RTWbis

These two days are spent tour, eating, shopping and chillaxing in and around the city. The temple Wat Wa Ket around the corner from 137 Pillars House has a rather strange little museum.  The explanation for these swords reads "The magic sword -- it has a recite and incantation.over the sword. It's a tool for subdue the devil, solves the mystery. A sword was written in ancient characters. The owners must have high mental power, and were practiced or learned about the magic from the expert." Here we relax after a very satisfying foot-rub. The dancing girls behind us convey something of the mood. And no, that is not our koala bear. But he appears to have had a very satisfying paw-rub. We journeyed to the Umbrella Making Village outside of Chiang Mai. To the left, the frame, to the right, the finished product. On a tuk-tuk tour of the Old City, we stopped in at this lovely old wat. And in the evenings we took a tuk-tuk h...

The Llana people consist of the tribes who inhabited the north of Thailand from antiquity. The Siamese inhabited the south. The Llana Folklore Museum in Chiang Mai is one of the most beautifully laid out museums we have seen anywhere.  And unlike some of the more idiotic museums we've been to (for example, the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap), you can take all the pictures you like. Below is my photo gallery from the Llana. And listen here to a display of Llana musical instruments and the sounds they make.                    To perform the Nail Dance, women wear iron nail extensions on four fingers of each hand, and dance to the music of flutes and drums.