Royal Flora Expo Ratchapruek

During a recent weekend trip to Chiang Mai, we visited a big flower and plant exhibition that was opened in 2006 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol’s accession to the throne. The Royal Flora Expo is about eight miles from the centre of Chiang Mai. It is a large-scale exhibition, and that already becomes clear when you’re driving up the entrance lane: there are beautifully patterned hedges on huge lawns on both sides of the lane, and both directions are separated by a big central reservation, equally green.

This impression of vastness is also conveyed by the enormous entrance: a vast square with a big entrance gate flanked by rows of big white elephants and dozens of flags. Once through the entrance gate, you are greeted by a view of a distant temple at the end of a long and wide, slightly rising boulevard. The site of the expo is big, very big; most people make grateful use of a kind of train stopping at different places. The expo consists of several zones, where different aspects of the world of flora are presented: there is a tropical Thai garden, a temperate garden, a herb garden, an orchid garden, etc. These gardens lie on both sides of the wide central boulevard.

The first part of the boulevard encloses big flowerbeds with flowers of uniform colour; in between, there are a fair number of big contemporary sculptures. To one side of this zone is a large building housing temporary exhibitions and conferences. If you walk up the boulevard, you come to a central area with many modern white benches (but nobody uses them, as there is no shade). Beyond that area is the start of the last part of the boulevard, flanked by beautifully sculpted lamp posts and exhibition panels with information about the king.

Eventually you come to the temple, dedicated to King Bhumibol, with a fairly sober but beautiful and traditional interior dominated by a large royal symbol with nine spheres. On both sides of the temple, there are big ponds with waterlillies.

This Royal Expo is well worth a visit, and you can walk around all day if you want. If you want to see more pictures, you can go to picasaweb as usual.

Ceremony for the new house

In Thailand it customary, on the occasion of building a new house, to organise a celebration on an ‘auspicious’ day, with a ceremony and, of course, a big party. The preparations for this ‘tambun khun ban’ take quite some doing; they are a matter for the entire family (and friends): many people come and help prepare everything.

In the living room, carpets are laid on the floor, along with cushions for the monks (five in our case). A pyramidal structure, with three ‘legs’ is erected, made from banana tree trunks, bamboo trunks and bamboo sticks; those are decorated with silver and gold coloured paper, paper flags in different colours, flowers, candles and also with folded leaves with a piece of betel nut (a kind of nut that is chewed as a kind of soft drug, especially in Burma and by the hill tribes). At the foot of the legs a hand of bananas and a few coconuts are placed, along with a clay pot with both untreated and polished rice. Those two kinds of rice are also put on a dish. Kan and I were to sit under this pyramid during the ritual itself. Around the pyramid, there are dishes with all kinds of fruit and sweets, the traditional orange buckets filled with all kinds of domestic things, food and drink that will serve as offerings for the monks. Plastic bags with more food and drink are tied to the buckets. One of the dishes on the floor is filled with sweets mixed with coins wrapped in paper.

On a side table, there is a Buddha figure with candles and small vases on either side. From the Buddha figure, a white cotton thread (used traditionally by Buddhist monks in many ceremonies) goes around the entire outside of the house. At the four corners of the house, a basket is placed, made from banana leaves and bark; the basket contains fruit, rice, a piece of meat, a plastic bag with water, rice, sweets wrapped in banana leaves and candles.   

On the day of the ‘tambun’ itself, Kan and I went outside when the monks arrived, and at each corner of the house kneeled down at the basket, lighting the candles while the monks chanted a prayer; we received a blessing and the head monk extinguished the candles by sprinkling water on them. This ritual was repeated at the four corners of the house and once more inside, at the door of one of the rooms. Then the monks sat down on the cushions provided for them, and we kneeled under the pyramid. A long prayer was chanted by the monks (from memory); meanwhile, Kan and I got a white thread, linked to the pyramid, tied to our heads. Once in a while, the ‘ajarn’, a kind of theologian, or call him a master of ceremonies in this case, also said a prayer. In the living room itself, there were a number of guests, and all the others were outside, following the ceremony through speakers. In a second part of the ceremony, the head monk read a text from a folded manuscript (made from bamboo) that he had carefully removed from a cloth case. At fixed times during the ritual, Kan and I had to pour water slowly into a bowl – something a number of others in the living room did at the same time. After the text had been read out, we symbolically presented our offerings: first a dish with flowers to the Buddha figure, then the buckets to the monks. More prayers followed, with those present often joining in. Then the ‘ajarn’ tied a traditional (northern Thai) white cotton bracelet around our wrists. After a final blessing from the head monk – at several moments during the ceremony we had already been sprinkled generously with water – the ceremony was over. One of the people present took the dish with the sweets and coins and threw those into the room and into the crowd outside. The monks were then invited to sit at the table and eat; when they had finished, they said a prayer of thanks before leaving. 

Then, the ‘ordinary’ party started, with all the normal Thai elements: lots of food, lots of drink, and very loud music. Between 150 and 200 people came to the party, and they all had a good time.

Big 'tambun' celebration in a village in the Chiang Khong region

In Thailand, the concept of ‘tambun’ is an essential part of the Buddhist culture. The general meaning of ‘tambun’ is ‘doing good deeds, making merit’; this may take many forms, but is mainly the offering of food, drink or other things to monks or temple communities. This is a very normal, everyday habit, but occasionally there are special tambun celebrations during which the entire community of a village (or a neighbourhood in a city) makes a special effort and digs deep into their pockets.

