Killing time...?

Perhaps fate is always at work... while waiting for my bus to Chiang Rai I wandered about in an area of BKK that I've never been to before. I had about 6 hours to 'kill'... I stumbled upon a Wat... walked in and spoke with Toon, a monk there. Apparently, funerals happen there everyday. Attending a funeral is usually part of a planned event in ones day, well, not for me... I sat in for the final stage of a funeral. I've even been to a funeral on my birthday. Perhaps I wasn't really killing time - since none of us really know how much time we have before the crematorium billows out our last wishes.

The day before, I walked about 6km in downtown BKK since it was 'cool'... I ended up at the Marble Wat - where there was merit making and a ceremony going on for Rama V (a Roman Numeral) - father of Thai Photography. Again, as if by fate, it was a ceremony honoring the 100th year anniversary since Rama V made a big push for photography in Thailand - bringing the art form into vogue. Even today, photographs of the current king often display him holding a camera. I was afforded the opportunity to photograph these two groups of 4 monks during the ceremony along with about 6 other Thai photographers.

Luck is a big part of Thai culture... I'm not sure if the past two days are about luck or some strange unguided path that I'm supposed to walk. Even this morning, I somehow found my way to where I was going without a map on foot alone at 6.30am... Preparing to enter Laos by land/river crossing.