Families of the the victims killed in Monday’s deadly bombing in Bangkok gathered at the Erawan shrine as it reopened to the public Wednesday morning.
Grief-stricken relatives offered up incense and flowers to mourn their losses as monks clad in orange robes chanted prayers to help release the souls of the dead.
There’s visible damage to one of the faces of the Brahma statue, the Hindu god the shrine is dedicated to, but otherwise, it is mostly intact.
Over where a bench used to stand — the same one that police believe the suspect placed a backpack under before detonating the bomb — authorities have poured fresh cement. Next to it is a metal fence that was bent by the force of the blast.
Why I came
Wichan Phongpanich and his partner, Anne Songsri Noen-nark, were among the well-wishers who came to pay their respects.
“I came to give my prayers here this morning at the shrine after I heard about what bad things had happened here, asking the gods to quickly catch the man that did this,” Anne said. “I am so disheartened and so sad this happened and it is so bad for our country.”
“I am in the tourism business, renting out vans for tourists, and we’ve been really affected the past couple days,” she continued. “We used to send out seven to eight vans [every day] but now we’re down to four or five because of the [lack of] Chinese tour groups.”
She added: “We are [furious], if the suspect is caught…. [he should be] lynched.”
Aimed at tourists
Although no group has come forward to claim responsibility for the deadly explosion, authorities and experts say that one thing is sure: the attack was designed to be a direct hit on tourism, the lifeblood of the Thai economy.
The Thai capital is immensely popular with holidaymakers and the blast occurred at one of the city’s busiest intersections near international hotels and shopping malls.
Eight nationalities — seven from surrounding Asian countries and at least one Briton — are among the dead.
In the aftermath of Monday’s attack, 23 countries issued travel advisories to Thailand, while Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Council canceled all tours to Bangkok until the end of the month.
‘We saw cars on fire’
Leify Porter, from Australia, witnessed the explosion from a pedestrian bridge directly above where the bomb went off.
“We saw cars on fire, and a lot of people seriously injured and deceased. We all, sort of, dropped to the ground. It was a huge impact,” Porter said. “My ears are still ringing and I have a huge headache. Being on a sky bridge, everything shook beneath us.”
Despite such horrible scenes, some tourists say they are not deterred from visiting.
Nawaki Masemura, from Japan, arrived in the city for the first time on Wednesday.
“I wasn’t going to cancel my trip,” Masumura said. “I wanted to come to Bangkok. It’s a beautiful city and many things to see. But since I heard of the news two days ago of the bomb, I wanted to come and see it myself.”
“I’m not scared at all,” he said.
‘Never seen anything like this before’
Around 120 people were injured in the blast, including 20-year-old motorbike driver Theerasak Kultham. From the rural Kalasin province, he came to seek job opportunities in Bangkok.
Theerasak went to the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday to apply for compensation from the government after sustaining two shrapnel wounds.
He told CNN he was carrying a passenger on his motorbike, and was waiting at the red light at the Rajprasong intersection when the bomb went off.
“I heard the blast. I turned back to look at where the sound came from and saw people scattered on the streets everywhere. I decided to abandon my bike and ran off to the other side,” Theerasak said.
When Theerasak touched his back, he saw blood all over his shirt, but said he could not feel anything because it was numb. His passenger’s arm was covered in blood.
Theerasak is still shaken from this incident. He thinks he would like to spend some time away from Bangkok, perhaps go back to his hometown.
“I have never seen anything like this before in my life,” he said.