Thailand Travel

A recent visit to Chiang Mai's newest district, named in memory of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana, proved very worthwhile. Galyani Vadhana district is the 25th to be established in Chiang Mai province, and the 878th in the country. It was named after His Majesty the King's sister.

Chiang Mai's newest district has a great deal to offer visitors and residents, especially those who want to immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of nature.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand's Chiang Mai office director Chalermsak Suranan explains that the agency has organised excursions to the newest district to promote it as a tourist destination. Galyani Vadhana district has a pleasant climate, interesting landscape, abundant wildlife and, being only 164km from Muang Chiang Mai through Mae Hong Son's Pai district, it is an ideal destination for those visiting Pai, just 64km away.

Not far from Galyani Vadhana district, Suan Doi Kaew farm is a chemical-free strawberry farm approved by the Royal Foundation Project, in Bo Kaew sub-district, Samoeng district. This strawberry farm, owned and operated by Wittaya Narata, the president of Bo Kaew Agriculturists' Association, with support from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, occupies 2,500 rai (400 hectares) of land, and is one of the country's largest strawberry producers. Visitors can take a tour around the fields and eat freshly picked strawberries (in season). It is also being developed as an agro-tourism destination. Resort chalets are being built and campsites are already available, welcoming Thais and foreigners who'd like to spend their days in a cool climate and beautifully clean environment.

In Galyani Vadhana district, Pornchai Pianpla, social development officer of Wat Chan Royal Project Foundation and Development Centre, explained that the centre helps locals increase their agricultural knowledge and other occupational skills. The centre was started by the King in 1979 to help improve the living conditions of hilltribe people in Wat Chan and nearby villages.

The centre has arable and livestock farms, an exhibition of hilltribe culture, souvenirs for sale, a cafeteria, and rooms and tents for visitors to spend the night in the forest.

Other attractions and activities include the pine forests with wild orchids; bird watching; cool weather fog watching at the border between Chiang Mai province and Mae Hong Son, the Huay Horm waterfall, from which the Mae Chaem and Pai rivers flow; Huay Reservoir, and Wat Chan, which dates back to the Lawa era, one of Chiang Mai valley's earliest periods.

Spending a cool night at the peaceful Musikee Eco Lodge, set in the middle of a forest and with food for visitors from its own farms, followed a warm welcome by the staff and members of the Pakayor, a hilltribe native to the district. Musikee is the name of the Mae Chaem River in the Pakayor language, and it reflects the way of life of this hilltribe. Hiking to the junction of the Chaem Noi and Chaem Luang rivers is a popular activity for visitors. The nearby forest offers a large variety of plant life and the local hilltribe villages offer a glimpse into their native culture and arts. You can often hear locals playing the tae na, a Pakayor instrument similar to the harp, and singing traditional songs. There is often a show with the traditional welcoming sword dance.

Finally there is the Ban Wat Chan Royal Project, which with the Forest Industry Organisation of Thailand, is in charge of preserving and restoring the forests in the area and promoting farming among the locals. It's set in the country's largest pine and dry dipterocarp forest, 960m above sea level, and is being developed as an eco-tourism destination for people who love adventure and cool weather. Camping, hiking and bike riding are among the many activities on offer at this verdant destination, which can accommodate up to 500 people.

A new district office is being built to replace the temporary office, and the completion of a new road to the district _ which will make travelling here much easier _ is expected within two years.

Article and picture source : www.bangkokpost.com

Sixty-five years ago, just two days after the end of the World War II, Jim Thompson, an architect from New York, arrived in Thailand as a part of his volunteer service to the US Army's Office of Strategic Service with nothing to suggest that his name would later become one of the world's most famous icons for Thai artistry.

With 10 restaurants in four international cities, Jim Thompson is also honouring the integrity of Siamese culinary art while celebrating the unique beauty of Thai weaving craft. PHOTO: ANUSORN SAKSEREE

Just like many westerners _ then and now _ who have been charmed by the beauty and friendliness of the Thai country, the Delaware-born Thompson decided to settle down and call Bangkok his home.

