Wednesday Walk: admiring old Chinese statues in Wat Arun, Bangkok

Siam, the old name for Thailand, has always traded with many countries hundreds of years ago. During the reign of King Rama3, Siam had accumulated a lot of wealth as hundreds of merchant ships sailed to and from China. Imported goods such as porcelains, silk, tea and furniture became very popular in Siam.

Rich people would have Chinese bonsai and statutes as exquisite decorations in their gardens. Empty ships had to buy heavy stone statues to keep their ships in balance on the way back to Bangkok. These stone statues were either donated to famous temples or gifted to some royalties for showing off in their gardens.

When the trade suddenly came to a stop one day, hundreds of Chinese Junks were never seen in various piers along the river any more. The trade in stone statues became a past memory waiting to be forgotten by later generations. Several old temples still have these old and worn out stone statues which were almost two hundred years old.

I liked to walk around these temples and took photos of symbols of past glorious history of trading success. At that time, Siam was very rich and the economy was very strong; some old report told of the strength of our money and the complaints by European traders about the exchange rates.

Had China not suffered from internal political struggles and the western colonizers never arrived in South East Asia, the geopolitical landscape would have been very different and Asian countries would never have to go through the domino theory of communism and the Western dominations in all aspects of life.

The future is uncertain; anything could happen: from accidents of letting off dirty bombs, false flags or lethal weather warfare. So, I try to enjoy every moment while the sky is blue and famine hasn’t arrived in our land. I hope and pray that we’ll be cushioned from adverse impact from global conflicts and that mitigating circumstances would help us through the bad times.

Wishing you all a peaceful day!

See you.