Lanna Folklife Centre — Attraction in Chiang Mai Province

Could be very interesting, but this museum has poor English explanations. The panels lack a coherent narrative, and most of them feel like a jumbled and confusing information dump whilst missing out key details.

For example the photographed panel is about phra upakut, stating that he was born 200 years after the Buddha, is a deity that is still alive, and also that there are 8 of them(?).

A quick Google search gives two explanations of who he is:

"He was an arhat who was praised by the Buddha for his magical powers. Before the Buddha entered Nirvana, he asked Phra Upakhut to remain alive until the coming of the Maitreya, the future Buddha. Buddha asked him to protect the Buddhist religion and the teachings of the Dhamma."

"Phra Upakhut was a monk from the ancient city of Patna in India and lived after the Buddha during the reign of Emperor Ashoka (268-232 BC). After Emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism he started constructing countless stupas and temples to house the relics of the Buddha. The devil threatened to interfere but Phra Upakhut came to the rescue... This earned him his reputation as the protector."

"Theravada Buddhists believe the monk is alive and amongst us."

None of that information is mentioned in this plaque, and most of the museum is the same. Unless you already have a good grounding in Thai Buddhism I...

This museum had potential. They had some interesting artifacts and an interesting space. However, the exhibits had a consistent disconnect between what the plaques were talking about, and what the artifacts were. For example, in an exhibit about architecture, a plaque explained the intricacies of Buddhist arch ways, and the exhibit had an arch way, but the described details weren't present. It made it difficult to understand and retain the information provided.

Also, many of the exhibits about budhisim or local traditions didn't offer background on the holidays or concepts described. As a Westerner, this made it very difficult to follow the story as I didn't understand the jargon.

So maybe it's great if you already have a lot of background on Thailand and bushism, but if you're like me, don't expect to learn much and be ready to just be looking at...

Love this museum ... Informative about Lanna people. The displays are well organised and rich in categories, from Lanna people daily life to sculpture and musical instruments. I found that the mural painting attract me the most. We were lucky as we met students intern at the museum and offer us a tour (some of them are international students and they can speak English or Chinese). And I guess the best part is that they have good quality (in term of translating) and quantity of English & Chinese (plus Thai) explanation plates make the visit worthwhile.

Additional tips: You may be interested to find out the history of the building (the court house setting is still there in one...