|
 A
couple days after the long weekend of Constitution Day, when
the flocks of travelers have returned to their home, it is
time for us to visit "Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006" --
International Horticultural Exposition for His Majesty the
King arranged from November 1, 2005 until January 1, 2007 at
Chiang Mai. Though we have come to this place many times, it
is our first time together with dad and mom.
Left: Ready to service "Electric Golf Cart" for the
visitors.
To escape the heat of sunlight
during the day, we
go to the expo in the late afternoon and stay there until
night. Because this is the first trip of dad and mom, we
choose to take a ride with serviced "Electric Golf Cart" and
tour along the designated route around the area. Waiting on a long line almost half an
hour, finally the cart returns to pick us at "Visitor Service
Center", the start point (near the main entrance) of this
trip.
 From
the beginning, the shuttle cart drives us through "Garden for
the King" -- comprising of two parts, "Corporate Garden"
(the 22 gardens presenting by leading organization of Thailand
to show their harmony in paying homage to His Majesty the King
on this special occassion) and "International Garden" (the 33
gardens, showing the glorious wonders of the peerless
greenery, architecture, art and culture, from 33 countries in
4 continents participating in honor of His Majesty the King on
the gracious ceremony, "The 60th Anniversary
Celebrations His Majesty's Accession to the Throne", with Thai
people) -- before arriving at the highlight of the exposition,
"Royal Pavilion" (the artistic design of the Lanna
Architecture, decorating and constructing in Northern Thai's
style) at "Royal Pavilion Zone". Because of time limit, we
just make a rough trip by watching the wonderful scenery from
the cart, and planning about returning to these areas again
with a walk trip later. From the "Royal Pavilion Zone", we
arrive at "Thai Tropical Garden" -- featuring many and various
rare species of tropical plants and flowers, dividing into
many different parts, i.e. "Shaded Paradise", "Desert Plant
Greenhouse", "Soiless Greenhouse", "Temperate Greenhouse",
"Tropical Dome" and etc. -- and step off the cart at "Thai
Tropical Garden Station" (The 9th Ratchaphruek Bus Stop). The
first target of our walk tour is "Tropical Dome", where we
meet many kinds of tropical palms and pine trees, also the
rare species like prehistoric "Wollemi
Pine" (Wollemia nobilis), the world's oldest and rarest
plant dating back to the time of dinosaur at 250 million years
ago.
Upper: "Tropical Dome", exhibiting more than 80 kinds of
tropical plants, originated in Thailand and equatorial
countries around the world, including "Wollemi
Pine"
(aging 250-million years) and "Blechnum x rasmijoti" (the
world's new inter-specific hybrid fern, between "Dwarf
Brazilian Tree (Blechnum gibbum) and "Red Brazilian Tree (Blechnum
brasiliense), named as an honor for "Princess Dipangkorn
Rasmijoti").
After a short walk inside the
dome, we cross the street to "Soiless Greenhouse" (showing
technology of soiless planting by special methods like "Hydrophonic"
and "Aerophonic") and "Desert Plant Greenhouse" (displaying
over 38 kinds of desert plant, cactus and succulent). We take
about 10 minutes inside the greenhouses before leaving to
other spots. Next to "Soiless Greenhouse", we find another
interesting place, "Temperate Greenhouse" -- presented by
Royal Project Foundation, concentrating on the temperate
plants and flowers under the controlled temperature (12-14
degree Celsius). Because of the crowd waiting outside the
"Temperate Greenhouse", we have to skip the program to watch
Magnolia (the oldest flower in the world and older than rose),
Tulip (our favorite flower -- an impressive memory on the
first Valentine's Day for two of us -- from Sweden) and Kiwi
Fruit Tree (the famous and delicious fruit from New Zealand).
Left: Varieties of desert
plant, cactus and succulent at "Desert Plant Greenhouse".
Middle: Golden light of sunset on the trail in "Royal
Flora Ratchaphruek 2006". Right: Cosy atmosphere inside the
"Lakeside Restaurant", "To-Sit". |
