Strange collections

January

Until 19
Jirapat Tatsanasomboon’s Stranger collection in Phuket is a dynamic acrylic series of American pop culture fused with traditional Thai art: some of his more memorable combinations incorporate the crass vernacular of Beavis and Butthead, and Roy Lichtensten’s iconic benday dots. Jirapat’s striking visuals take a cheeky stab at highlighting Thailand’s cultural mishmash of East and West. www.dgallery.co.th

Until 10
Dig into a slice of J pop culture at Twist and Shout, a multimedia exhibition celebrating Thailand’s love affair with manga, music and film. www.jfbkk.or.th

16-29
Travel snapper Mick Connolly leads a 14-day photo tour, Images of Thailand and Laos, from Bangkok to Luang Prabang. www.mickconnolly.com

13-24
Part of the Singapore M1 Fringe. Brit artist Phillip Toledano spoofs a dethroned regime, with America the Gift Shop. www.singporefringe.com

15-17
The first Bangkok International Tattoo Convention hits town with a coterie of celebs and feted Thai master artists. www.bangkoktattoconvention.com

URBAN LINES

February

ALL MONTH
A city trapped between ancient and modern, tradition and technology, Thailand’s capital often leaves visitors exhausted and exhilarated. No wonder, then, that Urban Lines, photographer Marc Shultz’s series of images of authentic Thai life, uses the curving distortion of a fish-eye lens. Larger-than-life images include a barefoot monk walking under an air-conditioning vent and a wizened old man surrounded by piles of grease-covered cogs.

Face Bangkok Restaurant until 10 March. www.urbanlines.asia

12-14
  Get to the third annual Phangan Film Festival by boat from Koh Samui. This year’s themes are ‘Nature’ and ‘Spirit’. www.phanganfilmfestival.com

14
The Spring Lantern Festival, celebrated in Hong Kong on the Lunar New Year’s first full moon, falls on Valentine’s Day this year.  
 
 ONGOING
Showcasing one of history’s greatest civilisations, Singapore hosts Quest for Immortality: The World of Ancient Egypt. www.nationalmuseum.sg

26-27
Charlie Musselwhite headlines the fourth Phuket Blues Rock Fest. The beach stage is set at the Hilton Phuket. www.phuketbluesfestival.com

BB King’s Bangkok

The blues guitar legend would dig these joints

Angkok is famous for its fabulous shopping, fantastic food and frenetic pace – but live music? Well, a vibrant jazz and blues scene, 15,000km from its birthplace, is actually one of the Thai capital’s best-kept secrets – and from smoky little bars to elegant clubs, the choices are astounding. We list four of the best, which, in the spirit of good music, carry no cover charge.  
 
INDUSTRY FAVE: ADHERE 13TH BLUES BAR
This is how a blues bar should be: tiny, delightful and hard to find. Adhere has a loyal following of locals and expatriates who love the acoustic blues and swing, with even the occasional original composition. Best of all, this is where musicians come to mingle. “Sometimes there are more musicians here than there are customers,” says guitarist and regular Pong Sabua. 13 Samsen Road, tel +66 (0)2 281 0314  
 
ALL-ROUNDER: SAXOPHONE PUB
Great performers, great cocktails and great food – this place scores the trifecta. With duplex seating and lavishly decorated with jazz memorabilia, Saxophone has a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Every night there are usually three different acts, who might play jazz, pop, blues, reggae or big band. Don’t miss the cocktail named Saxophone Dropper, which is made with vodka, brandy, blue curacao and lemon juice. 3/8 Phayathai Road, Victory Monument, tel +66 (0)2 246 5472, www.saxophonepub.com

LIVE AND LOUD: BROWN SUGAR
Laidback, loud and perhaps a little dated, this is your quintessential jazz bar. Don’t come here for quiet conversation unless you favour shouting in each other’s ears. The resident Brown Sugar Jazz Band plays a good variety, including medium and fast swing, blues, soul, Latin, ballads and samba. 231/20 Sarasin Road [opp. Lumpini Park], tel +66 (0)2 250 1826

BIG NAME BAR: LIVING ROOM
At the top end of the scale, Living Room at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit gets lots of points for its visiting artists; Singaporean pianist Jeremy Monteiro makes an annual pilgrimage with his trio, and New Orleaner Leroy Jones played trumpet here. 250 Sukhumvit Road, tel +66 (0)2 649 8353 – Kerry van der Jagt

