Take a Lucky Flight to the Erawan Shrine for Career Success / 🇹🇭 Thailand

At Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection, look past the bright marigolds to the gold figure beneath the decorated canopy. This is the Erawan Shrine. The four faces of Phra Phrom look in different directions, and the first, on the north side, is the one the Thai tourism authority associates with work and studies. Pick a wish you can put into one sentence: an opportunity to learn, a project you want to see through or the confidence to take on a new role. Hold that thought as you picture turning to face the shrine. The photograph lets you start with the gold figure and the offerings immediately in front of it.

1. Open the photograph and look from the flowers in the foreground to the face under the canopy. Take a slow breath and choose a wish about work or study.
2. Picture yourself at the north side. Say the wish quietly. You can make it specific by naming the first thing you want to do when this visit ends.
3. Imagine moving clockwise from north to east, then south and west. Pause at each turn. The photograph shows one face; follow the other directions in your mind rather than treating it as a panorama.
4. Return your attention to the flowers and take another breath. When you have finished, record your arrival with the passport stamp.

The shrine dates to 1956 and stands at Ratchaprasong, a busy Bangkok junction. It is dedicated to Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of Brahma, whose four faces explain why the visit has a route. At an ordinary crossroads people look in different directions to get somewhere else. At this shrine the directions help organise the time you spend in one place. The canopy and the gold figure mark the centre while visitors move around it. In the photograph, the flowers are close enough to fill the bottom of the frame. Look up from them and you can pick out the colours in the canopy, the face and the outlines of the city around it.