Doi Tung (ดอยตุง)

I have been to Chiang Mai, Chaing Rai many times but, for some reason, it never occurs to me to go to this mountain, Doi Tung or Thailand’s Switzerland. The mountain is for everyone, who loves nature, especially beautiful flowers and a relatively low temperature. I always feel exuberant in cold weather and yes I love being at Doi Tung.

If you are aware of the habitual temperature in Bangkok, you might appreciate more of the weather in Doi Tung than I do. Well, I once asked one of my friends about the weather in Thailand, and he replied to me like that: “We have 3 seasons and you might have figured out that already. Those are “hot season, very hot season, and very very hot season”. It is normally true though. But, there is a “BUT”, this year is totally different. In Southern part of Thailand, there is flood due to heavy rain and recently, in Bangkok, the air-conditioned room is less cooler than outside temperature. I even heard on radio that one presenter was scoffing of using warm water during New Year in April.

Royal Villa

Mae Fah Luang Garden

Where am I? I lost orientation and talked noting but weather. Here is the thing; it is worth going to Doi Tung since we can visit the Doi Tung royal villa, former residence of the mother of the present King, the Mae Fah Luang Garden, and the Hall of Inspiration. At the villa, no one is allowed to take pictures of the rooms, which are very cozy by the way and the view from the villa is breathtaking. The garden is magnificently filled with beautiful flowers and the landscape is superb. I saw a coffee shop in the garden, and sadly enough, I didn’t spend time there due to time constraints. It might be one reason why I should go back there. 

These cute and vibrant girls? They are from the Mae Fah Luang project and I love watching their amazing clothes, and who wouldn’t? After visiting the Hall of Inspiration (“no camera allowed”), I could not even think of going to the market since it is getting hot.

On my way back to the car, I noticed the shaved ice dessert shop and my thoughts went back to my days with my little sister. I remembered bringing her to the shaved ice dessert shop for the first time. I ordered “ေရခဲသုပ္ ႏွစ္ပြဲေပးပါ ” and abruptly she told me “ ငရုတ္သီးမထည္႕ဘူးေနာ္ ”, as she understood all the “အသုပ္” have always to do with chili. Well she was about 3 when it happened and we still have a blast talking about that in our family.