Last week I had the privilege to attend such a celebration in Bunruang, a village in the Chiang Khong region, about 60 miles from Chiang Rai. We spent two days there: one for the preparations and one for the ceremony itself. Every family, couple, individual makes their own, beautifully decorated offering in the shape of a ‘tree’. This tree is usually made from rice stalks or reed, tied together in a tight sheaf that is split into three ‘legs’ at the bottom. Those legs are tied to a basket to form the foot of the tree.  This tree is wrapped with colourful paper fringes, and a number of bamboo sticks are also decorated like this. These stick are stuck into the tree, and all kinds of things are tied to the sticks with string: packets of noodles, coffee, biscuits, but also toothbrushes, soap, washing powder...; there’s no end to what you will find in some of the trees. Some of the sticks are also partly split before they are wrapped; these are used to hold money, and the stick are tied at the top with coloured paper again. Those ‘money sticks’ end up at the top of the tree. There are plenty of variations on these trees: everyone has their own individual style, and depending on the financial possibilities, the trees may grow fairly tall.

On the day of the actual ceremony, we were up and about before six, but that is late for the villagers – the local market starts at 4 a.m. All offerings were brought to the temple quite early; we went to the temple at six, and it was bustling with activity. There were hundreds and hundreds of those ‘trees’, and I noticed that there is also variation in the ‘trunks’: there were, for instance, smaller and larger banana trees that had been used as a basis, and there were trees hung with fresh vegetables or even dried fish. It was fascinating to see the effort that had clearly been put into making all the offerings. There were also very tall constructions. The trees were grouped into numbered ‘neighbourhoods’, and alongside the groups of trees of different families, there were usually a few people already waiting for the actual ceremony.

Shortly after eight we went back to the temple with the part of the family in whose house we were staying. We then waited until the start of the ceremony, around ten. In the main temple building, you could hear the chanting of the monks, but most people stayed outside with their trees. Around eleven, the prayers finished and the monks came outside.  A very chaotic search began (by the monks and their assistants) for specific trees of specific individuals or families; everyone who makes a tree also fills in a form that is taken to the temple the day before the ceremony. In principle, the monks come and collect every single tree, every single offering, say a prayer and give a blessing. When that has happened, the helpers pluck the tree bare very quickly and bung the contents into big sacks.

After about two hours of individual blessings, maybe half of the trees had vanished, but there were still hundreds left. Those were grouped by ‘neighbourhood’, and a general blessing was given for each of those groups. Then everyone went back home.

The entire ceremony was wonderful to participate in – a very colourful event with very enthusiastic participants.  

Discovering Chiang Rai

Over the past couple of weeks I haven’t made any spectacular trips or ventured out far from my home base, but I have taken the time to discover the ‘hidden’ Chiang Rai. Of course I had been to the city before, and had already seen many things there, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything left to be discovered.

Chiang Rai isn’t exactly the most touristy part of Thailand; it’s mainly known for a few temples in the city and especially for the region around it, which offers opportunities for trekking in the hills and access to the ‘Golden Triangle’ area. Yet Chiang Rai has more to offer any interested visitor who has a little more time to spend there. Let me give you an overview of a few places I’ve discovered over the past month or so.

Why not start with a few temples off the tourist track: I’ll mention two of them, Wat Pra Tat Doi Kao Kwai and Wat Doi Pra Baht. Both are located on a hill (the ‘doi’ in their names is the Northern Thai word for hill or mountain) and especially the first one offers wonderful views across Chiang Rai and surroundings. You can drive right up to the temple, but there is another way to the top for the slightly more active visitor: an alternative road leads to the bottom of an impressive flight of stairs, which could do with some maintenance, though. Once you get to the top, the temple itself is nothing to write home about, but the welcome you get is very warm, as not many westerners ever go there.

Wat Doi Pra Baht lies on a much lower hill, and the view is not the reason to go and visit it. The temple itself is beautiful, with different buildings in a park-like setting, and there are more monks and novices than at Wat Pra Tat Doi Kao Kwai, many of them eager to talk to a westerner who has made the effort to find the temple. Also here, the number of western visitors is quite low.

Anyone who likes nature and the peaceful setting of a river should pay a visit to Haht Chiang Rai (literally: Chiang Rai Beach). Don’t expect to see any beach at all, though: Haht Chiang Rai is just a spot on the banks of the river Kok, facing a magnificently wooded hill, where you’ll find a bit of space, something to eat or drink, and a path for a walk along the river. But once more, you’ll be the only westerner there, and outside the weekends, you will practically be on your own, which only heightens the effect of the peace and quiet of the natural river setting.

Right across from Haht Chiang Rai (but quite a few miles in road distance) is Tu Pu hill, with Tham Tu Pu (Tu Pu cave), where a number of Buddha images may be seen. The most impressive of them is a white figure of a standing Buddha (over 40 ft. in height) carved into the hillside. Also inside the cave, there are a few Buddha statues to be admired. But also the natural surroundings make the trip worthwhile, and you will again find peace and quiet, and no tourists.

These places might not be a match for the more well-known tourist sites in Thailand, but they don’t deserve to be completely ignored, either. But then again, this may just be the biased view of a Chiang Rai resident...