Wednesday. Temple in the Rain.

Wednesday. We have been lucky with the weather till now, but today the rain moves in. It is drizzly but still warm. Tonight we have an evening shoot at Doi Suthep, a temple that is built up the mountain. This is the spot that the white elephant chose, carrying the ancient relics, as worthy to house these precious and miraculous holy relics. From here you can look down over the city and the Wat Suan Dok Temple with its Golden stupa that holds the original relic.

AS the evening approaches the rain gets heavier but we decide to go on the shoot anyway. Rain jackets and hats we are ready. To protect our cameras we carry shower caps from the hotel, careful to keep them as dry as possible. We remove our shoes, as you must in all temples and barefooted we shoot in the rain. 

Some get frustrated and huddle under rooftops or pagodas. But it is beautiful, mystical ethereal.

The photos tell it all.

 

This was my Lemonade Day.  It could have been a writeoff because of the weather but by embracing it and learning how to see the beauty of it and how to capture that it was probably my best day. I came back to the hotel so pumped and exhilarated.

 

Definitely Lemonade...

 

 

Tuesday. More markets.

Tuesday in Chiang Mai.

It is another day to explore the city. After breakfast we head toward the street markets. They are everywhere. Sometimes they remind of Mexico, stall after stall of people pedalling their wares. Everything from clothing to jewellery, arts and crafts, handmade this and that. Anything you want or need. And bartering with the merchants just like Mexico.  

 We pass shop after shop of fabrics. Beautiful silks and cottons. Alli would love this.

  

 

The market we go to first is like a big Bazaar. It is 2 stories high with hundreds of vendors. This one has food on the lower part and clothes, shoes, fabrics, and more on the top.  Honestly, this market is nothing special, lacking the local charm and character.

 
Many of the items in this market are made in factories in China and India. It is like a giant Dollar Store!
 

There is an area like a food court where the dishes are local rices, curries, and other Thai staples.

 

From here we walk a little further, past more fruit and vegetable stands. The colors here are brilliant. The fruits and vegetables are inviting. There are new ones I am not familiar with like Dragon Fruit and apple pears and kaffur limes. And always the vendors are friendly and patient as we take our photos.

We end at the Flower Market. This is beautiful with shop after shop of beautiful flowers, every colour and type imaginable. The smell of the Lotus blossoms fills the air. Marigolds are strung in chains, they will adorn the little floats released in the river for the festival this week.

 Pink lotus blossoms.

  Merchants creating arrangements.

White peonies.












 

Pink lotus buds getting ready to bloom.

After lunch we pile into tuktuks and head back to the hotel.

The traffic is heavy as this is the week of their big festival, Loy Krathong and each day more people descend on the city. The mood is happy, jovial, celebratory. Chiang Mai is a generous host opening its doors to visitors.

The afternoon is free time. I choose to visit a little spa across the street from the hotel for a pedicure.  It is nothing fancy. Mostly Thai massages which are 1 or 2 hours of very deep tissue, where you lie on a mat on the floor and they dig into all your stiff and sore spots with the hands, even their elbows. They pull and contort you like a pretzel . I haven’t done this yet but it is on my list. Gene would love this place. 250 Baht for an hour massage (that’s about $9)!

 I settle for just a pedicure. My girl, Pon, is sweet. She thinks it is hilarious that I have my toes painted the same color as my flip flops (orange of course!)  She calls all the other girls around to see and they giggle.

 

 

Overall a pretty layback day but a good day still as I see more of the present day side of the city.

 

Monday Evening. The Silver Temple.

Still Monday, November 3rd. Evening shoot at The Silver Temple.

Wat Sri Suphan, The Silver Temple, is where the monks are ordained. It contains the Ordination Hall where women are not allowed inside. The top of the temple is made of silver which reflects the light. In the evening it is flooded with lights that change colors giving it a mystical, almost fairy tale feel. In front sits a large gold Buddha and a large silver Buddha. The inside of the temple contains elaborate silver and aluminum carvings.

Many of the people who belong to this temple are the artisans and craftspeople. They wanted to donate their work to decorate the temple. They gave panels of silver, carved with their beautiful designs. Those who could not afford to give silver gave the aluminium panels.

As the sky became dark a distant storm was brewing, making it even more dramatic.

The dragon greets us at the Temple.

Wat Sri Suphon was built in 1495-1515, at one time the centre for the craftspeople of the city. IT is now working to rejuvenate the silver crafting industry.

 
The Ordination Hall for monks. It is lit at night with changing colors which reflect on the silver of the temple.

Gold and silver Buddhas stand outside the temple.

Ganesh is the elephant God. He is able to remove obstacles and bring success. He is the God of education and wisdom and very important in their religion.

Here monks learn and practise the art of silversmithing.

This has been a full day. I return to my hotel exhausted and pumped at the same time with great respect for the Thai people and the devotion they have to their culture, their traditions and how they are dedicated and committed to keeping these an important part of their lives in present day.





