More phallus worship
I’m writing this an hour before my taxi will take me to the airport, just to catch up on all of Bangkok.
The day after the boy shows, I woke up early and went to the weekend market, which is just this massive, massive maze of roads and stalls. They even have maps so you can find your way around. It was nice to see, but I really wasn’t looking for anything, so I didn’t really get into it much for that reason. I took the subway to the market, though, so got a decent handle on that now.
After the market, I took a subway to the stop nearest to the Lingham Shrine (as Lonely Planet calls it. The sign there says Goddes Tuptim Shrine), and took a taxi to the nearby hotel. The shrine is beyond not clearly marked. It is hidden. I ask the bellman at the nearby hotel, and he points me down past their loading dock, and says it is there. So, I go, and it really is climbing past and over the staging area for a hotel. When I climbed through the last sort of gate, I didn’t see anything. Then, off in the distance, it was hard to miss…
There was the usual altar familiar to most Buddhist temples and shrines and then, directy to its left, a huge nine foot phallus. The sidewalk leading up to the temple is adorned with phallic adornments of every type and material. The history is this shrine received the normal gifts, but at some point, one of the gifts left was phallic in shape. So, instead of the phallic item being removed from the religious area, instead it is believed the shrine is about fertility and thousands of phalluses have since been left at the shrine. Women come to pray at the shrine when they want to become pregnant. I realize this trip seems to be only focusing on one syllable in Bangkok, but it was too strange to pass up.
Went back to Si Lom after that, which is where the boy bars are, and took some pictures in the daytime, since the night pics weren’t that nice. Not as much hassle during the day, either.
My feet were killing me, so my plans to go out dancing seemed unwise. Bangkok is probably a similar temperature to the islands, but without the breeze and nature to temper it, so it is just hot concrete and metal, so it did a good job scorching through my flip-flops. I ran into Alex on the street earlier, and he wasn’t up for dancing, so I just called Wut and told him I didn’t think I was up for hitting the dance floor. Then, I took a nap.
Felt better when I woke up, so I went to Si Lom again, went back to the aquarium show, as they cut it short the previous night, or so I thought. Ends up, the show is just really short compared to X-Boys. The boy from the night before, Ice as it turns out, was not working that night. I spent a lot of time chatting with the captain there, about the business, how it works, the boys, and all. He says I can talk to the boys, if I want, as I was clear I wouldn’t be renting any that night. So, a boy that has been eager to get my attention comes to sit with me, I buy him an overpriced drink, and we talk for a while. He grew up north of Bangkok, and is studying there. He’s not sure he likes working there. His family doesn’t know about his job. But he does send them money every month, especially since his father has heart trouble. He was nice, although exasperated that I wouldn’t take him back to my hotel. I told the captain to tell him that in Thai in advance, but the captain probably thought I’d cave, too.
After that, I caught the drag show at DJ Station, which was well done. I walked down the street to see Balcony and Telephone, some of the oldest gay bars in the city, I think. They were dead, and this was around midnight, so not too early. Went home.
This morning, I woke up, packed, and went to the snake farm. Saw a lot of videos about snakes, and snaked in cages. Turns out, you shouldn’t suck venom out of someone if they’re bit, so all those gay litmus tests you always hear are faulty. Wrapped up the tour with seeing them milk venom from three cobras, and that’s it. Just had lunch and leaving for the hotel to catch my taxi now. Next post will be from America…
