It was like seeing a duck find water, salt find vinegar, and fish find chips, all wrapped up in one special moment. Ian reached a kind of spiritual mecca last night and we have the photos to prove it.
Upon completing some research into the alternative Bangkok, finding the interesting and bizarre underbelly that is Bangkok beyond the pole dancing and the go go bars, I discovered a Phallic Shrine that has formed the start of our cultural journey for the next few days. It stands alongside such delights as a new fetish bar where your drink is served by one woman leading another woman by a dog lead, the biggest restaurant in the world where your food is served by roller skating waiters and waitresses who also fly and walk on water, a gay choreographed dance show that includes live sex, and a forensics museum that houses embalmed bodies of serial killers for viewing.
The Phallic Shrine is housed in a new hotel development near Chitlom on the other side of Bangkok so we set out to join Ian on his pilgrimage. After a brief stop at another temple, shaped very much like a shopping mall where Ian was able to buy some pinstripe shorts, we trekked on through the balmy night air towards our destination.
When we reached the hotel we decided to stop for some sustenance in the form of a cocktail in the rather plush bar. We shortly had to undertake the embarrassing task of extricating ourselves from said bar due to the wallet-dentingly high price of cocktails. We tried to blend into an Indian delegation of health professionals who were attending a free cocktail party and dinner to see if we could liberate some of the many cocktails that were on the tables but were sadly unsuccessful.
After Jo asked the doorman for some directions to the Phallic shrine (Ian and I sniggering in the background) we set out through the wilds of the carpark, down the rapids of the air conditioning system outlet and through into the open jungle at the back of the garage and store shed to find Ian’s mecca, his shrine of shrines.
It really was quite amazing to see all these wooden, metal, sandstone and pottery phallusses (or is it phalli?) A small sign by the shrine provides some explanation:
The origins of Chao Mae Tuptim are obscure. It can only be recalled that a spirit house was built by Nai Lert for the spirit who was believed to reside in the large Sai (Ficus) tree.
The basic offerings are fragrant wreaths of snow-white jasmine flowers, incense sticks, pink and white lotus buds. Chao Mae Tuptim has received yet another, rather unconventional kind of gift, phallic in shape, both small and large, stylised and highly realistic. Over the years they have been brought by the thousands and today fill the area around the shrine. Confronted by the extraordinary display the shrine has automatically been concluded to be decidated to fertility.
Ian now wants to find the overflow phalli warehouse where all of the phalli that aren’t at the temple are stored. This is apparently his true shrine of shrines
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