Amazing New Chapters

After one of the toughest years in tourism history, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Sydney Office (TAT) celebrated Loy Krathong with the launch of a new marketing campaign: Amazing New Chapters.

After the Great Lockdown, the tourism industry is anticipating the Great Reboot and of course the Great Rebound.

The ‘Visit Thailand Year 2022’ campaign focusses on three ‘Amazing New Chapters’ inviting the world’s travellers to experience a deeper connection with the Kingdom’s unique culture and precious environment.

Chapter 1: Awaken Your Senses

This chapter highlights tourism products and services that will awaken all five senses; delicious Thai cuisine and the picturesque natural scenery that can be discovered all throughout the kingdom.

Chapter 2: The One You Love

Chapter 2 focuses on tourism segments including families, couples, and friends, inviting travellers to create wonderful memories together in Thailand.

Chapter 3: The Earth We Care

This chapter aims to highlight how nature has been revitalised. The COVID-19 situation has increased ecotourism awareness among the world’s travellers and how their behaviour has impacted the environment. There is an increased trend to spending more time in nature and being increasingly conscious of the impact on natural resources.

Another focus for TAT is communicate a passion for Responsible Travel, something tourism operators throughout Thailand have embraced, providing a higher quality experience for their guests as a result. This has been achieved by considering all tourism implications on the environment, wildlife, plantations, and local Thai communities, providing tourists with a more meaningful experience.

In 2022, TAT expects the tourism sector to generate THB 1.58 trillion, accounted around 50 per cent of the pre-COVID 19 era, which includes 51 per cent international and 49 per cent domestic.

Thailand’s Best, Lesser-Known Temples

Guest blogger John Borthwick skips the “superstar” temples of Bangkok and Chiang Mai and discovers fascinating alternatives across the provinces.

Wat Phumin, Nan. Some 700 km north of Bangkok, Nan Province is home to 475 Buddhist temples. The most famous one is Wat Phumin (1569) in the capital city, Nan with its vivid murals depicting not only the lives of the Buddha but also secular life in Nan during the late 19th century, including images of foreign sailing ships and European-style clothing.

 Wat-Phra-That-Su-Thon-Mongkhon-Khiri-Samakkhi-Tham-Den-Chai-credit-John-Borthwick

Wat Phra That Su Thon Mongkhon Khiri Samakkhi Tham, Den Chai, Phrae. Den Chai town on the main rail line around 500 km north of Bangkok is home to the 13-syllable temple, Wat Phra That Su Thon Mongkhon Khiri Samakkhi Tham. The sprawling temple built in northern Lanna style is dominated by an impressive nine-metre long Reclining Buddha and sits about five km outside the town.

Wat Doi Kong Mu MHS credit John Borthwick

Wat Doi Kong Mu, Mae Hong Son. You climb almost 1000 steps to reach the whitewashed pagodas and golden spires of Wat Doi Kong Mu that overlooks lovely Mae Hong Son town. It’s worth the effort to see this mountaintop marzipan castle of a temple as well as the views it offers of the jungle hills in nearby Myanmar’s Shan State.

Wat Rung Khun (the White Temple).

The White Temple, Chiang Rai. The elaborate Wat Rong Khun or White Temple is a crystalline, Disney-like structure, seemingly spun from ceramics and mirrors; it has been one of Chiang Rai’s main visitor attractions since opening in 1998. While you’re in town also visit the Blue Temple (Wat Rong Seua Ten) and Black House (Baan Dam), an artist’s house.

Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya Historical Park,north of Bangkok is home to the ruins of scores of Buddhist temples. This was Siam’s capital from 1350 to 1767 and its plain isstilldotted with tall prang reliquary towers. Among the well-preserved ruins is iconic Wat Mahathat (1374), famed for the Buddha statue face that peers out from the roots of an ancient banyan tree.

Lop Buri Monkey Temple. Hundreds of macaques live within Lop Buri city, notably around (and all over) its Khmer temple, Prang Sam Yot. There’s a famous Monkey Festival on the last Sunday of November. Now, be warned. These monkeys can be unholy monsters and will easily relieve you of any exposed item (hat, sunglasses, camera, passport, jewellery), not to mention even food that’s hidden in your pockets. They are aggressive. Carry a stick and use it. Do not feed them.

Wat Prayurawongsawat, Thonburi, Bangkok. The brilliant white stupa of Wat Prayurawongsawat soars 60-metres above its suburban surrounds. Noticing that the spire was tilting, engineers ingeniously braced it from within. Duck inside for a unique view of the hollow, brick-lined stupa. It’s a wonderfully tranquil space, and then visit the little historical museum attached.

Words and photographs © John Borthwick 2020

Unexpected Feeling Ep. 3: Samut Songkran coconut carving

The Unexpected Feeling Episode 3: Coconut Treasure from TATnews Official on Vimeo.

Samut Songkhram is renowned not only for its scenic natural attractions, which are consistent with the locals’ simple way of life, but also for being one of the provinces with the largest population of coconuts in Thailand. Thanks to this blessing, local residents possess an ample repertoire of coconut-related folk wisdom. One example is their skill in transforming a plain looking coconut shell into a carved sound box—or resonator—for a fiddle, a Thai stringed instrument that features a harmony of exquisite craftsmanship and musical acoustics.

