Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center: Nurturing Vocational Opportunities
Nida Tunsuttiwong
Until fairly recently, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit would typically accompany His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his Royal duties throughout the kingdom. While HM the King would focus on agriculture, developing improvements for irrigation and enhancing the rural peoples’ quality of life, Queen Sirikit would typically encourage local people, and particularly women whose husbands were involved in farming, to develop skills in arts and crafts as a means to improve the family’s income.
Income generator
With a special interest in local handicrafts, which vary from region to region, HM the Queen decided to provide well-trained instructors to help villagers refine their skills and improve the quality of their products.
In order to bring this about, Queen Sirikit established on July 21, 1976, the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT) under her Royal patronage. The foundation's main office was established at Chitralada Palace in Bangkok in 1977.
In 1980, Tanin Kraivixien, privy councilor and SUPPORT's vice-president, was asked by Queen Sirikit to locate some land for a new arts and crafts training center near Ayutthaya's Bang Pa-In district. Tanin identified two suitable plots of land, one in Ban Na, in Nakhon Nayok province, and the other in Ayutthaya's Bangsai district, on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. After visiting the two sites with Their Majesties the King and Queen, Bangsai was selected as the location for SUPPORT’s new training center.
In 1984, Queen Sirikit presided over the center’s inauguration ceremony and named the center Bangsai Art and Crafts Center, the SUPPORT Foundation of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand (or Bangsai SUPPORT Center, for short).
Since its establishment, the center has trained thousands of villagers in how to produce and market various arts and crafts. Among the training sessions available are sculpture, ceramics, miniature doll making, stained glass production, and silk weaving, among many others. Visitors to the center are welcome to visit workshops and training sites to see the training sessions in action and talk to the students.
Professional approach
As well as the workshops, Bangsai SUPPORT Center also boasts many other attractions. The first one that needs to be mentioned is Sala Pra Ming Kwan, the center’s main building, which is located in front of the workshops.
As a modern Thai building, Sala Pra Ming Kwan is a unique and outstanding structure, and, even today, its four curved gable ends stand out, winning lots of praise among visitors.
All arts and crafts products manufactured at the center and other craft centers across the kingdom are available for purchase on the first floor, while the second and third floors feature Bangsai SUPPORT Center's finest works. The fourth floor serves as a conference room.
You can also shop for goods produced by SUPPORT Center’s students at a shopping pavilion located near the entrance of the center.
Just across the road from Sala Pra Ming Kwan is a two-story pavilion where a wooden Kwan Yin Bodhisattava (Guanyin ['Goddess of Mercy') image, featuring one thousand hands, is enshrined. The six-meter high image was carved from yellow sandalwood and presented to HM the King on the occasion of his 6th Cycle Birthday Anniversary in 1999 by Tu Zhai, on behalf of the Chinese people. As the pavilion is facing the Chao Phraya River and features a small garden and fountain, it's a good place to sit back and relax before continuing your journey into the crafts center.
Provincial differences
Venturing further into the Arts and Craft Village, near the pavilion, you will see a large number of traditional Thai houses, varying in terms of looks and features depending on their provincial roots.
While the first floor within each house features souvenir shops and a Thai food outlet, the second floor features bedrooms and a kitchen, reflecting the various differences in local lifestyles.
As the houses in the village are located around a small lake, featuring a number of paths, it's a good place to explore and shoot some family photos or snaps with friends.
If you're a real fan of Thai architecture, you may also wish to visit the Royal Lodge, which faces the Chao Phraya River, where there is a group of buildings in the style of the country's central region. The Royal Lodge is where members of the Royal family typically stay during a visit to the center.
While older visitors to the center may appreciate the arts and crafts, it also boasts a variety of other activities. There is a Bird Park, for example, as well as a Wang Pla ('freshwater aquarium'), which would certainly be an entertaining spectacle for accompanying children.
Once recorded as the largest fish aquarium in Thailand, Wang Pla features a long corridor that takes visitors around two freshwater tanks, which are home to a huge number of large and small freshwater fish commonly found in the country's rivers.
The first bean-shaped tank has a 1,400-ton capacity, while the other one is less than half that size (a 600-ton capacity). Along the corridor are exhibition areas focusing on freshwater fish and providing some history about the aquarium and the Bangsai SUPPORT Center. The aquarium opens from Wednesday through Sunday from 10 am until 4 pm.
Airborne critters
You can enjoy watching birds of all shapes and sizes within the center's Bird Park. The park includes two aviaries that are home to a large number of bird species, including rare ones.
At the larger aviary, visitors can climb up to a cable bridge to admire the beautiful birds from a greater height. The Bird Park opens daily from 9 am until 7 pm. Admission is just 20 baht (US$0.58) for adults and 10 baht for children.
To enter the Bangsai SUPPORT Center itself costs 50 baht. It is possible to visit by car, or just hop aboard a trolleybus, which makes circuits of the park throughout the day.
For further information, contact Tel: +66 (0)35 366 252, or visit http://www.bangsaiarts.com.
Transport connections:
Train: Trains depart from Hualamphong station, Bangkok's central station, for Bang Pa-in Railway station every hour from 6.40 am until 10 pm. From Bang Pa-in station, you can take a mini bus straight to Bang Sai Arts and Crafts Center.
You can reach the central train station in Bangkok by boarding the MRT subway system and disembarking at Hualamphong station.
Bus: You can take a bus (No 838) directly to the center from a bus stop located near Future Park Rangsit Department Store on Phahon Yothin Road. This bus operates from 6 am until 9 pm.
You could alternatively take an inter-provincial bus to Bang Pa-in district from the Northern Bus Terminal (Morchit) on Kamphaeng Phet Road. You can then board a mini bus, which will get you from the bus station at Bang Pa-in to the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center.
Car: Bangsai Arts and Crafts Center is located alongside the Chao Phraya River, on road No 3309, just off Highway No 9 (Western Ring Road).
Some of the highways that connect to Highway 9 from Bangkok include: Highway No 1 (Phahon Yothin Road), Highway No 345 (From Bang Bua Thong district in Nonthaburi province), as well as the Udon Rattaya Expressway (No 3214).
Credit: TAN Network (www.tannetwork.tv)
No comments:
Post a Comment