Browse Month

June 2011

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Zoo (Day 4, Part 1)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jun 13, 2011
/
Chiang Mai, Thailand, Travel

Date: 22nd November 2010

Yesterday evening was nice. Today was the last day of Loy Krathong, and I’m guessing tonight’s events were going to be a ‘grand finale’ to the festival. But first, I decided to move out of Rux Thai and take a single room at Centerplace Guesthouse because I was going to be out all day and tomorrow morning, I would leave for Chiang Rai.

A single room at Centerplace Guesthouse costs just 200 baht (Rs. 300/$6.7/€4.5).

After transferring my bags, I decided to spend my morning at Chiang Mai Zoo, which is en route to Doi Suthep.

Now I knew Chiang Mai Zoo wasn’t going to be as impressive as Singapore Zoo, but the main reason I chose to visit the zoo is to see a rare animal I rank among my favourites in the animal kingdom — the giant panda!

Chiang Mai Zoo has three of them. But the entrance fees to the zoo are broken up by the individual attractions the place has to offer. The zoo fee costs just ฿100, but it does not include the chance to see the pandas. That’s another ฿100. Also, if you want avail the open air bus, that’s ฿20. So all-in-all, I paid ฿220 (Rs. 325/$7.2/€5) for my entry.

Indian elephant Chiang Mai zoo — The Indian elephant

I walked a bit, saw a few animals at the entrance that I’ve seen many time before and then hopped on to the zoo bus to head straight for the pandas.

Chiang Mai zoo minibus — You have a driver who gives commentary about the attractions as you go along, but it’s only in Thai

Chiang Mai zoo panda statues — I got down here

Chiang Mai zoo Lin Ping house entrance — You hand over the panda entry ticket here

Chiang Mai zoo way to Lin Ping house — First up, Lin Ping, the youngest panda in Chiang Mai Zoo

Chiang Mai zoo Lin Ping playground — This is Lin Ping’s playground. So, where is Lin Ping? (Photo taken on Nokia E72)

Chiang Mai zoo Lin Ping sleep — To the extreme right corner… she was asleep (I hope)

Pandas in Thailand Chiang Mai zoo — Chiang Mai Zoo has 3 pandas, among the only 35 outside China

While young Lin Ping gets her massive play ground, her parents Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui are in a separate air-conditioned enclosure not too far away.

Chuang Chuang panda Chiang Mai zoo — “Ni hao” (Chinese for “hello”)

Chiang Mai zoo panda Lin Hui walking wood — This is the female panda Lin Hui

Chiang Mai zoo panda Lin Hui playing — Play time for Lin Hui

Chiang Mai zoo Chuang Chuang eating — And this bloke here is Xuang Xuang (Chuang Chuang)

Chiang Mai zoo Xuang Xuang panda eating Thailand — Fussy eater! 🙂

Chiang Mai zoo Chuang Chuang sucking thumb — Post-brunch sucking-of-thumb*

Chiang Mai zoo Chuang Chuang eating bamboo — Then ‘tooth pick’ 🙂

Panda Xuang Xuang Chiang Mai zoo — Look at its ears! 🙂

Chiang Mai zoo panda Xuang Xuang eating — Lin Ping was actually born using insemination because this bloke wasn’t interested in ‘doing the job’ with wifey

Chiang Mai zoo Lin Hui eating bamboo — The entire process of how they inseminated Lin Hui is explained near Lin Ping’s section

Chuang Chuang Lin Hui pandas information Chiang Mai zoo — The first two pandas at Chiang Mai zoo

After getting my panda fix, I moved on.

Chiang Mai zoo monorail train — The zoo has a monorail service too (which costs extra as well)

Chiang Mai zoo 7eleven store — And the ubiqitous 7-Eleven can be found inside the zoo as well

I took the tram car again, and it stopped for a while at the newly opened aquarium.

Chiang Mai zoo aquarium entry fee — At those prices, I wasn’t keen on checking it out

Chiang Mai zoo koala tree Thailand — Tree hug

Chiang Mai zoo koala sleeping on tree — Koalas were busy sleeping

Chiang Mai zoo koala sleeping fact — Natural born sleepers

Chiang Mai zoo Dunger koala tail — Dunger is one of the koalas

Chiang Mai zoo kids park — The Kids park

They have a kids section with a bunch of cute animals and some rather interesting tiny creatures.

