My adventures in Thailand: shiny places of worship.

As much as I like to pretend otherwise, the post-college future terrifies me.

But we're not going to talk about my imminent quarter-life crisis, about how I'm going to start dating men twice my age and start smoking compulsively or join a commune in Spain. We're going to look at very shiny things.

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In addition to hookers, elephants and spicy peanut sauce, Thailand has many beautiful temples.





[The Doi Suthep Temple in Chiang Mai.]














[The Grand Palace in Bangkok.]









[The Reclining Buddha in Bangkok.]

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For some reason, I really enjoyed looking at the Reclining Buddha. Maybe it's because when I first read about it, I assumed that it would be the size of say, a very big couch, so it was a bit of a sensory shock to finally see it in real life.

Plus, there's also something very satisfying about seeing something so big and horizontal. Buddhas tend to look peaceful and relaxed to begin with because they already have that enlightenment business going on. But a reclining Buddha? Even better.

Buddha deserves to get some reclining action going on because if I were Buddha, I would get sick of constantly sitting cross-legged or standing reverently in prayer. That, and showing up on T-shirts that says "Rub my belly for good luck" but that's a whole another story.

If Reclining Buddha could talk, he would say: "Listen, buddy. I'm sure you've heard that I've been spending a lot of time wandering the earth, thinking about the nature of suffering and meditating under trees. Don't get me wrong; I was born to do this kind of thing! But it's a little hard on the joints, ya know what I'm sayin'? Now if you don't mind, I'm just going to recline here for a little bit. I swear, it'll be for one minute. Just like this. ...."

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One of my favorite tiny details about Doi Suthep was a wall decoration on the entrance of a smaller temple.



I don't know why I was drawn to them so much. Maybe because they remind me a little of the drawings that I like to do.

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It's interesting to see the different ways different cultures approach their aesthetics when it comes to building places of worship. You can go the minimalist route and worship in natural cave formations like the indigenous people of Okinawa. Or you can go all out with your blingiest holy bling possible with the intention of blinding the shit out of those damn heathens who dare to speak against your gods.

Thailand likes to pimp their temples. I dig it.

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Now I may not have reached the same state of Zen as Buddha, or even Oprah, for that matter, but I am pretty content in this picture. Never mind how sweaty, sticky and broke I am. This is because we are at the end of our Thailand adventure and we've seen some TANKZ!!!1111!!!!!