Thai Handicrafts from Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is Thailand's major centre for quality handicrafts. The visitors need merely visit the nearest city emporium or night market to purchase handicrafts. A major advantage of shopping in CHiang Mai is that the visitor may watch artisans working within the city and in several outlying villages.
Umbrellas made of sa paper, hilltribe crafts with bold colors, fabrics of countless types, delicate ceramics, replicated and genuine antiques, dazzling jewelry and gems, silverware of all sorts, lacquerware with intricate designs, rattan and wickerwork, and woodcarvings ranging from pictures to furniture are only a part of the long list of crafts and arts that help to make Chiang Mai special. Each individual piece of workmanship requires paints taking attention to detail and design in the process of its creation. Owning one of Chiang Mai's tradition crafts is a sure way to take back tangible memories of your visit to Chiang Mai. Whatever it is you are looking for-be it a keychain or Thai silk - Chiang Mai offers the shopping facilities for you to find a buy that you will be pleased with.
Major Chiang Mai handicrafts include:
Cottons & Silks - first-class Chiang Mai cottons and silks are of incomparable quality. Cottons and silkshave innumerable fashion and furnishing applications. The largest possible selection is available in San Kamphaneg.
Furniture/Woodcarving - Chiang Mai is a major centre of furniture making. Major woods and materials include teak, rosewood and rattan. Items may be unadorned or, especially with teak and rosewood, artfully carved in traditional or modern designs. Woodcarving is a traditional northern Thai art featured in numerous temples. In recent years, wood carving has increasingly embellished furniture, gracing screens, chairs, tables, beds, indeed anything bearing a wooden surface large enough to be carved. Carved elephants, figurines and tableware number among other popular purchases.
Pottery - Chiang Mai is the major centre of Thailand's pottery industry. prized items include high-fired celadon which is produced in many forms, including dinner sets, lamp bases and decorative items.
Lacquerware - striking black and gold designs give Lacquerware its visual appeal and sheen. This decorative art enhances items made of wood, bamboo, metal, paper and baked clay, in the form of receptacles, ornaments and various souvenirs.
Umbrellas-Parasols - These are inextricably associated with Bo Sang where villagers have been engaged in their manufacture for at least 200 years. All materials, silks cottons, sa paper and bamboo are produced or found locally. Visitors to Bo Sang will see literally hundreds of designs and sizes ranging from the miniature to the gigantic.
Silverware - The finest Thai silverware is exquisite, and is made in Chiang Mai, where certain families have practiced their art for several generations. Traditional skills and a guaranteed content of at least 92.5% pure silver invest bowls, receptacles and decorative items with authentic value. Silver shops are concentrated on Wua Lai Road, where silverware artisans and their families live.
Hilltribe Products - These include silver arnaments, such as bracelets, nacklace, pendants and pipes of intricate design, and embroidered items including tunics, jackets, bags, purses, caps and dress lengths.
Gold Plated Orchids & Butterflies - Orchids and butterflies are preserved and plated with 24-carat gold to create unusual gift items such as necklece pendants, hairpins and earrings.

Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaeo (Emerald Buddha Temple)

Royal Grand Palace
The Grand Palace is the former residential palace of Kings Rama I to Rama IV of Chakri Dynasty between 1782 and late 1800 A.D. The current reigning monarch, King Bhumibol Adulayadej or Rama IX, represents the ninth member of the Chakri dynasty. Witness the architectural opulence and splendour of this historic Thai landmark, which covers an area of 2.5 square kilometers (one square mile) on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River.

Wat Phra Kaeo (Emerald Buddha Temple)
On the Grand Palace grounds, stands Wat Phra Kaeo, the royal chapel and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The temple was made famous by the Emerald Buddha, one of Thailand's most revered and cherished Buddha images, which is housed in the temple's main chapel (Viharn Phra Kaeo). The image is a sitting posture of the Buddha, 75 centimeters (30 inches) in height and is carved entirely out of emerald. Buddhist pilgrams and tourists from all over the world come to visit and to pay homage to the Emerald Buddha.

