Today began with a visit to Chiang Mai Zoo, to pay a visit to see the city’s most famous residents. After a brief rest, I stepped out again to witness what the final night of the Yi Peng Festival had in store.
The parade was about to startOrnately decorated floats!This guy was attracting attention today as wellFascinating artMan, the work done on some of these floats!“Don’t call me now, I’m in a different era! You’re ruining it!”Thai ‘princess’ and ‘prince’
Not sure who this red t-shirt ‘army’ were representing
I wonder if Thais worship Lord Ganesha too
Hundreds of locals participate in the Grand Parade
The lady sitting on the car is the Consul General of the US Consulate of Chiang Mai, along with her family
Up ahead, I saw many Thais cosplaying. Hmm, I wonder which contingent this is? Why no surprise there! Japan’s floatLots of tributes to anime and videogame characters
Even dressing up as a Gundam robot!Absolutely beautiful workThe cavalcade made their may down Thapae RoadCameramen readied themselves
Not sure if the creature was meant to be a cow or a goatBut it did stop occasionally to be ‘fed’ money
I don’t who this character/mascot was
Awesome tattoo art
After following the parade from up front, I got distracted.
Yes, it was food… but…
Fried insects for sale!Was tempted to be all adventurous……but I hate insects when alive, leave alone when they are fried dead
Fortunately there were more appetizing food on sale.
All this stuff was cheapMy friend Loi’s survival foodLots, and lots of meat!
Okay, enough food. Back to the parade.
This being the last day of the festival, everybody was outLocals thronged the banks of Ping riverWalls of the Consulate General of the United States in Chiang MaiThe various floats pass by these stands where judges select the best in showMeanwhile on the river banks…
The eager crowd await the parade’s arrival through the final stageLeading the paradeSome formalities…and then fireworks!
River gods ‘flooded’ with krathongs
The American Consul family still doing the rounds
You also have fancier dining options by Ping river
Dinner boat rides are also quite popular
The parade making their way towards the municipality building
The banana trunk slices are what forms the base of the krathongs
Watching so many people release khomloys into the sky (and the fact this was the last day of the festival), I told myself I better release a paper lantern myself now. I still hadn’t done it yet! The past three days, I was busy clicking away and it made me feel like I was on assignment, on work (which in some ways, it is).
So I bought a krathong and a khom loy from nearby
I asked a local if I could borrow a light and instead she kindly shows me how to light the khomloy. She even helped hold it with me as the lantern filled up with hot air.
And there mine goes!I then released my krathong after making my wish(es). That’s the Thai lady who helped me.
As I walked back up to the main road, I kept telling myself with the disappointment of missing the events at Sansai that I had to come back again and do it right. More importantly, after the ‘assignment’ at Mae Jo, I will not spend all my time taking photos. Instead, I’m going to have fun releasing paper lanterns and playing with fireworks — and I won’t be alone
I went back to the main road for a few more photos.
Transgenders spreading the message of safe sexCondom-man distributing free condoms… and posing for photos with girlsThese kind of headbands are all the craze for young girls out hereNawarat bridge was packed with people
I headed back up Thapae roadI pity the guys who had to carry the dancer in this heat for hours!
Really impressive, the work they put into these floats!
Don’t you know driving while talking on your mobile is wrong?It broke! Poor girl must be so self-conscious now (even through it probably wasn’t due to her weight)
Hey, I couldn’t be biasedI’m really curious about the Indian connection in Thai historyThese floats are all winners in my opinionThis puppet was still doing the roundsBut even the men under the animal needed a break for waterAnd that was the end of the parade…I walked back to Thapae gate to pick up some dinnerPicked up some cashews, some fried rice and a shawarmaI even tried LEO beer for the first time. Essentially Singha’s offering to compete with Chang. My verdict? Chang is still better.
The fact that I had to split my last day in Chiang Mai into two posts is proof that this was a long day for me. I was quite tired, still feeling a bit feverish, but through it all — I was more than content with the photographs!
