TA003 : Home Industries – Half Day

Overview :  Chiang Mai is actually considered as the main crafts center of Thailand, with its local craftsmen producing a wide variety of handicrafts, such as wooden carvings, silverware, lacquerware, fabrics, ceramics, and silk reflecting centuries of Lanna expertise.
The village of San Kamphaeng, for example, is renowned for its silk and a wide range of handicraft products, such as teak furniture, lucquerware and celadon. But among the most famous are the villagers of Bor Sang and San Kamphaeng, who are celebrated for their artistic skills in specializing beautiful and unique handicrafts, most notably their paper umbrellas.
The road from Chiang Mai to the handicraft villages of Bor Sang and San Kamphaeng is smoething of ashopper's ' Golden Mile' (or rather golden 13kilometres). The way is lined with numerous factories/shops producing a variety of handicrafts and where it is possible to see craftsmen at work as well as purchase finished products. Chiang Mai's famous handicrafts and shopping prospects are described more fully in the following section but the excursion outined here can be just as much a shopping spree as a sightseeing trip.