 |
| By Ianpassion |
Hidden in the village of Ban Papon, Manang, Satun, South of Thailand, there is a museum, furniture display made from roots and trunks of very old and large trees. The said place is called in Thai "Ban Rak Mai" or "Tree Roots House".
While on the road we were amused by tropical green nature. From towering mountains, rain-forest, rivers, and wooden Thai houses all were caught by our eyes. Simply they were beautiful.
Out of excitement, we did not notice that we already arrived. The travel was around one hour. Off from our transport I immediately recognized huge furniture from a trunk of a tree with a real skull of a carabao erected in front. Under is a wooden swing. A local friend said that this trunk was made without the aid of a machine. Only made by manual tools. I said, "Wow!"
A craftsman's name was mentioned to me, but I forgot. What I remembered was he from Pathalung, a province 3-hour drive from Manang. He is now 64 years old. When he was still young and strong, he used to carve lots of furniture to generate income. But nowadays, due to his age, he stops carving and decided to make his furniture as a museum for the young generation to learn. That is awesome.
All his furniture was kept under a spacious wooden barn. As I get closer to each of his works. I was amazed by how he managed to carve all of these without expensive tools. He only used a manual chisel, ax, a saw, and a knife. He carved the trunks to a shape of a dragon, a snake, a bird, or different types of animals as edging for tables, beds, benches, and shelves.
As I check the quality of the wood, I said to myself these woods are strong like steel. They are taken from the strongest trees in the jungle. Wood borers can not penetrate furniture made from these. Locals said these types of trees only grow for many years in a tropical forest. So they are extremely heavy, very strong, and only an elephant can drag them out.
Below are the pictures I took from the furniture displayed in the barn:
