Chiang Mai Adventures—Flowers!---February 7 to 9, 2020

Chiang Mai was my next adventure starting with a comfortable night train ride from Bangkok.  I had bought the train ticket online since I figured it would be sold out on the day I showed up at the Hua Lumphong Train Station.  

When I left my bag at the train storage, I saw this warning sign not to leave any food in your luggage or you may find that rats have eaten holes in them.

After a ferry boat, bus, Sky Train, and MRT subway ride I got to the 12Go online booking company office just across from the train station.  Their service fee was 200 Baht for the 941 Baht—$31USD— ticket for a second class sleeper upper berth on the #9 train.  The train left at 6:10 PM and was scheduled to arrive at 7:45 AM the following morning.  Once out of Bangkok our Express train made very few stops until morning.

My seatmate was a German woman who had been away from home for about a year as a nanny in New Zealand for most of that time and was just starting to travel.  In Germany, she worked for architects as a CAD designer and they have held her job open while she traveled.

It was my lucky day for she had preferred the upper berth so I was able to sleep in the coveted lower berth making it easier for my occasional trips to the bathroom.

Shortly after dark, the train attendant came in and made up our beds. Each bed with sheets, blanket and pillow took her less than two minutes to set up.  I was able to get to sleep fairly quickly especially since I used an eye mask to block out the lights remaining in the cabin and those coming from the towns we passed through.

As I walked from the Chiang Mai train station to Pratu Tha Phae gate and the Gaps Guest House, I saw that over the weekend, Chiang Mai was hosting the annual Flower show complete with exhibits, a parade and beauty pageant. 

As I approached the old quarter, I began to see the setups for the upcoming flower festival.

My neighbor in Seattle was in the business of selling cargo containers like these and I am sure he would approve of this use for living.

Here is the flower display at the Pratu Tha Phae gate near where I stayed.

When I got to the Gaps Guest House, they were fully booked—time to walk about looking for another place. 

I found the Awana Guest House which was even better with a rooftop deck and a swimming pool for 800 Baht per night.

I checked out the exhibits at the Pratu Tha Phae gate and watched these fire show buskers.

I headed over to the Anusan night bazaar where I enjoyed some entertainment scattered around the Bazaar.  There were singers and some young traditional Thai dancers.  

I paid 350 Baht to see the Chiang Mai Cabaret Show featuring ladyboys--katoeys—wearing fabulous over-the-top feather headdress performing some great dance and singing routines.  

After the show, I posed with one—beautiful, huh!

On Saturday morning the parade was supposed to start at 8 am so I got a great seat just outside the Pratu Tha Phae gate complete with shade and a bamboo backrest.  The parade didn’t show up at our location until closer to 9 AM.  To pass the time I visited with my neighbors there, a Malaysian woman who along with a few others came specifically to see this Flower Festival.  She said originally twenty of her friends were planning to come, but only 3 came because of the fears of the coronavirus.

The couple next to me were teachers from Texas, who were being hosted by a Thai exchange student they had hosted for a year back in their city.  They were getting a real insider's view of Thailand as a result.

The parade was wonderful with cars loaded with beauty queens and VIPs leading the way followed by elaborate floats, marching bands, drill teams, ethnic groups, and at the end the Hare Krishna chanters tagged along after the end of the official parade just as they had done when I saw the People’s Parade in Irkutsk, Russia.  They are everywhere chanting and throwing out marigolds as they sang.

This is the Chiang Mai Flower Festival Queen followed by her other beauties and VIPs in vintage cars.

Here is one of many floats in the parade.

Here is one of the groups of dancers in the parade.

There were several ethnic groups joining the parade. 

They even had a Mario Brothers band and dancers in the parade.

After the parade, I first stopped by the Wat Phra Singh and listened to some chanting monks as I walked the grounds.

I made my way to the Susan Buak Hat park where the floats were parked and lots of flower, food, and trinket vendors lined the streets.  

They had filled the park with all kinds of flowers and my favorite exhibit was the orchids and this winner was my favorite.

This is the entrance to Suan Buak Park.

Walls of flowers make a good backdrop for pictures. 

It was then on to the Saturday Night Market.  Here on different nights of the week, they set up these night markets in addition to the set Night Bazaars.  Generally, the same stuff is sold here along with lots of food vendors.

They are preparing some pork satay for me.

She is making me a mango smoothie for just $1USD.

I am getting more pork satay and the other vendor is selling exotic meats like crocodile, venison, ostrich, boar, and scorpions.  I passed on those.

Set plates of seafood were an especially popular meal here.

As always the crowds were large as many were food grazing their way through the night market.

As I was eating breakfast at the Awana, I met a woman from Seattle—Camino Island—who had planned her trip specifically to see the Flower Festival and was now heading south to Phrae Province.  It’s a small world.

My driver for Pai showed up about an hour late, probably because they had few customers, and they combined the 8 and 9 AM departures.  At that, there were just 4 of us in the 15 passenger van for the 3 hours 100 km drive up the mountains and around about 793 curves.