Bo Sang

The village of Bo Sang is famous within Chiang Mai as the main umbrella production area. Here you can walk around the different production sections watching an umbrella being made before your eyes. Using traditional materials such as bamboo, silk or lacquered paper, the finished product is what I would call a parasol. Beautiful and fun, but not able to withstand torrential Queensland rain. The construction process was quite interesting, and if you wanted to, rather than buying off the rack you could select your own designs to be applied to your umbrella, or iPhone case, or even t-shirt according to one savvy salesman once he realised I had no phone with me. Not sure how it would survive the Omo in the spin cycle. Bamboo bits and pieces come together, to make an umbrella or two.

Well worth a look though as was the main street of the village adjacent. Very similar to what is fast becoming the norm in Chiang Mai. Lots of road side stalls selling food and drinks, with most shops seeming to be the converted garage of houses, and most selling the same limited range of Chinese imports. As the Thai's have a way of saying, "same, same, but different".

As for traffic, it too was what I am beginning to see as the norm. Lots of it, with many variations on loading trucks, utes and motor scooters. Always busy! 30.1.2103