Update: This post was written in 2008, and since then the hotel has been bought by a hospital group for to be used in their patient recovery services. I don’t know if the shrine is still there – if you happen to know, drop me a line!

Perhaps the title of this post is a bit misleading, but in Bangkok, you never know what the day will lead to. Long story short, I happened to be on the lower end of Wireless Road on Christmas day, which is just a regular work day in Thailand, as 95% of the country is Buddhist. Many people are shocked when hearing this, but Celebrating Christmas in Thailand would be like expecting people to take the day off work for Visakah Puja day. At any rate, I happened to have my camera with me, and remembered a certain interesting shrine that I’d read about but had never visited that was nearby, so I decided to check it out.

Its Thai name is Mae Nam Tubtim but most people know it simply as ‘The Penis Shrine’.  Located in a quiet corner on the grounds of the Nai Lert hotel, it’s not much to look at – just a small section underneath a large tree on the edge of khlong san saeb – but it certainly is a memorable place.

The shrine takes up a small corner in the back of the hotel grounds.

The shrine takes up a small corner in the back of the hotel grounds.

Written on a plaque at the shrine’s entrance is:

The origins of Chao Mae Tuptim are obscure. It can only be recalled that a spirit house was built by Nai Lert for the spirit who was believed to reside in the large Sai (Ficus) tree.

The basic offerings are fragrant wreaths of snow-white jasmine flowers, incense sticks, pink and white lotus buds. Chao Mae Tuptim has received yet another, rather unconventional kind of gift, phallic in shape, both small and large, stylised and highly realistic. Over the years they have been brought by the thousands and today fill the area around the shrine. Confronted by the extraordinary display the shrine has automatically been concluded to be dedicated to fertility.

That kind of sums it up. The phallus has been a popular ‘lucky’ amulet in Thai history, and little versions of the persnickety peckers can still be seen hanging from the belt loops of many Thai men in the hopes that it will make them more virile and/or protect them from magic aimed at their rod and tackle (although it doesn’t seem to do much to stop the occasional angry Thai wife from taking a swipe with a knife if she finds out her hubby’s got a girl on the side).

The main shrine. Note the 6-foot tall phallus on the left.

The main shrine. Note the 6-foot tall phallus on the left.

Although it seems pretty goofy to many Westerners, the Tuptim shrine isn’t meant as simply a funny little oddity – Thais take their shrines very seriously, and many couples come here to make offerings in the hope that they’ll be blessed with a family, which is kind of a private thing and should be respected. Luckily, there weren’t any people there when I showed up, which was good. I wouldn’t have wanted to seem like the ignorant tourist going “What is this, a pecker farm?!”

I wonder where you would even buy one of these?

I wonder where you would even buy one of these?

It’s an interesting little place, and often purposely left out of Thai travel guides so as to preserve its sanctity. So, if you ever happen to stumble across it, make sure to treat it as a genuine religious site and not a funny picture op. That being said, I did think the penises that had penises deserved special attention:

That, my friends, is the very definition of virility.

That, my friends, is the very definition of virility.