Chiang Mai zoo pygmy marmoset Thailand — This creature is called the pygmy marmoset

Chiang Mai zoo pygmy marmoset — It’s a really tiny animal and it moved funnily

Chiang Mai zoo deer park reindeers — I moved on to the deer section next

Chiang Mai zoo deer walkway — There’s an overhead walkway

Chiang Mai zoo steep hill — I walked to the next attraction

Chiang Mai zoo monorail track view — There was a huge tree trunk which had a set of stairs you could climb to get this view (Taken on my Nokia E72)

Next, I entered a birds enclosure.

Chiang Mai zoo Lady Amherst's pheasant — Lady Amherst’s pheasant

Chiang Mai zoo Lady Amherst's pheasant tail — Lovely looking thing

Great hornbill Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Great Hornbill

Trumpeter hornbill Chiang Mai zoo — Trumpeter hornbill

Oriental pied hornbill Chiang Mai zoo — Oriental pied hornbill

Indian peacock Chiang Mai zoo — India’s national bird — the peacock (Edit: A reader just pointed out it took a dump. Didn’t even notice that until she told me!)

Country rooster Chiang Mai zoo — Got the lighting right on this one

Siamese fireback pheasant Chiang Mai zoo — Siamese fireback pheasant

Chiang Mai zoo birds enclosure panorama — This is the birds enclosure (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

White bellied sea eagle Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Birds of prey next. This is the White bellied sea eagle

Black kite Chiang Mai zoo staring — A kite… staring at me

Grey head fish eagle Chiang Mai zoo — Grey head fish eagle

Black kite eyes Chiang Mai zoo — Seriously, stop staring

Black kite beak head Chiang Mai zoo — “Duuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”

Ostrich Chiang Mai zoo — Ostrich (if you didn’t know)

Porcupine Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Porcupines

After the birds, next up was a large open section entirely for Gibbons.

White gibbon monkey swinging Chiang Mai zoo — Apes with really long arms

Gibbon swinging on tree Chiang Mai zoo — It was fun to watch these gibbons swing around

Chiang Mai zoo buddhist monks — The gibbons have a pretty large playground

Siamese crocodile Chiang Mai zoo — But they share the compound with a Siamese crocodile

Gibbons fighting Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Fun to watch apes play-fight

White handed gibbon feet shape Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Look at their feet. Nature and its designs!

Rhinoceros Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — The only Rhinoceros in Thailand

Rhino stegosaurus head Chiang Mai zoo — When I saw this photo, I thought to myself “Looks so much like a stegosaurus”

Elephant ride Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — They have elephant rides here, costs extra of course

Humboldt penguins Chiang Mai zoo — Humboldt penguins, in a seperate temeprature-controlled zone

Chiang Mai zoo Thailand pathway — It’s only at this point I realized Chiang Mai Zoo is quite big

View Chiang Mai city from Chiang Mai zoo — It occupies a large area and is quite hilly

Shooting club ATV Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — The irony of having a shooting club inside a zoo(!) is beyond me

Luge car station Chiang Mai zoo — The land has the slopes for luge riding, but I didn’t see anybody in the cars

Chiang Mai zoo tree panorama — Went in search for more animals

Black bear Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — The Asian black bear

Black bear Chiang Mai zoo wall — Poor thing only has his shadow to talk to

African lion Chiang Mai zoo — Didn’t look at her for too long

Assamese macaque Chiang Mai zoo Thailand — Assamese macaque

Pig tailed macaque Chiang Mai zoo — Pig tailed macaque

Ostrich feather Chiang Mai zoo — The Bare-bum Ostrich*

White tiger Chiang Mai zoo — And finally, the beautiful white tiger

Elephant Chiang Mai zoo — Passed the same elephant on the way out

Also on the way out, I couldn’t help but buy a small souvenir from Chiang Mai zoo. They were selling stuffed toys of the zoo’s main stars, the pandas. I bought a small Lin Ping souvenir for 150 baht.

