The Bangkok Amulet Market

I was picking the remains of the helmet plastic from my teeth when an email came in regarding my last blog post. It was suggested that I should spend more time riding in tuktuks and taxis and less time on motorbike taxis. Of course, this is sound advice but it also got me thinking. How is it that I survived my last experience?  The only answer that I have been able to come up with is, luck. It was this thought that led me to recall the medallion handing from my driver’s neck -- a giant plastic Buddha encased in more clear plastic. All the taxi drivers in Bangkok wear some kind of medallion but until this moment I had never really considered what I was seeing. Since I am heading to India tomorrow where the traffic can be even crazier I set out with the utmost haste to find a good luck charm of my own.

Fortunately the Bangkok Amulet Market is just a short taxi ride from my hotel and in deference to my friends’ advice I took a taxi with four wheals and air conditioning. When I stepped into the taxi I did so with a rather smug sense of self-satisfaction. This was a brilliant idea. When I stepped out of the taxi and confronted the bewildering array of options I was reminded yet again of my personal shortcomings. Stall after stall of this covered market sat jammed together in an endless mound of trinkets, medallions and amulets. Buyers poured over individual items examining them with a magnifying glasses and an unquestionable sense of purpose. I was at a complete loss. Clearly not just any old amulet would do but at the same time, how to find the right one? Totally overwhelmed, I did the only sensible thing I could think of and had an ice cream and Coke float.

In times of great stress I occasionally fall back on this relic of my childhood. Root beer floats were something that my father used to buy me as a special treat and though my memories of that time are blurred the visceral sensation of being with my father is still completely intact. As the ice cream and bit of frozen cola went down my throat I landed on a strategy for picking my good luck charm.

First I would find a vender who believed in his wares. This vender proved easy to spot as he sat bedazzled in amulets. I reasoned that if he was using the amulets to drum up business and if I bought my amulet from him then his amulets would have been proven to work. His amulets made me purchase from him. As the saying goes, “The nice thing about being rational is that one can rationalize anything.”  I now have an amulet bought from a man with a proven track record of selling working amulets. It is perfect.

…Except for the lingering doubt in the back of my mind. Both my kamikaze taxi driver and my merchant of good fortune sported massive pendants. Mine on the other hand is rather small. Does size matter?