Chiang Mai Attractions

Puping Palace
Puping Palace, the royal winter residence. The Royal Family divide their resident ship among the four regions of the country in order to meet all of their subjects in every part of the country besides look over rural development projects nationwide. When not in Bangkok to attend to royal functions, the Royal Family regularly change residence to the North in Chiang Mai at Puping Palace, the Northeast at Sakon Nakorn and Narathiwat in the South staying for long periods at each place every year.

Puping Palace is famous for its magnificent palatial flower garden, which is open to the public, Fridays to Sundays, when the Royal Family are not in residence. Due to the cool climate at 4,300 feet above m.s.l., the flowers bloom to gigantic sizes and fantastic colors. The palace garden staff excels themselves in bringing out the best of any variety. At Puping Palace, every available space is devoted to flowers and decorative plants. Visitors can wander around in most parts of the palace grounds except the immediate royal residential area.

Meo Hill tribe of Doi Pui
Three kilometers on the back road behind the Puping Palace on a hill called Doi Pui lies a Meo village which is among the first to forsake their opium farming. Being in the neighborhood of the Puping Palace , the village was convinced by the royal neighbors to cultivate substitute crops that can readily be sold in the open market, such as cabbage, tea leaves and pear fruits. Yet, visitors to the village can still see genuine poppy plant with opium producing bulb. Those arriving at the village cannot miss it-the long queue of tourists waiting to take their turns being photographed with the lone poppy plant, placed in the village square solely as an exhibit.

The village, however, retains outside appearance as an outback Meo tribal habitat. Visitors can visit the ramshackle, windowless wooden huts with the remnant of the night wood fire on the stamped earthen floor. Family members, however, are in the village square donning their tribal finery and busily collection fees from souvenir photographers.

Chiang Mai Zoo
On Huay Kaew Road near Chiang Mai University An open zoo par-excellence, the Chiang Mai zoo places their animals in real forest environs on the wooded hillside of Doi Suthep the other way round from Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Visitors can drive up the pleasant roadway which winds through the forest up the hill, passing the various fenced-in animal habitats. Up on top, is a beautifully landscaped meadow with flower shrubs and mountain pool, offering a refreshing rest stop, with splendid panoramic vista of the city below.

Tribal Research Institute The institute has comprehensive research documentation of the back-grounds, custom, superstitions, farming methods etc. which provide a good insight into their ways of life. The institute compiles the data as part of efforts to promote crop substitute for the hill tribes to replace opium and introduce new method of farming instead of the slash and burn system. At the center, there are realistic tabular vivant models of various tribes people, that look amazingly life-like, in a daily scene at their habitats.

The institute is a good starting point to gather background information, for those who plan to go on a trek to visit the hill tribes at their home grounds.

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