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Today Tha Pae Road is seeing a revival,with top end
handicraft boutiques,antique shops as well as restaurants and bars
opening up all along the busy one-way road.
Chiang Mai's Tha Pae Road is undergoing an exciting rebirth.
Although always seen as the city's main thoroughfare, as the
road runs from the old Nawarat bridge to Tha Pae Gate -traditionally
considered the main entrance to the ancient moated city -Tha Pae
road suffered a loss of trade and prestige in the nineties as it
was considered too congested. Many of Chiang Mai's businesses
that had been flourishing along the road moved away to newer and
more popular locations.
However, today Tha Pae is seeing a revival, with top end handicraft
boutiques, antique shops as well as restaurants and bars opening
up all along the busy one-way road. The municipality is making good
use of the public arena at the western end of the road and most
weekends a concert, fair or some kind of event is held, often drawing
crowds of thousands. Between Febr uary and April of this year, TAT
and other organisations created Sunday street festivals on Tha Pae
road, with concerts, buskers, stalls, and other forms of entertainment
set up which attracted an estimated 100, 000 visitors -predominantly
locals but also some tourists -per Sunday. This unprecedented success
has lead to the demand by the public to continue closing the road
indefinitely for pedestrians on Sundays, much to the glee of business
owners on both sides of the road who say that around fifteen million
baht is spent in Tha Pae road each festival.
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Although Tha Pae road attracts hoards of backpackers, as inexpensive
accommodation can be found along the sois behind it, it is also
drawing shoppers to its high quality showrooms. The Lost Heavens,
selling tribal and primitive art from around the region is one of
the best places to go in town to find rare collectables;Tibetan
ceremonial textiles, Yao priest silk embroideries, Sipsong Panna
paintings and other fascinating finds. Newer and more cutting edge
products are also available, such as Nova Collection's custom
made jewelry using silver and carat gold with precious and semi
precious stones to create modern jewelry designs at relatively inexpensive
prices. Tha Pae's restaurants are some of the more popular
in town, with one of the city's most frequented Italian restaurant,
da Stefano, serving a mind-boggling selection of Italian dishes
in a bright and friendly atmosphere. The Art Café, on the
corner of Tha Pae as it t urns into Kotchasarn road is an all day
diner serving Thai, Mexican and European food and a place that locals
and tourists alike tend to use as a central meeting point.
With Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar as well as the city
's main market, Warorot, both branching off the eastern end
of Tha Pae road, pedestrian traffic is constant. That has meant
that pubs, bars, ice-cream parlours and noodle shops now also abound
along the sides of the road, mostly serving the population of backpackers
and tourists. However, the road is not only flanked by businesses,
four of Chiang Mai's more revered temples sit along Tha Pae
Road;Wat Mahawan and its glittering viharn, Wat Bupparam where many
of the cities'ceremonies are held, Wat Chettawan and Wat Saeng
Fang are all tourist attractions -although some also serve as car
parks for the congested road.
And of course there is the Gover nor's residence which is
at the end of the east side of the road by the Ping River. Here
is where the Songkran festival procession starts, and where the
population is allowed, once a year, to air their grievances by throwing
a bucket of water over the governor's head.
Once elephants and cattle jostled across the bridge, up Tha Pae
road to enter the city at the gates, now it is tourists and locals,
vying with each other to patronise the dozens of shops and restaurants
down the road. Tha Pae road holds a special place in the affections
of Chiang Mai's people. First time visitors may not feel the
same way due to the Mae Kha river -unfondly called by locals, the
Mae Kha sewer -which r uns underneath the road emitting rather unpleasant
f umes on a bad day. Also detracting from the environment are the
scr uffy store fronts that mask the elegant old wooden buildings
behind. However, we are all delighted to see the road brought back
to life again the recent establishment of quality businesses as
well as the weekly festival, which we hope the gover nor will agree
to continue.
The Lost Heavens: 234 Tha Pae road (opp. Wat Bupparam)
Tel:053-251557,
Email: thelostheavens@yahoo.com
URL:www. thaiway.com/thelostheavens
Nova Collection: 201 Tha Pae road,
Tel:053-273058,
URL:www. nova-collection.com.da
Stefano: 2/1-2 Chang Moi Kao Road,
Tel:053-874189.
Art Café: 291 Tha Pae road,
Tel:053-206365.
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