A trail is somebody walking you through the archive on purpose — a few records in an order, with a line about why each one is next. Follow one end to end, or step off it at any point and keep going on your own.
The same word, still being saidคำเดียวกันA word written into a palm-leaf manual, and the same word on a listing you can buy from tonight. This is the seam the whole archive is built on.5 stepsThe wat that still holds themวัดเชียงมั่นOne temple in Chiang Mai, 137 manuscripts, and a five-minute walk to two more wats. The only place in this archive where the shelf and the map meet by name.5 stepsThe fifty-six on khoi paperกระดาษข่อย ๕๖ ฉบับAlmost everything here was written on palm leaf. Fifty-six manuscripts were not — and what is written on paper turns out to be a different kind of book.5 stepsThree tongues on one pageสามภาษาในหน้าเดียวPali for the sacred, Lan Na for the local, Thai for the modern — and manuscripts where they share a single page.5 stepsA walk inside the old cityเดินในเวียงFour wats within a few hundred metres of each other in the walled city of Chiang Mai — a real walk, ordered by how far apart they actually are.5 steps