Back in Pittsburgh

We made it back to Pittsburgh on December 12th. It was a long flight and we are both still recovering from jetlag. Since the opening of the Tropical Forest Conservatory is roughly nine months away, we'd like to keep updating the blog to keep everyone posted on our planning progress. Once we get unpacked and settled back into life we will begin to disseminate the information that we gathered during the trip. Our purchases of books and crafts, the photos that we took and the overall experience will help us to create realistic plantings, authentic structures, accurate interpretation, and relevant programming.

Next up for me is to continue developing the planting plan. I have a plant tagging trip scheduled in January. KD

Rama IX

Since we are back in Bangkok we’ve decided to cross a few more of the must see items from our list. I am still interested in making it to the Rama IX Flower Show, Asia Books, the University bookstore, and the garden district. We were able to make arrangements for some of the shipping (books, etc. will leave on Tuesday and arrive in 2 months) but we are having a harder time with the more fragile items. Our next option will be the business center in the hotel.

Today I took a taxi to the Rama IX Park (2957), in search of the Rama IX Flower Show. Bangkok taxi rules state that the passenger is responsible for the tolls when the driver decides to take the expressway (60 baht) as well as the 45 minute taxi fare (179 baht). When I arrived at the park I had no idea where I was. After walking a short distance through the main gate a man standing about 4 feet away from me welcomed me over a bullhorn – “Hello, where you from?”. I continued to walk, passing food and clothing vendors, until I spotted a more permanent kiosk selling Rama IX Park merchandise. The ladies said hello and ran into the back to get their boss. I asked for the flower show and he said it was over but handed me 3 maps of the park.

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I wandered around and was excited to find that the vendors could care less what I was looking at and what I was interested in. It was a great contrast to our trips through the night bazaar and markets in which the vendors knock you over in the aisle to put a sarong on you.

I am not sure what I was expecting the flower show to be, and not sure that I actually found it, but I definitely had a great day. The park is filled with annual beds and labeled trees. I did find several themed gardens – English, Spanish, Thai, Japanese, as well as a large conservatory-style shade house and a desert dome. This is not a tourist park; it is a place where the locals go to escape the city for the weekend (2820). My best estimate is that there were 10,000 people spread throughout the entire park. Hundreds of vendors sold every type of garden item imaginable: mostly plants, though pots, pottery, water features, fertilizers, tools, and seeds were available.

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Let me first tell you about all of the coolest plants I’ve ever seen:
(2898) is some sort of Euphorbia and in many of the booths it was shown with the poinsettia. We need it for the winter show next year. Variegation is good luck, especially if the plants have a golden variegation. This citrus has variegated leaves and fruit (2887), I also saw variegated banana (2835), and Rhaphis palm (2846). I was enamored with Crypanthus ‘Elaine’ (2930), the finest textured Croton (2917) I’ve ever seen and (2870) what ever this plant is that looks like Hebe on steroids.

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There were also fabulous baby’s breath (2901) hanging baskets, a million new cultivars of Plumeria (2849), as well as many fun, new Aglaonema and Adenium. I am really starting to like the mellow, melon tones as shown in these Ixora and Caladium (2931, 2894). I don’t want to overwhelm this post with plant pictures but I do have many. There were great topiary in all sorts of animal forms, also many fruit and vegetable plants, and water plants. Many good advertising gimmicks and plant display techniques were gleaned.

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It is funny to compare this plant fair to others that I’ve been to – even our May Market. There are always the booths with the fantastic, rare plants, the booths with the common plants, the booth with the gadgets, the kitsch booth, and the man selling the tree trimming equipment. (2836) I did succumb to the lure of these pot/slurpee cup/window box/bowl hanging brackets – 12 for 120 baht (about $.25 each). I also bought 2 books about the newest Plumeria cultivars, several vegetable seed packets, and a couple of small elephant topiary frames. Next time I will be buying plants! I NEED that Euphorbia! KD

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The Girls Go Shopping

The Girls Go Shopping (hm)

After a couple weeks of sensitive cultural explorations, the girls decided it was time to go shopping. Since we are in our twilight hours in Thailand, the time to boil down all of the statues and shapes and pottery into a few purchases has come.

The winds of travel blew strongly this morning as we decided to pack up and head north to Bangkok. In the space of two hours we packed, checked out, found hotel reservations and thanks to our intrepid cultural interpreter, Arika, found a driver.

By this point in the trip we’ve collected some things which add up to a few large, heavy suitcases. (Yes, some f them are gifts for you all!) The way to travel short distances is to hire a driver and a mini-van. If there are more than two people and a purse you must hire a mini-van because the cars are mini-sized.

Our driver thought this would be a quick round-trip to drop off the farangs (foreigners) and just smiled with amusement as we asked if we could stop to purchase a spirit house for the upcoming exhibit. He replied that he didn’t think we had room, but we could try.

So we piled into the van with all of our baggage and it was true, there was almost no space left.

A few miles into the trip Karen spotted a roadside stand and we pulled a u-turn to get to the shop. We found a fantastic spirit house, a broom Karen wanted and several object for the exhibit.

