The Chao Phraya River (แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา), which collects the Nan and Ping Rivers in Central Thailand and runs 372 kilometres south to empty into the Gulf of Thailand, is the life-blood of the City of Angels. When Bangkok was established as the Capital of Thailand in 1782, most activity was conducted along the Chao Phraya River and the network of canals that intersected the city. Many of these canals are still in use as transportation routes today, and warehouses and shophouses (which seem old enough to date from those early times!) often open onto the canals or the river rather than the streets. Day or night, there is no better way to see the life of the city than by boat.
I love being on the river. The regular ferry system joins neatly with our SkyTrain and provides convenient, fast and cheap access to points all along the river. Tourists can explore the klongs (canals) or travel up- or down-river by basic long-tail boat or fancy tour boat. Dinner cruises, whether on large ships or converted wooden rice barges, are a great way to enjoy the night lights of the city.
So, there could be no better way to ring in the New Year than by cruising in style on the “River of Kings” – where ancient shophouses rub shoulders with modern executive apartments; where modest boat piers and markets vie for space amongst the high-rise hotels and luxury shopping centres; where the gridlocked traffic is kept at bay, at an elegant distance, on one of the many bridges spanning the water.
The Elegance of the Dance
Chinese Temple Lights
Wat Arun ~ Temple of the Dawn ~ Magnificent by Night
The Grand Palace: Built in 1782, During the Reign of King Rama I
The Rama VIII is my Favourite Bridge
Rama VIII Cable-Stay Pattern
Rama VIII Lights and Strings
Chao Phraya Night Life
Rice-Barge with Faerie-Lights
Fireworks on the Chao Phraya
So Close we can Touch Them!
An Impressive DIsplay
"Bangkok We Love You" ~ Happy New Year ~ สวัสดีปีใหม่
Strictly speaking, “Chao Phraya” means “Noble General of High Rank”, but the river has been dubbed the “River of Kings”, and that has a much better ring to it! Certainly, it is a river fit for kings and all the Kings of the current Chakri dynasty have made extensive use of it, often via the ceremonial Royal Barges. Our somewhat more mundane transport was still a great place to launch 2011.
The New Year’s period is a time of celebration around the world. Although Songkran in April is the ‘traditional’ New Year in Thailand and is still celebrated in its own inimitable fashion, the transition from December 31st to January 1st is formally recognised as the start of the new year and is cause for parties, fireworks and gift-giving.
For me, New Year’s is usually a time of quiet contemplation; the time when I reflect on the past year, trying to use the lessons from it to build a plan for the year ahead – like the lotus, rooted in the mud and reaching for the heavens.
The Christmas Tree is Ready at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel
This is a wonderful time of year in Bangkok. It is officially “Cool Season” [ฤดูหนาว], which means that most days you can walk around without breaking into an immediate sweat. It is also the season of lights and decorations. Some festive decorations go up for The King’s birthday on Dec 5th – then, although 94.6% of Thais are Buddhist, the city adopts Christmas as if it was born to it… any excuse to dress up and party!
Traditional Christmas Trees at Q-House Lumpini
Non-Traditional Christmas Trees at Q-House Lumpini
Even the Girlie Bars on Patpong (พัฒน์พงษ์) get into the Christmas Spirit
How Many Mixed Cultural Symbols Can You Find in One Picture?
Christmas Lights: The Perfect Backdrop
The Perfect Backdrop for Holiday Photos
Candles on the Peninsula Stairs…
… Another Photo Op!
Reflections of The Peninsula
Christmas is for Kids: Battle of the Toys
Christmas Shopping ~ Paragon Shopping Centre
Pink Bells ~ Paragon Shopping Centre
For a few weeks, just as in any Western country, Christmas songs and carols can be heard everywhere. They are blasted from loudspeakers in the shopping centres and train stations. They are played on the radio and in elevators. They are performed on the streets and at the various parties and luncheons. At one lunch I attended, we had not one, but two groups of orphans singing in return for their visit with Santa. Christmas in Bangkok is not only about bright lights, parties and shopping; it is also a timely reminder of those less fortunate.
Singing for Her Supper ~ one of the many AIDs orphans of Klong Toey.
Thais are happy to “celebrate” Christmas, in terms of the trees, and the lights, and the gifts, and all the other trappings. As I said earlier, any excuse for a party! But, the spiritual practice of most Thais is grounded in the Hindu/Brahmin/Buddhist traditions, and is very much a part of daily life, every day of the year. The evidence is everywhere: every house and business has either an animist spirit-house or a Chinese shrine, or both. People routinely get up early to give rice and other food to the monks walking their morning alms rounds. Buddhist ceremonies are an integral part of all major life-events like births, deaths, and marriages, and blessings are sought for most other changes, like new houses or new cars. In the course of their daily lives, Thais wai or ‘pay respect’ to statues of Kings or Buddhist Abbots, Buddha images and shrines for Hindu or Brahmin deities.
