HAT QUEST

“Vestis virum faciit” – “Clothes make the man” as the Romans were fond of saying.

And the focal point of any outfit is always the hat. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I’m a big fan of markets. I noticed early on in my hat-watching career that the most interesting aspect of travel – especially travel in the Developing World, was the people, and the most interesting thing about the people was their traditional dress. Furthermore, it was the hats that always attracted my attention.

So, I became something of a hat aficionado. This penchant for exotic hats had practical consequences. The types of hats that I was interested in seeing were not always easy to come by. You couldn’t just stop by the local American farmer’s market and expect to find these hats on view. A hat connoisseur often has to make sacrifices, traveling many miles off the beaten track, sometimes through territory that would be considered too difficult or dangerous for the hat non-connoisseur.

My first experience with hats was probably in Thailand in 1975. In those days, the famous floating market was actually held on the klongs of Bangkok itself – right in the middle of the city. Things have changed a lot since then. Years ago the entire market was moved to a location about 50 miles from the city. Needless to say, like everything else in Thailand, it has been turned into a huge, crowded tourist attraction – a real circus. My return visit, of course, was a letdown in terms of authenticity – but the hats were still there.

So, being a hat person has led me on some long, difficult, and sometimes perilous journeys – a couple of them probably ill-advised. But I have accumulated many stories about the adventures I’ve had chasing after exotic hats, and I plan to set some of them down here.

I’ll start with the most difficult.

Kashgar is inconveniently located in the extreme southwestern corner of China’s Xinjiang Province just a few miles from the Afghanistan border. It is the site of a Sunday Market that has been called the “Mother of all Central Asian Markets”. It supports a cast of characters that could only be dreamt up by J.R.R. Tolkien.

But, I’d have to say that getting there was not half the fun. It involved a 5-hour flight from Beijing to Urumqi, the world’s most landlocked city, and then a 2-hour flight to Kashgar  on an airline of questionable repute. But the market itself is unrivaled in terms of authenticity, and the hats on display are many and varied. The market has the added advantage of being completely unspoiled – it’s just too difficult for the casual traveler to access. We visited in 2002 and I doubt that we’ll be returning.

A few years ago I ran across an article about Turkmenistan and the “spectacular” Tolkuchka Bazaar in the capital city, Ashgabat. It claimed that this market was the most incredible in Central Asia. Having already attended the Sunday Market in Kashgar – which actually was “spectacular” – I figured that I couldn’t afford to miss Tolkuchka. The Camel Drivers in their fuzzy hats drew most of my attention.

So, I was soon working on a trip to Turkmenistan. This proved to be a daunting task. Turkmenistan has one of the most repressive governments in the world – ranked just behind Eritrea and North Korea. The country was run for decades by an egomaniac who specialized in erecting gold-plated statues of himself around Ashgabat. Obtaining a visa is always problematic – approval is hard to come by, and the embassy often waits until the last minute to make a decision.

Turkmenistan is the world’s third leading supplier of natural gas and, as such, has become fabulously wealthy. Ashgabat is constructed almost entirely of white marble, and has been called a combination of Dubai and Las Vegas. For more information on Turkmenistan, see my previous post “The World’s Strangest Country”.

One of many problems associated with Turkmenistan is simply getting there. After mulling over a number of options, I decided to go overland through Uzbekistan – an outstanding hat venue in its own right. When all was said and done, the market turned out to be overrated in spite of all the difficulty involved in getting to it – but I did enjoy the fuzzy hats.

Back in Uzbekistan the characteristic Uzbek skullcaps are a fine sight, especially against  the backdrop of the incredible Islamic architecture of Samarkand and Bukhara.

Taking in the biggest hats on earth involves a trip half way around the world – to Indonesia. One must first fly to Java, and then across the Java Sea to Banjarmasin in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

Banjarmasin in large, sweltering, filthy city with marginal hotels and very little to recommend it to the casual tourist. But, for a hat person, the city with its riverine situation is the Holy Grail. It’s the only place on earth where one can see the world’s biggest hats – at the Banjarmasin Floating Market. The market starts before dawn, and it’s necessary to charter a private boat to get there. It’s located about five miles up the Barito river from the city.

Back on Java, the committed hat connoisseur should really take the time to visit the tea plantations east of Jakarta. The giant hats worn by the tea pickers are certainly notable, and worth the few extra days that this side trip involves.

