Just outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s 2nd largest city and the gateway to the northern provinces, are two very interesting botanical gardens - Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden and Bhubing Palace and Garden, one of the estates of the royal family.

Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden

Located in Mae Sa Valley, a popular mountain resort area just 45 minutes - 1 hour drive from Chiang Mai, Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden at 960 hectares (2,372 acres) is by far the largest and most important Botanical Gardens in Thailand. If you’re a botanical enthusiast, no trip to Thailand is complete unless you schedule at last a day or two visiting this fascinating facility. As there is so much ground to cover here, I suggest you stay at one of the fine mountain lodges near the Garden in Mae Sa Valley as opposed to staying in Chiang Mai.

Opened in 1993, this garden were created as a botanical research center and for visitors who wanted learn more about the plants and flowers of Thailand. Believe me, QSBG is huge. When I visited these gardens about 2 years ago, I did not have enough time to thoroughly tour the property, maybe next time. There are a number of interesting botanical walking trails that crisscross and circle the hilly property featuring prominent displays of tropical plants and flowers. One route will introduce you to Thai plants and local medicinal herbs, another route features climbers and vines. Or perhaps, you would like to take a hike to a small waterfall, on the way you’ll pass by the Thai Rock garden. This trail ends up at the Thai Orchid Nursery, which is home to over 350 native orchid species. Although, I did not have enough time to explore any of these trails, I am told each trail takes 40-60 minutes to complete.

While I was there, I visited the glasshouse conservatory, which houses the rainforest exhibit. Complete with an electrically powered artificial waterfall, this exhibit features many of the plants that thrive in the rainforest - gingers, anthuriums, ferns, cycads, impatiens, begonias and other species. There are a series of temperature-controlled greenhouses located on the hillside, each featuring a different grouping or category of plants and flowers. One of the greenhouses features an amazing collection of begonias; another one features mostly Thai medicinal plants and herbs. The most unusual and exotic plant that I encountered there was the Bat Plant (Tacca chantrieri), which is indigenous to Southeast Asia. The greenhouse exhibit featuring an eclectic variety of water lilies and lotuses was most impressive. Check out the stark contrast between the very unique and austere marble planters and the large black pots (see picture). Factoid - The water lotus is a sacred plant in the Buddhist religion.

Bhubing Palace and Gardens.

Bhubing Palace and Garden is the winter residence for the Royal family. When her Royal Highness, Queen Sirikit, makes her seasonal visits to Northern Thailand to work on any number of community projects, she always returns to Bhubing Place to rest up. In addition, the Royal Family often entertain visiting dignitaries on this huge estate, which is located in very close proximity to the magnificent Doi Suthep Temple and Pagoda.
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The Gardens on this estate are absolutely breathtaking and you can tell a lot of attention to minutiae was involved in the overall design and concept. The landscaping and design will definitely knock you out! Queen Sirikit is a real horticultural enthusiast and her favorite flowers are roses; you’ll definitely want to check out the Queen’s Royal Rose Garden, which features many exotic cultivars. In addition, there’s a lovely Fern Garden and a small Water Reservoir, which is surrounded with landscaped beds of temperate flowering plants. I’ll say one thing about the Royal Family (especially the King and the Queen), they truly are very cultured people and have very refined tastes. The traditional architecture and décor on this royal estate reflects their genuine appreciation of Thai history and culture. Of course, it helps to be very wealthy to be able to build such a beautiful estate as the Bhubing Palace. A wonderful place for photography, Bhubing Palace and Gardens is open to the public from April to December.

In the mountains of Chiang Rai province, Northern Thailand, there are two outstanding botanical venues - Mae Fah Luang Botanical Garden and Mae Fah Luang Arboretum.

There’s a very interesting history behind the creation of the botanical garden and arboretum. Upon the late Princess Mother’s (the mother of the current King) return from Switzerland in the late 1980’s, she was very disturbed to see the Doi Tung region stripped of it’s forests and natural vegetation. Years of slash and burn agriculture and extensive opium cultivation by the indigenous hilltribe communities had taken its toll on the environment. As an ardent environmentalist and conservationist, the Princess Mother made a vow to reforest Doi Tung! Taking matters into her own hands, she was instrumental in a major reforestation and socioeconomic campaign that improved the welfare and the lives of the hilltribe communities and helped revitalize the forest. The creation of the Botanical Garden and Arboretum was part of this great lady’s vision.

