Friday, November 21, 2008

Silver and Gold

Back in the day, the King of Siam was offered artificial miniature trees made of silver and gold by those wanting to prove their loyalty. Today, you can find these little trees in shrines throughout Thailand, especially the shrines devoted to the present King or to members of the royal family. It's somewhat unusual to see these miniature seedlings in taxis, so I asked the driver about his trees, and he explained how they're a symbol of money and wealth. I should have known. After all, the word for silver and money in Thai is the same.