Fortune on a Stick

Had a really great trip to Ayutthaya with the Mastache clan. Took a boat up the Chao Phraya all the way to the town (maybe 2 hours?) and then started off by visiting Bang Pa-in Palace which is a royal summer palace that was built in the 17th century.

Also visited the ruins of a number of wats (temples) that were mostly built around 300ish-500 years ago. Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese in the late 18th century, and so all of the Buddhist images had been de-headed and the relics stolen either by Burmese soldiers or Thai locals who realized they could sell the goods on the black market.

hmm - hopefully that's a close enough history to pass. Besides our really sweet/ informed tour guide who was with us for the whole trip -- the highlight of my day was definitely being introduced to Buddhist Fortune Sticks.

I got to shake fortune sticks at two wats, and here's how it goes: you take a can that has about 20 sticks with numbers on them, and then shake the can until one of the sticks fall out.

Once a stick falls out, you go over to a little cabinet and pick out a sheet of paper from the shelf that has your stick's number on it.

The sheet of paper at the first temple was only in Thai, and I can't really remember the details of my fortune as it was translated to me - but here's what my second fortune looked like:



And here's what the message says:

Your will be achieved any matter you do, good luck is coming and you should have luck with money. There is a good news for loves.

umm... awesome.

I didn't take many pictures since Megan was there and she's good at photography -- so I'll post some of hers soon.

Love to you all,
Paige