Fresh from Cambodia

We travel with a top Cambodian chef as he scours the countryside for ingredients and inspiration

For Cambodia’s premier chef, dining is not something squeezed in between activities; it’s the main event. Since opening restaurants Topaz in 1997 and Malis in 2005, Luu Meng has helped develop Cambodian cuisine from mundane street food into high-end gastronomy. His self-styled Living Cambodian Cuisine is not based on fusion, but enhancement of flavour. “It is all about fresh spices,” says Meng, who trained at what is now called the Hotel Cambodiana. “This is what separates Khmer food from Thai or Vietnamese cuisine.”

In his pursuit of the freshest ingredients, Meng bypasses supermarkets and heads to a family-run vegetable farm on the outskirts of the capital. “I like to come straight to the source myself,” says the Chinese-Cambodian as he dives into rows of aubergine, pumpkin, lemongrass and lettuce. “We pick only the best.”

A stickler for quality, Meng orders a delivery of fresh vegetables and spices to his kitchens across the city every two days and visits the farm every couple of weeks. “I love coming out to the countryside; this is where Khmer cuisine was born after all,” says the 36-year-old as he prepares sand’ny, a lemongrass fish salad.

Meng’s flair for flavour has led him to use unripe ingredients in his cooking. “For foreigners, it is inconceivable to eat unripe vegetables like aubergine, for Khmers it is instrumental to our cuisine,” he beams, while making samlor koko, a traditional pork and pumpkin stew. For dessert he allows us to sample a creation in the making, a pumpkin crème caramel. In keeping with Meng’s gourmet trademark, the look is French, the taste Khmer.

This back-to-nature approach allows Meng to incorporate seasonal differences into his menu; beef is best in September and bitter herbs in December, he assures me. As the gourmet escapade to the countryside comes to a close, freshly picked herbs and vegetables join us in the van. “Now back to the kitchen,” the aff able chef laughs, our culinary odyssey suddenly over. – Charlie Lancaster Topaz: 182 Sothearos, tel +855 (0)23 221622, www.. topaz-restaurant.com; Malis: 136 Norodom Blvd [near Independence Monument], tel +855 (0)23 221022, www.malis-restaurant.com

In the still of the night

Photographer Peter Jackson Tells us how he captured this Hong Kong Panorama

Night can be one of the most interesting times to shoot. True, there is no natural light available, but the darkness emphasises colours and it is a pleasurable challenge to work with sparse, directional light sources. There is a naturally strong contrast; the shadows created by often harsh artificial lighting can be interesting to work with.

I tooks this shot from the top of The Peak and it’s a classic scene of the whole city below. To capture it, I used a tripod, wide-angle lens and very slow shutter speed. It was a tough shot to get right; there was quite a wind up there that night and i was strunggling to keep the camera steady. It was also packed with people on the viewing point, so some of my earlier attempts had ghostly human shapes at the edges of the image.

In theory with these shots you should use as high (and therefore small) aperture as possible, but for this one i used a slightly larger setting because of the wind - exposing the shot for more than four seconds runs the risk of blurring.

City panoramas at night can be captured without any special lighting equipment as the city provides its own. Use a small aperture (under f/13 ideally) - the higher the number, the smaller the aperture will be - or just change your camera’s mode to the ‘landscape’ setting. Also, use the widest lens (or zoom setting) possible to fit the whole view into the frame if that is your aim or, alternatively, a wide section of the frame can be cropped out on a computer later on.

To see more of Peter Jackson’s work, visit www.pjjphotography.co.uk

For richner or poorer

Casey Whale meets the doctor who performs to raise awareness for cambodian kids in need

It’s Saturday night in a half-empty lecture theatre that’s chilly with air-conditioning. A rotund, late-middle-aged Swiss man sporting a shock of thinning curly hair walks on stage and picks up a cello, just as he has done on 507 prior Saturday nights over the last 20 years.

At the end of each song he regales the audience with tales from his ‘day job’ as the director of four Kantha Bopha children’s hospitals in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, and asks them to donate “blood if you’re young, money if you’re old or both if you’re in between.”

Beat Richner’s concerts are about raising money and awareness as much as they’re about music.