(photo 2795 spirit house store)

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(photo 2791 spirit house we chose)

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We spent all of our collective cash to acquire these items and had a tough time fitting them into the van. But we managed it. (Photos 2796, 2797)

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Now we are stuck in a maze of Bangkok traffic looking for the DHL office so we can ship all this stuff back. Arika and I haven’t been able to move for hours due to our collection of artifacts (photo 2815).

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Statuary for the exhibit (photos 2808, 2794)

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We have been lost for some time now and have just had a moment of excitement because we spotted a DHL truck. Wait, look there is another DHL truck. It looks like we might be hot on the trail of our destination. We just found it, so we will post more later!

PS- We found DHL and were horribly disappointed by their unwillingness to do business with us. Let’s hope we can find someone who will do business with us tomorrow. -HM

Back to Bangkok (hm)

Back to Bangkok (hm)

We decided to leave Hua Hin a few days early in order to spend more time in Bangkok. I know that we are almost to the hotel because traffic has slowed to, well a stop. We have been sitting in the same intersection for about 15 minutes now, so in an effort to stay productive, decided to tell all our readers about our newest adventures.

Hua Hin is a lovely seaside town, reminiscent of lovely seaside towns around the globe. After recovering from a major episode of food poisoning, one of our team members is now a card carrying member of the San Paolo Hua Hin Hospital.

A point of interest for the insurance-challenged states…an emergency room visit and five prescriptions cost a whopping US$50.

Since the team has regained our collective health and vitality, we feel the pull of good old fashioned American productivity calling us back to the big city for one final push before we head home for the holidays.

(Photos of our Hua Hin Guesthouse 2787 and 2788)

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The Fresh Market

The Fresh Market

The fresh markets start early in the morning and contain goods brought in from farmers and hill-tribe people. Some of these goods have been raised on a farm, but many have been collected from the wild.

There is an assortment of greens, vegetables, fruits, spices, mushrooms and meat products. Many of these items simply do not exist in the western hemisphere. These markets take place in utilitarian cement block buildings divided up into sections where each vendor has a table laid with wares.

There are piles of fresh things, dried things, jars and cooking pots full of things, some identifiable to the uninitiated, many not.

(photo 252) Wild edibles

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(photo 254) Garlic, chili and onions…essential ingredients

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(photo spirit.jpg) Hill tribe woman with a spirit offering. This offering contains tobacco, betel nut, spices, matches and a candle, all wrapped up in the ubiquitous palm leaf.

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Doi Tung

Doi Tung

We journeyed to the border area of Thailand and Burma to meet with the Director of the Doi Tung Royal Projects. The Royal Projects were started by the current king in the 1970’s to help indiginous hill tribe people have economic alternatives to growing the opium poppy.

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These projects have grown to an amazing 40 intitiatives which focus on providing skills in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, textiles and celedon pottery. Markets have then been developed for the tribe-people to sell their products.

(photo 196) Tribesman working at arboretum.

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This is a mountainous region, with an altitude of over a mile. The arboretum showed several endemic species of trees that are being used to reforest land damaged from generations of slash and burn agriculture. The programs have grown in success as the native people have learned the Thai language in addition to their original tongue.

Mae Fah Laung

Mae Fah Laung is a high altitude botanical garden carved out of a mountainside. The gardens were absolutely breathtaking. The horticulture aspect would have been stunning alone, but one could not imagine a more beautiful place as they are set in a location that provides panoramic mountain vistas. (photo 230)

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(photo 236) Orchids at Mae Fah Laung

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(photo 249) Mountain setting of gardens

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Doi Inthanon

Doi Inthanon

We were taken to Doi Inthanon, 6000 feet above Chiang Mai, by our intrepid driver and our 78 year-old guide, Adrian. We were lucky to be in Thailand for the annual three day celebration of the King’s Birthday.

This is a long weekend where Thai’s visit holy sites (photo 262). We were in the mountains, and as we approached the top where there is a famous Chedi we found ourselves involved in a traffic mêlée. Quite unexpected, but it gave us a chance to see a site we would have otherwise missed. (photo 263).

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After making it through the traffic jam, we continued our assent to hike through the cloud forest. This was my first time in a cloud forest, and it was fascinating to see almost every tree covered in a curly moss. This ecosystem is a tropical forest, but lacks high temperatures due to the elevation. (photo 264).

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Our guide was a member of the Aka tribe, and led us through a fairly dense forest which opened up into a mountain prairie. As we walked out onto open expanse, we could see Adrian descending the opposite slope with amazing agility. (photo 282 - photo missing).

As we crossed the prairie we were awed to be standing in a scene that rivaled the Alps of Europe. There is nothing like the feeling of learning about plants on the edge of a mountain, a mile above the lands below.

Northern Thailand

Northern Thailand

Karen and I have been out of touch for several days while touring Northern Thailand, and even a few feet into Burma. We’ve been working 14 hour days to see as much as possible during our short stay. Now that we are back to civilization, we can report on that beautiful part of the country.

We were shown around by some wonderful locals in Chiang Mai, and met up with Arika Virapongse, one of Botany in Action’s own ethnobotanical graduate research grantees. These individuals have proved indispensable for navigating and translating, not to mention making us feel at home.

