Don\u2019t be fooled by the skyscrapers, the roads clogged with the latest luxury cars or the high-tech gadgetry in pockets and purses. This country of 65 million people has embraced modernity, yes, but many Thais will tell you that ghosts and spirits still wander the streets and inhabit buildings. Important business decisions often require consultations with a fortune teller. Cabinet ministers and military officers are sometimes so concerned with numerology and advice from their shamans that politics in Thailand could be called the black art of the possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have our ghosts, we still have black magic,\u201d\u009d said Todsaporn Jamsuwan, the co-founder of Holy Plus, a company that makes \u201cspirit houses,\u201d\u009d the ubiquitous miniature structures that resemble dollhouses and serve as dwellings for protective ghosts.<\/p>\n
Far from abandoning traditional beliefs in the paranormal, Thailand is harnessing the forces of technology and modernity to reinforce them.<\/p>\n