I discovered Koh Kret in an attempt to find a place to see production potters in Thailand. We walked the perimeter of Koh Kret, which is almost 8km's long and very scenic.
The main road winds through villages, plantations, markets/shops and pottery workshops along the way. The houses in these villages are very rustic and beautiful They are all on stilts with thatched roofs. There aren't any windows or doors on these houses as privacy doesn't seem to be too much of a concern in Thailand. I saw many Thais lounging around in their living rooms on hammocks.
The plantation fields mostly consisted of bananas and durians, but we also saw coconuts, jackfruit, papayas and dragon fruit (images show the last three in the same order as they are listed).
The pottery for sale was sometimes sold containing a food or a drink (Lori purchased an iced coffee for 30 baht, it came with a free hand-made drinking bucket).
Most of the pottery sold in Koh Kret was described as "Mon" style, which seems to refer to the their signature unglazed, oxidized earthenware pieces with exceptionally intricate carving. The potters often sat in their stores carving leather hard pieces in between helping customers.
At the end of our walk, we saw some small and large "turtle back" kilns (single chamber).
The pottery workshops were very large for such a small island.
We also had the opportunity to watch some potters working on the wheel.
Their precision in making every piece identical and the speed at which they pumped work out was incredible. (see videos below).
2 comments:
First off I have to state that I am deeply in love with Jackfruit. Back in the day (and I mean way back in the day ) Lisa Chandy woudl bring me dried Jackfruit from when they went to India. I have loved it since. Also as a sucker who can not do pottery for the life of me I had my mind blown by you videos, especially the lasy one. Super crazy!
Mel
This is literally INSANE! Wow! WHAT AN EXPERIECE! They sure make it look easy eh?
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