A photo of a foreign woman exposing herself at one of Thailand’s holiest sites is making the rounds in Thai media and shocking netizens after being shared yesterday.
Not only did the woman climb up on a ledge at Bangkok’s Wat Phra Kaew, or Temple of the Emerald Buddha, she also had the nerve to place her bare feet on the holy temple ledge and let her dress ride up so that her nether regions were on display as her friend snapped the tasteless photo.
Disrespecting a holy site with one’s bum has not ended well in the past for other foreigners. Remember these two butt bros that recently displayed their backsides at Wat Arun? They spent two weeks in Thai jail, elicited the country’s rage, and were booted out of the country, and have since deleted their Instagram account.
The picture of the woman was originally posted by Facebook user Aditha But Adit, who has since removed his post but only after it had already been widely shared.
His original caption reads: “When I was trying to get through a crowd of Chinese tourists to pray to the Emerald Buddha, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw this madam posing for a photo. I was about to warn her but she left first. This is inappropriate. Even if she hadn’t seen a warning sign, she still shouldn’t have climbed [a religious site].”
In the original post, there was also a photo of a warning sign nearby that specifically prohibited sitting on the ledge.
Online commenters said, “This is not right. She should be fined!” and “There weren’t any staff nearby…or anyone to warn her this is inappropriate?”
The potential for uproar clearly didn’t register with the model, who not only posed for the photo in that position, but also sat there and casually played with her phone.
Even though she may not have seen the sign, it’s common sense to behave modestly at religious sites. Would she have behaved this way if she were visiting a famous church or mosque? We’re leaning toward no.