Mae Fah Luang Botanical Garden

Situated at an elevation of 3200 feet above sea level, this beautiful, well-manicured garden has ornamental flowers and shrubs from all over the world mixed in with native species. At any time of the year, there are many flowers in bloom and a dazzling array of colors blankets the garden. Looking at the garden from a distance it has the feeling of mosaic. There are over 70 temperate, high altitude flowering plants represented here including dahlias and morning glories. Throughout the garden there are nice aesthetic touches such as a lovely manmade waterfall, water fountains, a lagoon with flower filled canoes and there are park benches and lookout points scattered throughout the property. The centerpiece of the garden is an eclectic bronze sculpture of a group of children supporting each other in sort of a human pyramid formation; the sculpture is called Continuity and pays tribute to the deceased Princess Mother’s dedication and continuous efforts towards improving the lives of the Thai People. Overlooking the gardens is the Princess’s Mother Royal Villa, which is modeled after her residence in Switzerland. These gardens are extremely popular as evidenced by the many tour buses parked at the entrance.

Mae Fah Luang Arboretum

This wonderful botanical park is situated at about a mile above sea level at Doi Chang Mub, straddling the Thai-Myanmar border. In comparison to hustle and bustle of the more touristy Mae Fah Luang Botanical gardens, the Arboretum has a much more natural feeling about it and because of it’s somewhat remote location, there are considerably less visitors. In the center of the park, there is a large grassy area surrounded by native trees with wonderful panoramic views of the mountainous Golden Triangle. The Arboretum is located in the heart of the reforestation effort that the Princess Mother dedicated the last part of her life to. Many endemic species of trees were replanted in the park in addition to many temperate plants and flowers. Walking through the Arboretum, you’ll find many varieties of azaleas, rhododendrons and orchids as well as beautiful plantings of poinsettias, hydrangeas and native species. I really enjoyed the calm and idyllic of the Arboretum; I could spend a couple days here just meditating and absorbing the lovely panoramas of the surrounding mountains. There is something very spiritual about the Arboretum; I believe that the spirit of the late great Princess Mother watches over these magical woods. This is definitely a high-energy place!

Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milli), an exotic tropical succulent native to Madagascar, has to be one of the most fascinating and interesting plants that I have encountered during my travels. With stout, fleshy stems covered by some fierce looking thorns, the plant has the ability to flower all year around with the strongest bloom coming in February and March. The delicate floral bracts of the hybrids come in a multitude of colors and shades - pinks, reds, crèmes and yellows as well as variety of pastels. Typically there are 8 or more bracts in the current crop of cultivars and hybrids.

In Thailand, the crown of thorns hybrid is known locally as Poysean, a name given to this plant by Chinese immigrants to Thailand . The spiritual significance of this plant is steeped in Chinese mythology; the eight floral bracts represent the eight virtues of the gods: health, bravery, wealth, beauty, artistry, cleverness, poetry, and victory over evil and bad spirits. Poysean is one of the most sacred and revered plants in Thailand. Often called the good luck plant, Thai people believe that by placing Poysean outside the house, whether on the balcony or on the terrace, will bring these powerful virtues to both the house and the owner. Throughout my travels in Thailand, I have encountered the Poysean planted in old-fashioned Chinese style flowerpots at the entrance of many houses and holy places or in front of a shrine.

In Thailand, the cultivation of new cultivars and hybrids of Poysean with larger flowers and with different colors is quite advanced; this does not come as any surprise given the special reverence for this exotic Euphorbia in this largely Buddhist country. Needless to say, in Thai horticultural circles cultivation of Poysean (Euphorbia milli) is a thriving business.

Factoid - Reputedly this Euphorbia species was thriving in Jerusalem at the time of Christ; hence that is how it derived its popular name of “the Christ plant”. No one has determined how this plant found it’s way to the holy land from it’s native Madagascar, an African island in the Indian ocean.

Thailand will never win any awards for their domestic wines. That being said, one can find some very tasty fruit wines being sold along the roadside in Northern Thailand between Chiang Rai and Mae Sai, the border town for entry into Myanmar (Burma). Located in the heart of the Golden Triangle, I remember my first trip to this region very well.

