A portrait of the king hangs in the butcher shop of the Klong Toey market where the two women work

Two woman working together in a butcher in Khlong Toei Market

As I walked, I came to a section of Bangkok's large Khlong Toei Market where butchers were clustered. There were huge chunks of meat on display in every store. The butcher shop in the photo was one of the stores in this section. The tables were lined with meat, and there were also large chunks of meat hanging from the ceiling.

Two women wearing aprons were working, surrounded by a large amount of meat. They seemed to be busy sorting the meat. They didn't even pay attention to me standing there in front of the store. It was more convenient for me since I had no intention of buying meat here. I'm just happy to see them working.

Even so, there was a lot of meat for sale. It must have taken them all day to sell it all. At any rate, all the butcher shops in Khlong Toei Market are exposed to the elements. There is no air-conditioning in the stores, and the meat is not kept in refrigerators. No matter how fresh the meat is, it must be damaged by the next day. Also, unlike in Japan, there seems to be no custom here in Bangkok to make croquettes out of old meat. In other words, the meat is sold before it deteriorates.

I looked behind the women who were working and saw a portrait of King Rama X. This was a run-of-the-mill butcher store, but the portrait of the King was displayed in the back of the store. That doesn't mean that the people in this store are avid right-wingers. There are many stores in Bangkok that display portraits of the royal family, just like this store. It just shows that the royal family is respected in Thailand, not the political attitude of the shopkeeper.

In my travels, I've been to countries where portraits of royalty adorn the streets. In Syria, where I visited about 20 years ago, portraits of President Hafiz al-Assad (father of President Bashar al-Assad) were displayed all over the city. However, I did not feel that he was well-liked by the people.

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