He effortlessly and almost compulsively reels off the statistics: Eight million children saved; 700 children currently hospitalised at this facility; 2,100 local staff ; 160 cases of dengue fever; 60 operations per day; 50 babies born daily; and 260 to 320 daily admissions.

His frustration at the corruption and political situation inherent in Cambodia and the “system of absurdity” that is practised by international health organisations fast becomes evident. His message is clear when describing the WHO and UNICEF and he pulls no punches.

They are perpetrating a “passive genocide of Cambodian children,” he says, “by practising poor medicine for poor countries.” Providing cheap, generic drugs without investing in infrastructure doesn’t cut it as far as Richner is concerned.

When we meet the following day for a tour of the bright and airy Jayavarman VII Children’s Hospital, the normally spry 62-year-old shakes his head sadly when I say how much I enjoyed the concert.

“Now in Cambodia there are so many less tourists than last year because of the financial crisis and swine flu,” he says. “I have never seen so few people at my concerts as there are now.”

As we tour the wards and pass hundreds of children, his involvement in every aspect of the hospital is apparent. Richner greets all the staff with familiarity and introduces his head surgeon by proudly stating that Swiss doctors who have seen him work rate the Cambodian as at least as good as the best Europe has to off er.

Richner first came to Cambodia in 1974 as a young Red Cross doctor. Back then he was working at the Kantha Bopha hospital in Phnom Penh, and was the last to leave the grounds as the Khmer Rouge took the capital.

His sadness at having to leave the country to its awful fate is apparent as he recounts the story. Thoughts of the 953 doctors who were in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge came to power in particular haunt his conscience. Only 53 survived the reign of terror.

After returning to Switzerland and paediatrics, a chance 1991 meeting with Cambodia’s King Sihanouk in Paris changed the course of Richner’s life once again.

Sihanouk asked him to return to Cambodia and rebuild Kantha Bopha, which had been destroyed by the war. Although he had his doubts about their chances of success – given the country’s unstable political and economic situation – he decided to sign on to rebuild and run the hospital for two years. That was 18 years ago.

The model is one that Richner hopes can be adopted by others in the developing world. At Kantha Bopha hospitals, everyone from the head surgeon to the cleaning staff is paid an above-average wage to dissuade under-the-table payments. In a country where the average monthly wage is less than US$100, the cleaners at Kantha Bopha make US$200.

Money is also invested in state-of-the-art equipment and medicines equal to any children’s hospitals in Europe. No child is turned away and none have to pay for their treatment – most would never be able to aff ord it. According to Richner, 80% of the children that are admitted wouldn’t survive without the treatment that’s only offered to them here.

When asked whether he thinks of heading home, Richner says that he would very much like to, but that his obligations to the hospital make it impossible. “I am often homesick but it’s okay,” he says, “because my parents are no longer living, and my sisters and my brother support me in doing this.”

Despite their medical successes, Kantha Bopha’s financial position still isn’t secure and the constant grind of fundraising (90% of the hospitals’ US$25 million annual operational costs come from private donors) has made Richner weary.

“As long as I’m here the money will come more or less,” he says; “as soon as I have the sustainable financing then I can retire.”

It’s hard to see Richner enjoying the quiet life on a golf course in Switzerland. But then again, it’s hard to imagine one man holding together a network of children’s hospitals in a developing country through sheer determination and the help of a cello. It just goes to show that anything’s possible.

CLOWNING FOR A CAUSE

“BEATOCELLO” has been well known in his native Switzerland for many years. After returning from Cambodia in the mid-‘70s, Richner invented the alter ego to perform as a clown, playing comedic songs accompanied by his cello.

NOWADAYS his entertaining is limited to solo Bach pieces for tourists in Siem Reap and several gala concerts a year in Switzerland to boost funds.

RICHNER gives free cello concerts at Jayavarman VII Children’s Hospital every Saturday at 7.15pm. To donate to the Kantha Bopha foundation, visit www.beat-richner.chw

This is the maldives

Thomas Pickard reveals two contrasting images of the coral-island nation

PHOTO: THOMAS PICKARD/AURORA PHOTOS

The Maldives is breathtaking. Each atoll appears as an oasis in a watery desert, exposing at once the fragility and beauty of these lagoon-enclosing coral islands. This nation of 1,300 low-lying isles forms one of the planet’s most complex reef systems, with each circular or horseshoe-shaped atoll also making it one of the world’s flattest – its highest point just 1.2m above sea level. Look this country in the eye and you will see fear in those great big blues – global warming is threatening the reefs. Responding to the danger of rising sea levels, the government recently signed a deal for the construction of a 75-megawatt wind farm on Gaafaru in North Malé Atoll. The farm should reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 20%, a step towards becoming carbon-neutral. The biggest problem for this nation, however, is that it’s not located in a carbon-neutral world.