I flew into Chiang Rai and hired a taxi to take me to my lodge in Doi Tung, a popular resort in the mountains and site of Mae Fah Luang Botanical Gardens. Before dropping me off at my hotel, I had the driver take me to Mae Sai and the Myanmar border. About 5 miles from the border, we passed by a series of roadside stalls on each side of the highway selling bottles of fruit wine in addition to boxes of fresh strawberries and a variety of dried fruit. Making a mental note of this colorful photo opportunity, on my return trip from the border, I had the driver stop at one of the stalls. While conducting my photoshoot, I decided to have a little impromptu wine tasting session as well. (It did not hurt that the young lady vendor was very photogenic) . I sampled all four wines - strawberry, lychee, grape and the herb wine (a mix of fruits and herbs) . I found these Thai fruit wines to be very sweet and tangy; I surmise that they add a lot of sugar to this concoction. As a bonus the wine really packed quite a wallop and it went down oh so smooth. I’m guessing this sweet wine probably had a higher alcoholic content than the wines purchased in the USA.

As my taste buds were favorably impressed, I purchased two bottles for the road and hopped back into the taxi to complete my journey to my hotel in Doi Tung. From my recollection, each bottle wine cost about 3.00USD. Not a bad deal at all! By the time we arrived at my lodge, I had probably finished about ½ bottle and I was feeling ‘quite Hapee”. That night, I finished the remainder of the bottle before I went to bed and needless to say, I slept like a baby.

Factoid - The Golden Triangle refers to an area straddling northern Thailand and southern Burma that gained its notoriety as an important opium-growing region. Today, at least on the Thailand side of the border, the opium business has been curtailed and the farmers have been encouraged to grow tea, coffee, strawberries, lychee and other sustainable crops.

One of the most popular snacks in Thailand is slices of fresh jackfruit. You’ll find many street vendors throughout Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other large cities selling small plastic bags of this unusual but sweet tasting fruit. Known as kha-noon in Thailand, the jackfruit looks like a large, oval melon with a light green skin covered by small spines or knobs. Cutting it open will reveal the yellow colored fruit meat on the inside. Most westerners (farangs), are familiar with such tropical fruits as papaya, mango, pineapple and guava, but the jackfruit is unlike any fruit they’ve ever experienced. The flavor is hard to describe, it’s somewhat sweet and sharp, sort of a cross between a mango and banana. The taste of the jackfruit may take awhile to get used to but in my opinion, it is a very delicious and inexpensive snack. Unlike other countries in Southeast Asia, the jackfruit is not cultivated commercially on a wide scale in Thailand.

If you’re curious what my favorite tropical fruit is, I would say it is definitely the mango, and my favorite tropical juice is soursop, also known as guanabana in Latin American countries. Soursop’s name in Thai is thurian khaek (foreign durian).

In Mexico, Costa Rica and Thailand, it’s very common to find street vendors, who sell bags of freshly sliced fruits in plastic bags. I have no problem with these street vendors, as long I know that they practice good hygiene. If you watch carefully, most of them wear plastic gloves on their hands, or their hands never come in contact with the fruit while they carefully slice it with a very sharp knife into the bag. While walking the streets of Bangkok, I love to snack on a nice refreshing plate of watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, papaya and mango, topped off with a little squeeze of lime all for less than one dollar. Hmmm delicious….

Whenever somebody is traveling to a foreign destination, one of the most commonly asked questions is ‘Is it safe to drink the water?” No one wants to have their vacation spoiled by a case of the runs, diarrhea or a case of traveler’s dysentery. That’s no fun at all! I’ve been there, done that - during my early trips to Mexico in 1970’s, I suffered from Montezuma’s revenge on two separate occasions. Whenever I travel to a foreign country (I’m from the USA), I always drink bottled water (or the beer) and instead of using tap water to wet my toothbrush and rinse my mouth, I use bottled water as well. Furthermore, when I’m traveling to a country where I definitely know the tap water is suspect, I avoid eating salads at restaurants, which do not have access to purified water. When in doubt, I stay with cooked food only. Furthermore, I avoid eating raw fruit that cannot be peeled like apples and grapes, unless I know for sure they have been thoroughly washed with purified water. Since my last case of Montezuma’s Revenge in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in late 1974 (what a night of hell that was), I have been “run free” during my travels abroad. During that stretch of time, I have made numerous trips to Mexico, the Caribbean, Costa Rica, an extended 6 week trip to West Africa in mid 1990’s as well as 6 trips to Thailand in the last four years.

Normally in bars and restaurants that cater to tourists, they use purified ice cubes for their mixed drinks and wash their vegetables in purified water, but it does not hurt to ask. If you’re in Thailand as an example, you may have to learn an expression or two in Thai language in order to get to the heart of the matter.

