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Chiang Mai is Still Chang Mai, and Now the Wedding Capital of the World


Prepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International

There’s a lot happening in Chiang Mai these days, the second largest city in the Kingdom. Those who have been to this northern city, but haven’t been there for a while, will be surprised at the colossal changes that await them when they return. The question asked, are these changes for the better or worse? Ask an old-timer and he will tell you he likes the town the way it was. Ask a newcomer and he will be delighted with what he finds. I immediately think of my grandmother when asked if she liked what they did to the street where she lived. No, she didn’t like the new streetlights. Chiang Mai is much the same. There are new streetlights among many other new things.

Chiang Mai was once considered a sleepy, laid-back town, a Bangkok of 50 years ago. No more. Chiang Mai has suddenly sprung into a modern-day metropolis with a skyline of dashing new hotels, shopping malls and plazas, food marts and a wonder of new marvels.

And who would ever imagine sleepy Chiang Mai as the wedding capital of the world. It is just that. You want to get married, go to Chiang Mai and have a traditional Lanna wedding. It’s the largest promotion attraction to this city today.

It does have appeal, for how more romantic can a wedding possibly be? Picture it. The setting is in traditional Lanna style of old and the grounds are festooned in a sea of beautiful flowers. The wedding ceremony, exotic and colourful, reflects the beauty, the culture and the traditions of the north. In marches the groom, and in accordance to local tradition, he leads a splendid parade of dancers and attendants to meet his bride-to-be. The dancers are lovely young ladies, adorned in the magnificent traditional dress of Lanna and the dance they perform is a sign of blessing followed by musicians playing harps. Then comes the ceremony, traditional Bai Sri, in all its finery. Enter the bride-to-be accompanied by more lovely dancers. The bands are made, the strings tied and family members and friends join in the blessing to wish the bride and groom a happy marriage. There are more parades and decorated elephants and champagne and candlelight dinners. It’s three days of ever lasting memories.

It’s a marvelous way to boost tourism in the North, however, such unique weddings in the Kingdom are not new. In Trang in the south there has been the Underwater Wedding that has brought bridal couples from around the world for the past ten years and it too is gaining in popularity. Currently Korea and Japan are Thailand's biggest "wedding markets".

Chiang Mai will witness this splendid three day "Legendary Chiang Mai Wedding Ceremony" that will be held from February 26 to 28, 2005, the first of many Lanna Weddings to follow. The Lanna Weddings had been given full support by Thai Airways International, the United Broadcasting Corporation Group (UBC) and the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi of Chiang Mai. THAI, in fact, has invited 55 bridal couples from across the globe to participate in the event.

Lanna-style weddings truly capture the essence of the region's 700-year old history. Lanna culture and traditions are unique. Throwing full support behind the event was the plush Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi of Chiang Mai. Ten luxurious teakwood deluxe villas with special wedding amenities have been reserved for ten couples. The Lanna Wedding Package (ROHA90A) includes three nights at the deluxe villa; daily breakfast (with en-suite breakfast on the second morning); a bottle of Champagne; a candlelight dinner at La Grand Lanna, special bed decorations and a bouquet of flowers and a honeymoon cake for the bridal couple upon arrival.

THAI’s Royal Orchid Holidays also offers a special package (ROHA90) that includes all transfer services, three nights accommodation with American breakfast at hotels of client’s choice. The Lanna Style wedding comes with full ceremonial services at Le Grande Lanna.

The skyline of Chiang Mai has changed. The town is a far cry from the days when the Chiang Mai Guest House on the Ping River was the most popular hostel in town. The old guesthouse is gone but a number of others have popped up, some equally as charming.

Chiang Mai has several world-class hotels. The Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai is a spacious Lanna-style pavilion overlooking terraced rice fields and the mountains in the beautiful Mae Rim Valley. It is just minutes from the artistic and cultural heritage of Thailand's northern capital. From the Thai cooking school to the acclaimed spa and flawless service, it is a signature Four Seasons experience.

Another is the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi spread over 60 acres of serene, natural landscapes incorporating picturesque rice paddies, tropical hardwoods and exotic plantations. The resort's myriad facilities include the 3,100 square meter Dheva Spa, tennis and squash courts, a choice of stylish restaurants, the Oriental Culinary Academy and Kad Dhara, an authentic Thai shopping village, all offering guests a complete resort experience.

Changes do come with disappointments, of course, and I was to discover much of the old wall had been torn down. I felt the same disappointment when I returned to Beijing after many years to find the great old wall around the city, built in part by Genghis Khan in the 12th century, had been torn down to make room for a roadway. Chiang Mai is not quite that bad. Much of the original wall is still there, as are the gates, but what Chiang Mai has retained, that Beijing did not, is the moat that follows the wall and surrounds the old town. It has been transformed into a water wonderway. Spouting water fountains send up dancing columns of water and plots of colourful flowers have replaced the muddy stagnant water of yesteryear. It is beautiful both by day and by night.

Tha Phae Gate has gone through a remarkable metamorphic change. I will never forget my first impressions of that gate. I had checked into the Chiang Mai Guesthouse on the evening of my arrival and early the next morning, just as dawn was breaking, I set out on foot with my map in hand to find the wall. The streets were cool and still. Walking west along Tha Phae, I didn’t quite know where I was except that according to my map somewhere ahead I would come to the Tha Phae Gate.


