Chiang Mai and QSBG

Last night we checked out of the hotel in Bangkok and hopped on a flight to Chiang Mai. The Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai only took about an hour. We had originally planned to take the night train (9 hour) but it was booked early due to the King’s Birthday. I probably shouldn’t admit to this but…we ate at Burger King in the airport. We were busy all day and evening and by the time we’d gotten to the airport we were hungry. Burger King was the only option in our tiny concourse. It was the best Burger King I’d ever had. The sandwiches actually resembled the photos on the menu!

We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 10:30pm and checked into a hotel near the airport. We needed to be ready for our driver to pick us up at 9am. We headed out of the hotel, and headed over to the guest house that we’ll be staying in for several days. We dropped off our things and headed out to pick up Moo, our local host. She had a full day of activities planned for us.

When we arrived at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden (http://www.qsbg.org/) we were met by Pramook Benyasut Ph.D., who is the Garden Head. Today was not about design or display but more about the plants that are native to Thailand, what they are used for and talks about the state of the soils and forests. He showed us the offices and gave us an overview of the site, then took us on a tour of the collection houses – desert, water plants, orchids, begonias, fern, bromeliad, etc. The orchid house had a path that led around the perimeter and several bridges that crossed over the center planting beds. The lush plantings incorporated many types of orchids mixed with fern and trees (2408, 2409). The design of the water plants house intrigued me because it was based on a circle theme. Several circular raised ponds (2393) stretched through the center of the room. A circular viewing platform on one end gave the visitors a new perspective. (2373) Local pottery is displayed throughout the bromeliad house.

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We lunched Thai Style at the botanic garden hotel. We ordered several dishes to share, these included fried tilapia, lemon grass salad, chicken, sun dried pork, and a wonderful chicken and green pepper soup. After lunch, we headed back to the garden and checked out the QSBG information center. In the gift shop we were able to purchase a 7 volume set of books which describes (in Thai, Latin, and photos) the plants that are found at the garden. We were also able to purchase some seeds for many edible crops.

After stocking up on books and seeds we were brought into the information center auditorium to watch the QSBG movie. It described the planning and development that went into creating this 15 year old garden. To finish off our touring at the garden we went back to viewing the collections, first in the Thai medicinal plants houses and then the tropical forest. We took many pictures of the plants and their labels (2357) so that we can look them up when we get back. We were also able to obtain electronic plant lists from the garden. These will help us greatly in planning the exhibit.

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After arriving back at the guest house we decided to relax for a little while, later meeting up to have dinner and explore the Chiang Mai night markets. The products for sale in this area are much different than in Bangkok because the hill tribe crafts people live nearby and bring their wares each night. The variety of items is much greater and the prices are much less. KD