Sulawesi, formerly “The Celebes”, is the large, orchid-shaped island to the east of Java. The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi. Most of the population is Christian. The Toraja People are known for their boat-shaped houses and elaborate funeral ceremonies, where as many as 100 water buffalo are sacrificed over a period of several days.

If ever a country were symbolized by a hat, that country would be Vietnam. The “non la” – the delicate conical straw hat, is worn by virtually all Vietnamese women, and these ladies in their characteristic gown – the “ao dai” – present a graceful, iconic sight – especially at markets with a backdrop of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Some of my favorite travel photos were taken in the Philippines. The surrealistic rice terraces at Banaue in Northern Luzon are considered by many to be one of man’s greatest achievements. Centuries old, the terraces spill down the hillsides for miles in every direction. Built by hand by the Ifugao People, the Banaue Rice Terraces are among the most spectacular sights I have ever seen.

The most unusual and exotic hats in the world are found in the most  unusual and exotic country in the world – Papua New Guinea. It is difficult to reach and considered by many to be too dangerous to visit. In fact, the capital city, Port Moresby, routinely appears at the top of the “World’s Most Dangerous Cities” list. I’ve visited the island twice and would have to say that those trips were among the most exciting travel experiences I have ever had.

In October of 2014, I had the opportunity to visit the famous Highland Sing Sing at Goroka. I can’t even begin to adequately describe in words what I saw, so I’ll let the photos take care of that. Suffice it to say that you will never see anything like this anywhere else in the world.

I had to think long and hard before visiting Guatemala. I have never read a single review about the country that didn’t emphasize that it is a dangerous place to visit – with muggings, carjackings, and kidnappings taking place on an all too regular basis. In 1988, I decided to take the bull by the horns – we flew to Guatemala City, rented a Toyota, and drove around the country without any problem.

I was shocked at my first view of Lake Atitlan – an impossibly blue mountain lake that makes Tahoe look like a mud puddle. It is framed by extinct volcanos, and it’s shoreline is dotted by Indigenous Villages. The most famous of these is Santiago de Atitlan where some of the ladies still wear a distinctive and fast-disappearing orange head wrap.

On my second and third visits to Guatemala, I made the effort to get to several places way off the beaten path. Todos Santos Cuchumatan is a mountain village in the far north of the country where the entire population wears a distinctive, small straw hat. Nebaj and Aguacatan are completely unspoiled villages in Quiche Province, the scene of much of the carnage during the “bad” years. These places are rarely visited. The ladies wear distinctive head wraps, quite unlike what you would see in Panajachel or Chichicastenango.

A gat is a type of traditional hat worn by Korean men along with hanbok – Korean traditional clothing. You don’t see many of these on the street these days but, if you’re in Seoul, and are lucky enough to see the Changing of the Guard at one of the palaces, you’ll get an eyeful of some of the most incredible top hats you’ll ever see.

I was reading a guide book on a flight home from Lima and ran across a place called Cajamarca. The author casually mentions that the entire female population of the city is decked out in big, floppy sombreros. This was enough for me to head in that direction on my next trip to the Andes – two hours in the opposite direction of that taken by most tourists . I found Cajamarca to be as interesting and attractive as Cuzco, and sure enough, the hats were in evidence – almost 100%.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas supports a wide assortment of colorful hats – too many to count. Cuzco, Pisac, Chinchero, and Ollantaytambo all provide a backdrop for a colorful and varied array of head wear.

For those who favor bowlers, La Paz, Bolivia is probably the world leader with Puno, Peru and Silvia, Colombia rounding out the top three. La Paz is the easiest to access and I’ve spent many a chilly morning scoping out the Cholas in this highest capital city in the world. Puno, on Lake Titicaca is harder to access and even more elevated. You’ll notice immediately that the bowlers in this high Andean town are dented.

Silvia is harder still – a small, remote village in a dangerous part of a dangerous country – but well worth the effort to reach, being completely authentic and unaffected by tourism.

Cuenca, Ecuador is where the famous Panama Hats are made, and a large selection of these can be viewed and purchased at the weekly Otavalo Market north of Quito. Panama hats are very fine and can get quite pricey. But most average Ecuadorian People are content with the simple, small felt hat that you see at the various weekly markets – Saquisili, Zumbahua, Salasaca, etc..