Golden Triangle

Located 9 km to the north of Chiang Saen is the world-famous place where the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. On the right is Laos PDR, and the triangle landon the left is the Golden Triangle in Myanmar. You can stand at the very point where the Rauk River from Burma flows into the Mekong.
The most beautiful and amazing view of the Golden Triangle can be seen from a small hill where visitors can go up to that point by car. Just enjoy the natural beauty and be proud that you have been to a widely-known locality. Accommodations are available for tourists who want to stay over night. Boats can be rented for trips along the Khong River.

The Floating Market in Damneon Saduak

Bangkok has once been dubbed by the international community as the "Venice of the East," for its diverse network of canals, locally known as "Klongs." Since the reigns of King Rama the 1st , the residents of Bangkok did a great deal of commuting by small boats on the Klongs, similar to the way of life so characteristic of Venice for centuries long. Commerce throughout Bangkok was often conducted on boats, and merchants would take their fresh produces by boat each day to the so-called floating markets, where they would meet and conduct trade. At the floating market, you will find all kinds of "floating shops," such as floating fruit shops, floating flower shops, floating culinary and food shops, and much more.

Elephant Camp

The elephant camp just 60 kilometers north of Chiang Mai, is a training center for elephants to learn skills in forestry, survival and working in a rapidly modernizing world. Visitors will witness the large creatures at work in their natural setting, and taking bath at the beginning, middle and end of each day to keep them clean and healthy. Enjoy personal interaction with the animal and watch them perform intelligent tricks. You can also tour the wild forests that surround the camp on elephant back.

Doi Suthep Chiang Mai

Wat Phra Borommahathat Doi Suthep was built in 1383 by King Gue-Na on a plateau commanding an impressive view of the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand's northern capital. The temple contains a pogada that houses a part of the holy relics of the Lord Buddha. Bhuddists from around the world come here to pay worship to the holy temple.

Crocodile Farm Samut Prakarn

Crocodile Farm Samut PrakarnIt is located in the vicinity of Tambon Thaiban, three kilometers from the township. it is claims to be the world's largest crocodile farm reproducing crocodiles whose skins will be utilized for leatherware production while their flesh is exported to the market. beside crocodiles of all stages of age, the farm also raises elephants, tigers, chimpanzies. Crocodile wrestling and feeding are demonstrated everyday.
In addition, visitors will enjoy dinosaur museum, where more than 13 species of life-size creatures of dinosaurs and skeletons are on display, and a slide multivision presenting stories on extinct animals and human being.

Chao Phraya River (River of Kings)

Nakhon Sawan is the north province where the Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan rivers unite to form the Choa Phraya River which flows southwards to dissect Bangkok before entering the Gulf of Thailand.
The Chao Phraya River largely irrigates the Central Plain, one of the world's major rice and fruit-growing areas, and sustains an intricate network of canals that irrigate bountiful orchards and market gardens; host vibrant floating markets; and support a unique, waterborne way of life.
Chao Phraya River and klongs (canals) have always been vital forms of communication and 19th century Bangkok was laced with canals, giving the capital the designation "Venice of the East".

The Butterfly and Orchid Garden Chiang Mai

The butterfly and orchid garden in Chiang Mai features countless varieties of exotic Thai orchids set in a plantation-like surrounding, where the butterflies roam freely throughout perimeter. The garden is ideal for pastime recreation and discovery of the balance between plants and living creatures.

Bang Pa-In Summer Palace in Ayutthaya

Bang Pa-In is a historic summer palace in which Ayutthaya Kings have spent their vacations. Constructed during the reign of King Prasat Thong in Ayutthaya, the palace features:
Phra Thinang Aisawan Thippa-at
Phra Thinang Warophat Phiman
Phra Thinang Uthayan Phumisathian
Phra Thinang Wehat Chamrun
Phra Thinang Withun Thatsana

Ancient City

The ancient city is 33.5 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, in the neighbouring province of Samut Prakhan. The theme park boasts impressive scale replicas of Thai ancient monuments, combining a Thai folk art and culture center.