All in all, I must have spent nearly 4 hours in Chiang Mai zoo. A lot longer than I thought I would spend. I mostly came to see the pandas and ended up seeing pretty much everything the zoo had to showcase.

So is a visit to Chiang Mai zoo worth it? Well, Singapore Zoo didn’t have pandas (they only get them in 2012), and even koalas, when I visited back in September. So yes, this visit was time and money well-spent. At half the price of Singapore Zoo, you still see a lot of animals. Chiang Mai zoo also has animal shows and even a Night Safari. How good those are, I didn’t bother to find out of sheer dis-interest.

Entry Doi Suthep Chiang Mai Thailand — Go up this way for Doi Suthep

Chiang Mai afternoon road — I got back pretty late in the afternoon

Chiang Mai lunch rice seafood curry — So I had a late lunch at the small eatery

Chiang Mai afternoon Wat canal — Chiang Mai looked pleasant as ever

Chiang Mai afternoon Loy Krathong — Floats were gathering

Chiang Mai afternoon Loy Krathong float — Another Grand Parade tonight?

Rachadamnoen road Chiang Mai — Rachadamnoen road looked empty today

Chiang Mai Yi Peng float preparations — I asked them what time it would start and they said ‘at sunset’

I had some time, so I decided to go back to my room and rest a bit.

Centerplace Guesthouse single room bed — This is what a single bed room at Centerplace Guesthouse looks like (Lin Ping on the bed is not included in the ฿200. I just put her there)

Centerplace guesthouse single room toilet — The toilet is clean, and has hot shower

I lied down for a while — this day wasn’t over yet.

Next posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Last day of Loi Krathong; Sunday Grand Parade (Day 4, Part 2)

Thailand 2010: Heading to Chiang Rai by bus, Wat Jedyod and Golden Clock Tower

Thailand 2010: Golden Triangle in Mae Sai; Chiang Rai’s White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

Thailand 2010: Pattaya — Beach road, Viewpoint, Jomtien Beach, Walking Street

Thailand 2010: Back to Bangkok — Chinatown, Patpong, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Market

Thailand 2010: Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sampeng Market, JJ market (again)

Thailand 2010: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour, Cobra show… and leaving Bangkok

Previous posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai cooking class; Loi Krathong celebrations in Mae Jo, Sansai

Thailand 2010: First day in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong; driving up Doi Suthep

Thailand 2010: Arriving in Bangkok and preparing for Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai

Yi Peng Chiang Mai big lanterns buddhists

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jun 03, 2011
/
Chiang Mai, Thailand, Travel

Date: 21st November 2010

After the unfortunate turn of events for me yesterday, I woke up today feeling a bit warmer inside. Not in a good way, more like having-a-body-temperature kind of way!

I woke up for a late breakfast, which I had at Rux Thai itself, and then went back to the room… to sulk. Hoping things would get better, health-wise and otherwise.

By the time I told myself there was no use sulking all day, I stepped out… at 6pm.

Loikroh road Yi Peng deserted look Chiang Mai — Lo Kroh looked deserted

Loi Kroh road bars Yi Peng decorations Chiang Mai — Many of the bars and restaurants were decorated in celebration of Yi Peng festival

I walked towards Thapae Gate to see if there was anything going on.

Thapae gate canal parking Chiang mai Thailand — Didn’t seem like much

Thapai gate food shawarma stall lady — Guess that takes care of dinner for tonight

Mr Salmon sushi street food Chiang Mai Thailand — Cheap sushi

I walked a bit further, and things had started to ‘brighten’ up.

Chiang Mai Thapae gate Loy Krathong decoration — This wasn’t the only decoration Thapae gate got

Thapae gate colourful lanterns display Yi Peng festival — Pretty

The one downside (sometimes) of carrying around a pro-looking camera is people assume you know how to take really good photographs and will do a better job than they can. I have often been asked to take photos of strangers using their point-and-shoot cameras and today was no exception.

