Thai Royals for a Day

On our walk back to the hotel from the night market, my tour mate and I passed by a photo studio that was still open. We saw people in colourful northern Thai costumes right by the door.

Curious, we moved closer and noticed a gallery displayed by the window. It featured photos of tourists wearing traditional Lanna regalia and posing like royalties against different Thai-inspired backdrops. That caught our attention. We exchanged one look and knew we were thinking of the same thing – we had to go in and we had to have a photo just like those.

Luckily, the owner/photographer told us his shop closes at ten that night, so he could still accommodate us. He gave us a folder with the details and rates of different photo packages to choose from.

After we had decided on what we wanted, he led us to a room where two nice ladies helped us pick our costumes and accessories. They assisted us as we struggled with the fabrics. A few folds here, a few tucks there, some magic moves with invisible pins, and voila - they got us both dressed in a matter of five minutes, as if the clothes were made just for us.

My companion was an older lady, so they dressed her up like a queen in an emerald green Lanna gown, and they dressed me up like a princess, in an aquamarine sarong ensemble. Next, they fitted us with the accessories – a wig with a pointy tiara, an elaborate gold necklace, a few bracelets and armlets, and even anklets. Talk about being detailed! Satisfied with our final look, they proceeded with doing our make-up. After twenty minutes, we were ready for the pictorial.

The photographer made us stand against a background that resembled a royal throne room, complete with intricately-carved teak wood furniture, rich silk curtains in bright hues, and shiny, brass jars. He was a good photographer and certainly knew how to motivate his subjects – “Give me a half-smile…some more…that’s it,” “Tilt your head a little to the right,” “Look at that spot near the light as if you are daydreaming,” “Move your left leg forward and point your toes to this side,” etc.

The experience was quite enjoyable for a few minutes, but I couldn’t imagine taking up professional modeling as a full-time job, even if in my dreams, I pretend to be qualified.

After the session, the photographer asked for our hotel address and room numbers. He said the photos will be delivered to our door before noon the following day.

At the hotel, I had a long soak in the tub to relax my tired muscles and sore feet and then decided at the last minute to call for an in-house masseuse for a 90-minute Thai massage therapy. It was so calming that I actually fell asleep and did not wake up till the next morning. I called reception right away and asked if I could just leave the tip for my masseuse with them, as she must have quietly slipped out of the room after the session the previous night.

After breakfast, our group ventured out for the scheduled city tour. We came back right before lunch and as promised by the studio photographer, a huge envelope with my photos from the previous night was waiting for me inside my room. Someone must have slipped it under the door.

They were gorgeous! I thought looked like a real Lanna princess with my elaborate costume and the beautiful backdrop. Had the photos been printed in sepia tone, I could even have convinced someone that these were from another century.  I went over to my tour mate’s room right away to check if she got hers, but she was already at the corridor, waiting to see me.

As we were excitedly chatting and comparing our pictures, our other lady tour mates walked by. We showed them our shots and they said in unison, “Where is this place? We want photos like these, too!”

We all know that when four or more eager females converge with the same purpose in mind, a wonderful well-laid out plan follows, and that is what exactly happened. Since they all wanted to go for pictorials, we decided we might as well have a group pictorial, too. At first, we were just thinking of us, ladies, but someone suggested we should include the men to make it a full tour group pictorial.

We were not sure if the men would be thrilled to go for a photo session, especially if they would need to don Thai costumes, wear wigs, and put on make-up. Oh well…too bad for them. Since female brains certainly work the same way, especially in cases like this, we all agreed we would tell the guys we were going for a group photo session without mentioning the costume, wig, and make-up part.

During lunch, we managed to convince them to go to the studio with us. They thought it was a brilliant idea to get a professional group shot. We told them to wear our identical tour shirts, the free ones we got from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, after lunch. Our journalist tour mate even said he could possibly have our group photo published in his paper’s “Lifestyle” section, along with the article he was writing.

When we arrived at the studio, Mr. Photographer easily recognized me and my tour mate. He asked if we were happy with the pictures. We told him, “Of course, that’s why we came back…with more friends!” Then we explained what we wanted and he immediately called his staff to prep us for the session.

The men looked perplexed as they were led to the dressing room, as if wanting to ask, “What’s going on here?” One of my tour mates dropped the bomb and said, “You guys are going to pick your Thai prince costumes and pose nicely with us, ladies.” She said it with so much authority that none of the guys dared to protest. Watching them pick their costumes and accessories though, I was inclined to believe they actually enjoyed the whole process as much as the women did.

For this session, I chose a purple sarong and the ladies there had my hair done differently – this time, tied in a bun, wrapped with a striped cloth, and topped with gold leaf accessories, just like the rest of the women in my group. We chose assorted colours to make our picture pop, and the men were just as colourful. They looked like royal warriors. We thanked them for playing along with us in this crazy idea.

Mission accomplished, indeed!  We got our pictures taken in full Thai regalia – individual shots, women-only shots, men-only shots, group shots – and some normal ones, with our identical shirts.

One of the men asked the journalist guy which photo he was going to have published in the papers.

Without batting an eyelash, he said, “The Thai Royal Family picture, of course!” 

In complete resignation, he joked, “So much for maintaining my staff’s respect for me! Imagine them seeing their prim and proper boss, normally attired in spit-spot suits, and always serious, now clad in a bright red sarong and vest, head wrapped in an elaborate turban, arms raised while clutching a humongous golden sword, and projecting on camera like a true-blue Lanna warrior!”

And we all said, “Why not?”

Note:

This picture was indeed published on the newspaper’s “Lifestyle” section a few days after we came back from our trip. The caption included all our names and the companies we represented.