Advertisement
Published: December 3rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Mental Notes
1. Never linger for more than a few moments at a market stall or you will automatically be obliged to purchase something.
2. It's perfectly acceptable if you find an ant in your green curry.
Farewell 'o beloved Railay. We leave you with heavy hearts and sorrowful spirits.
But we've got better things to do, like take a plane to Chiang Mai! My initial impression of the city through the stained window of a taxi was that it was a moat away from being identical to Bangkok, but that's a naive opinion of a naive tourist. After further exploration I have realized that, yes indeed it resembles Bangkok, except that it has a moat. I'm only half lying when I say this. After half-arse meticulous examination of the metropolis and consant lecture from the walking encyclopedia, i.e Sodahead I have realized that it's set apart from other city's. Although the locals idealise this northern capital as a quaint, moated and walled city surrounded by drop dead gorgeous mountains and over 300 breathtaking temples, the truth is it has all but abandoned that image to become a modern city exhibiting many of the contemporary world culture.
The Thai king Phaya Mengrai established Chiang Mai in 1296 after conquering what is now modern day Lamphun. Later, in an alliance with Sukhothai in the 14th and 15 centuries, Chiang Mia became a part of the large kingdom of Lan Nai Thai. During this period Chiang Mai became an extremely important religious and cultural centre, the eight world synod of Therapvada Buddhism was held in 1477.
-pant- The Burmese capture of the city in 1556 was the second time the Burmese of Chiang Mai province. Previously, before Phaya Mengrai's reign, King Anawrahta of what is now present day Bagan had ruled Chiang Mai in the 11th century.
-pantpant- This time around, the Burmese ruled Chiang Mai for more than 200 years. In 1775 Chiang Mai was recaptured by the Thais under the rule of Phaya Taksin, who appointed Chao Kavila, a chieftain from nearby Lampang principality, as a viceroy of northern Thailand. In 1800 Kavila built the monumental brick walls around the inner city and expanded the city in southerly, and easterly directions. Under Kavila Chiang Mai became an important regional trade centre.
-pantpantpant- Many of the Burmese-style temples seen throughout the city were constructed by wealthy
teak merchants who emigrated from Burma during the late 19th century. In 1927 King Rama the 7th and his wife Queen Rambaibani rode into the city at the head of an 84 elephant caravan, becoming the very first central Thai monarchs to visit the north, and finally in 1933 Chiang Mai officially became a province of Thailand!
-collapse- For the first while our days consisted of eating and sleeping, with the grueling half a block stumble to the ATM to pay for eating and sleeping. But we've been now making the effort to wake up early to avoid the oppressive heat, problem is, a vast majority of the shops here refuse to open until at least after eight. Presently our time in the cool of the evenings is taken up by nightly trips to what is argueably the largest tourist attraction in all of Chiang Ma, the Night Bazaar. It's composed of several different roofed areas, ordinary glass-fronted shops and dozens and dozens of street vendors. This market offers a huge variety of Thai and Northern Thai goods, as well as faux designer goods at very low prices, if you bargain well. The outside vendors sell an assortment
of clothing including western style screened shirts, hoodies, lingerie and jeans, and local hand-woven fabrics as displayed in shoulder bags and various kinds of pants. There are ample arrays of silver and gold jewelry, lacquerware, wood carvings, iron and bronze Buddha's as well as hundred of other items. The Night Bazaar Building holds a few dozen permanent shops selling antiques, handicrafts, textiles, hardwood furniture, silverwork, basketry, and pottery. Claustrophobics beware, most nights are elbow to elbow.
One of our daily outings included a visit to the Baan Phor Liang Meun's Terra-Cotta Arts, a garden filled with hundreds of moss covered ceramic. Terra Cotta, meaning "baked earth" is a waterproof porous clayware which can be used for vessels, pots, and surface embellishment in building construction. Terra cotta has been used throughout history for sculpture and pottery, as well as bricks and roof shingles. In ancient times, the first clay sculptures were dried in the sun after being formed. Later, they were placed in the ashes of open hearths to harden, and finally kilns were used, similar to those used for pottery today. However only after firing to high temperature would it be classed as a ceramic material. Compact black
clay is believed to be the best by the traditional potter. Such clay requires very little filtering and often retains much moisture in its natural state. Water is added to the clay and allowed to stand for several days. Feet and then hands are used to knead the clay. The wheel is often made of solid wood. The products then must be sealed in the oven. The oven is fueled by husk, straw, and wood. Some products need a week to ten days of baking. Underbaked or overbaked products do not fetch a high price in the market, particuarly if they are utility items and faults cannot be painted over.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.103s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0509s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb