March, 2023 - nevillecregan.com

Thai Market Culture. A Photo Essay.

This earth market (as some called it) was at the intersection of a busy highway flyover and junction, the Ping river and a slightly run down Buddhist temple. Not so glamorous, but a functional convenient spot for the local community.

Local markets are a great place to learn something about life in Thailand. Many of life’s daily mini dramas are on show and there’ll always be food. Year round warm weather overall creates the right conditions for lots of them, both permanent and temporary. Some pop up seemingly for a few hours on certain days as part of the rhythm of life here. From rustic local produce and clothing markets, to more high-end artisan markets through to tourist markets (often called walking street markets – a lot of crap but still some interesting gems to found), there is a lot to explore . You could easily never cook in Thailand (and some Thais don’t much) due to the availability of affordable tasty food at almost any market, but particularly at what are generally known as night markets. The possibilities for snacks and food in general are endless, multi-various and at times ingenious. When I stayed at a massage school in a fairly ordinary semi-rural part of Thailand (about half an hour from Chiang Mai), I decided to explore the local market on the two or three times a week that it was on to see what I could discover.

Yoga in Chiang Mai, and how I got from practicing Gentle Yoga to Vinyasa Flow Yoga over 30 Years.

Khru Annie Bliss practicing on one of her retreats in Northern Thailand.

I’ve been practicing yoga for more than 30 years and have explored much of the full spectrum of practices available in that time. My development in practices of the asanas has in many ways been the wrong way round (compared to many people), moving from gentler slower forms of practice in my 30’s to more dynamic vinyasa flow practices as I’ve moved into my middle 50’s . Practicing in Chiang Mai in recent years, and with one teacher in particular, has been a big part of the reason for this.

Cycling in Chiang Mai , The Buddhist Highway Code.

In Thailand some people like to go diving, zip wiring, sky diving , bungee jumping , bamboo white water rafting and more; but actually just cycling round the city of Chiang Mai and environs was quite an adventure. Plus it’s free, in fact more than free as it got me round without the use of Grab taxis (like Uber), red cars (public bus of sorts) or any other paid transport. ‘Wild Cycling’, if you like, with generally benevolent and courteous other road users, but a few predators to be understood and avoided, sharpened my senses as much as any expensive extreme sport. The roads may seem chaotic, even dangerous at times, but there is a learnable code in place (with random exceptions to watch out for).

Sak Yant (Magical Tattooing in Thailand).

Sak (tattoo) Yant (yantra) is a form of tattooing found in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos and is believed to have started during the Khmer Empire that covered this region from the 9th – 15th centuries. They are respresented by Buddhist, Hindu and Animist iconography and symbology and are applied with a long lance like needle ( that was traditionally bamboo but is now more often steel) . Traditionally they are given by Buddhist monks, ex monks or Reusi (hermit scholars and protectors of traditional arts/sciences such as traditional medicine, meditation, Sak Yant, alchemy, palmistry, astrology and more). In simple terms Sak Yant are spells put on the body and most people get them to attract what they do want and protect against what they don’t want. I’ve always liked the designs but never thought I would get one , but given that this trip was during a transitional point of my life I decided to explore getting one.

Buddhism in Thailand. As viewed through the lens of Wat Pha Lad, Chiang Mai.

Buddhism is infused into much of life in Thailand. It blends seamlessly with elements of Hinduism, also imported from India, and pre existing animism . Features of this are found in many facets of life: from the rarified meditative atmosphere of a forest temple, to taxi drivers hanging Buddhist charms from the rear view mirror, people visiting temples seeking luck over a particular issue or to receive a blessing, monks doing the alms round in the early morning, to karmic merit making activities such as buying a caged bird from the pet shop and releasing it. It helps explain a lot of people’s behaviour, their underlying intentions and attitudes and probably the generally harmonious flavour of life in much of Thailand. My own interest in Buddhism over 30 years has been less religious environments and rituals and more that the philosophy and psychology made sense, meditation ‘worked’ and life flowed more smoothly when I followed and practiced it . However in Thailand, now and again a temple environment or some such would touch me in a wordlessly powerful way. One such place was Wat Phra Lad near Chiang Mai with its magical setting in mountain forest and surrounding waterfalls.

Muay Thai. A brief experience in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

‘Backstage’ at Tha Phae Stadium , Chiang Mai.

The one previous Muay Thai fight I had seen was in Bangkok at the old Lumphini stadium sometime in the 1990’s . I was in my 20’s, somewhat hippyfied and not too interested in the idea of seeing it; but two women from Leeds (UK) in my hostel said ‘we luv a good fight, cum with us, you’ll luv it’ . Inside the old three tiered stadium I did kind of enjoy it in a watching gladiators in a bear pit sort of way, though a sharp knee to the head knock out did cause me to wince a bit. I thought nothing more of it until my youngest son aged 19 started training in it four times a week in the UK . Of all the things to choose, not really what I had in mind for my small cuddly child when he was younger. So while in Thailand his interest led me to investigate a bit more at Chiang Mai gyms and at the Tha Phae Stadium in Chiang Mai.

Notes from Chiang Mai.

The moat that encircles the old city against the backdrop of the mountain Doi Suthep.

A rather wonderful side effect of studying Thai massage in Chiang Mai over the years is that I’ve fallen in love with the place. When I first came as a backpacker with a schedule in 1995, I didn’t hang around long enough to absorb its charms. Later as a massage student with young children at home, I also couldn’t stay long beyond my courses. So on my most recent trip I stayed on a month to see if I could learn something more about Thailand by staying put for a while, getting to know people a bit and avoiding the temptation to go rushing around. In many ways Chiang Mai is an ordinary working Thai city, a little polluted at times due to sitting in a basin, but there is magic and poetry there. Doi Suthep (the mountain) sits behind, the home to forest, hidden temples , rural villages and farming tribal people. The City effortlessly combines metropolitan chic and mild hipsterism (Thai style, they do it well with humour) along with the associated food, shopping and entertainment. Alongside this, traditional community life, atmospheric temples, sleepy sois (lanes), markets and endless street food make up the rhythm of life in seemingly timeless fashion. It has a reputation of being slower and more relaxed than Bangkok and the south. It’s not surprising that it attracts Thai artists , digital nomads, backpackers and ex pat retirees amongst others. A brief snap shot below.

Massage Culture in Thailand.

Street pop up massage place on market day.

Massage is very much part of day to day life in Thailand . Often it is not segregated away into sanitised clinics and spas (but those places exist) . It is both part of popular culture and a serious medical treatment . Traditionally children massage parents (bring it on) and it’s not uncommon just to see people getting stuck into each other’s knots and blocks in less formal work settings and markets. At the airport when leaving I saw one of the cleaners going over one of his colleagues, including standing on him, just on the floor outside the loos . Whilst on my research and study trips I made it my business to receive massage in as many and varied places as possible.

Learning Thai massage over 25 years, my experience.

Sunshine Massage School, Chiang Mai Thailand.

In my late 20’s my initial simple desire was to learn Thai massage as it was the best massage I had received, and it fitted with my developing career path in Yoga at that time. Perhaps naively I thought I would do a couple of courses and off I would go. I wasn’t really expecting to embark on an amazing adventure of lifelong learning , with lots of confusion along the way and to become immersed in another culture and worldview ; but I’m grateful I chose this route, am all the richer for it, and hopefully my clients appreciate it too.