85 year old Uncle Jack presides over an invaluable collection of antique Buddhist paraphanalia at his self built museum in Chiang Mai
The Bangkok Post’s Horizons section carried a fascinating article yesterday about Jarin Bain, affectionately known as Uncle Jack, who singlehandedly set up the Wat Ket Karam Museum in Chiang Mai which preserves many important Buddhist items. The photos in the newspaper looked a lot better than the small thumbnails provided on the website, but you can still get an idea of this amazing ragtag collection of statues, gramophone players, flags and a wealth of other items that Uncle Jack has gathered together to preserve Chiang Mai’s heritage. Bizarrely, Uncle Jack has had no help from the local authorities despite the popularity of visitors to his museum – while he is thrilled that 70 per cent of visitors to see him are foreign tourists, he wishes more young Thai people would come and find out how the country’s previous generations used to live.
It’s an obviously poignant article, given Uncle Jack’s age and the uncertainity of what will happen to the museum in the future. But journalist Yvonne Bohwongprasert captures his infectious enthusiasm and the sense of discovery you get poking around his museum – definitely one to investigate if you’re going to Chaing Mai.
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