The Erawan Shrine, One of Bangkok’s Most Important Hindu Shrines, is Busy Every Day of the Year
Candles and Incense
Anyone Can Say a Prayer… Any Day of the Year
May the Spirit of the Season be with You.
May the spirit of the season be with you! Happy Holidays.
[…] But, even though December 25th is a normal working day in Thailand, the country goes all out to decorate for the season. Aside from a rather tacky Nativity scene at our local shopping centre, the neighbourhood around […]ReplyCancel
[…] But, even though December 25th is a normal working day in Thailand, the country goes all out to decorate for the season. Aside from a rather tacky Nativity scene at our local shopping centre, the neighbourhood around […]ReplyCancel
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!” Camille Paglia
The Roof of the World? Pha Taem National Park, Ubon Ratchathani
I grew up in North America where the artefacts of culture are relatively modern. By contrast, Asian cultural objects speak of time… endless time… with it’s ebb and flow of history and change. I know that this is so, but being able to traverse from prehistoric artefacts, to ancient temples, and then to modern arts and crafts in the space of hours and kilometres, still surprises me.
The fertile Mekong river valley between Ubon and Laos was home to an agrarian people thousands of years ago. They left their mark in red paints made of soil, tree gum and fat, on a 200 meter stretch of cliffs at Pha Taem. These paintings, depicting scenes of rice cultivation, as well as elephants and enormous fish traps, are thought to be between 3000 and 4000 years old.
Overlooking the Mekong and Laos: Pha Taem National Park, Ubon Ratchathani
Modern Markers: Cairns under the Cliffs of Pha Taem
Under the Cliffs: Pha Taem National Park, Ubon Ratchathani
Ancient Rock Art : Pha Taem Cliff Paintings
Visiting Monks: Pha Taem Cliff Paintings
Thai Guide and his Protective Stones ~ Amulets and Ruesi, the Hermit Sage
Home, not just to the Mekong, but also two of it’s major tributaries, the Mun and the Chi, this area has been at the crossroads of competing cultures and warring empires for centuries. As I mentioned last week, Khmer influence is seen in the local silk designs. It is also evident in artefacts housed in local museums and the many temple ruins that dot the landscape.
Khmer Head, 11th Century, Surin National Museum
Krishna's Battle with the Beasts: Angkor Wat Style, Surin National Museum
Hindu Sanctuaries: Prasat Ban Phluang (11th -12th C Baphoun Khmer Art)
Religious Crossroads: Living Bodhi Tree and Ancient Stone, Prasat Ban Phluang
Ancient Sandstone Carvings, Prasat Ban Phluang
For all their monuments to civilisations past, these are living, breathing communities. In the out-of-the-way rural village of Ban Chok, we found a woman fashioning ‘Prakueam’, or round metal beads of silver or gold made into jewellery. The daughter of a man who makes large silver ornaments for public buildings, she uses a centuries-old Khmer tradition to make delicate pieces with a surprisingly modern appeal.
Jewellers Workspace ~ Turquoise Flower
Finished 'Prakuem' Silver
Silver Beads ~ Jeweller's Workspace
Jeweller Working on Silver
Fine Work ~ Prakueam Silver
As the ultimate tribute in stone, it is hard to go past Ubon’s 22 meter-high ‘candle’ in an ornamental boat, guarded by a mythical garuda. The sculpture, which was completed in 2000 to honour the current King, the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty, pays tribute to the giant bees-wax sculptures which are carved in Ubon every year and paraded through the streets during Phansa (Buddhist Lent).
Tying the Ancient and the Modern: Candles in Stone
Truly symbols of Thai culture’s‘history and interrelatedness’!
Colours, Layers and Textures: Shopping for Surin Silks ~ Ban Khwao Sinarin
Isn’t the English language wonderful? In the title “Weaving Communities” you probably read ‘weaving’ as an adjective – that is, communities that exist about or for weaving. But, weaving is more usually a verb: the art of forming something, (a fabric or a fabric item; a basket, a story, a rug, a community…) into a pattern by interlacing long threads passing in one direction with others at a right angle.
"Interlacing Threads at Right-Angles"
As I mentioned last week, I had the pleasure of visiting a number of villages in Surin; villages where both meanings are true. These are communities of weavers who produce beautiful textiles, and it is the act of producing these textiles that binds the community members together and allows the communities to grow and flourish while staying grounded in traditional values and practices.
