Oberon resident Kay Jones, who is travelling overseas, has been sharing her experiences with Oberon Review readers.
I’m sitting under a canopy of trees, sipping an iced mango and a banana smoothie. A bird is chirping above and others are flying noiselessly among the trees.
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I’m not the only one here enjoying the cool shade and quiet. Others are eating their breakfast noiselessly or sipping a cool drink. If they speak it is in hushed voices. It’s as if they don’t want to disturb the quiet.
I came upon this garden quite by accident.
I was wandering (I’ve been doing a bit of that lately) in the area behind the Chiang Mai Gate and market and got lost. Well, I vaguely knew where I was, and so I was trying to head back to the Gate.
I took a left turn and went up this laneway. It was late afternoon and it was obviously a fish market and the fishmongers were packing up and cleaning out the area.
I kept walking up the laneway and I would never have found the garden except I stopped to take a photo of this intricately carved heavy doorway. I walked over and looked in. The first thing I noticed was a Thai buddha sitting cross-legged and meditating, surrounded by a lush green garden, with what looked like a cafe behind it. So I stepped through the doorway.
So now, I am sitting in this beautiful garden, sipping on my smoothie. The only sounds are the birds chirping and the water fountain as it cascades over the rocks into the pool below.
I am surrounded by Buddhas. In fact, three of them are praying in front of me now. The garden is surrounded by a high terracotta wall which keeps the noise of the city out and makes it difficult to find, unless you know what you are looking for.
What makes this garden magical are all the terracotta sculptures scattered throughout. They seem so ancient as to have come from an archeological dig in Angkor Wat or some ancient Thai temple. In fact, they have all been made by one man, Suttiphong Maiwan, a Chiang Mai artist who started this family business over 30 years ago.
Now artists come from all over the world to study with him.