With his imaginative eyes and considerate mind, Thompson immediately became very interested in handwoven Thai silk.

He assembled a small collection of the fabric, and, with confidence that the quality of the Thai silk would have appeal outside Thailand, subsequently took it to show friends and potential buyers in New York. And that's when the Thai-silk road to the world fame began.

Jim Thompson's Thai Silk Company was registered in 1951 with the original purpose of reviving Thailand's craft weaving industry, which at that time was quickly fading due to competition from cheaper, machine-made fabrics. Nine years later, the Thai government awarded Thompson the Order of the White Elephant in recognition of his contribution to the country.

Today the company, with its 100 percent vertical operation _meaning all the products are manufactured here in Thailand under the care of the Thai Silk Co _ is the world's largest manufacturer of hand-woven fabrics, with more than 3,500 employees. That does not include some 1,000 silk artisans in northeastern villages whom the firm also works with.

Jim Thompson’s traditional Thai house in the middle of Bangkok is registered as a national museum.

The company's properties include Thompson's world-famous traditional Thai house in Bangkok's Pathumwan district, which has been registered as a national museum, two silk farms that cover more than 3,000 rai of land in Nakhon Ratchasima province, 38 retail shops in Asia, America and Europe, and 10 restaurants in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.

''The restaurant business is a natural extension of Jim Thompson's passion in bringing the best of Thai culture to the world,'' said Eric Booth, the company's marketing director.

''Mr Thompson was famous not only for silk but also for his gracious hospitality. In the 50s and 60s, his Bangkok mansion often hosted dinner parties with musicians, writers, statesmen and Hollywood celebrities. Somerset Maugham, Anne Baxter and Robert Kennedy were also among his guests.''

The first Jim Thompson dining outlet, however, opened in 1996 on the second floor of its main retail shop on Surawong Road simply to offer a space where customers _ typically tourists _ could sit down, relax and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea together with a small variety of snacks and bakery items, which was made from the company's kitchen, before or after shopping or while waiting for the Bangkok traffic to ease.

The coffee and bakery corner had enjoyed a good feedback, so, later on, a number of Thai and western dishes were added to the menu.

Eric Booth, marketing director of Thai Silk Company.

"The menu was a good mix between authentic Thai food and classic western cuisine. We offered the two cuisines separately and never try to follow the fusion fashion," Booth noted.

The in-house cafe proved very popular, not only among tourist shoppers but also among people in the area who found the food and the design of the space enjoyable. With this success, the company decided to go for a standalone restaurant with the purpose of catering to local residents.

The Saladaeng Cafe restaurant, occupying an old house in Soi Sala Daeng, opened in 2000. This was followed by Thompson Bar & Restaurant in 2004 and Jim Thompson Cafe at Isetan department store in 2008.

After years of honing their skills at home, Jim Thompson's culinary and hospitality team was ready for the international challenge. In 2005, the company's first foreign restaurant, Mythai, opened in Kuala Lumpur.

"At that time, we had quite a lot of opportunities in several countries, but we decided to settle on a place near home," Booth explained.

"Running the restaurant business, you need to be close to what's happening. We felt more comfortable for our first overseas restaurant to be close by, so that we could travel easily and help them with the design, marketing, cooking and service."

Clusters of age-old northeastern-style and tribal-style houses, which can disappear overnight, are nicely displayed at the Jim Thompson Farm in Pak Thong Chai, Nakhon Ratchasima.

Three more dining outlets were opened in in Tokyo, and another in Singapore (see review on page 6).

"The Singapore branch, called Jim Thompson: A Thai Restaurant, is our flagship restaurant. We've spent so much time working with design and service. We've barely done any marketing or promotion but received great feedback from the locals. The business was built totally from word of mouth," the marketing director noted.

