Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Receiving the Kuan Yin figurehead


What an exciting long weekend this has been! I finally made it up to Chiang Mai from Bangkok (by overnight train, one of my favourite ways to travel) and on Saturday morning was taken out by my friend and guide khun Chew Chit to the carver outside the city to get my first look at his carving of Kuan Yin as a figurehead for my boat.

What a wonderful job khun Prapan Suja has done - he understood completely my instructions that, as a figurehead for a boat, the gaze of the Chinese boddhisattva must be up and open to the world, while still respectful to her, of course.

The next stage was to paint the figurehead - as the teak would fade into grey in a matter of weeks in the sunshine (even of Canada). I'd already decided she should be bright and bold, as all figures in Chinese temples are painted.

So on Monday, it was back to khun Suja's workshop and behold! the finished figure.

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