This, too, is the maldives

PHOTO: THOMAS PICKARD/AURORA PHOTOS

Welcome to the Malé, the Maldives’ capital. This tiny island has seen land reclaimed from the sea over the years to accommodate an ever-increasing population (land reclamation describes a coastal area that has been rebuilt or taken back from the ocean). Barely 1.77 sq km in size and with more than 103,000 residents, Malé crams in more than 58,000 people per sq km. For those holidaying on the outer atolls, a day trip to the capital, with its narrow, scooter-filled streets, couldn’t provide more of a contrast. To get a feel of local life, watch commercial fishermen as they unload freshly caught yellowfin tuna at the biggest fish market in the country; visit the man-made beach in the late afternoon; or simply try some Maldivian short eats, or snacks, at any of the numerous teahouses.

A hundred or less

New cabin-friendly skin savers for hands, face and lips (all under 100ml of course)

1. Refine your pores with Kiehl’s Rare Earth Pore Minimising Lotion, 75ml. Available off the shelves at Kiehl’s and online at www.kiehls. com (US$28)

2. Better skin while you sleep: Lancaster Retinology Total Age Solution, Night Reenergising Cream, 50ml. Available at leading Lancaster outlets (US$142)

3. Handy sunscreen which doesn’t need to be checked-in: Clinique Suncare SPF 50 Face Cream, 50ml. Available at all leading Clinique stores and all Asia-Pacific Duty Free stores. Also available online at www.clinique.com (US$17.50)

4. Keep lips sweet and soft with Burt’s Bees Honey Lip Balm. Available at leading Sephora stores (US$5.75)

5. For hands that smell like flowers: L’Occitane Ylang Ylang/Frangipani Perfumed Hand Cream, 30ml. Also comes in Shea Butter, Acacia and Rosebud. Available at all leading L’Occitane stores (US$11)

6. Forever young with Bliss’s The Youth As We Know It anti-aging moisture cream, 50ml. Available at leading Sephora stores and online at www.sephora. com (US$79) – Rachael Nonis

Hong Kong Hottie

The maven behind the territory’s prime new real estate

One of Londoner Tara Bernerd’s most vivid childhood memories is flying into Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport. “I first arrived at age 11,” says Target Living’s chairman and head of design. “This city has such energy and excitement. I used to travel with my father to China, to Shanghai, during those trips. Hong Kong is part of my heritage.”

Bernerd is extremely well connected. She is the daughter of UK real estate magnate Elliot Bernerd, she has been married to the son of Lord Jeff rey Archer, and was once business partners with Philippe Starck. But the British designer has made her own connections, winning awards including the 2005 Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year Award, starting Target Living with architect Thomas Griem, and most recently, working as contributing editor of British GQ.

Lauded for her work on projects in London such as Chelsea’s Marco restaurant and refurbishing casino Aspinalls in Mayfair, she is now taking her talent across the globe, heading up the interiors for Hong Kong’s swankiest new address, The Westminster Terrace.

Developed by Grosvenor Asia, Westminster is a 59-unit, all-duplex residence in the heart of the territory on Castle Peak Road – it’s also Bernerd’s Hong Kong debut.

“There is such a tycoon flavour to design in Hong Kong – lots of rich marbles and gilding,” says Bernerd. “Recently, with restaurants like Sevva and The Pawn, there is a contemporary edge coming in. I married the two with Westminster’s penthouse design. I’m trying to speak to a new generation.” Needless to say, they are listening. – Rebecca Lo The Westminster Terrace is set to launch in Spring 2010, www.grosvenor.com; Target Living, www.targetliving.com

Holiday karma

Merit-making holidays are all the rage for Thai Buddhists

The Buddhist concept of doing good deeds in order to accumulate good karma for oneself is called tam boon, or merit-making, and it’s serious business in Thailand. Thais believe tam boon helps bring good fortune and good health for this life and the next.