"Our company always looks for new, dynamic ways to promote Thai culture to the world. We've realised the worldwide sensation for Thai food. In the past, Thai food may have been regarded in the West as a budget meal on which people wouldn't spend more than 10 euros or $10 on.

"But now people would pay the same price as they do at a good French or Japanese restaurant to enjoy Thai food, perhaps with wine and champagne, on a special occasion. Thai restaurants are no longer seen as a place for cheap and good fast food but as gourmet dining destinations that offer a memorable experience."

The well-respected Jim Thompson style of Thai cuisine is in the devoted hands of - love it or hate it - an American chef-cum-Thai culinary enthusiast, Patrick Booth. Also the company's director of food and beverage department, Patrick Booth once trained under chef David Thompson of the Michelin-starred Nahm restaurant in London.

Some of Jim Thompson’s preserved farm products.

According to him, the cuisine offered at every Jim Thompson outlet is "absolute Thai, Thompson-style". This means that for each classic dish on offer, the experienced chefs have tested various recipes to refine what they believe to be the most delicious version.

Meanwhile, the menu and deco reflect an appealing mix of tradition and innovation inspired by Thompson's marvellous taste in art and design.

"Other than the cuisine itself, what we have tried to concentrate on in our restaurant business is the Thai lifestyle and design," Booth added. "When you enter a Jim Thompson restaurant, you'll see the place decorated with beautiful fabrics, in a dynamic fashion statement.

"Yes, it's a way to promote our products, but we are not trying to sell fabrics in our restaurants. The restaurant business completely stands on its own to celebrate mainly the integrity of Thai culinary art.

"Unlike our retail shops, which cater mainly to tourists, the restaurants make it easier for us to interact with locals, which we see as very interesting. Through that, we've seen there's still a lot of good opportunities for good Thai restaurants with honest Thai cuisine. We are now looking around the region to expand our restaurant, and we've set our eyes on Bali, Indonesia," Booth said.

Pumpkin is one of the most popular products at the Jim Thompson Farm.

Even though 90 percent of the Jim Thompson enterprise's approximately two-billion-baht yearly revenue comes from tourists, the company doesn't only help popularise Thai culture among foreigners. Undeniably, it also encourages Thais to understand more about our traditional ways of life that may be disappearing over night.

Thus, the Jim Thompson Farm in Nakhon Ratchasima's Pak Thong Chai district, which was originally a silk cultivation farm and weaving village, opened in 2000 to visitor interested in learning about the Thai silk production process as well as the regional culture of the northeast.

Other than the silk weaving quarter, the farm also features the 10-rai Isan Village and Korat Village comprised of eight clusters of age-old northeastern-style and tribal-style houses made from wood, bamboo and rattan. Some of the houses were built as long as 200 years ago. Within the villages, visitors will get to see the traditional Isan lifestyle and displays of handicrafts.

Hoping to give farm visitors a better understanding of art, environment, nature and ecological system, the farm has lately initiated the "Art Centre on Farm" project.

This pilot art project is where contemporary local artists are invited to work within the context of ecological agriculture and Isan architecture. With an aim to bridge art, life and nature, the participating artists work in close relation with nature and make use of local and recycled materials. Art pieces created under this project will be exhibited at various points in the farm.

All Jim Thompson’s silk fabrics are hand-woven by locals.

"The Jim Thompson Farm is not just a tourist destination, but a great educational hub," said Booth.

"You can learn about the silkworm cycle, local craftsmanship and Isan life. It's interesting that even Thais have less opportunity to see this cultures."

"In the past we had only foreign tourists. Today we are happy to say most of the farm's visitors are Thais. They are Thai students and families who come to to learn about Thai culture," said Booth.

For those who are interested in agricultural and gastronomic tourism, the farm is also a great place to visit. A spacious plot of land has been dedicated to organic fruit, vegetable and flower plantations.

