The small shrine-houses outside every Thai building are not decorative — they are homes for spirits, taken very seriously.
Every building in Thailand — home, hotel, shop, skyscraper — has a spirit house outside: a miniature ornate structure where the land spirits live.
Residents offer flowers, incense, food, water and small figurines daily or weekly — the spirits must be respected to ensure the building's good fortune.
Fresh garlands of jasmine, burning incense, miniature figures of people and animals, offerings of food and drink — refreshed every day in some cases.
Don't touch, sit on or mock spirit houses; fine to photograph respectfully from a distance; some large hotels welcome guests to leave their own offerings.
Larger commercial buildings and luxury hotels often invest in genuinely ornate, temple-scale spirit houses — worth pausing to look at even if just passing through the lobby.
The Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok is essentially a spirit house scaled up into a full public shrine, drawing constant worship from passersby — a useful reference point for understanding the tradition's roots.