Locals get into full merit-making swing at temples on major Thai holidays like Songkran (Thai New Year, 13 to 15 April) and Khao Pansaa (Buddhist Lent, 27 June). Upon visiting the temples, devotees off er alms to the monks, giving items like homemade food, incense sticks and even money. Afterwards, monks lead prayer sessions before they conclude the service by blessing devotees with holy water.

Quite often you will find Thais arranging meritmaking travel plans with family and friends, to visit nine temples in various Thai cities. The number nine, or gao in Thai, is considered especially lucky as it sounds similar to the word for progress. Some famous temples that are often on merit-making tours are Bangkok’s Wat Pra Kaew, Wat Arun and the Erawan Shrine; Chiang Mai’s Wat Phathat Doi Suthep; and Wat Si Chum in Sukhothai.

For Thais, merit-making travel is not just a pilgrimage. “You can enjoy your time with other people in your group, especially if there are close friends who are travelling with you,” says Bangkok resident and regular merit-maker, Prayoon Chanchaisrisakul.

Non-Buddhists are more than welcome to participate. At temples, they can release birds or fish back into the wild. This is believed to bring positive karma in your direction – not to mention a warm fuzzy feeling. – Text by Tanya Sangpun Thamkruphat

EASTERN PHILOSOPHY

new year, new view

To start 2010 with an open mind why not learn more about the world’s fourth-largest belief system. Here are three ways to go beyond the temples: 

1. At Wat Suan Mokkh’s 10-day silent meditation retreat, students learn the fundamentals of Buddhist teaching while cultivating a meditation practice. Courses start on the first day of each month, though most students show up a day early to secure a spot.

Located 640km south of Bangkok. Ampoe Chaiya, Surat Thani, Thailand, www.suanmokkh-idh.org

2. Visitors with less time can help express gratitude by taking part in the Buddhist practice of alms-giving, which is popular with tourists in Luang Prabang and Sukhothai. Show respect by leaving your camera behind so you can focus on spooning cooked rice into monks’ bowls as they make their daily procession through Alms collection is a common scene in any Buddhist community

the streets. On Visakha Puja Day (the birthday, death and enlightenment of Buddha, 28 May) give alms in the morning and return to the local wat, or temple, that night to observe a candlelit parade. The holiday is celebrated at temples throughout the region.

3. Travel-to-Teach (T2T) adds an additional element to learning about reaching nirvana – interaction. Programme participants study Buddhism, practise meditation and teach English to novices, monks or children at a nearby school. Visitors adhere to a typical monk’s lifestyle by taking part in daily routines such as collecting alms each morning.

Various locations in Nong Khai province, www.travel-to-teach.org – Text by Karryn Miller

Puppetry fan Maria Visconti visits Burma to discover a magical art with far more meaning than that of simple entertainment

If you were picking your way through the woods on a balmy Burmese evening and heard the notes from a harp accompanied by a harmonious voice rising from the dark, floating towards the fragrant canopy overhead – you’d be intrigued, maybe even frightened. If, suddenly, you were to happen upon a small clearing with a group of tiny beings dancing inside a ring of flickering oil lamps… you might be astonished. And if you were back in the 15th century, when there was no knowledge of animatronics, film or TV, you’d be downright dumbstruck.

This is said to be the way puppetry started in Burma (Myanmar). Ingenious puppeteers would choose a natural grove with a low-lying canopy from where platforms precariously perched on branches served as a hideaway so puppeteers could manipulate their marionettes unseen by the audience.

Smack in the middle of important trade routes between India and the Far East, Burma was exposed to trends travelling eastward from the sub-continent and Indonesia. Puppetry was adopted and adapted with a passion. The puppets were not only mesmerising, they were educational and entertaining. Raised bamboo stages replaced canopy contraptions, becoming the norm for better visibility and the comfort of both puppeteers and audiences. Backdrops got ever more elaborate, depicting the mythical jungles within which heroes invariable became lost, or heavenly realms populated by equally heavenly beings. Stories told the life of Buddha, sung by the hidden performers.

U Aye Thwin has been making souvenir puppets all his life. He runs the family business from a low-lit shop on the Mandalay to Sagaing Road, where his relatives make the traditional Burmese wall hangings. “Visitors always buy puppets to take home,” he says. “They are almost a symbol of Burma.” New and antique traditional dance costumes are to be found here too.

