Thai Bar Girls, Buddhism and the Spirit House - Number 33

Panida lit three sticks of incense, put her hands together to form the ‘wai’, and then sat down cross-legged at the base of the spirit-house that lay just outside of her home. She had been working in the fields since early this morning, helping her family to pick the corn.

The land had lost its zest, and the harvest had been poor, every year it seemed to get worse. Her father had been forced to borrow money to maintain a farm that would never produce enough to pay back even the interest on the loan. The smoke from the incense danced around Panida, it tinged the air, and then disappeared skywards, leaving her sat alone.

Her family were poor, her village was poor, many in her country were poor, and Panida was about to turn eighteen. She’d listened nervously to the tales told by her cousins returning to visit from time spent in the city, had seen behind their smiles, and had worried for their well-being.

Hands clasped tight in prayer, she thought of her family, her father loved her, her mother loved her, her brother loved her, and she loved them back, she knew what she was supposed to do, what they needed her to do, it was unspoken, but known by all none the less.

In her head Panida conjured up images, of bright lights in dark rooms, of loud music growling and hurting her ears, of drunken eyes and drunken mouths, of the number thirty-three pinned to her chest as her tired body swayed back and forth across a stage, waiting to be chosen and taken away into the night.

The spirits looked out from their home and inhaled appreciatively the scent of the incense she'd offered; and looked down with pity upon the tiny form of the young girl sat in prayer beneath them.

A tear formed in the corner of Panida’s eye and ran down her cheek, but never met the ground.

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Panida loved her family, and knew that they would now struggle without her; she had watched their search for her with a heavy heart, and was sorry she hadn’t the strength to be the daughter they deserved. Looking out, Panida promised she would watch over them, and do what she could for them, from within her new home, inside the spirit-house.