Sightseeing and Shopping 2

Sightseeing and Shopping 2

More Chiang Rai Sites

After spending the night in a Chiang Rai hotel, we had breakfast at the student center of Mae Fah Luang University, founded in 1998. It is named after HRH the Princess Mother, the mother of the current King of Thailand, HRH King Bhumibol. Although the university is very young, it had about 10,000 students already in 2012, including many international students. Most courses are taught in English. Here is a picture of the entrance to the student center. Banners inside proclaim “Welcome Freshers!” – a new (to me) gender-neutral noun for first-year students.

The campus is large and very beautiful, with many trees and good views of the surrounding mountains. We were there only a short time, so I wasn’t able to get pictures that would do it justice.

From there, we drove up a beautiful winding road to another temple, Pra That Doi Tung, named after  the mountain it sits on, Doi Tung. It is near the Myanmar border, in the area known as The Golden Triangle. The temple is said to date back to 911, though it has undergone extensive renovation and probably bears little resemblance to the original. Again, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve seen some of these pictures already.

Nagas/serpents guarding the stairs

Giants with baseball bats (haha just kidding) guarding the entrance

Bells lining the walkway, each with a different tone

           

 In the pictures below, you see that the temple is not large, but quite beautiful and well maintained.

Figures on the right side of the temple

Figures on left side of temple

Close-up to show details

Back down the mountain, I took a closer look at the guy below – don’t know who he is, but you can see he’s well taken care of, with soft drinks and food (left picture) and a blanket around him against the chilly nights. Note the bloody axe, better visible in the picture below right. I asked whom he’d killed but nobody knew.

 

In the picture below, you see a group of monks getting ready to head up the hill, and behind them a number of vendors' stalls where, of course, we went shopping.

Our next stop was Doi Tung Villa, where the Princess Mother Mae Fah Luang spent most of her time from the late 1980s until her death in 1995, at age 95. Although she had lived much of her life abroad, once she made a decision to stay in Thailand, in 1964, she became very active on behalf of impoverished people in rural areas, especially in the North. We learned that the landscape, thickly forested today, was mostly barren after years of slash-and-burn agriculture. Mae Fah Luang sponsored a reforestation project, as well as helping to introduce the cultivation of crops such as coffee, tea, and corn as an alternative to poppies, and bringing medical care to isolated villages. Like HRH King Bhumibol and HRH Queen Sirikit, she is much revered for her good works. The name Mae Fah Luang (mother/sky/royal, or royal mother from the sky) was given to her by the rural people because they usually saw her arrive by helicopter.

The Doi Tung Villa is at the top of a hill with beautiful views – the area reminded Mae Fah Luang of Switzerland, where she had lived for many years and raised her three children. You can see the combination of Swiss and Thai architectural elements in the design.

Villa as seen walking up the hill

View from the balcony

Entrance to the villa

 Visitors aren't allowed to take photographs inside the villa, so I can't show you the great room ceiling with the Princess Mother's favorite constellations. Except for that large room, with its vaulted ceiling, the villa is rather modest for a royal residence. Today, the Villa is used only for special events; no one from the Royal Family lives here. Below is a view of the well-manicured lawn, with me and Bussara looking as though we're about to fall off that bench.

 Bussara compared the state of the villa and gardens today with the way they looked when she visited there the first time, about 15 years ago. She said it was much more beautiful then, with a far greater variety of flowers -- as the Princess Mother preferred. After Bussara said that, I realized that there were a great many begonias and other hardy flowers that grow well without a lot of attention (that's why I can grow them!). Still, the villa gardens are beautiful, as you can see in the pictures below.

 The sculpture, which is named "Continuity," is the work of a Thai woman sculptor, Misiem Yipintsol.

After leaving the villa, we headed farther north to Mae Sai, the northernmost town in Thailand, as amusingly proclaimed by the arch behind us.

 In Mai Sai, all we did was eat and shop -- shopping is the town's main draw -- so this was effectively the end of our trip. Then we drove south as far as Chiang Mai, spent the night there, and visited a museum (again, no picture-taking allowed) before leaving on the nearly 12-hour drive back to Kanchanaburi. Let me add that our principal paid for the trip, so a big thank-you to her!  I learned a lot about northern Thailand -- very different from the northeast, where I lived last year -- and hope you enjoyed what I've shared with you here.