27 Sep 2011

Chiang Rai - The Art Route

Chiang Rai is much more than just The White Temple and The Black house..

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The municipality of Chiang Rai has come up with a great initiative. Finally there are some signs for places of artistic interest. Last year it was extremely difficult to find the way to The Black House, now just look for the purple signs along the road. These signs are in English and in Thai language and tell you the name of the artists living in a particular area. 

There is actually a map you can get in the hotels, or at the different artists house telling you about these spots around Chiang Rai province. It is really a mini adventure when you see a sign and finally get to the place. 
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We were really amazed by the great location and the design of Khun Teerayut and his wife Khun Orpins house. We thought we were lost but finally this little pearl appeared. It is recommended to call before you visit, something we didn't do but we were shown great hospitality wherever we went anyway.

We also dropped by to visit Khun Chaiwichit, admiring his more impressionistic work on the sakura blossoms of Chiang Rai.

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On the way back to Chiang Mai, we decided to check out the progress of the White Temple and we were lucky enough to meet the master Khun Chalermchai himself that day. 

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Another great roadtrip in the rainy season came to an end...

Please read our previous post about The White Temple and Black House here :

Text and photos: Per Sundberg

15 Mar 2011

Thailand and its love of elephants

National Elephant Day - Thailand and its love of elephants
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Right, in Thailand its not only elephant day. It is NATIONAL elephant day. In Chiang Mais Mae Rim district, more precisely Mae Sa elephant camp, the love for elephants are shown by the feeding of no less than 70 chuaks เชือก (a special title in Thai for showing respect for elephants) an annual buffet at the 13th of March.
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Mae Sa elephant camp also holds a Guinness World Record for the largest painting ever created by a group of elephants. Eight elephants contributed!

Elephant day is about respect and fun (sanuk) at the same time. Typical “Thai ways” one might say.

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Places to go elephant riding around Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai and the monsoon forest of Northern Thailand is also a great place to go elephant riding . Why not go in the early morning to avoid the crowds. Mae Sa, Mae Taman, Chiang Dao are all well worth the visit. The Patara camp teaches you how to become a mahout and here you get a bit closer to the elephants, and its not all that touristic.

Someone maybe remembers the struggles of the elephant cow Motala, she stepped on a land mine close to the border of Myanmar.  She was treated in the Lampang elephant hospital and was the first elephant in the world to receive a prosthetic leg.  At the Lampang Conservation Center there is more of an educational show, where you can see elephants at work.

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Asian vs African
The elephants in Thailand are of the Elephas maximus species. These Asian or Indian elephants are smaller than their African counterparts. Actually, they are closer related to the mammoth than to the African elephants. White elephants, a kind of albinos, have always been considered to bring good luck in S.E Asia. We can also see how elephants plays an important role both in Hinduism where devoters pray to the god Ganesh to overcome obstacles and to be successful in studies, and in Buddhist legend where we have the jataka story of the Bodhisattva, the white elephant Chaddanta, with his six tusks - one of the previous life's of the Buddha.
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Text: Per Sundberg & Photo: Jan Friman

The Northern Rose's Posterous

The Northern Rose consists of photographer Jan Friman and culture travel enthusiast Per Sundberg. Our aim is to awaken and grow the interest for Asian culture. On our blog we mainly publish stories about Northern Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. If you want us to do some travel writing for your website or magazine, please feel welcome to contact us. See about for more on our personal background, experience and knowledge profile.