Country: thailand
The tour will take you through a riverside neighborhood in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, as we see the influences of a variety of different cultures and ethnicities that have made this city their home over the centuries. We start at the American Consulate to discuss the impact of American military aid during the Cold War. Then we walk to Gat Luang Market to see the influence of Chinese merchants in Chiang Mai’s Chinatown. In the market we can purchase some local snacks from Thai food vendors. We will stop by the Thai Postal Museum and Museum of Telecommunications to show British and French colonial influences, and how Thailand (or Siam, as it used to be called) managed to avoid being colonized by either of these major world powers. Then we cross the bridge over the Ping River, showing the influence of Christian missionaries from around the world, and how the river connects Chiang Mai to the rest of Southeast Asia. We will see a Sikh temple, an example of the role Indians have played in the cultural development of northern Thailand — including the silk and garment trade, linguistic influences, and of course the introduction of Buddhism over 2000 years ago. We will then walk through the Buddhist temple of Wat Gate and show how Thai Buddhism is a unique blend of many cultures. This is illustrated by the fact that Wat Gate is a “dog temple” meaning it corresponds to the year of the dog in the Chinese zodiac, one of twelve “animal temples” in northern Thailand connected to Chinese astrology and mythology. Finally we will head to the 137 Pillars House, the former compound of the Borneo Company, to show the influence of European commercial interests in Chiang Mai. The Borneo Company used elephants to drag huge teak tree logs out of the jungles and ship them down the Ping River and around the world. The compound is now a luxury hotel with beautiful accommodations.
Your guide: David Lawitts