The Big Smoke: Chiang Mai: The Jewel of the North and The Royal Flora Ratchapruek

So my friend Arion flew in from Taipei to meet me for a short trip up to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s “Jewel of the North.” Arion is actually a friend from Seattle who is studying Mandarin at the National Taiwan Normal University. I had originally wanted to include a short trip to see one of the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants up there, but once I figured things out, we would have been hard-pressed time-wise to make it happen. Especially since our other goal was to go see the Royal Flora Ratchapruek – a horticultural expo – I say horticultural because it was more than just flowers and plants, as the official name suggests – in honor of HM the king’s 60th anniversary on the throne. Well, technically, the word flora refers to the plant life of an area in general, but the gardens, many of which were adorned with plastic, wood, metal, stone, fountains and even televisions, deserve more than “flower show.”

We jumped into a taxi right outside Bumrungrad International hospital, which is right next-door to my building. If you listen to NPR a lot, you’ve probably heard of my famous neighbor, renowned for its promotion of medical tourism. Anyway, as soon as we had loaded our stuff into the taxi and got in, the taxi driver turns around and tells us that it will be 300 baht to the airport, not including tolls. It’s normally 185 plus 65 in express-way tolls. Freaking A**. This ONLY happens when I’m with white people. Hah hah. Sorry, there’s no other way to say it. So I tell the taxi driver no and insist that he use the meter (in Thai) like he’s supposed to. He gives me some sort of lame excuse that there’s no service there at this time. I later figured out that he meant he wasn’t going to get a fare coming back at that hour (it was probably a little after 11am). After a bit of struggling back and forth, Arion butts in and says, “let’s just do it.” Despite my irritation with the whole situation, I gave in. I mean, our luggage was in the trunk and we were already moving along. I wouldn’t want to have to deal with a disgruntled taxi driver driving off with our stuff…anyway, we’re talking a difference of like $3 US. Still, it irritates me sometimes that there’s a Thai price and a foreigner price…ra-kha Thai and ra-kha farang – one can’t help but feel ripped off.

So we get to the airport way ahead of time; mostly because our flight was delayed for almost an hour. Arion had never been to Suvarnabhumi (pronounced Suwannapoom, I know, weird) prior to a few nights earlier, when he came in from Taipei, so we took some time to explore the world’s largest, newest and most dysfunctional airport – dubbed “Corruption International” by the Thais. If you want to read more about it, go to my friend Jeremy’s blog – jeremyinc.blogspot.com. Arion started right away with what would end up being the first of a collection of hundreds of photographs of all sorts of random things from the weekend.

As soon as we got off the plane in Chiang Mai and claimed our luggage, we were herded towards a tour desk and talked into getting a tour package to the famous Doi Suthep temple. All we originally wanted was some help with a hotel for the couple of nights we’d be there since our attempts at searching beforehand were foiled by the fact that the flora expo was in its last couple of weeks, so accommodations were tight. Anyway, after a little bit of bargaining, we got him to include transfer service to the hotel and drop-off at the Royal Flora Expo the next morning.

This collection of photos is from the famous Doi Suthep temple. The word "doi" means mountain in the Northern Thai dialect. Not sure what the "su" part of "Suthep" means, but "thep" means heavenly or holy. It is so named because it sits on the mountain named Doi Suthep. The full name of the temple is Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.

Speaking of the expo – it was lovely. Still, it’s nothing I can say too much about. It was just a big park with a whole bunch of exhibitions from various countries from around the world. I don’t remember seeing one from the US, although I did see a very sad one from Cambodia…

This is me flossing my threads ...er clogs at the Netherlands exhibit.

This was just one of the millions of orchids that were featured in the gigantic orchid garden. Apparently, they grow as easily here as cosmos grow in the Pacific Northwest -- well, except that they live longer. I know there are some of you out there who are like, if only I can get my orchids to flower a second time...heh heh.

This pumpkin has been carved with the royal insignia.

This picture was shot in the garden submitted by Bhutan

This series of photos feature the royal temple, the gardens surrounding it and of course, moi ~ By the way...does the lion make me look tan?

These two photos are from the Lanna exhibit. Lanna was the ancient Thai kingdom to the north. It's center was in present day Chiang Mai. It is known for its very distinct architecture and art (painting, wood carving, scuplture). Sometimes, as a tourist, you can choose to stay in hotel rooms decorated in the "Lanna Style."

This particular exhibit is the famous teak house that Laos gifted to Thailand to commemorate HM the king's 60th anniversary on the throne. They have a very strange relationship, Thailand and Laos. Thailand calls Laos it's "Little Brother." The culture and language between the two countries is very similar, but for some reason, Laos has failed to develop at the same pace and with the same success as Thailand has.

All in all, I think Arion and I both found Chiang Mai to be a rather enjoyable city. The weather was unlike Bangkok. For the first time since coming to Thailand, I didn’t feel enveloped in what is at times suffocating heat and congestion. I’ve since gotten used to Bangkok’s warm and humid climate that is a result of its location in the Chao Phraya River delta, but it was really quite nice to see mountains and green trees again. Chiang Mai is a big city (it is Thailand’s second largest and has a population of over one million) with a small town feel.

And it even has its own Starbucks! Actually, the ONLY TWO reasons I go is because it seems to be the only place that offers soymilk. Being lactose intolerant in Thailand is usually ok because dairy is not widely used in Thai cuisine. However, they give me a confused look when I ask for it anywhere else. The other reason I go is because Starbucks is the only place that actually serves BREWED coffee. If I ask for hot coffee anywhere else, it's usually a gross liquid concoction resembling and Americano.