 

Monday. The art markets of Chiang Mai.

Another beautiful day in Chiang Mai. Hot, but we have lost much of the humidity of Bangkok.

Today we are visiting several of the local artisans as they create their unique and original pieces of art.

These artisans that we are visiting are family businesses, most in their own homes. They generally have a workshop in the home and likely a storefront where they sell their ware. Some also work under contract to a factory or distributor.

Out first stop is a Paper Making family.  We park on a dusty road and walk around into their yard. We are warmly welcomed and told to feel free to wander around and take pictures of anything we like. They take us around to the back where their work area is. As usual this is not as simple as it sounds. Trying to get a group of photography fanatics from Point A to Point B is somewhat like herding cats. We are easily distracted by anything that looks like it might make a good picture. We pass by an ancient rusted motorbike and sidecar and spend 10 minutes photographing it from every angle. Finally we arrive in the backyard.  There are odd blue A frame, tent-like structures strewn across the yard. We see blue ones, pink ones, a few red and green ones. We see stacks of blue frames with screens. Curious.

WE are greeted by the patriarch of the family. He is 76 years old, shirtless, his torso is covered with tattoos. Wiry and leatherly, the furrows and lines in his face tell a story of his life. His eyes are full of warmth and humour. A cigar hangs from his mouth, filling the gaps where he has long ago lost most of his teeth. He smiles and we can't help but respond in kind.  Around are a number of other family members young and old.

The elderly gentleman takes us on a journey describing how they create beautiful handmade paper from the bark of mulberry trees. This is the type of rough, textured paper you might see in special greeting cards or the photo albums or expensive gift bags you might buy in specialty shops. It is called SAA paper and special to this area. They soak the bark overnight, the next day it is boiled for 3-4 hours until it is soft, then it is bleached to make it white. They pound it by hand into small pieces. These are soaked again and stirred around in a tub of water. He then uses the blue framed screen to scoop the paper fibres out of the water, making a thin layer of the paper fibre on the screen. The screens are then leaned back to back, like an A or a tent, in the sun for 30 minutes to dry.

The paper is dyed in many colors. Sometimes flower petals are added into the paper as part of the design.

We walk around the front, past the mulberry trees, to the shop where reams of papers of every color and design are sold. Beautiful shades of pink, purple, yellow, blue, green....  Walking through the market we see goods made from the paper - gift bags, lanterns, journals, etc.

Notice the paper fibre against the blue screen.

Drying in the sun.

Flower petals pressed into the paper.

Reems of paper in the wholesale warehouse.

Beautiful colors of paper.

For sale in the shops.

Next stop, a very successful lacquer ware factory and showroom. Again, this is a family run business but on a much larger scale. Here they make beautiful vases, dishes, figurines, etc. Starting with teak from northern Thailand they create the piece. They then apply layers if black lacquer and then handpaint the intricate patterns and designs. Many designs incorporate 25 karat gold leaf into the work. Sometimes eggshells are used for texture, or moth of pearl inlay.

Hand painting on a jewellery box.

Intricate designs on trays.

Gold leaf and lacquer.

Creating texture with eggshell.

Beautiful pots from bamboo.

Lacquer, hand painting and gold leaf elephants.

After lunch we continued on our art tour, visiting an umbrella making business.  These are umbrellas made out of bamboo for protection from the sun. They hand paint designs onto the fabrics.

Making the umbrella.

Paintpots for painting the umbrellas.

The storefront.

 

One more artisan. We are off to visit a family of silversmiths. We pass through their storefront back into their home. We are running late and it is past their normal stopping time, but they welcome us warmly into their home, happy to share their craft with us. They hand us ice cold bottles of water, welcome at the end of a hot day and in this room warmed by the fires from the forge.

Here various family members are busily working at their specific tasks. We see a couple of women sitting cross-legged on a platform, a little raised from the floor. With a hammer and chisel-like tool they painstakingly pound away on large silver pots. The design is sketched on the pot and they are hammering out the detail. Each rise and fall of the texture is made by them, no molds. The silver is 92.5%, to go any purer would make the metal too soft.

 

Through another door and into a brick room is the fire or forge. Women can not do this part, it is the man's job (Or as Janet would say - a Blue Job). Here they melt the silver that begins the process. A disc of silver about 2-3 inches in diameter and maybe 1/4 inch thick will become a bowl. The men heat it till it glows orange then remove it (carefully!) and hammer it to start making it thinner and larger around. Heat it, hammer it some more, repeat.

 

Off to the side two young girls make jewellery, silver earrings, pendants, etc. It their start into the family business.

 

They also do wall carvings in aluminium, a less expensive and softer material that lends itself to incredible detail, still all done by hand.

 

We have seen much today. These wonderful artists who are such a big part of Chiang Mai's culture, traditions and heritage. But the one common thread among all of them, besides their incredible talent, is their hospitality, the open, warm and friendly way in which they welcomed us into their private homes. Shy smiles, pride in their craft and a genuine sense of family. We were indeed honored.