The charm and beauty of Lanna never fails

　　The charm and beauty of Lanna never fails to delight visitors to the mountainous northern region of Thailand. The beauty of Chiang Mai's numerous temples, the exquisite mural paintings in Nan and the graceful, intricate detail of woodcarvings in the wats in Lampang are but a few examples. And visitors soon discover that the spell of Lanna truly lies in the way of life of its people.

　　That certainly proved true to me during the course of producing the book, Dok Mai Thai: The Flower Culture of Thailand. During our long photo session in Chiang Mai, we had the privilege of observing local religious ceremonies performed in village temples. Various kinds of fresh offerings made from plant materials such as flowers, coconut leaves, banana leaves and betel nuts were brought to the temples for each occasion. Small parts of these offerings were suay dok, or cone-shaped floral receptacles made from banana leaf _ the inspiration for today's floral display.
Instead of the traditional banana leaf, however, I use jackfruit leaf for its beautiful texture.
I begin by cutting the leaf stem, so it can be easily folded. I then proceed to roll the leaf to create a small cone. The key is to let the fresh leaves lose their brittleness by airing them for a while after they've been cut, so they can be easily bent.
After that I use a bamboo sliver to pin parts of the leaf together to maintain the required cone shape. I then cut that piece of bamboo sliver to an appropriate length.
After a small cone of foliage has been made, I continue to cut a tiny bit of its bottom off to create a small hole for the stem of the flower to go through. I then insert the tiny stem of the small pink globe amaranth through the opening of the jackfruit-leaf cone, then through the small hole that had just been cut.
After a number of the floral cones, each complete with a pink globe amaranth, have been made, I proceed to arrange them in a small square glass. After the square glass is filled with water, we have a simple floral display that delightfully evokes the charm and beauty of the Land of a Million Rice Fields.