Chiang Mai / Restaurants, Shopping
Restaurants
Besides excellent Thai and Chinese food, visitors can enjoy Italian, French, German and Muslim food in specialty restaurants. US-style steakhouses, sandwich bars, fast-food outlets, English-style pubs and vegetarian restaurants offer a broad range of cuisines. International fare is widely available in teahouses and coffeeshops.
Local culinary specialties include highly spiced Naem sausages and mildly curried Khao Soi noodles.
Many visitors enjoy a traditional Khan Toke dinner which is accompanied by a display of northern dances. Khan Toke actually is a wooden tray for carrying dishes. In a Khan Toke dinner the guests sit in groups of five or six on the floor.
Major Khan Toke dishes include glutinous rice, Burmese and northern Thai-style curries, spiced mincemeat dishes, Chiang Mai sausage, highly seasoned sauces and dips, and crisp pork rind.
Diners eat with their hands while groups provide entertainment, performing popular Northern dances such as the graceful fingernail dance, the candle dance and the sword dance. Khan Toke dinners are served by:
Khumkaeo Palace
252 Phra Pokklao Road
Tel 21-4315, Bangkok Tel 579-1789
Lanna Khan Toke
Phet Ngam Hotel
33/10 Charoen Prathet Road
Tel (035) 23-4155
Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center
183 Wua Lai Rd, Tel 23-5097
Khan Toke Chiang Mai
km 8.5, Chiang Mai - Sam Kamphaeng Rd
Tel 33-1515, 33-1695
Shopping
Chiang Mai is a major center for quality handicrafts. At any city emporium or at the Night Bazaar one can purchase an extraordinary variety of "antiques", silverware, silver jewelry, hill tribe opium pipes and embroidery, Thai silks and cottons, basketry, celadon, furniture, lacquerware, wood carvings or parasols.
The visitor can often watch how the various handicrafts are made especially at several outlying villages, particularly along the Bo Sang - Sam Kamphaeng Road. In genuine cottage industries, parasols, silk and cotton weaved cloth, jewelry, wood carvings, silverware, celadon and lacquerware are manufactured. However the visitor should be aware that many "factories" along the Bo Sang - Sam Kamphaeng Road actually are not primarily factories but retail outlets, and they charge not factory but retail prices. (For additional information on handicrafts, please see the chapter Shopping in the general section of this book.)
Cottons & Silks
First-class Chiang Mai cottons and silks are of top quality. A very large selection is available in Sam Kamphaeng.
Umbrellas/Parasols
These are inextricably associated with Bo Sang where villagers have been engaged in their manufacture for at least 200 years. Different materials, cotton, silk, Sa paper (produced from the bark of the mulberry tree) and bamboo are used. Visitors to Bo Sang will see hundreds of designs and sizes ranging from the miniature to the gigantic.
Silverware
The finest Thai silverware is made in Chiang Mai by family enterprises which have been in the profession for several generations. Traditional skills and a guaranteed pure silver content of not less than 92.5% invest bowls, receptacles and other decorative items. Silver shops are concentrated on Wualai Road where silverware artisans and their families traditionally live.
Lacquerware
Striking black and gold designs give Chiang Mai lacquerware its visual appeal and sheen. Lacquer designs adorn various base materials such as wood, bamboo, metal, paper and baked clay. Products are receptacles, figurines, display plates or display boards. Aside from Thai products, lacquerware of Burmese origin is also widely traded in Chiang Mai.
Furniture / Wood Carvings
Chiang Mai is a major center of furniture making. Woods and materials popularly used include teak, rosewood, rattan and teak veneer. These may be unadorned or, in the case of teak and rosewood, artfully carved in traditional or modern designs. Furnishings, cushion covers and seats are often finished with Thai silk and cotton.
Wood carving is a traditional northern Thai art featured in numerous temples. In recent years, wood carving has increasingly embellished furniture, gracing screens, chairs, tables, beds, indeed anything bearing a wooden surface large enough to be carved. Carved elephants, figurines and tableware are among other items commonly available. Several wood carving and furniture shops are found along the Bo Sang - Sam Kamphaeng Road.
However, it must be noted that the exportation of wood carvings has become more difficult in recent years, especially if they are made of teak wood. Often customs officers will require a clearance certificate from the Fine Arts Department.
Aside from Thai wood carvings, items smuggled into Thailand from Burma are also widely available.
Hill Tribe Products
Among the most appealing hill tribe products are silver ornaments such as bracelets, necklaces, pendants, hairpins and pipes of intricate design. Old pieces have been made from melted coins which originated in British India or French Indochina. Other favorite hill tribe products are embroidered items, such as tunics, dresses, bags, purses and caps. Hill tribe items can be purchased directly in hill tribe villages or at Chiang Mai’s Night Bazaar.
Pottery
Chiang Mai is a major center of Thailand’s pottery industry. Prized items include the distinctive, single-colored, specially high-fired celadon. Celadon, with its inimitable, finely cracked glaze, is produced in numerous forms, including dinner sets, lamp bases or general decorative items.
Gold Plated Orchids & Butterflies
Orchids and butterflies are preserved and plated with 24-carat gold to create unusual gift items and jewelry pieces such as necklaces, pendants, hairpins and ear rings .
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