Mayuree Sueriserm was born into the craft of making alms bowls by hand in the village of Ban Bat, where the tradition has subsisted since a royal decree in the eighteenth century. Mayuree left school at an early age to work amongst her family and became one of the few women to master each step of the arduous process of bowl making. Her daughter, Maneerat Nakrat, is working alongside her mother to ensure their craftsmanship continues to be relevant for the benefit of the community artisans and the devout Buddhist monks who use this bowls, as Ban Bat is the last of the villages to preserve this invaluable cultural legacy.

Bangkok, the seemingly endless metropolis of over eight million inhabitants, is a thoroughly modern city whose charm is best found on foot and by wandering through the narrow residential alleyways of the older districts, including Ban Bat in the old city's temple supply neighborhood. Often behind closed gates or tall walls, the hidden gems that we uncovered would have been nearly impossible to find without our indispensable guide, Kob, who serves as a local expert working closely with our friends at Indagare Travel.