(Photo 339) Photo of Heather and Arika learning about the ancient Thai craft known as laquerware.

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We’ve been touring botanical gardens, National Parks, an arboretum, and learned about some traditional crafts. Check out the following posts to read about all the fascinating places and people we’ve been working with.

(photo 341) example of laquerware and tools.

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Queen Sirikit Gardens

(photo 069) This garden sits about 1500 feet above sea level, in a deciduous tropical forest. The garden is about 15 years old and is named after the current Queen of Thailand. The elevation necessitates glass houses because this area receives frost.

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We were honored to meet the Director and Associate Director of the gardens, and receive a personal tour. This photo shows the Director demonstrating the use of a traditional medicinal plant which is made into a poultice for burns. (photo 073)

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The collection has an impressive collection of medicinal plants, lotus flowers, desert plants, white-flowered forest plants. The most interesting component for us was the gardens’ constructed tropical forest, where we gained many ideas for developing our planting plan. This photo is just one example of the collection’s Asiatic insectivores, whose size dwarfs Pennsylvania’s native relatives. (photo 072)

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A good link

http://www.dnp.go.th/botany/bkf.htm KD

Doi Inthanon

Today we went to Doi Inthanon which is the highest point in Thailand. Moo’s husband Adrian joined us for the day. On the drive up the mountain, he talked a lot about the adventures that he has had in the parks, past hikes, and plants he has seen. We were surprised by the crowds of people at the park. Many families escaped the city for the long weekend and were prepared to tour the park, camp, and have a nice lunch. After sitting in a traffic jam near the top of the mountain, we were able to pass through and drive to the summit where we met our guide. We decided to take the Kew Mae Pan Nature Trail, a 5k trail (2735) that ventures through mossy forest, waterfalls (2677), streams, and meadow. At points we were staring at large Rhododendron (2727) as the clouds came by our heads - high point 2,200 meters (2722). It was interesting to see plants that could have been (or could be cousins to) Liriope, Parthenocissus, Hypericum, Polygonum, Tradescantia, Hypericum, and Vaccinium. Our guide was a local, he is 18 and in school. He as well as the other guides have taken seminars put on by the forestry service. If they have free time on the weekends they can just show up in the morning to lead tours of the forest. A guide is mandatory to tour this trail (2710). He didn’t speak any English but we were able to ask our questions through Arika.

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After our hike we jumped back into the van for the drive down the mountain. We were invited to dinner at Moo and Adrien’s house. Their cook prepared a northern Thai feast for us which we enjoyed while talking about all the types of tropical fruit you could enjoy seasonally while living in Thailand. KD

Chiang Rai

Saturday, December 3, 3005
Today our driver picked us up at 7am and we headed out to pick up Moo. We got on the road early and headed north to Chiang Rai. The trip takes about 3 hours though we stopped for refueling along the way. We stopped at one of the few tourist spots, Cabbages and Condoms. This store / restaurant / rest stop is a tribute to the man who brought family planning to the hill tribes in northern Thailand.

We had planned to stop at several sites of the Chiang Rai Forestry Department. At our first stop we picked up Moo’s friend Samart Sumanochitraporn. He is the Director of the Chaing Rai Forestry Training Center, a program that encourages hill tribe families to stop growing opium and cutting the forest. The area around his office is host to many students who are conducting research. There are many signs describing the plants and animals (2510) in the forest and many native plants are potted for display.

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After picking him up, we continued to head north to view the projects that he has worked on – these included a tissue culture laboratory (2557), mountainside garden and arboretum as well as a handicraft outlet which produces fabric, pottery and mulberry paper, and many nurseries and farms. Our first stop was a shade house that contained all of the orchids that have been seized from illegal collection (2531). The other side of the shade house had other plants for sale including many orchids and ferns. My favorite fern so far has been the Grape Leafed Fern (2542) – it has large leaves and black stems like those of a Maidenhair Fern. Our next stop was a tissue culture laboratory. Samart was proud that the new generation of Thais were learning about horticulture and the valuable resource that they have in Orchids. The road was winding and uphill as we climbed the mountain. We continued to drive until we reached the Mae Fah Luang Arboretum. We descended steps to view Dahlias and Vireya Rhododendron (2575) and climbed up steps to view the Stream of Benevolent Compassion (2573). As we continued to climb we had no idea how close we were to Burma. The foreman shows the stake (2597) in the ground that signifies the border between Thailand and Burma. The views of the surrounding areas were unbelievable. The mountains of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai are a great contrast to our stops throughout Bangkok.

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The last stop was the Mae Fuh Luang Garden which is a beautiful display garden. It houses an exhibit on tissue culture, changing annual displays (2654, 2625), and lush trails through landscaped grounds. In our stop behind the scenes we saw nursery houses filled with orchids (2642) that have been bred by the garden staff. The central area in the garden featured a small pavilion with a large tree growing over it. The limbs were LOADED with orchids (2635).

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When we arrived at the hotel this evening we were happy to finally meet our Botany in Action friend Arika. She is busily working on her dissertation at Khon Kaen University but was able to take some time off to spend a few days showing us around Thailand. KD