A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Chang Mai, Thailand

Here's the difference between what happens when I travel alone and what happens when I travel with Amanda: When by myself, I end up fending off relentless elderly Akha women selling me hideous crapola bracelets made of seeds and the remnants of Coke cans. When with Amanda, I end up at fine jewelry and precious gem outlets in which men and women in well-tailored subdued business suits shepherd us around the showrom individually in the hopes we would buy massive amounts of emerald, ruby, diamond and sapphire jewelry.

We started the day with a simple plan to visit wats and museums. While casually perusing a golden reclining buddha at our first wat, however, we met a very nice Thai man, married to a German woman, who owned a shop selling Thai goods in Cologne. He made some recommendations as to how we should spend the rest of our day in Chang Mai, slightly off the tourist track. So we set off in a tuk-tuk, first to an obscure wat (where a Thai-American guy recommended exactly the same itinerary to us) then to the outskirts of town where the street was lined with small "factories" and showrooms for all kinds of handicrafts and handmade consumer goods.

Chang Mai is well known in Thailand as the place you do your shopping for Thai goods of all shapes and sizes. An incredible variety of arts, crafts and gems are available at the markets and shops in the city for fairly decent prices, particularly if you're a good bargainer (which I am not, unfortunately). What we didn't know is that many of the crafts for the whole country, and indeed internationally, are produced in the Chang Mai area. Buyers from Bangkok and other tourist centers come to the factories outside the city and purchase most of the goods to be sold in their stores, including fine jewelry, carvings, lacquerware, teak and other furniture, painted umbrellas, handmade paper, and silk weaving. The Thai-American we met (who appeared to be a bit of a player) said he funds his vacations by coming to Chang Mai, buying several thousand dollars worth of rings, bracelets, etc., and selling them for double the price to jewelers in Australia.

We started at the top -- International Gems, and we could see immediately that we had ventured far from backpackerland and we were seriously underdressed for the outing. Our tuk-tuk brought us through the large iron gates to a circular carpeted protico with elegantly suited men waiting to help us out and to the door. The towering doors opened simultaneously and we were handed off to a matched pair of gorgeous Thai girls in native silk dresses, who made polite small talk in English as they ushered us through the black marble lobby, where we were met by a gray-suited team of salespeople. With choreographed grace, one took over Amanda and Geoff and the other (clearly the junior partner, poor girl) was stuck with me. After a quick tour through the working area where settings were being crafted, gems set, and final products polished, we were guided into the showroom, a massive and elegant high-ceilinged space featuring ver a hundred display cases filled with some of the loveliest jewelry I've ever seen. More sales teams loitered around the perimeter, as besides us there was only one other pair of potential buyers in evidence.

I tried on loads of unaffordable things, and ended up buying a ring with sapphires set in silver (the 18 carat gold was way too expensive, no matter how much I coveted it) and Amanda got a much nicer one in gold. Seems like whether the salesperson is an evil Akha crone selling rocks and seeds or a custom-suited woman selling sapphires, I'm a weak-willed consumer.

After escaping International Gem with only a slight dent in the Visa, we had lunch, went to an outlet that made homemade paper and handpainted umbrellas (I was able to resist -- way too hard to pack), and barely escaped buying a $2800 silk oriental carpet. That Kashmiri salesman was very convincing -- I almost came to believe I would be committing some sort of horrible crime against art by not buying one. His presentation was incredible, though I suspect he has tailored his salespitch after watching US latenight infomercials. After the extremely informatative demonstration on how they make the carpets, he started using various implements -- shoes, sharp things, a lighter, for crying out loud -- to show us how hardy his carpet was. I'm sold. Next time I have an extra $2800 lying around, I'm getting a silk Kashmiri carpet.

So now I'm pledging to start spending less money in Thailand, so don't anybody expect any Thai gifts. I'm running through my budget way too fast -- Amanda is a very bad influence.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren

posted by Katy at 3:00 AM