Apartment Decorating Faux Pas

When I first moved into my new apartment a year ago, a lovely boy named Jay moved in also. He was a great kid and was excited as I was to participate in decorating the one room studio. Everytime either of us went out, we usually came home with something for the place. One time he returned with 2 beautiful candles for the headboard shelf. This went on for a couple of weeks.

I know almost every Thai home has a picture of the king promenantly displayed. I down loaded several picture of the king relating to his people. I bought a frame to mount a collage of the pictures. Jay walked in as I was about to crop some of the pictures to better fit their place in the frame. He was horrified. "Can not cut pictures of king". I tried to explain that I wasn't cutting the king, only extranious things. One of those extranious things, Jay pointed out, happened to be the queen. I waited until he wasn't around to crop the pictures and, later, he was very happy with the result but not where I put the frame, high up beside the front door. "What's wrong", I asked. "King looking into toilet" The frame was facing the doorway to the washroom and that was not good. We moved the picture.

A few nights later Jay seemed distant - not his usual free expression self. No sex that night. Nor the next. The following night I was a little insistant. He cuddled and as I lowered his briefs he pulled the sheet over us. He did the same the next night as if he was shy or embarrassed of his nakedness. Finally I asked him what's wrong. He pointed to the little golden Buddha I had bought and placed on the high shelf opposite the bed. "Buddha watching!" I got up and moved the Buddha to a place where he couldn't see the bed and all was right with the world.

Getting to know Thai beliefs and customs is a wonderful journey.