Tomorrow morning, I would head further up north to Chiang Rai and embark on the remainder of my journey across Thailand.
As a parting bonus, here’s a video of the some of the sights from today’s Grand Parade:
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.
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.
You have a driver who gives commentary about the attractions as you go along, but it’s only in ThaiI got down hereYou hand over the panda entry ticket hereFirst up, Lin Ping, the youngest panda in Chiang Mai ZooThis is Lin Ping’s playground. So, where is Lin Ping? (Photo taken on Nokia E72)To the extreme right corner… she was asleep (I hope)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.
“Ni hao” (Chinese for “hello”)This is the female panda Lin Hui
Play time for Lin Hui
And this bloke here is Xuang Xuang (Chuang Chuang)Fussy eater! Post-brunch sucking-of-thumb*Then ‘tooth pick’ Look at its ears! Lin Ping was actually born using insemination because this bloke wasn’t interested in ‘doing the job’ with wifeyThe entire process of how they inseminated Lin Hui is explained near Lin Ping’s sectionThe first two pandas at Chiang Mai zoo
After getting my panda fix, I moved on.
The zoo has a monorail service too (which costs extra as well)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.
At those prices, I wasn’t keen on checking it out
Tree hug
Koalas were busy sleeping
Natural born sleepersDunger is one of the koalasThe Kids park
They have a kids section with a bunch of cute animals and some rather interesting tiny creatures.
This creature is called the pygmy marmosetIt’s a really tiny animal and it moved funnily
I moved on to the deer section next
There’s an overhead walkway
LamasI walked to the next attractionThere 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.
Lady Amherst’s pheasantLovely looking thingGreat HornbillTrumpeter hornbillOriental pied hornbillIndia’s national bird — the peacock (Edit: A reader just pointed out it took a dump. Didn’t even notice that until she told me!)Got the lighting right on this oneSiamese fireback pheasant
This is the birds enclosure (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)Birds of prey next. This is the White bellied sea eagleA kite… staring at me
Grey head fish eagleSeriously, stop staring“Duuhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”Ostrich (if you didn’t know)Porcupines
After the birds, next up was a large open section entirely for Gibbons.
Apes with really long arms
It was fun to watch these gibbons swing around
The gibbons have a pretty large playgroundBut they share the compound with a Siamese crocodile
Fun to watch apes play-fightLook at their feet. Nature and its designs!
The only Rhinoceros in ThailandWhen I saw this photo, I thought to myself “Looks so much like a stegosaurus”They have elephant rides here, costs extra of course
Humboldt penguins, in a seperate temeprature-controlled zone
It’s only at this point I realized Chiang Mai Zoo is quite bigIt occupies a large area and is quite hilly
The irony of having a shooting club inside a zoo(!) is beyond meThe land has the slopes for luge riding, but I didn’t see anybody in the carsWent in search for more animalsThe Asian black bearPoor thing only has his shadow to talk toDidn’t look at her for too longMore monkeysAssamese macaque
Pig tailed macaqueEmuThe Bare-bum Ostrich*
And finally, the beautiful white tiger
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.
Go up this way for Doi SuthepI got back pretty late in the afternoonSo I had a late lunch at the small eateryChiang Mai looked pleasant as everFloats were gatheringAnother Grand Parade tonight?
Rachadamnoen road looked empty todayI 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.
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)The toilet is clean, and has hot shower
I lied down for a while — this day wasn’t over yet.
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.
Lo Kroh looked desertedMany 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.
Didn’t seem like much
Guess that takes care of dinner for tonightCheap sushi
I walked a bit further, and things had started to ‘brighten’ up.
This wasn’t the only decoration Thapae gate got
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.
