Head for the hills! A few miles up from Phuping Palace (it was closed to the public when we were in town), there’s a craft village. I reckon all the tourists are brought here, but it’s still an interesting place. We had hired a taxi for the day (it’s cheaper than an organised trip) and so were under no pressure to rush round. The dry and dusty tracks were lined with market stalls offering mostly craft-wares and some fairly suspect food. All prices were negotiable, but it was clear that the goods on sale were for us tourists. But follow the stalls upwards and take a sharp left, and you’ll enter an area that is less commercialised. The views from here are stunning, and the slopes were a mass of brightly coloured flowers; there were also quiet water areas and a traditional altar dedicated to Buddha. Clearly it’s a contrived area, as there were "traditional" huts, "water pumps", and a chance to fire cross bows. All was free, but the views did it for us.

Later, our driver took us to an out-of-town industrial park. Sounds horrendous, I know, but here we could view at leisure the local craftspeople at work. Our first visit was to a lacquer-ware showroom, where we saw the painstakingly slow process of building a fine lacquer piece. The wooden base is first coated several times with a translucent varnish, and then the design, traditionally gold and black, is painted before further coats of lacquer are applied. The range of available articles was staggering, from small trinkets to large display cabinets. The finished article is tough and waterproof.

The umbrella showroom was mainly for selling, and the lone demonstrator was clearly not comfortable. I presume the real environment was much more relaxing for her. The points we learnt were that all Thailand umbrellas are made from homemade paper, stretched over a bamboo frame, lightly lacquered (to make them shower resistant), and then decorated before the final varnish coat is applied.

The woodcarving "factory" had a similar set up – a demonstrator and piles of allegedly locally carved pieces. Woodcarving is not the most impressive of art forms to watch, as there is an awful lot of banging with very little to show, but we watched patiently and appreciatively, responding with nods and smiles on demand.

One of my favourites was the silverware – not least because it seemed so extravagant. The ornate bowls, with their intricate repousseé designs, were a pleasure to examine and handle, and we took note that these were not particularly functional pieces but played an important religious role. The production of these items is a long and tedious process, and the hammer blows must be very measured, so as not to damage the precious metal.

Our guide would have taken us to other places, but we were all crafted up!