In a society where the natural and supernatural easily overlap, the belief is that you never walk alone, but are instead surrounded by invisible spirits, or nats. Puppets belong in a third sphere, placed between humans and spirits. Dancers aspire to perform like puppets, and puppets are judged by how close they move like human

dancers. There is a traditional number involving a puppet – identifiable as a heavenly being – and a human dancer together on the same stage. The human is a very petite young woman who appears to be manipulated by strings from above by a puppeteer (pictured on page 80). While she dances, the heavenly being watches attentively. When the girl’s strings no longer pull her, she collapses on the stage. At this point the nat takes tentative steps to imitate the human dance. Human and marionette continue to dance in turn, copying each other’s moves. The spectacle wholly captures the audience’s attention, as the refined dancing techniques of both the performers on stage and the puppeteers behind the screen are remarkable. It is believed that during a performance like this, the vocalist, the puppeteer, the human dancer and the puppet all merge into the spirit of Lamaing Shin Mat, the ancient female tree spirit and protector of puppetry.

At the height of its popularity, between 1820 and 1885, puppet theatre was considered superior to live theatre because of the many different skills involved in staging a production. Court performances were lavish and shows for commoners attracted crowds. People were so entranced by the performances that, at times, a villainous character would suffer at the hands of a member of the audience. Many a time, a man would come forward and rip apart the puppet in an effort to deliver a favourite heroine from her tormentor.

In the Royal Court, puppets were even allowed to perform on a raised stage above the nobles’ heads – something that human dancers and entertainers were never allowed to do.

For centuries, local puppet-makers adhered to strict codes determining what timber was to be employed in the making of each individual character. Once the required wood was obtained, puppets were carved, complete with sex organs. U Tin Maung Kyi, a retired physician who lives in Mandalay and makes puppets, blames deforestation for today’s scarcity of Burma’s yamanay wood.

“I have used ceramic instead and even some plastic piping in the construction of Zaw-Gyi (the Alchemist),” he told me during a workshop. When he tried to use puppets to alert the public to the dangers of AIDS, the government told him to adhere to traditional themes.

There are 28 easily identifiable characters in a set of

puppets, including those that are mythological, animal and human. Costumes and colouring of the face make them staple characters, which audiences recognise and either love or hate. Only human hair was used for high-ranking puppets. Tresses are traditionally let down during moments of distress; a gesture always supported by heart-rending songs and a sure way to bring an audience to tears.

Ma Ma Naing, co-founder of the Mandalay Marionettes, said of their US performances: “In New York, Burmese audience members had tears on their faces. They miss their country and like to remember.”

She and Naing Yee Marr ‘discovered’ two puppet players, 70-year-old U Pan Aye and U Mya Thwin, 82. The former puppeteer, now 78, has recently performed in Japan. He said he was honoured to be able to bring his art to other lands and that his only regret was, “the Burmese applause is not as big as the foreign applause”.

There has always been an aura of respect surrounding marionettes. To this day, characters that are natural enemies are never stored together. Animal characters are carried prominently so the villagers can see them when a troupe arrives at a new destination. At puppeteers’ homes, puppets are referred to as ‘the bread-winners’. Singers and the orchestra supporting the production are an intrinsic part of the troupe. In the early days, drums, wooden clappers and cymbals were the only instruments. Today the ensemble reveals doubleheaded drums, brass gongs, large circular gongs, oboes and metallic bells. The Burmese harp, a 13-stringed boat-shaped harp, is central to many songs.

The future of puppetry in Burma is bravely fought for by a dedicated group of old puppeteers which, in the face of modern movie and TV entertainment, is bent on keeping the tradition alive. Local youth don’t even understand the courtly, refined language of the puppets; strangely enough, it is the continued interest of foreign visitors that ensures the survival of this fine art.

It is not hard to understand their fascination; attending a Burmese puppetry performance is like entering a new dimension, where magic really works.

MEET THE MARIONETTES

REGULAR PUPPET SHOWS are held in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan. Enquire at your hotel for a timetable.

THE MANDALAY MARIONETTES give daily performances from  
8.30pm. www.mandalaymarionettes.com

THE MANDALAY HILLS RESORT has a nightly BBQ and puppet show, and an English narrator. www.mandalayhillresorthotel.com

AT PHO LA PYAE HANDICRAFTS workshop, on the Mandalay to Sagaing Road, find richly dressed hand puppets and elaborate two-dimensional sequin embroidery. Tel +95 (0)2 70619