Among the highlighted products are various types of pumpkins, cantaloupes and hydroponic salad greens, all of which are available at the farm's market.

This shop at the Raffles Hotel Singapore is among the company’s 38 outlets worldwide.

Ready-to-eat and preserved fruit products are also popular here. Expect to find a variety of jams, honey and tea. And if you're in for adventurous gastronomy, try Jim Thompson's best-selling crispy roasted silkworms.

"In the past, Thais looked at Jim Thompson as a brand of luxury goods and almost nothing else. With our farm and restaurants, we now have more connections and interactions with the local people, which we're glad of. Because, at the end of the day, Jim Thompson is a Thai company and our only home is Thailand."

Phra Athit Road sits right beside the Chao Phraya River. At the end of the street is the historical white Phra Sumen Fort, which looks over a popular riverside park.

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Visitors to Bangkok find it hard to see past the temples, nightlife and shopping. And those that live in the city often get stuck in a rut of another kind -- hopping from mega-mall to posh restaurant, seldom venturing out of their comfort zones.

So whether you’ve just finished touring a score of wats or spent yet another Sunday brunching on Thong Lor, check out the following streets to see Bangkok in a different light.

Trok Issaranuphap

Most visitors to Chinatown hang out on the main streets, such as Yaowarat, Charoen Krung or Sampaeng Lane, but the older generation knows Trok Issaranuphap is where you'll find the most interesting stuff going on.
At the top of this tiny alley is scenic Chinese temple Mangkon Kamalawat. Inside Trok Issaranuphap there's also a wet market -- not for the faint of heart -- and prepared food stalls.
Getting there: from the Hualumpong MRT station grab a taxi to Soi Charoen Krung Soi 16. Trok Issaranuphap is on the other side of the road.

Arab Street

When it comes to ethnic neighborhoods, Chinatown gets all the attention, followed closely by Pahurat, Bangkok's Little India. But the city is more culturally diverse than it seems at first glance.

Sukhumvit Soi 3/1, aka Arab Street, is a tiny city unto itself, with agarwood dealers, shisha pipe sellers, travel agents and Middle Eastern restaurants crammed into a tiny alley between Soi 3 and Soi 5.
To get there, take the BTS to Nana station and head for Soi 3.

Phra Athit Road

Khao San Road’s fairer step-sister has all the good stuff the travelers’ ghetto around the corner does but, so far at least, the backpackers haven’t smoked out the local residents or stomped out the charming Thainess of this quiet street along the Chao Phraya River.
Bangkok-based foodies should visit for the excellent fusion joints such as the tiny Mister Pas. (140 Phra Athit Road. Open daily, except Monday, 10:30a.m.-11p.m. Tel: +66 (0)2 629 3207)

Taxi drivers all know the way to Phra Athit but it's far more fun to take the Chao Phraya ferry from the Saphan Taksin BTS station and hop off at Phra Athit.

Khlong San Saeb

Ok it’s not really a street since you can’t walk on it, but you can take a long boat ride on this canal for a look at life on the water in the middle of the big city, where you’ll still see grannies hanging out clothes to dry and little kids swimming.
Khlong San Saeb runs parallel to Petchaburi Road and is surprisingly convenient to Siam Square, Chidlom, Pratunam and the Golden Mount.

For the full experience, we recommend hopping onboard the small but fast ferry at Panfa Pier, next to the Golden Mount, and ride all the way to Bang Kapi. You'll have to change boats at the Pratunam Pier.

For more on Khlong San Saeb check out our video of the staff who work on these fast-paced ferries and the passengers brave enough to ride them.

Nakhon Chaisi Road

Before Soi 35 was Bangkok’s street food doyenne, this wide, leafy avenue in the Dusit neighborhood was everyone’s favorite destination for excellent Thai dishes of all kinds.

