A lot of people in Thailand (both rich and poor) believe in the ability of the Fortune teller to predict the future. In fact, I know professional people in Bangkok who pay a small sum of monies for a consultation with their local fortune teller or tarot card reader to give them guidance and direction with their love life and business affairs. Even political leaders have been known to consult with a fortune teller – ex P.M. Thaksin and the coup leaders who deposed his government are two prime examples. Usually, the fortune teller is a very insightful and intuitive person and is able to tell their customer what they want to hear. For some inexpensive entertainment and fun, a couple of years ago I paid 20 baht to have my fortune read by a local tarot card reader on the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 24 in Bangkok.

Just recently, my friend in Thailand told me about a very dire prediction made by one of the most preeminent fortune tellers/psychics in Bangkok who coincidentally hosts his own TV show. Can you believe that? According to this highly regarded psychic, sometime in October, there will be a devastating earthquake in central Thailand - the earthquake will create a break in the Kanchanaburi Dam located about 90 minutes away from Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, and the whole area will be flooded. Bangkok will be just one big lake! Furthermore this fortune teller suggests that people should evacuate Bangkok during the month of October and flee to Isaan or Northern Thailand.

His prediction is based on this season’s heavy rainfall which has caused many of the outlying provinces to be flooded. A big earthquake could indeed cause the dam to crack and release a tremendous volume of water flooding the plains of the central region of which Bangkok is the major population center. Even without an earthquake, many people fear the dam will overflow due to the huge volume of water that it is holding in.

Upon hearing this story, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. I told her that I too believed a catastrophic earthquake would take place. But unlike the renowned fortune teller, I believe this event will take place sometime in the next 2000 years and that no one could predict the exact time. Furthermore, most likely both of us would be long dead and into our 37th reincarnation on our way to nirvana when the big flood happens.

On my upcoming trip to Thailand in November, I better bring my snorkeling gear.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Humor, Thailand, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.