The Umbrellas of Bo Sang

Manda writes:

Bo Sang is also known as the umbrella village on account of the many umbrella manufacturers that line the streets. Taking a visit to this village seemed rather appropriate given how much rain we've had here in the last couple of days (lots of it and continual). However, if it were to rain, these umbrellas would probably be of little use as they are mainly for decorative purposes.

As we pulled up in to the main street in Bo Sang, we could see a handful of umbrella shops, various craft shops selling silverware, bamboo, teak, china and lacquerware. As we drove further in, we noticed that there were equally as many beautifully hand-painted fans as there were umbrellas. We drove all the way down this road thinking that there would be more to come but soon realised that we had driven out of the village and into a more rural-looking area. Nothing a quick u-turn couldn't fix though.

The umbrellas at Bo Sang.

Postcards showed the village with plentiful colourful umbrellas on display and to be honest, we were a little disappointed. There were only a handful of umbrella shops and souvenir shops seemed to be the only thing in abundance. Perhaps we had come at the wrong time of year (rain season not being ideal for displaying this type of umbrella!)? Maybe the postcards showed the Umbrella Festival that takes place at the end of January? We stopped anyway to take a look around. We watched an artist paint on the blank canvas of a fan and spent a few minutes admiring his artwork. There was generally a quiet feel to the town and the numerous stray dogs, getting up reluctantly from the middle of the road and walking across lazily to avoid traffic, pretty much summed up the atmosphere of this place. Everything seemed to be too much effort on a hot day!

After leaving the sleepy village, we headed north of the city to the Tribal Museum. This museum sits overlooking a lake in Ratchamangkhala Park in admidst a tranquil setting. Wooden thatched huts line the water's edge and people can admire the views of the lake and the pagoda-like museum building while eating their food. The food sure smelt good as we drove on past.

The Tribal Museum houses a large collection of handicrafts, costumes, jewellery, ceremonial paraphernalia and anything else connected with the major hill tribes in Thailand. The hill tribes are made up of nine main ethnic groups: Hmong, Yao, Lisu, Lahu, Akha, Karen, Lua, H'tin and Khamu. With the aid of photographs and brief exhibit descriptions, we were able to piece together what daily life must be like in these communities. This was going to be very good background information for our visit to the Akha and Yao hill tribes tomorrow.

Hill tribe doing lunch.