Here’s my specific travel advisory for safe drinking water…

• Mexico- Except in small localized areas like Cabo San Lucas, Baja Mexico, avoid the tap water
• Costa Rica- In general, the water is safe to drink and use throughout most of the country, excluding Limon Province (and parts of the Caribbean Coast)
• Barbados- In general, no problem. One of the most hygenic places in the Cariibbean
• Jamaica- In the tourist areas, for the most part, the water is safe to drink and use but be very careful if you travel outside the tourist zone
• Thailand- Avoid the tap water - most likely, you will get sick

In summary, wherever you travel stay with bottled water or drink beer and use bottled water to wet your toothbrush Even in the USA, I don’t drink tap water! In general, bottle purified water is very inexpensive abroad; in Thailand as an example, you can buy a bottle at a local 7-11 store from 13 cents and up depending upon the brand. If you’re eating a local restaurant that does not normally cater to the tourist trade, you may want to avoid eating salads or uncooked vegetables, unless the proprietor can convince you that everything is washed in purified water. To be on the safe side, it doesn’t hurt to carry along a bottle of Imodium or some other over the counter remedy for diarrhea just in case you come down with a case of the runs. I came across a very good site, Safe Water for International Travelers that provides reliable information about drinking water quality in most countries. Check it out!!!

Affectionately known as Hooker’s lips, Psychotria elata with it’s colorful red flowers attracts many pollinators including butterflies and hummingbirds. One of the host plants for the golden silkmoth (Xlophanes adalia). Also known in some circles as Mick Jagger’s lips. Native to Tropical America, this specimen was found at the Butterfly Gardens in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

The cost of going out for dinner with a group of friends to a nice Thai restaurant in Thailand is far less expensive than going to a comparable Thai restaurant in your home country. In my case that is the USA. Of course, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out, as almost everybody knows that eating out in Southeast Asia is very, very affordable.

To give you an example, about 10 days ago I went out to Krung Siam, a nice (but not extravagant) Thai restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, CA with a group of friends and relatives to celebrate my birthday. Overall, there were 9 of us in this little dinner party. For those of you who don’t know much about the San Francisco Bay Area and what Palo Alto is all about, let me fill you in - Palo Alto, a fairly affluent community about a 45 minutes drive south of San Francisco, is the home of the prestigious Stanford University and is located in the heart of Silicon Valley. The restaurant itself is definitely not high brow as it caters for the most part to college students and faculty as well as young professionals in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Prices are relatively moderate for the Palo Alto Area; the average price for an entrée is about 9.00USD.

The total tab for my group amounted to 140.45 excluding gratuities. Not bad, huh? Here’s the breakdown.

To top it off, since it was my birthday, the management decided to give us a complimentary desert of fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Nice touch! Portions for each entrée are sufficient to feed 1.5 people. As our waitress, Pookie, provided very good service, I gave her a very generous tip.

Now if this little dinner party were in Thailand at a comparable Thai restaurant, the whole bill would have amounted to about $28-35.00 (or no more than 1400 baht in the local currency)

Bottom line: Eating out in Thailand at a fairly nice Thai restaurant costs about 4-5 times less than a comparable Thai restaurant in the USA. Again, no surprise here!

Just curious, how much do you think this feast for 9 people would have cost in your country or hometown?

Of all the old historical churches in Barbados, St. John’s Parish Church is probably the most popular with tourists primarily because of its spectacular setting. Located in the eastern parish of St. John, this classical gothic church is perched on a cliff with commanding views of the Atlantic Coast

St. John’s Parish Church dates back to 1836, replacing a stone version of the church which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1831. Located in the rear of the church is a cemetery populated with the expansive gravesites of members of the white aristocracy and plantocracy of the mid 19th to early 20th century. Buried on these hallowed grounds is Ferdinand Paleologus, a descendent of the last great Greek Emperor. Paleologus emigrated to Barbados and died there in 1678. In contrast to this “high rent burial ground for the dead” with its elaborate vaults and mausoleums is the cemetery for the lower classes, located directly across the street from the church. In this ‘other cemetery”, simple, bare bones gravesites are the norm for the ex -Africans slaves and their descendants who lie buried there. These separate burial grounds for the whites and the blacks are reflective of the social structure of those earlier days. In modern day Barbados, social and economic barriers have been removed allowing everybody, both and black and white, an opportunity to advance and better themselves. In today’s Barbados, money and privilege have no color.