^

There is a huge Chinese cemetery a few hours out of Bangkok. It is the size of a small city. My wifes grandparents on the fathers side were Chinese and are buried there. Every year around April is Cheng Men, the days when relatives visit the graves to pay respect with candles and food offerings. It took us nearly 15 minutes to reach the graves from the entrance, such is the size of this cemetery.

April is hot, and so these visits are made early in the day, leaving Bangkok at 3am to arrive just before sunrise.

There is a huge community of locals living in shanty town shacks around this cemetery, there are food stalls, shops and living quarters, and they and their urchin kids descend on relatives when they arrive at the graves, offering services such as the erecting of temporary shelters from the sun over the graves using bamboo poles and drapes, they have sacks full of petals to sprinkle on the graves, chinese fireworks, incense sticks and those paper objects and paper money that the Chinese burn to provide the dead with comforts in the afterlife, and offer grave clearing up and cleaning services as well. They can be quite aggressive when waiting for tips. They appear to be very poor and the contrast between them and some of the Bangkokians who turn up in their high end cars dressed to the hilt is startling.

Some of the family plots are enormous, with elaborate graves, water features and perfectly manicured grass and foliage.

I dont know what these people do for the rest of the year when I would imagine the cemetery is rarely visited.