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עברית
February 3, 2007
That day I planned on going to Doi Inthanon National Park, where the highest mountain in Thailand is located.
Flowers Festival
The main roads in Chiang Mai were jammed. It seems I arrived right on the day when the flowers festival began. The flowers festival in Chiang Mai occurs once a year. Thousands of people go out to the streets to watch a sight of exhibits wrapped with hundred of thousands of colorful flowers creating live statues and writings.
I drove with my motorcycle through the crowd and the exhibits and went quickly outside the city.
Wood Chiseling Factory
Before I arrived at the national park, I stopped at a wood chiseling factory. Artists work there and create statues and signs for doors, all hand-made of course. The final product is much cheaper than what you can find in stores and markets within Chiang Mai and as a bonus you get to see them in action. I kept riding toward a remote clothes market. It was extremely cheap so I did my shopping there, which delayed my plans for that day substantially.
Doi Inthanon National Park
The highest mountain in Thailand is located about ninety kilometers away from Chiang Mai. The road leading to the top is loaded with curves, but looked to me as a children’s game compared to the roads around Mae Hong Son. You should bring warm clothes since as you go higher, the ride is getting colder and colder.
Fee entrance to the park is 400 baht (or 200 baht for students). The price is high so you should take advantage of most of the attractions inside and come early. On the way to the top you can visit a couple of waterfalls which are close to the main road. Entrance to all attractions inside is free of charge. You can also visit one Karen village and the royal project of agriculture if you’re interested in flowers. I didn’t have enough time to visit all waterfalls. In order to make it to the top before sunset, I visited two waterfalls and the royal project. It’s a pastoral and well kept place, but not so big.
The King And Queen’s Stupas
The main attraction is located very close to the top. The King and Queen’s Stupas. These magnificence stupas are going up to the sky and create an unusual sight within the mountainous landscape. These two are the main reason for your visit in the reservation.
Top Of The Highest Mountain In Thailand
The highest mountain in the country reaches 2,500 meters. As I got closer to the top I felt the cold getting into my bones. I came with warm clothes, but riding on a motorcycle makes you feel the cold and winds even more, and your fingers freeze easily. The viewpoint at the top was unclear and misty. I guess it’s like this all year long because of the mountain’s height. You can find there a garden and a small temple, as well as a small coffee shop and a weather forecasting center of the Thai army. The soldiers let me come in to check out the base, but I couldn’t find inside anything interesting. Just near the top there’s a marked trail in which you can go walking for a short nature tour.
The barometer in the visitors center showed six degrees Celsius. Very cold… Don’t forget warm clothes, especially if you come on a motorbike.
Going down the mountain
The going down the mountain part was quite good and pretty fast. I practiced on taking the curves witout using the break, but only the gear. I left the reservation, drove a little in the area around the park and went back to Chiang Mai.
Flowered Night Market in Chiang Mai
Saturday evening in Chiang Mai. The markets are blooming with flowers. The exhibits from the festivals decorated the market and thousands of Thais flooded the streets and admired the flower works. It was indeed very impressive. The work on those exhibits probably took quite some time. Painters sit on the streets and skillfully paint people by request. You can find in the market artists, mimes and even singers and performers. I found it hard in Chiang Mai to take pictures of the people as they didn’t cooperate like in smaller cities.
This article was originally written in Hebrew. It was translated to English at a later time.
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