The process of coconut shell carving requires immense meticulousness. Selecting a shell suitable for carving is the first challenge. This is followed by the arduous task of creating a design to be engraved on the shell, which is the fiddle’s resonator. Also of great importance is the craftsman’s expert knowledge of the acoustic properties rendered by each carved, bored and fretted coconut shell. Such expertise is essential to creating a good-quality sound box for a fiddle that, if assembled in accord with Thai musical instrument standards, is both beautiful and durable, with a unique sound quality.

Location: Bang Khonthi, Samut Songkhram, Thailand.
So U (Alto Fiddle) musician for “Lao Somdej” : Mr. Sarayudh Homyen

Unexpected Feeling Episode 2: Karen handwoven cloth

In Episode 2, the story of Karen handwoven cloth. Every design and colour on Karen fabric is a result of the smart application of the surrounding natural materials.

The Unexpected Feeling Episode 2: Gift from Nature from TATnews Official on Vimeo.

The story about these ladies is a legend of life that seems to be fading as each day goes by. But today this is changing, as piece after piece of exquisitely designed Karen cloth is being woven by these ladies on many faraway mountaintops. The consistent clatter of the shuttles resembles the heartbeat, reminding us that the science of cloth weaving is still alive.

Every design and colour on Karen fabric is a result of the smart application of the surrounding natural materials. The threads are from cotton plants, the dyes from herbal trees and the beads from Job’s tears in the field. Even the looms are made of wood obtained from the nearby dense forest. These looms, called ‘backstrap looms’ by the Karens, represent folk wisdom in using short end-bars that allow the weaver to adjust the threads’ tension whilst weaving. All these components reflect miraculous integration between nature and a way of life through the creativity of these women—Karen women.

Location: Si Bear, Om Koi, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Rd by Night: Boulevard of Dreams

Artbox Market Sukhumvit Road BangkokRip-roaring Thanon Sukhumvit, Bangkok’s boulevard of dreams and schemes is the city’s longest thoroughfare. Stretching 490 km east towards Cambodia, it is also one of the longest in the world. For most visitors Sukhumvit Road means the hyperactive strip between about sois 4 and 33, a glorious overload of people, shops, woks and insomnia.  Travel writer John Borthwick provides a guide to the after-dark hub of shopping  and eating in the heart of Bangkok. Continue reading “Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Rd by Night: Boulevard of Dreams”

Chiang Rai’s White Temple, a treasure trove of artistic delights and oddities.

Northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai is well-known as a centre for the arts, with several incredible cultural attractions and colourful characters from Thailand’s art world. The White Temple is one of these attractions, a place that really earns the description: unique.

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While it looks like a traditional Thai temple, Wat Rong Khun, or the White Temple as it is known to foreigners, is anything but. The creation of millionaire Thai artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat, it’s both an homage to traditional Thai artistry and popular culture.

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As you approach the White Temple itself, past a pool of reflection surrounded by ornate sculptures and incredibly decorative walls and turrets, a forest of disembodied arms reach up to you as you pass over a bridge to the entrance.

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Surrounding the temple grounds, the heads of demons hang from trees – traditional Thai demons alongside the Incredible Hulk, Terminator, even Gollum.

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Ancient Buddhist legends, the struggle between Lord Buddha and the Mara (demon) are told in traditional style, a mural on the walls of the temple interior, but the characters depicted are 20th century heroes and villains, like Spiderman, Ultraman and Neo, facing off Darth Vader and the Terminator.

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There’s a message here to the world, that we have lost a moral compass to guide us, in Chalermchai’s words; “look at each other with kindness, not with hate that can lead to war”. The eyes of a huge demon each have portraits of George Bush and Osama Bin Laden inside them, looking to each other, as below them, the Twin Towers burn. The artist’s message by including these characters is that in reality, while we need real-life heroes – no movie screen heroes could save the Twin Towers.

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As you move through the temple, a path of enlightenment takes you towards a statue of the Lord Buddha with artwork transforming from demons to angels as you pass through, out the other end to a heavenly garden’, down a passage decorated with silver leaves and beyond to another golden temple surrounded by a pool.

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The White Temple, and its surrounding garden and buildings, is an ongoing project, worked on by Chalermchai and some 300 apprentices.

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In a studio the size of a hanger, we were able to observe the artists at work on their latest project, a giant mural and statue commemorating the heroes of the nearby rescue of schoolboy soccer team, the ‘Wild Boars’ from their ordeal in the flooded Tham Luang cave.

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The centrepiece of this memorial artwork, which will eventually be located near the entrance to Tham Luang cave, is a larger than life statue of the former Thai Navy Seal, Saman Kunan.

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Back towards the entrance of this enormous compound, there is an art gallery which houses a great collection of the artist’s more traditional pieces, painted in traditional Thai style, illustrations depicting Buddhist legends, as well as pieces of memorabilia from Chalermchai’s private collection, old vinyl LPs, comics and various other toys and kitsch oddities.

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The complex is something you won’t find anywhere else. With each turn you take you stumble across another beautiful construction or oddity of sorts, like this toilet block fit for a king, for example, more like a palace than a bathroom.

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