92 4.16 Wat Pai Ngoen, Bangkok (1/2)
Our trip lasted more than 4 hours actually when we had stopped for gas earlier twice and eaten brunch along the way. Luckily we were driving more to the outermost of the continent rather than in the hustling traffic woes and the blistering heat. From the roads that we had driven through, it was rice fields as far as the eyes can see with little specks of towns bordering them.
During our journey there, Pornsak had reminded me by mentioning, ”Aroon, you will help me to set up the offering altar right? You need to light up 3 joss sticks before you arrange all these candies and the little treats for the little ones. Just speak in your heart and mind that you are documenting this for the sake of making the public know about this place and the mystery that shrouds them.”
”Understood... Any other special prayers or setup that need to be done prior to this? And what's so special about this Wat? It's just an abandoned Wat, am I right? Also, you had marked it as 2/5 ratings so it won't be that scary or anything, to begin with.”
”Yes, Aroon... it is a Wat or what others have known as a temple. It had been abandoned due to the previous crackdown by the government. In fact, it was more like a crematorium, rather than a temple. Later on, you will find out more as I narrate OK?”
She turned to the crew behind her and said,” You guys better get ready the IR video cameras as we step out from the van. Capture the whole scene as we go along and I would let you know once the offering altar had been placed. The narration part would then commence. You may place some voice recording devices at some points when I pointed them out. And also not forgetting the EMF counters and cameras that had been 'blessed' to see things beyond our eyes.”
The crew nodded our head and one of the lady members of SPI produced a mobile makeup kit in which Pornsak refuses, saying that it is better for her to appear natural in front of the camera as she narrates the story.
The lady SPI member smiled as she tucked the mobile makeup unit back behind her seat that was stacked with several of the prized SPI equipment.
It was already 1:30 pm as the tires rolled in among the loose gravel of the abandoned crematorium, a deadly silence quickly ensued us. There was not a single breathing soul with a perimeter of a few hundred meters away from it; even some houses were desolate with disrepair as if it were abandoned along with the crematorium.
When one speaks of a crematorium, it is just like the final destination before putting a dead body into a furnace fire that was a few thousand degrees in temperature. This process of creating would normally take 4 hours of continuously burning in that intense heat to burn and evaporate liquids within the body and to reduce everything into a pile of dust.
Do you wish to know what does a cremated body smells like? Try striking a match and blow on it. The wafting trail of smoke somewhat resembles a cremating body. Do you know how I knew about this? I happen to live near a crematorium for 4 years before they turn it into a park of some sort. Maybe the idea of the living jogging among the dead makes it ideal for new homeowners putting up there.
We quickly disembarked, one putting an EMF counter just at the passenger seat of the van just for precautionary measures even though I had laughed at the idea.
One of my colleagues helped to haul in the cables and axillary batteries for the cameras and other electronic gadgets as they had experienced in power outage even when they had recently charged their batteries. ”HunNaa, what's so special about this place that needs to be documented?”
”I have no idea, pheurn... Maybe someone refused to be burned at the crematorium, similar to those people who refuse to die by hanging by the gallows.”
My colleague just gave me a stare to be able to think of such things at the wrong time for them. I just shrugged off their worrying thoughts away while they assisted the SPI team to take a few photos of a huge bunch of wilted flowers at one end of the wall.
There was also a lot of abandoned unopened boxes of toys meant for little boys and girls in one corner. Their boxes had faded much while some had been torn apart revealing its contents to the floor. A few dolls, a few firetrucks, soccer balls, a huge stuffed tiger and other knick-knacks were strewn across it.
All of us passed these stuff on the floor and paid our respects to it before taking a few photos of it while the video camera was kept steady and switched on as we walked along the perimeter of an abandoned crematorium.
An emancipated dog went by, biting a red plastic in its jaw and growling through its teeth. The crew immediately took a snapshot of the dog and hope it would be able to share a story in the documentary, and it did in the later part.
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We had reached to the entrance of the crematorium or temple as it seems to be at this moment as the crematoria part of the building had been torn down partially adjacent to this temple. There were lots of rubbish strewn across the floor and an indistinguishable stench was permeating from the torn apart crematoria.
”Ma ni si Nek Noi, Phi Saw Khun To Yiem Khoon,” Pornsak says aloud while kicking gently on the ground to clear the rubbish and to place the offerings altar. This sentence merely translates as ”Come here, little ones. Big sister is here for a visit.”
Pornsak signals to me and I slowly cleared the ground some more and place the wooden altar on the floor. I tore open a few packets of sticky milk candies while I said ”Aroi mai” and arranging it gently on the wooden altar.