rocks and crystals whenever I just looked at them. She felt those rocks wanted to come with me so she had to let them go.
My friend had ended her Feng Shui career when she went to see a very old house and was attacked by the spirits there. No one could live in that house so it was left empty for many years. The ghosts there were too strong and fiercely possessive. This story was disclosed to me after she invited me for lunch at a well known Indian restaurant. I couldn’t understand why she insisted on going to that restaurant when I suggested that we should go somewhere else. She couldn’t get the negative vibes in that location. I always felt sick after sitting in that place and went home hungry. But I felt she needed to talk to me so I had to be there.
After lunch she told me about that ghost following her to her house; she had an accident in her house. Suddenly I told her that ghost was there with us. I could feel an angry presence so I asked her to sit still and be quiet as I had to do something in emergency. Another German healer friend was sitting next to me but she didn’t have a clue what’s happening. I had to ask her to concentrate her energy with mine. I had to help my friend at once as she suddenly appeared to be fainting; her arms dropping to her sides. I needed to ask my guardians to help me as this ghost was really fierce and stubborn.
My friend couldn’t sit straight any more. I told her to be still; she closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles. I saw pictures of the attack inside her house so I described that to her. It took almost twenty minutes for us to send that ghost to another dimension. I went home very hungry and had to raid my fridge. At least I had repaid all the wonderful gifts my old friend had generously given me over the years. I was so grateful to my guardians for their protection and guidance; they keep me grounded and care free with little worldly attachment.
I often asked my guardians why they gave me such a gift which wasn’t meant to be used at will. I still try to find the purpose of my life and weirdness. I had to make big effort trying to fit in this earthly dimension; I always felt I was supposed to be in a different dimension or reality. That wormhole suddenly closed and I lost my way back home.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
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