Thailand - Chiang Mai - Royal Park Rajapruek

Chiang Mai doesn’t have much in the way of parks in the city so the botanical garden known as Royal Park Rajapruek was a welcome green oasis for us to spend the better part of a day. This must be the right time of year because it was full of flowers, as well as camera-toting locals and tourists like ourselves. The park was built to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the king’s ascension to the throne in 2006 and his 80th birthday in 2007. As such it also contains the temple-styled Royal Pavilion, the inside of which is decorated throughout with beautifully executed paintings of scenes from the king’s life and his works in the community. The park is also a center of agricultural research. The only detracting element to our otherwise peaceful experience here was the repetitive loop of annoying Asian pop music piped through loudspeakers placed all around the park. I pity the groundskeepers who have to listen to that every day.








The park has several of these kitschy characters scattered about
(I mean the statues, not us)



Orchids galore



Path leading to the Royal Pavilion, which lines up perfectly with the standing Buddha up on the hill.


The Royal Pavillion


Inside the Royal Pavilion



(photo by Deborah)






(photo by Deborah)








The ethical way to ride an elephant


(photo by Deborah)








Your moment of anti-zen - You may have to turn your volume up to hear this properly, but here is a sample of the annoying music playing from the loud speakers in the park.
(Video by Deborah)

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