Mon enclave losing its spirit
****Thanin Weeradet
(Bangkok Post dd. 15 juni 2006 // DN)
A recent visit to Ko Kret in Nonthaburi spurred mixed feelings.
Ko Kret is well known for its unique, elaborate pottery. The village sitting in the middle of Chao Phraya River is part of Pak Kret District. This village of Mon descendants has changed dramatically since my last visit a decade ago.
Those who travelled there all those years ago now complain that it has become too commercial. As a result, the homely feel has gone forever.
In the past sauntering around the village you felt a total stranger. There wasn’t much to see except for a few old temples that stood in solitude, the silence only shattered by occasional roar of boat engines plying the river. The only known tourist draw was a private museum, the Ko Kret Cultural Centre, and kilns that could be spotted at random. Occasionally, you would stumble upon a family at work preparing Thai and Mon desserts.
Only a few dozens visitors turned up on weekends and virtually none on weekdays.
Today, the road that circles the village is much too narrow for the boatloads of visitors arriving there. Weekends are noisy. Food stalls in front of Wat Poramai Yikawat make sure they don’t go hungry. For shoppers, there are toys and pottery.
Many residents have turned their homes into souvenir shops. Souvenir and toy stalls line the walkway to the temple pier, raising prospects of another Don Wai - a market by Nakhon Chai Si River in Nakhon Pathom - in the making. The temples buzz with festive spirit and activity. The dull melancholy characteristic of the past decade is gone for good.
Every Saturday and Sunday boats dump new visitors at the village pier and ferry back an equal number on the return leg. Everybody seems happy with the change sweeping the village.
Temples long overlooked are being restored to their former glory. Wat Chim Phlee, whose old ordination hall was given a facelift looks solemn and elegant, so does its architecture.
What used to be nothing more than groves of orchards is now an OTOP village paved with concrete walkways and flower beds. The OTOP shop showcases local products, mostly pottery, tagged with prices. There are energetic staffers to answer your questions.
A group of young students were seen trying their hand at pottery. They were trying to replicate the items on display.
“We provide students an opportunity to attend pottery courses so that this unique craft of Ko Kret will be passed down to the generation,” explained one eager staffer.
Also showcased are old kilns that have outlived their use, to give visitors an idea of how pottery makers worked in the old days.
Next to the OTOP building is a nor kala garden, an edible rhizome that belongs the curcuma family and is used in making thod man or fish cakes. It is a convenient substitute for shredded long beans, the conventional choice of vegetable in fish cakes.
Previously, nobody cared about nor kala; today it is a hot item with tremendous economic potential.
After strolling around admiring pottery making, I headed for Wat Poramai Yikawat that packs a treasure of Mon artifacts ranging from age-old pottery and cabinets that were once used for keeping Buddhist scriptures to Mon-style coffins and so on.
At the end of it all, I came to the conclusion that Ko Kret still held its charm for first time visitors, but for those who had been there before the tourists invasion of late, the Mon spirit is gone forever.