Although today the "Demons of Suvarnabhumi" that are making the news are not the taxi mafia or indeed the staff of the King Power outlet, that have grabbed the headlines this year. No this time the demons are "Yaksa," high ranking demons or to be precise 12 statues of them modelled on original works that are to be found in the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
The valuable works of art that are spread around the inner passenger area of the airport and in the past have received little attention. Well that is about to change since the Airport Authority of Thailand (AOT), is set to spend 1 Million Baht relocating the statues to the check-in area.
Now I love Thai art work and I must admit I have never noticed the Yaksa at the airport myself so I think the move is quite positive. However digging a little deeper into the story and it seems that the move is not being made just to satisfy the art loving general public, no part of the reason for the move is that staff of shops in the duty free areas consider the statues are bringing bad luck.
Which of course might lead one to wonder if the bad luck that the statues are bringing on the staff has led to the exposure of some of the scams operating at the airport in the very shops they work in.
Perhaps the AOT could better spend the taxpayers money relocating the real demons of Suvarnabhumi, housing them in the Bangkok Hilton and throwing away the keys as this would seem to be a far more satisfying and cost effective way of improving the passenger experience at the airport.
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4 comments:
I wonder if the bad luck will move with the demons.
Well its not a new thing.
http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?p=73088
Maybe they should build that spirit house ;)
Mike as soon as I saw the demon photo it reminded me of Suvarnabhumi airport but like you I couldn't recollect seeing them. Strange.
I have always found the airport first class but then again I don't use the duty free shops, I shop at Abu Dhabi as I find it very cheap indeed.
Moving the demons may in the Thai's eyes remove bad luck but like you I think a stricter control and vetting of airport workers would cost far less and have a greater effect.
Ratty-who knows after all this is Thailand
Dave-welcome aboard. Yes I know about the 99 monks who tried to rid the airport of spirits-perhaps the demons were brought in to help too?
Martyn the demon in the photo is one I took at a temple entrance-very similar to Swampy ones. Check out the check-in area when you come in December(subject to Khun Taksin of course) I don't think you will miss them!
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