Swept Away…

Gary in Asia

One of the many things I find fascinating about living in Chiang Mai is the many differences in culture and how things are done.

In April I will have been living here a year (I can’t believe that!) and I have never seen nor heard a vacuum cleaner being used. Everything here is done with brooms and Thai people have brought it to an art form.

I found the photo above on the net, but while I was sketching and watching traffic at the cafe a few weeks ago, I saw a similar thing. Apparently the broom sellers use bicycles or motor scooters to carry and sell their wares. My mouth dropped open at the man’s finesse weaving in and out of heavy lanes of traffic in both directions, dodging other motorcycles, motor scooters and bicycles, as well as pedestrians crossing the street, stopping just to the side of the road to carry out a transaction.

This is my more traditional, boring broom and dustpan combination. There was an extremely tired Thai type broom here when I first moved in, but I discovered that even with a new one, there is an art to USING brooms here.

Awbrooms

Everyone has shades to cover their windows here due to the intensity of the sun until around noon, particularly in the hot season. I actually have something similar to this top shade in my bedroom. This broom is really soft and great for ‘dusting’ particularly in high places.

Thankfully, since I’m old, retired, and have a housekeeper for the first time in my life 🙏🏻, I just look at these different types of brooms with respect. As far as I can see, all are handmade for particular purposes.

Awbrooms

This is for outside. This design is great for picking up leaves as you sweep, a pretty constant thing here, since most things are blooming and shedding all year ’round. There is a real art to using this, though. I tried it and just made a mess, leaving most of the leaves still on the ground. There is a technique for sweeping UP at the same time as you use it as a regular broom, that picks even wet leaves (which they have a lot) up from the pavement and uneven sidewalks and into a dustpan or bag or whatever. There are people who sweep the streets here every day and their brooms look quite similar to this.

Escoba –

Another street broom or one used outside shops on the street or the front steps. This one is very effective if you know how to use it correctly.

Wentworth – called a “Turkey Wing” this is a kind of whisk broom.

Eve Floral Co. – this one is soft and used as a kind of mop!

I’m thinking of buying some of these to make a display on a wall in my place. A lot of them are really beautiful!