Chiang Mai Thapae lanterns celebrations Mithun Divakaran — After being asked by some Taiwanese woman to take a few photos of her, I asked her to return the favour

Loy Krathong beauty contest stage Thapae gate Chiang Mai Thailand — They had a stage set up for some function

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong crowds Ratchadamnoen road — I crossed the road and walked to the other side, hoping to explore more

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong street shops lamps — Plenty of stalls set up everywhere

Chiang Mai Ratchadamnoen road crowd Loi Krathong — This is Ratchadamnoen road

Wat temple entrance Chiang Mai Loy Krathong — I entered this place out of curiosity

Baked chicken Thai herbs vendor Chiang Mai — Okay fine, it was the food!

Wat temple Chiang Mai Anthony Bourdain Yi Peng — Hey, it’s Anthony Bourdain!?*

Chiang Mai Wat Yi Peng street food eating outside — You can never go hungry in Thailand

Barbecued meat street food Chiang Mai Thailand — Unless you are strictly vegetarian

Wat Chiang Mai worship praying Thailand — Even though this was a temple…

Thai banana leaf omlette grilled Chiang Mai vendor — … it essentially got turned into a ‘food court’

Once outside, I asked Tourist Police officer (an American woman) whether there was anything special planned for today. She told me yesterday was the big release of the lanterns in Mae Jo, today there wouldn’t be anything special and tomorrow would be the concluding Grand Parade.

She didn’t come of as confident and ‘in-the-know’. Something I was used to by now.

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong crowds Ratchadamnoen road — Still, I walked on

Wat Phan entrance Chiang Mai Thailand — Steeped into another temple on Ratchadamnoen road

Wat Phan prayer hall Chiang Mai Thailand — Though I forgot to note down the name of the temple

Wat Phan shopping Chiang Mai Thailand — More stalls inside here as well

Wat Phan tourists eating Chiang Mai Thailand — Lots of eating here too

Wat Phan huge gong Chiang Mai Thailand — I was sooo tempted to bang it

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong parade start Ratchadamnoen road — I got back out to Ratchadamnoen road

Chiangmai Loy Krathong parade Ratchadamnoen road — Then I saw this…

Chiang Mai Yi Peng parade start Ratchadamnoen road — … and it looked like a parade…

Loi Krathong Saturday parade Chiang Mai men — …which looked quite, grand

Here’s part one of the videos I took of the parade:

Loy Krathong grand parade farm float- Chiang Mai Thailand — I take it the floats were showcasing Thailand’s culture from across all provinces

Loy Krathong grand parade college Chiang Mai Thailand — And I also take it these participating groups were colleges, schools, and other establishments

Chiang Mai light man weird street artist Thailand — This guy wasn’t part of the parade… but was getting a lot of attention anyway

Here’s part two video of the parade:

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong Wat alley lanterns Thais — Walked this alley out of curiosity

More celebrations awaited me inside.

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong fireworks night sky — Lanterns from below joining the fireworks in the sky

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Wat Tung Yu priest lighting lantern — Now it were the monks who wanted to light a big one

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong temple huge paper lantern — A really big one

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Wat Tung Yu lighting big paper lantern — You obviously cannot use matchsticks to light a lantern this big

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Wat Tung Yu lighting paper lantern waiting — Wait for it to heat up inside

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong buddhist priests releasing paper lantern — Okay, everybody’s waiting… just let go of it already!

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong Wat Tung Yu paper lantern with firecrackers — And it’s up

Chiang Mai Wat Tung Yu people leaving — I left

Chiang Mai full moon night sky lanterns — Near Rux Thai, this was the sight

Chiang Mai Thapae gate crowds gathered — Walked back to Thapae Gate

Chiang Mai Thapae gate Loi Krathong beauty contest — There was a beauty contest going on

Chiang Mai Loi Krathong beauty contest audience — Packed audience too

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong beauty contest — Switched to the 70-200mm lens for a closer look

Chiang Mai Thapae gate photographers 70-200 canon lens — I wasn’t the only one

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest — A rather ‘traditional’ looking beauty contest

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest judges Thailand — The judges-slash-sponsors

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest women — Just before the winner is announced, the women get the ‘God-I-hope-that-b***h-doesn’t-win!’-look

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest award — The winner

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest prize Thailand — She gets a placard…

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contest winner — …which says something in Thai

Chiang Mai Miss Loy Krathong beauty contes Wai Wai runnerup — The runner-ups get a month’s supply of instant noodles*

Chiang Mai Thapae gate Yi Peng celebrations lanterns — Lanterns were still floating up

Chiang Mai Loy Krathong Thapae stage lantern — The stage cleared. I didn’t wait to see what was next.