Wedding memories forever


Some come by Mercedes, others by elephant back


The Trang Underwater Wedding


Welcome to Chiang Mai


A moat surrounds the walled Chiang Mai, seen here at dawn


The wall has been rebuilt in parts


Mrs. Banyen and Stephens, the whole facade is for sale


The Gate as it is today


Mrs. Banyen with her two daughters. Photo taken in 1994


Mrs. Banyen surrounded by her beautiful antiques


The Banyen collection


A shelf filled with beautiful antiques


Mrs. Banyen pointing out her favourite pieces


A warehouse of priceless items collecting dust


Her carvings are works of art


Early dawn on the moat

Suddenly, through a kind of dream-like mist, the silhouette of a wall appeared and then the gate and at that moment I wondered if what I saw was fantasy or reality. Was this the 20th century? Passing in a single file through the gate, entering the old walled town, as in days of old, were a dozen elephants with their Karen mahouts sitting astride their wide backs urging the great beasts forward. Huge as the elephants were, they seemed to walk on cushioned feet stirring up dust as they wobbled along. Walking alongside them were their Karen keepers, dressed in blue, reaching up now and then as though to assure them that all was safe and well.

It was at that moment that I was taken back into the pages of a history text that only the night before I had stayed up late reading. The history told in dense blocks of prose about the glories and disasters too, that this famous walled city had witnessed through the centuries. Watching those elephants passing made it all come alive, made it real.

I had read how Mengrai the Great built Chiang Mai and fortified the town with a massive wall and wide moat. There was mention of how, in the years that followed, the Burmese and Khmers, the Mongols and Thais and all the rival states from the north and south tried time and time again, with their warrior elephants, to capture the fortress of Chiang Mai and in each case it was the wall that kept them out. The image of that great wall was dancing before me and I watched until the last beast disappeared beyond the gate.

In the early days no permanent bridges spanned the moat. Temporary bridges were made of bamboo which could easily be removed in the event of danger. Gates opened each morning at sunrise and closed at sunset and were locked from the inside with heavy beams.

The gate is still there for all to see and enjoy. But now it’s even more beautiful than ever. The elephants and stone statutes are there and the area is festooned with flowers.

The famous Chiang Mai Night Market has expanded by leaps and bounds. And so has a lot of the quality of merchandise. I asked this question from Mrs. Banyen when I met her at her antique emporium near the airport. I had known Mrs. Banyen from the mid-1960s when I first went to Chiang Mai to write a feature story on Swiss artist Theo Meier. Theo took me to Mrs. Banyen’s place on Wulai road just outside the southern wall. Here indeed was a remarkable woman, a hill tribe girl who came to town right after World War II on her bicycle selling handicraft to tourists who got off the train. She bought a shop and then gathered a collection of old teak houses and in time became one of the biggest antique sellers in Chiang Mai.

But then came a catastrophe. A fire 15 years ago completely wiped her out. Everyone thought she was finished but they didn’t know the hill tribe girl with determination. She bought a few rai of land on the road to the airport which everyone thought was insane. But within a few years she had another half dozen old Thai houses in a compound crammed full of art that include everything from huge drums on carts and façades of whole buildings. And she is moving again.

“Tastes have changed over the years,” she said. “People today are more interested in modern art objects.” She took me through her warehouse. She claims to have many of the original pieces of Thai wood carvings crafted in Thailand. Her collection is massive, numbering in the tens of thousands of pieces. They are a part of her museum. People who are interested can chose a piece they like and she will have her craftsmen turn out replicas that are difficult to distinguish from the originals. She has other rooms that are crammed with originals that are for sale.

Why the move, I asked her. Her shop on Wulai outside the city wall was once out of the way but now her compound on the road to the airport is dwarfed by a concrete overpass and the builders are pressuring her to move. “So I move a few more kilometers out of town. In 20 years I’d probably want to move again.” That is pretty remarkable coming from a woman who just turned 73. No one, she said, can buy her out. All she wants to do as long as she is alive is to produce pretty pieces of art and sell them to people who will love and enjoy them as she does.

Mrs. Banyen is a reflection of much of the thinking of residences and business in Chiang Mai. The city has expanded beyond its wall and now beyond its present city limits. But never mind, the charm will always be there and no one can take that away.

Next week I will tell readers what to expect during the coming Songkran, or Water Festival.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

Q. Dear Stephens. It's encouraging to read that the west coast of Thailand is recovering from the tsunami. Trusting that I won't be accused of nitpicking (I probably will), I’d like to make a comment. Tidal waves and tsunamis are altogether different phenomena. The whole world that is touched by salt water sees two "tidal waves" every day and are caused by gravitational attraction from the Moon and, to a lesser extent, the Sun. Tsunamis, Japanese for "harbor wave", appear at random and are generated by earthquakes, gigantic landslides, small to moderate sized asteroid impacts and the like. Tidal waves, for the most part, are benign; tsunamis are not as we recently witnessed. — Ed Boden.

A. Dear Ed. Thank you for your comment. I knew that!

Harold Stephens
Bangkok
Email :  ROH Weekly Travel

Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited.

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Next week how not to get wet during the Songkran
 
 
 

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