During the day the street markets of Nakhon Chaisi Road bustle with local shoppers and bureaucrats from nearby government offices on their lunch breaks, and in addition to a scenic view and good food you’ll find traditional shops including a cobbler who’s been making shoes for the royal palace for decades.
For some restaurant recommendations, see our recent feature on Bangkok's Ratchawat neighborhood, which includes Nakhon Chai Si Road.

Read more: 5 Bangkok streets you have to hit to really get a feel for the city | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/play/five-bangkok-streets-you-have-hit-really-get-feel-city-393371#ixzz13ZhA62uD

Article and Picture form : CNN.com

While wandering around the popular Amphawa Floating market in Samut Songkhram, you are sure to come across a variety of delicious Thai desserts. And if your curiosity goes beyond satisfying your sweet tooth, you need look no further than the Thai Dessert Museum adjacent to the evening weekend market. Museum manager Vichitar Sae-tiaw explained that it was built by the Thai Confection Industry Company (TCIC) in September 2008 with an initial investment of 2.2 million baht from the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion. Ms Vichitar said the purpose of the museum is to exhibit and chronicle the history of traditional Thai desserts.

Replicas of more than 100 types of traditional sweets are on display, and they look so real you can be excused for drooling.

"The replicas are made of resin, created by skilled followers of National Artist Chakrabhand Posayakrit," said Ms Vichitar, noting the great attention to detail in the shapes, colours and textures.

The Thai word for dessert is khanom, believed to have been derived from the words khao (rice) and nom (sweet). Many Thai desserts are still made from rice flour and sugar.

The museum's sweet history lesson goes back to the Sukhothai period, about 700 years ago.

One of the oldest desserts on display, khanom tom, which we still see today, is made by frying shredded coconut with sugar, wrapping it in a starchy batter and then steaming it. After cooking it is sprinkled with salted, shredded coconut.

It is said that the golden era of Thai sweets began during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya in the 17th century, when the country began courting relations with European countries. During that time a new way of cooking Thai desserts was initiated by Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a woman of Portuguese ancestry who is better known here by her Thai name of Thao Thong Kib Ma.

She was married to Constantine Phaulkon (his Thai name was Chao Phraya Wichayen) a Greek adventurer who became first counsellor to King Narai.

Maria Guyomar became the chief palace cook for desserts. She mixed egg yolks and granulated sugar into local sweets and created various treats with yellowish colours which resembled gold (thong), such as thong yib, thong yod and foi thong.

For the most part the museum displays desserts according to the way they have been served historically. For example, khanom mo kaeng, a pudding made of palm sugar, eggs, coconut cream and flour, is in the clay pot section, although today it is much more likely to be cooked in a stainless steel tray.

There are khanom in big glass jars, as might have been seen 30 or so years past, such as khanom dok jok, khao tu and thua guan.

One of the highlights of the museum are the samples of desserts which were mentioned in a classic poem composed by King Rama II, who was also born in Amphawa.

"Some of the desserts are hard to find today, such as maskod and latiang," said Ms Vichitar. To round up the tour, the museum has a section where visitors can relax by sitting on a wooden boat, to give them a feeling of the life of a vendor in a floating market.

The Thai Desserts Museum very recently celebrated two years of operation and moved the facility from the first floor to the second floor of the Anake Prasong Building, in Amphawa Municipality Office.

The new space is 280 square metres, and has some new features, such as a boat where noodles are sold and another one offering coffee.

The expansion was supported by the Government Housing Bank.

The museum organises activities such as instruction in the cooking of desserts for group tours if requests are made in advance, and is grateful to accept old items related to traditional Thai desserts such as recipes or cooking tools.

At present the Thai Dessert Museum is open on Fridays from 1pm to 7pm and on weekends and holidays from 10am to 7pm and there is no entrance fee.

In the future, said Ms Vichitar, there are plans to open the museum every day of the week and sell tickets, so that it can stand on its own without the need for donations.

