The Gingerbread Tour

I was sitting by the pool at the Ping Nakara Hotel in Chiang Mai, admiring the elaborate adornments on the gleaming white building and chatting with the owner and co-designer of the hotel, Chairat Usavangkul. He explained that such embellishments are typically added on to highlight the architectural style known locally as ‘Lanna Colonial’.

“In the late 19^th century there was a boom in the teak trade around here,” said Chairat, “and many of the foreign teak traders built houses that merged Western style and features such as gingerbread trim with Asian characteristics like perforated panels above or below windows for good air circulation.

“I wanted to keep this ‘Lanna Colonial’ alive, so our building here added gingerbread trim to the gables, eaves, balconies and balustrades, as well as above doors and windows. You can see other examples in Chiang Mai, but some of the best gingerbread architecture in Thailand is in Lampang and Phrae.”

Chairat had roused my curiosity about these decorations that seem to add so much character to a building, so I decided to find out more and make a ‘gingerbread tour’ southeast from Chiang Mai to the little-visited towns that he had mentioned. I discovered that gingerbread architecture, which refers to the elaborately detailed ornamentation on a building, became popular in the USA and Europe during the mid-19^th century. The style clearly appealed to rich teak merchants, many of whom were based in Lampang and Phrae.

The journey to Lampang took little over an hour, but as I walked along Thanon Talad Kao in the center of town I felt I had jumped back several decades due to the old wooden buildings that lined the street. The most impressive of these was Moung Ngwe Zin, named after a Burmese timber merchant who lived here in the early 20^th century.

The attractive, two-story teak building has a colonnade running along the front and elaborately decorated balconies above the entrance. Fan-shaped perforated panels above the doors allow air to circulate. The house has been well maintained and functions today as a café with intriguing artwork on the walls.

I also went for a look at Wat Sri Rong Muang, originally built by a Burmese teak trader over a hundred years ago and renovated many times since then. The cascading roofs were a treat for my eyes, the teak floorboards in the assembly hall were cool to my feet, the pillars were inlaid with dazzling glass mosaics and the Burmese-style Buddha images gave off an aura of serenity.
 
By now I had caught the gingerbread bug and was eager to explore Phrae, located in the teak heartland of Thailand. I contacted Shinnaworn Chompupan, co-founder of the Phrae Architectural Heritage Club, and asked him where I could find the best examples of gingerbread architecture in town.
 
“You should certainly visit Vongburi House and Khum Chao Luang” he told me, “which are open to the public and operate as museums. As you will see, both feature gingerbread woodwork prominently. This not only serves a beautiful aesthetic function but also lets in fresh breezes to ventilate the property, which is ideal for a hot and humid country like Thailand.”

Vongburi House (open daily 9am – 4pm, admission THB 30), built in 1897 for Mae Chao Bua Tha, the wife of Phrae’s last independent ruler, was perhaps the most striking example of gingerbread architecture that I saw on my trip. Its façade, painted in white and pink, is a riot of intricate carvings – on the gables, eaves, above and below the shuttered windows and on panels partly shading the veranda. I couldn’t wait to step inside.

As I did so, I was transported back into the 19^th century. The walls were hung with portraits of ancestors and vintage photographs of elephants working in the jungle. The furnishings of the sitting room, bedroom, study and kitchen were just as I would have imagined them in that bygone era. Unsurprisingly, both this and my next stop have featured in Thai TV period dramas, providing the perfect backdrop for social intrigue.

Khum Chao Luang (open daily 8.30am – 4.30pm; admission free) is an equally palatial edifice, this time in shades of green. It was built for Chao Luang Phiriya Theppawong, Phrae’s last independent ruler, in 1892, though he had to flee to Laos when the Shan rebellion, led by discontented teak workers, took over the town in 1902. The interior still reflects that hurried exit in 1902, with family photos on the wall, a dining table laid for dinner and beds ready to be slept in.

Before leaving town, I wanted to look at a temple that Shinnaworn had recommended, not for its gingerbread trim but for its unmistakable Burmese character. Wat Chom Sawan did not disappoint. I found an entire complex of buildings made of teak and surmounted by multiple roofs, while inside the ceilings and support columns were beautifully carved and inlaid with colored glass.

I sat in the empty, silent, assembly hall for a while in quiet contemplation, and vowed to do further research into the teak boom era in North Thailand, the result of which is the novel Teak Lord – a tale of piety, greed, debauchery and equanimity in a remote Asian kingdom. My gingerbread tour had worked out wonderfully after all.

Yet my Phrae experience was far from over – besides the gingerbread architecture and delights made of teak, there are countless of other Northern novelties worth visiting. During the following days, I visited an indigo-dyeing workshop in Ban Thung Hong to see mo hom shirts (the traditional Thai farmers’ outfit) being made, tasted local dishes such as khao soi and explored the busy night market.

On leaving town, I made two more stops; firstly, at Phae Mueang Phi, about 15km northeast of town, to see the weird earth formations created by wind erosion, and finally to Wat Phra That Cho Hae, a temple on a hill about 10km east of town that is a site of pilgrimage for locals. As I walked around the stupa, tiny bells tinkling in the breeze seemed to whisper a fond farewell.

Ready for a getaway to the north of Thailand? Fly directly to Chiang Mai with Thai Airways and Thai Smile Airways.