Traditionally, women and girls produced silks and cottons for their household to use and to present to the local temple. In the old days, bells were attached to the moving parts of looms, so that local bachelors knew that ‘a modest, hardworking, diligent girl’ who might make a good wife, was hard at work. Every village in Surin has at least one loom, and although weaving usually only takes place in the free time when the rice harvest is in, most villages these days manage to produce silk for sale, to supplement their meagre cash-crop income.
Some communities, however, have taken the traditionally sought-after Surin silks to a whole new level. The first place we visited, Thasawang Silk Village, has been developed into an atelier of world standard by Ajarn Weeratham Trakulngernthai. A. Weeratham studied Arts before returning to the village to expand the silk production there to such an extent that he was chosen to design and produce the gift-silks for the international leaders visiting Thailand for APEC, 2003. He also produces much of the silk used by the Thai royal family.
This community of artists is involved in every aspect of silk-making. One purpose-build open-air building houses two-story looms operated by three or four workers.
Experience at the Head of the Two-Story Loom
Concentration ~ Tying off Threads
Young Women at the Sides
Young Woman in the Weave
Women at the Loom: Sitting at the Side and Standing Underneath
Silk Thread: Weft ~ Warp ~ Weave
Fine Weaving in Process
Golden Brocade Silk
Lunch Time! The Two-Story Looms at Rest...
Precious Gold Embroidery
Ajarn Weeratham Explaining Traditional Silk Patterns
Silk sales take place in expensive up-market shops, street stalls and in the downstairs open areas of village houses; anywhere that the community has a bit extra to sell and the buyers are ready.
Surin boasts 700 traditional silk designs, many which were of Khmer origins. They involve complex weaving or dying processes, or both. Many villages produce “Mut Mee” or tie-dyed silk. The warp threads are wound onto a frame of the correct size, banana fibre is carefully tied around sections of thread according to a specific pattern, and then the whole frame is dipped in dye. When the dye is dry, the fibre is carefully cut away and the undyed spots are dabbed with other colours.
Mut Mee at Ban Khwao Sinarin
Producing Mut Mee Silk
Careful Mut-Mee Hands
Reeling the Silk
What impressed me, even more than the silks, however, was the way silk production, as a community cottage industry, drew the neighbourhoods together. Because it is such a labour-intensive and important industry, there is meaningful work for everyone, and the loom or looms become the village centre. At Ban Khwao Sinarin, when it was getting too dark for the carful attention that preparing and weaving Mut-Mee silks require, the traditional instruments came out and the singing and dancing started. The undisputed star of this impromptu “show” was the master-weaver’s eight-year-old daughter. One of my Thai companions said: “I am so glad that this is still happening in my country!” I completely understood her emotional pride.
Traditional Dancer ~ Khwao Sinarin
Toothless Smiles!
Khwao Sinarin Family
Dad and Daughter in the Dance
It was truly an enchanting experience, and a reminder of the true value of locally produced, hand-crafted products. ‘Till next time…
[..] Today I was reading this fantastic blog post and I wanted to link to it. [..]…ReplyCancel
Andy Varga -April 6, 2012 - 7:10 am
Hi Ursula – thanks for your fascinating blog about Surin produced silk – and great photos. I’d love to visit those villages and find out more about silk production. Could you put me in touch with someone who could organise a visit for me? Best wishes and keep up the good work!ReplyCancel
Hi Andy,
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos.
My visit was with the Thai Textile Society. They organised it through a Thai travel agency: Ubon Jinda Travel (+66 86 777 2118). Our guide, Pradit Deerorb (+66 83 364 1182) loves textiles and speaks good English. I can’t find email addresses for any of them, and as our visit was a long time ago, my information might be out of date.
But the places we visited are well known to any Surin agent (and are geo-tagged on my Flickr site) so any licensed agent in the area should be able to help you.
I hope this helps! Cheers.ReplyCancel
- Performing the Ganga Aarti from Dasaswamedh Ghat, Varanasi
- Buddha Head from Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar
- Harry Clarke Window from Dingle, Ireland
- Novice Monk Shwe Yan Pyay Monastery, Myanmar
Packets of 10 for $AU50.
Or - pick any photo from my Flickr or Wanders blog photos.
thanks for the share Ursula, may 2011 bring you both every happiness and lots more travel…with pictures!! 🙂
Happy New Year to you guys, also. Don’t worry! I have plenty of big travel plans for our last ‘official’ year in Asia. 😀
Great photo’s. Love the picture of the Grand Palace,bridge & fireworks.