In the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Rabbit is a 'clash year' for the Rooster, Rat, Dragon, and Horse. I joined Naew and her family at Wat Khanika Phon in Chinatown today to pray and donate and generally mitigate negative energy. This involved making meritorious donations (like, quite practically, buying oil to refill the burners at the temple, and shrouds to be used by the police at crime scenes; as well as donating towards the cost of funerals for people without means), and praying both for forgiveness and for guidance, with candles and incense and garlands to help transmit the intention. We migrated through various 'stations', bowing to the Buddha while asking forgiveness, kneeling on the patio while asking for guidance, lighting incense from the incense burner, and candles from the oil burner, and placing them to burn in the appropriate places. There is a power to prayer that is intensified by physically going through prescribed motions.
The area where people burn incense etc has been moved across the street from the temple proper, which is an oasis of calm. There we bowed to the Buddha, and took the opportunity to read our fortunes: you shake a cupful of numbered flat red sticks until just one shakes itself out. You read the number on the stick, and find the leaflet with the corresponding number on the shelf: this is your fortune. I'll have to ask Naew to translate mine again, but broadly speaking it wasn't positive. I suppose that fits with the fact that as a Rooster, this is a 'clash year' for me...
Afterwards I got my face read on the street outside the temple. My ears don't stick out enough (which indicates I'm not rich), my eyebrows and my cheek bones are too low (which indicate I'm not supported and will always have to work for my money), but my eyes and chin are good (I'm a strong and kind person). The rest of the reading was based on my birth date and time. Wood and water figured prominently -- and apparently from a business perspective, import-export is one interpretation of water, as is the restaurant business. Perhaps exporting teak furniture from Thailand is in my future, or running that Italian deli in London with Susan will become a reality... or maybe I'll just head to the beach ;) Chaisak, meanwhile, had his cards read (the fortune-teller used a regular deck of playing cards) and from the bits translated for me it sounded like she was wide of the mark.
We went for lunch at Naew's favorite French-Fusion cafe-restaurant in Siam Paragon mall (the teriyaki cod was delectable), and then the family visited Ocean World downstairs while I explored the five levels of fancy shops above (Salvatore Ferragamo, Apple Store, etc). Got caught up browsing in what I later learned was the largest English bookstore in Bangkok.
Got home in time to join Awi for the 6pm showing of Rango, showing at a mall in Nonthaburi I've not been to yet. Parking was scarce, and it's normal here to 'double park', leaving the hand-brake off so someone needing to leave can push your car out of the way. Rango was a quirky adult-oriented animated movie about a chameleon wanna-be-screenwriter and his life-changing adventures in the Wild West, with the tag-line, 'Why blend in when you can stand out?' It playfully took off on all sorts of tropes from Spaghetti Westerns (the music, the baddies, even Clint Eastwood himself) -- smart and funny.
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