Thapae road bars Yi Peng bursting crackers — I walked on down to Thapae Road next

As I walked along, I saw a large crowd gather around someone.

Chiang Mai amazing street footballer Thailand — Everybody was watching this guy

Chiang Mai street footballer Thailand — He was mighty impressive

So I decided to take a video:

I tipped him 10 baht and continued down the road.

Chiang Mai street guitarist Thailand — There were a few other street performers as well

Wat Buppharam Chiang Mai Yi Peng fireworks — Lots of fireworks today… which is always nice

Wat Buppharam Chiang Mai Indian emblem four lions — Hey, those lion statues resemble the official emblem of India!

Curious as to what the possible ‘Indian connection’ could be, I went inside Wat Buppharam.

Wat Buppharam Chiang Mai Buddha statue worship — Looked like just another Buddhist temple to me

I got back out to Thapae Road and made my way towards Nawarat bridge.

Thapae road camera man Loi Krathong — Lots of media

Thapae gate grand parade float lights — The parade was still on

Tapae road to Nawarat bridge Yi Peng crowds — It was crowded!

Chiang Mai Yi Peng rock concert — They had a stage set up… sadly for the band, very few were watching

Chiang Mai condom safe sex aids awareness Thailand — Volunteers in condom costumes distributed free condoms and promoted AIDS awareness

Chiang Mai Nawarat bridge Yi Peng crowded — The people on Nawarat bridge

Mae ping river Loy Krathong devotees — Many devotees releasing krathongs into Ping river

Mae ping river Loi Krathong river thieves — And if you’re wondering what those people in the waters are doing, they’re ‘stealing’

Stealing what? Money. When the locals pray and release the krathongs, they often place some money as an offering to the river goddess. These shameless people then wait for the krathongs to float their way and then take the money. CNNGo has a good article on these ‘river bandits’.

Chiang Mai Nawarat bridge Yi Peng khomloys city — It’s hard to capture what I saw with my eyes no matter how much I tried

It’s not just the hundreds of paper lanterns in the sky in front of me. There were hundreds more to my left, right, behind me… everywhere! I kept wondering “How does one truly capture the experience in one frame!”

Chiang Mai bridge light bulbs — I moved to another bridge

Praisanee road grand parade Loy Krathong — The parade was at the end of its run

Krathongs for sale Maeping river Chiang Mai — Krathongs and khomloys (paper lanterns) for sale

Chiang Mai steps to Maeping river — I walked down these steps

Rim Ping hotel Loy Krathong firework — Plenty of fireworks soon went off near Rim Ping Hotel

Rim Ping hotel Loy Krathong Chiang Mai firework — Kinda looks like the Death Star doesn’t it? 🙂

Ping river Loykrathong devotees Chiang Mai — Ping river was packed with devotees

Chiang Mai Maeping river big floats — And a few big floats

Praisanee road roundabout Chiang Mai — I walked towards the Chiang Mai Municipality building

Chiang Mai municipal hall Yi Peng function — Cultural shows were going on

Chiang Mai Thai woman makeup geisha — One of the performers; dressed very geisha-like

Chiang Mai US embassy wall paintings — These paintings were on the walls of the US Consulate

Chiang Mai Thai cream pancake street vendor — I was starting to get hungry at this point

Chiang Mai flower shop display — Lots of flowers today as well

Chiang Mai roses red flowers wrapped newspaper — Not sure if these were roses

Praisanee road Chiang Mai Chinese temple — Some temple near the market

Praisanee road Loy Krathong locals celebrating — It was nearing midnight, time to head back to the room

Loy Krathong Loy Kroh road at night — Celebrations on Loy Kroh road were timid at best

Indian kitchen Pakistani food Chiang Mai Thailand — As seen at a small Indian eatery near Rux Thai

As I sat on my bed before going to sleep, I reviewed the snaps I had taken today. After yesterday’s disappointment, and how I felt when I woke up today, my mood was definitely more upbeat after I saw my photos.

Hope it gets better tomorrow!

* No, not really