Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sold and Thailand has often been pressured by intellectual-property enforcement agencies to close down the trade.
Rarely does a crackdown by the police last, however, and often the vendors develop more surreptitious means of distri-
bution. In the Patpong market, for example, a vendor might show you a picture of a knock-off watch, you pay for it and
they go around the corner to fetch it. They usually come back, but you'll wait long enough to wonder.
Furniture
Rattan and hardwood furniture items are often good purchases and can be made to order. Chiang Mai is the country's
primary furniture producer with many retail outlets in Bangkok. Due to the ban on teak harvesting and the subsequent
exhaustion of recycled teak, 70% of export furniture produced in Thailand is made from parawood, a processed wood
from rubber trees that can no longer be used for latex production.
Gems & Jewellery
Thailand is a leading exporter of gems and ornaments, rivalled only by India and Sri Lanka. Although rough-stone
sources in Thailand have decreased dramatically, stones are now imported from Myanmar, Sri Lanka and other countries
to be cut, polished and traded.
Although there are a lot of gem and jewellery stores in Thailand, it has become so difficult to dodge the scammers
that the country no longer represents a safe and enjoyable place to buy these goods. It is better just to window shop.
Lacquerware
Chiang Mai is known for gold-on-black lacquerware. Lacquerware furniture and decorative items were traditionally
made from bamboo and teak, but these days mango wood might be used as the base. If the item is top quality, only the
frame is bamboo and horse or donkey hairs will be wound round it. With lower-quality lacquerware, the whole object is
made from bamboo. The lacquer is then coated over the framework and allowed to dry. After several days it is sanded
down with ash from rice husks, and another coating of lacquer is applied. A high-quality item may have seven layers of
lacquer. The piece is then engraved, painted and polished to remove the paint from everywhere except in the engravings.
Multicoloured lacquerware is produced by repeated applications.
From start to finish it can take five or six months to produce a high-quality piece of lacquerware, which may have as
many as five colours. Flexibility is one characteristic of good lacquerware: a well-made bowl can have its rim squeezed
together until the sides meet without suffering damage. The quality and precision of the engraving is another thing to
look for.
Textiles
The northeast is famous for mát·mèe cloth - a thick cotton or silk fabric woven from tie-dyed threads, similar to Indone-
sia's ikat fabrics. Surin Province is renowned for its mát·mèe silk often showcasing colours and geometric patterns in-
herited from Khmer traditions.
In the north, silks reflect the influence of the Lanna weaving traditions, brought to Chiang Mai and the surrounding
mountains by the various Tai tribes.
Fairly nic e Ъah•đé (batik) is available in the south in patterns that are more similar to the batik found in Malaysia
than in Indonesia.
Each hill tribe has a tradition of embroidery that has been translated into the modern marketplace as bags and jew-
ellery. Much of what you'll find in the marketplaces has been machine made, but there are many NGO cooperatives that
help villagers get their handmade goods to the consumers. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are filled with handicraft outlets.
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