02 NOVEMBER 2016 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: KO, Gob's brother, saws teak for a spirit house. He works with his sister in the small family owned workshop that makes spirit houses by hand out of teak wood in the Ban Fuen community. There used to be 10 families making traditional spirit houses out of teak wood in Ban Fuen, a community near Wat Suttharam in the Khlong San district of Bangkok. The area has been gentrified and many of the spirit house makers have moved out, their traditional wooden Thai houses replaced by modern apartments. Now there is just one family making the elaborate spirit houses. The spirit houses are made by hand. It takes three days to make a small one and up to three weeks to make a large one. Prices start at about $90 (US) for a small one. The largest, most elaborate ones can cost over $1,000 (US). Almost every home and most commercial buildings in Thailand have a spirit house, which is a shrine to the protective spirit of a the land. Spirit houses are also common in Burma, Cambodia, and Laos.        PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ
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