Thursday, January 11, 2007

Temple Hopping


Temple Hopping, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

We saw many many temples and they all sort of run together in my memory, though each one was magnificent.
It struck me right away that these temples are part of a living working religion. Not like the tourist cathedrals in Europe.
There were at least as many Thai people there to worship as tourist there to marvel. I dimly remember that something like 90% of Thai are Buddhist. Which is one reason this is such a safe and enjoyable country to visit.
I can't help contrasting these temples to the butt ugly little cinder block fundamentalist christian churches that seem to sprout up in weedy parking lots across the US.
Compared to folks in the US most Thai are extremely poor. At least in money terms. But not in their religious sense obviously.


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