We asked a woman for help one afternoon and it cost us hours because she wanted us to go somewhere else. It's a long difficult-to-tell story and we don't come out looking very good, so I'll skip that one. However, the story of the monk bowl is a success story and its' quick, so I'll put it in.
The walk to the neighborhood wasn't a problem. The problem was finding the actual "factory" where the monk bowls were made. It happened to be in an alleyway off an alleyway off a small street. We stood and talked to a guy for fifteen minutes until he finally understood what we were looking for and he took us there - and didn't ask for anything. Here's a shot of the first thing we saw. Does it inspire confidence or would it send you running?
The process of making them is fascinating, but I won't go through the whole story. Another guy blogged about it which you can read about here. Basically, the bowls are made up of eight pieces. (And all of the employees can all count to eight, which each one proved to us.) I think eight might be symbolic of something. Here's one put together, but not pounded out into a round bowl.
We bought two bowl. Fred instinctively tried to bid the owner down. (We bought small ones. They have several sizes.) Fred took off a couple hundred baht off the asking price and I said, "Dude, that's like a dollar. Just pay him."
The bowl is one of my favorite souvenirs from that trip because I saw what it came from and where it came from. The most amazing thing is that they're made from eight pieces, but they have a ring like a solid piece of metal. And apparently real monks actually use them. If you're ever in Bangkok, go look them up.
Monk Bowl
Handmade by Mr. Somsak Buppachat (Mou)
14 Soi BANBAT, BARIPART Rd.
Bangkok 10100 Tel: 02-621-2635
3 comments:
I have to say that I really enjoyed seeing the process with which these bowls were made. Seeing the actually bowl is just amazing when you see where it started from. Butch is very fortunate to have one of these. I LOVE my scarf though. Love you, K
The eight pieces most likely symbolize the Noble Eightfold Path to enlightenment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path
Thank you, Mel.
Post a Comment