In the afternoon, we visited several craft centres at the handicraft village – a teak wood furniture factory with a large showroom showcasing their finest works, an umbrella factory where they make parasols out of rice paper with hand painted floral motifs (and they make matching fans as well), and a silk factory where they showed us how silk is processed and how silk thread is manually woven into silk fabric. We got to “meet” the silk worms, too, and I had my photo taken with these worms in my hands.
That night, we shopped at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, which was just a stone’s throw away from our hotel. I got to practice my haggling skills and I thought I was pretty good. I got myself a set of navy blue hand-woven cotton Mon Hom full-sleeved blouse and slim, angle-length skirt called Pha Zin. Both were decorated with intricate gold embroidery. I also purchased a matching hand-woven purse and a scarf made of Thai silk. And I paid less than half of the original price quoted by the vendors! I was proud of myself and I could tell the vendors were almost as proud. I was even certain that they enjoyed our short business exchange. I guess, it’s a talent that most Asians possess and it’s a game that most Asians indulge in when in the marketplace.
I spotted a hill tribe woman with a straw basket vending some jewelry. The hill tribes in northern Thailand, particularly the Karens, are known for quality hand-made silver jewelry and beads. Each piece is unique because it is fashioned by their silversmiths in the traditional tribal method with the use of primitive tools. I approached her to take a look at her goods. My female tour mates followed me. As we were huddled together examining the wares, we found ourselves suddenly swarmed by a throng of tribal ladies, each trying to get our attention and convincing us that she could give the best deal. Oh wow…we didn’t expect that! Where did they all come from? We managed to crawl away from the herd but not without our acquisitions. I got two pieces of bracelet with charms – one for myself, and one for my cousin.
All that shopping tired us out. Some decided to go back to the hotel, while some ran off on a quest to find stores that sold souvenirs that are unique in this part of Thailand – local crafts such as woodcarvings, silverware, hand-painted parasols, hand-made paper, original artwork, Celadon ceramics, gold-leaf lacquer ware – and the less refined brand-name designer goods, both genuine and fake. I must say the fake ones over there are of surprisingly good quality.
As for me, my shopping spree was over and all I wanted to do was eat. One tour mate agreed to come with me to explore the food market for some snacks. We found a stall in the corner selling some interesting-looking grilled meatballs on sticks. We tried a few of them and after quelling our late-night hunger pangs, we decided to head back to the hotel.
Photo Credits:
allchiangmaitours.com, chiangmai.bangkok.com, bestpricetravel.com, tastythailand.com
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