During a recent weekend trip to Chiang Mai, we visited a big flower and plant exhibition that was opened in 2006 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol’s accession to the throne. The Royal Flora Expo is about eight miles from the centre of Chiang Mai. It is a large-scale exhibition, and that already becomes clear when you’re driving up the entrance lane: there are beautifully patterned hedges on huge lawns on both sides of the lane, and both directions are separated by a big central reservation, equally green.
This impression of vastness is also conveyed by the enormous entrance: a vast square with a big entrance gate flanked by rows of big white elephants and dozens of flags. Once through the entrance gate, you are greeted by a view of a distant temple at the end of a long and wide, slightly rising boulevard. The site of the expo is big, very big; most people make grateful use of a kind of train stopping at different places. The expo consists of several zones, where different aspects of the world of flora are presented: there is a tropical Thai garden, a temperate garden, a herb garden, an orchid garden, etc. These gardens lie on both sides of the wide central boulevard.
The first part of the boulevard encloses big flowerbeds with flowers of uniform colour; in between, there are a fair number of big contemporary sculptures. To one side of this zone is a large building housing temporary exhibitions and conferences. If you walk up the boulevard, you come to a central area with many modern white benches (but nobody uses them, as there is no shade). Beyond that area is the start of the last part of the boulevard, flanked by beautifully sculpted lamp posts and exhibition panels with information about the king.
Eventually you come to the temple, dedicated to King Bhumibol, with a fairly sober but beautiful and traditional interior dominated by a large royal symbol with nine spheres. On both sides of the temple, there are big ponds with waterlillies.
This Royal Expo is well worth a visit, and you can walk around all day if you want. If you want to see more pictures, you can go to picasaweb as usual.
