Frivolous Universe

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Objects you can use to signal for help:

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

aluminum can;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

sunglasses;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

metallic earrings;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

silk dress;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

vegetable peeler;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

votive glass;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

shiny onions;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion

your shoulder;

Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Vanessa Boots, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, survival, how to survive adrift at sea, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, AXARA Paris, silk dresses, soda water, Asia, street style, Southeast Asian fashion, Chanel powder compacts

a Chanel pressed-powder compact.

 

 

Massive metallic earrings: COLOR Vintage Clothing & Accessories, Phnom Penh; checkered shirt: eye-ful (gift from Vanessa Boots); hi-so sunglasses: GADHYPE, Terminal 21 Bangkok; gold ring: 1970’s Bangkok vintage (gift from my mom); black capris: “the Liberty” by AG Jeans (Adriano Goldschmied); blue-leather wedge sandals: custom-made at mosstories, Terminal 21 Bangkok; vintage Thai silk shirt: God-knows-where (gift from Vanessa Boots); Grecian silk dress: AXARA Paris; Chanel Radiance Powder Compact.

 

NOTE: If you’ve been wondering what the heck I’ve been blogging about with my incessant mentions of Terminal 21, check out today’s article from The New York Times T Magazine, “Bangkok Rising” by Pankaj Mishra, which traverses Thai history, politics, and, above all, shopping.

 

 

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It’s Sunday, and I’m continuing my spring-green obsession at my favorite place in the world, Wat Pho. The raised, gilded threshold? To keep the slithering spirits out.
Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

Sexy yet comfy wedges: Nurture, baby

Too little

has been said

of the door, its one

face turned to the night’s

downpour and its other

to the shift and glisten of firelight.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

The Tao of Bangkok is that Soi Cowboy and centuries-old spirituality coexist in the same gracious/salacious city. In Bangkok, even Ronald McDonald offers a respectful wai — the Thai greeting of placing one’s palms together in a gesture of prayer. And the signage on public transportation reminds us to give it up to the monks among us who renounce all this seductive claptrap I love to yack about. I’m talking to you: Le Big Mac!

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion Ronald, meet Pedro.

Blouse: BCBG Max Azria

Purse: Ipa-nima (fabulous up-and-coming Vietnamese designer — check her out!)

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

There are many things I will never understand about Wat Pho, including this sign. Nevertheless, when I spy a shaved-head Israeli in Rayban aviators, I quickly cross to the other side of the spirit threshold. Whether it’s marketing collateral or Iranian bomb collateral, I get my full threat at work.

Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

Wat Pho, Bangkok’s oldest and largest temple, is a Thai wunderkammer – a cabinet of curios filled with medical and religious marvels, as well as a curious collection of 19th-century Chinese statuary and scrappy, somnolent temple cats.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion How Gollum got here is anybody’s guess. Since we were well into the 20th c. before he sprung from Tolkien’s brow, this statue goes to show that past, present, and future exist simultaneously — that we experience their separation is only an illusion, Einstein wrote, although a convincing one.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

Necklace: Lapis and gold. A gift from my father to my mother. I still have the receipt: January 16th, 1989; Uthai’s Gems off Ploenchit Road

Green-and-white onsie: Ett Twa for Anthropologie

Terra cotta cotton cardigan: J.Crew

Leather bag: Dooney & Burke 

Foo dog in need of red-eye reduction: Wat Pho

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

In Southeast Asia they don’t give a toss about ‘what’s your sign?’ What matters is the day of the week you were born. The teal green oxen symbolize Thursday. I may be Tuesday’s blogger, but I am Thursday’s child.

Monday’s child is fair of face

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

Thursday’s child has far to go,

Friday’s child is loving and giving,

Saturday’s child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

Definitely a Sunday’s child — both of them!

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

It’s peaceful on the other side, and there’s a lot of green, including Pedro’s jade and gold ring (my mother bought this ring in Bangkok in the 1970s), and the mirrored base of one of Wat Pho’s myriad sitting Buddhas.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

Gold-leafed jingle-jangle earrings: morning street stall near Lumphini MRT, exit 1. Cost: 20 baht (less than $1).

For me, an afternoon at Wat Pho always ends with watching the sunset off Tha Thien pier. Waiting on the express boat. Sipping on coconut juice and soda water.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

The planking craze has hit the Chao Phraya.

 Kim Philley, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, green for spring 2012, Anthropologie, Ett Twa, Dooney & Burke, J. Crew, Nurture, wedge sandals, Bangkok style, fashion

For doors

are both frame and monument

to our spent time,

and too little

has been said

or our coming through and leaving by them.

Charles Tomlinson

 

Photos by Vanessa Boots

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