Across Thailand, thousands of small craft villages dot the landscape. Each one specializes in the manufacture of a particular handicraft. Especially in northern Thailand, the choices seem endless. In tiny Ban Ton Pao in northern Thailand, everyone in the villages is involved in the production of handmade paper from Mulberry bark. In nearby Baan Tawai, … Read more
It wasn’t easy to be a vegetarian when I began traveling the world in 1997. At best it was difficult to find food without meat; at times it was downright impossible. Thankfully, the vegetarian/vegan trend has taken off over the past few years. Rarely do I have problems finding my kind of food these days, … Read more
The full moon’s reflection splintered into bronze ripples on the surface of the Mae Ping River. On the shore, worshipers lit tea candles and launched them into the river on handmade boats known as krathong. Like thousands of glittering sparks cast off from the moon itself, they floated down the gently undulating river. On this … Read more
Before there was a Thailand, there was the Mon-speaking Dvaravati culture, which migrated from what is today Myanmar. The Dvaravati occupied present-day central and northern Thailand, and their seat of power was the central city of of Nakhon Pathom. One of the earliest cultures to reside in Southeast Asia, it lasted from around the 6th … Read more
My jaw dropped when I discovered this brilliant red bloom on a tree in Lamphun, Thailand. It was the most astonishingly weird flower I’ve ever seen. “Alien” flashed through my mind. The pistil and anthers protruding from the lacy white center petals looked like eyes. I almost expected them to raise their spotted red and … Read more