HOW TO GET THERE

From Bangkok, take Rama II Road (also called Thon Buri-Pak Tho or Highway No35) to Samut Songkhram and turn left onto Highway No325 in Amphawa district. The distance is about 70 kilometres. Parking is available near the entrance of the market or in Wat Amphawa. The Thai Dessert museum is in the office building of Amphawa Municipality, next to the ferry pier. For more details, call 03-475-1359

When the three-month-long Buddhist lent comes to an end on Oct 23, it will usher in the annual krathin season during which people visit temples and make merit by presenting robes to monks.

Performing krathin religious rites is actually quite convenient these days because you can buy the robes at shops, but it wasn't so easy in the old days when they had to be hand-made. Making them was part and parcel of an elaborate rite called chunla krathin that brought together entire communities a day before the end of the lent to make saffron robes from cotton planted specifically for this rite. In other words, it used to be a collective effort.

One place where this tradition is still very much in fashion - because the people regard it as one of the highest forms of merit-making - is Wat Yang Luang in Mae Chaem district of Chiang Mai famous for its Lanna architecture, and I was witness to it last year.

The ceremony began at dusk with harvest of cotton from a field behind the temple. The crop had been planted a few months earlier and the plot marked out by bamboo fencing.

Earlier that day villagers in the vicinity, mostly elderly people, had decorated the path from the temple's entrance leading to the viharn, the main chapel, with local handicrafts and figures of animals, including crocodile, made from coconut leaves.

The harvest began with young girls dressed like angels, in whites, collecting cotton bolls in baskets they carried. They were followed by others who took turns through the night doing their bits for the ceremony.

The bolls were put through a grinder to separate seeds from fibre, which was then beaten using a wooden contraption with elastic chords until it turned to white fluff. The fluff was scooped and rolled around cylindrical sticks about arm's length, spun spun into yarn and woven to form cloth.

"Each of us bring our own equipment," said Cheun, in her 80s, referring to eight weaving machines operating at full steam on the temple ground and, like her neighbours, felt kind of blessed to be able to contribute to this ceremony the temple hosts once every few years.

By now it was midnight and the elderly began retiring to quiet corners to grab some rest. They slept in the temple sala on its matted floor with blankets for cover from wind and insects.

But others continued to work, myself included and some visitors who had decided to join in the fun, weaving and stitching until we had the robe material, about two metres in length, at which point the women took leave. From now on it was all about dyeing, a men's job.

Near the stairway leading to the main chapel, elderly villagers tended a stove on which sat a huge vat filled with water and barks of jack fruit tree. When the water had taken on a saffron tinge the cloth, as yet still white, was immersed into the vat and after a while checked for colour. The process was repeated until colouring was uniform. Then it was rinsed and left to dry.

On the same stove they then cooked a traditional dessert called krayasart (crunchy caramelised rice cake with sesame seeds and peanuts). By now, it was two hours past midnight and the chefs knew they would better hurry. They stirred ingredients in the cooking pan constantly to speed up the process and make sure the dessert would be ready in time for the ceremony due to begin in the next few hours.

Shortly afterwards, the crowing of roosters announced the dawn of a new day and the village elders who had repaired to the sala earlier that night woke up with a start and set about preparing breakfast. About the same time the villagers began their march to the temple, many carrying snacks and savoury which they shared with visitors and invited them to a breakfast of sticky rice and nam prik , a chilly dip eaten with fresh vegetables.

The ceremony began at eight o'clock. The villagers arrived in a procession after walking the rough margins of green paddies. With them they carried alms and the robe. Walking the paddies proved difficult, particularly for women in traditional pha thung wrap-arounds and high-heeled shoes. And although some of them came caked in mud and dirt, it didn't dampen their spirits.

At the temple they were greeted by students performing classical dances. Entering the compound they were showered with petals, after which they marched in a circle around the main chapel three times before finally presenting the robe they had woven the previous night to the abbot.

Article Source : www.bangkokpost.com