Cartagena, Colombia showcases the beautiful straw hats so popular in that country.

At Tarabuco in Bolivia, the people model their head wear after that which was worn by the Spanish Conquistadores, centuries ago.

Cuban hats are exactly what you would expect to see in a Socialist country which has been isolated for more than 50 years – generic.

If you’re mainly interested in variety, then Burma is the place for you. Here, you’ll find a huge variety of styles, all authentic and made of “straw”.

India offers a rare combination of style and color – the beautiful turbans of Rajasthan and the more formal Sikh turbans of the Punjab. It’s simply impossible not to be impressed by this colorful array.

The Persian Gulf and Middle East present a less flamboyant hat culture in keeping with the modesty required by Islam. Yemen provides an interesting, if grubby, array of headgear and Oman, a sort of Yemen-light, presents a more sanitized version. The head covering in these two countries falls into two categories – head wraps and skull caps. These are best appreciated in the old souq of Sana’a and the Fish Market of Muscat.

The UAE supports a huge population of foreign workers and they, of course, bring their hats with them. The Pakistanis working in the Deira Fish Market are particularly entertaining.

And, of course, there’s Israel, where a visit to the Western Wall will satisfy most of your curiosity regarding 19th Century Polish hat styles.

Morocco is a difficult place to manage because of the constant “in your face” attitude of the locals, but the rewards in terms of colorful traditional dress make a visit mandatory. The pressure is mainly non-threatening and I think of Morocco as a safe, if not completely comfortable, place to travel. Variety is the name of the game here when it comes to hats – mainly skull caps and head wraps, with an assortment of “straw” hats thrown in.

Interesting hats become thin on the ground in Europe – Romania, being the exception. But, even here, the incredible, iconic Romanian hats will not be  seen in the country’s main centers. One needs to travel to Maramures, a remote and traditional area in the far north to appreciate the unique, almost comical hat situation.

Regarding the rest of Europe, you really can’t expect much to pique your interest, although the farther east you go the better. Macedonia, being mainly Muslim, has and interesting array of skull caps, as does Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And, of course, every now and then you stumble onto something unexpected – like this interesting vignette on the Charles Bridge in Prague.

As for my future hat quests, I’ve kind of plateaued. There are a few more hats cultures I’d like to check out, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get to all of them in the near future. I’d love to go back to West Africa where we had an interesting adventure in October, 2000. I was, of course, still using film at the time and wasn’t especially pleased with my photos from that trip.

Conditions were primitive in this part of the world 20 years ago – and they reportedly haven’t improved. The conditions were actually too primitive for me then, but the place was so interesting that I forced myself to muddle through. But, it’s not just the uncomfortable conditions that would prevent me from returning at this time. My two favorite countries in the area – Mali and Burkina Faso – have become hotbeds of terrorism – with several brutal attacks occurring in Ouagadougou recently, a place that couldn’t have been more peaceful during my first visit.

Nigeria, with its fascinating and diverse cultures will have to be put on the back burner. I passed through Lagos during the mid-1980’s and had planned to return at some point. But, the country is now unmanageable. The entire culture has become predatory, and nothing can be accomplished without a “dash” (bribe). It is also the home of Boko Haram – probably the most brutal terrorist group in the world at this time, and I have no interest in having to deal with them.

And then there are the market ladies in Ladakh, with their stove-pipe hats. But since they are located on the other side of the world at 12,000 feet, I doubt that I will be paying them a visit any time soon. On the other hand, I’m considering a trip to the East Coast later this year, where I’ll try to get a look at the Amish – at sea level.

But the bottom line is that the major part of my hat-watching career may be drawing to a close. This is a hard reality to cope with, but I’m simply running out of sites – except for a few that would involve risking my neck to get to – and I mean this in a literal sense. But, who knows – only time will tell…

 

Tags: Amritsar, atitlan, aymara, banjarmasin, bazaar, borneo, bowler hat, cajamarca, colombia, cuzco, ecuador, fez, guatemala, hat, india, indonesia, istanbul, kashgar, La Paz, maramures, market, marrakech, medina, morocco, oman, oravalo, papua new guinea, peru, punjab, quechua, rajasthan, romania, Sikh, sombrero, tarabuco, thailand, turban, turkmenistan, vietnam, yemen