After being asked by some Taiwanese woman to take a few photos of her, I asked her to return the favourThey had a stage set up for some functionI crossed the road and walked to the other side, hoping to explore morePlenty of stalls set up everywhereThis is Ratchadamnoen roadI entered this place out of curiosityOkay fine, it was the food!Hey, it’s Anthony Bourdain!?*You can never go hungry in ThailandUnless you are strictly vegetarianEven though this was a temple…… 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.
Still, I walked on
Steeped into another temple on Ratchadamnoen roadThough I forgot to note down the name of the templeMore stalls inside here as wellLots of eating here too
I was sooo tempted to bang it
I got back out to Ratchadamnoen roadThen I saw this…
… and it looked like a parade……which looked quite, grand
Here’s part one of the videos I took of the parade:
I take it the floats were showcasing Thailand’s culture from across all provincesAnd I also take it these participating groups were colleges, schools, and other establishments
This guy wasn’t part of the parade… but was getting a lot of attention anyway
Here’s part two video of the parade:
Walked this alley out of curiosity
More celebrations awaited me inside.
Lanterns from below joining the fireworks in the skyNow it were the monks who wanted to light a big oneA really big oneYou obviously cannot use matchsticks to light a lantern this bigWait for it to heat up insideWait for it…Okay, everybody’s waiting… just let go of it already!And it’s upI leftNear Rux Thai, this was the sightWalked back to Thapae Gate
There was a beauty contest going onPacked audience tooSwitched to the 70-200mm lens for a closer lookI wasn’t the only oneA rather ‘traditional’ looking beauty contest
The judges-slash-sponsorsJust before the winner is announced, the women get the ‘God-I-hope-that-b***h-doesn’t-win!’-lookThe winnerShe gets a placard……which says something in ThaiThe runner-ups get a month’s supply of instant noodles*
Lanterns were still floating up
The stage cleared. I didn’t wait to see what was next.I walked on down to Thapae Road next
As I walked along, I saw a large crowd gather around someone.
Everybody was watching this guyHe was mighty impressive
So I decided to take a video:
I tipped him 10 baht and continued down the road.
There were a few other street performers as wellLots of fireworks today… which is always niceHey, those lion statues resemble the official emblem of India!
Curious as to what the possible ‘Indian connection’ could be, I went inside Wat Buppharam.
Looked like just another Buddhist temple to me
I got back out to Thapae Road and made my way towards Nawarat bridge.
Lots of media
The parade was still on
It was crowded!They had a stage set up… sadly for the band, very few were watchingVolunteers in condom costumes distributed free condoms and promoted AIDS awarenessThe people on Nawarat bridgeMany devotees releasing krathongs into Ping riverAnd 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’.
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!”
I moved to another bridge
The parade was at the end of its runKrathongs and khomloys (paper lanterns) for saleI walked down these stepsPlenty of fireworks soon went off near Rim Ping Hotel
Kinda looks like the Death Star doesn’t it?
Ping river was packed with devoteesAnd a few big floats
I walked towards the Chiang Mai Municipality buildingCultural shows were going onOne of the performers; dressed very geisha-likeThese paintings were on the walls of the US ConsulateI was starting to get hungry at this pointLots of flowers today as wellNot sure if these were rosesSome temple near the marketIt was nearing midnight, time to head back to the roomCelebrations on Loy Kroh road were timid at bestAs 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.
After following the parade from up front, I got distracted.
Watching so many people release khomloys into the sky (and the fact this was the last day of the festival), I told myself I better release a paper lantern myself now. I still hadn’t done it yet! The past three days, I was busy clicking away and it made me feel like I was on assignment, on work (which in some ways, it is).
I asked a local if I could borrow a light and instead she kindly shows me how to light the khomloy. She even helped hold it with me as the lantern filled up with hot air.
As I walked back up to the main road, I kept telling myself with the disappointment of missing the events at Sansai that I had to come back again and do it right. More importantly, after the ‘assignment’ at Mae Jo, I will not spend all my time taking photos. Instead, I’m going to have fun releasing paper lanterns and playing with fireworks — and I won’t be alone 
