The Queen's Garden

On our last full day in Chiang Mai, I felt as royal as I did the previous night when we had our “Thai Royal Family” photo shoot with the whole tour group.

At breakfast, my journalist tour mate asked me if I was interested in tagging along with him again to another private excursion while the rest of the group went shopping. This time, he wanted to visit the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens located in the outskirts of the city for another feature article on the lifestyle section of the broadsheet he was working for. Of course, I said “yes.” Any outing that doesn’t involve shopping in a modern mall is always welcome.

Covering a mountainous area of 1,000 hectares around 45 minutes away from Chiang Mai, the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens is Thailand’s first botanic garden and Chiang Mai’s showcase garden. It displays an impressive collection of plants and offers several highlights, including a cluster of glasshouses that showcase vegetation from different climates around the world.

My tour mate was specifically interested in seeing the Tropical Rainforest Glasshouse, the largest in this garden complex, and the largest in Thailand. It features an artificial waterfall and cave, and houses rare plants and endemic species found in Southeast Asian tropical forests, including palms, bananas, and those from the ginger family.

Our taxi brought us through the entrance, then drove us along the loop road that climbs up to the Glasshouse Complex located at the peak of the mountain with an elevation of 860 meters. Our driver told us that it would take around an hour to get there on foot from the entrance and the it’s an arduous uphill climb. We were glad we headed his advice and stayed in the car.

At the top, we were greeted by a vast, manicured landscape of emerald green grass with flowering bushes, elegant fountains, sculpted ponds, and even a winding pool.

We headed straight to the Tropical Rainforest Glasshouse, where my tour mate had an appointment with a botanist. Before his interview, we were treated to a tour of the complex comprising of eight display houses and four exhibition conservatories, each with different themes.

Display Houses:

• Carnivorous Plant House (featuring insect and small animal-eating species)

• Bromeliad House (featuring species of the pineapple family)

• Aroid House (featuring the Araceae family, including Monstera and Anthurium species)

• Variegated Plant House (featuring species with distinctive multi-coloured foliage)

• Aquatic House (featuring plants that grow along the edges of rivers and marshes)

• Medicinal Plant House (featuring Thai herbal plants and traditional medicinal knowledge)

• Limestone House (featuring plants that naturally thrive in limestone-rich rocky terrains)

• Savanna House (featuring dry-zone plants and specific collections, like the ginger family)

Exhibition Conservatories:

• Tropical Rainforest House (largest structure in the complex, featuring an indoor waterfall, cave, and a raised walkway to view towering tropical species)

• Arid House (specifically designed for desert-dwelling plants, with a massive collection of cacti and succulents from Africa and the Americas)

• Orchids and Ferns House (climate-controlled environment showcasing both native Thai orchid species and rare hybrids, alongside a diverse collection of ferns)

• Water Plants House (displays water lilies, lotus plants, and other aquatic species)

I had a few favourites, of course.

In the Arid House, I admired a fascinating array of cacti, agaves, and other succulents, with intricate patterns and imposing spines, most notably, those barrel-shaped cacti, topped with bright red flowers, that reminded me of strength, resilience, and survival amidst the harshest conditions.

On the other hand, the Water Plants House gave me a sense of peace and calm, with serene pools featuring elegant water lilies and beautiful lotus plants floating by. It even boasts of the elusive Victoria Amazonica, the giant water lily from South America that has leaves large and sturdy enough to support the weight of a small child! It reminded me of Thumbelina. I recalled the drawings in my fairytale book of a tiny girl sitting on a lily pod.

I had a little scare at the Carnivorous Plant House when I saw giant Venus Flytraps that literally towered over me. I had to ask our guide if it was safe to get close to them. I was worried they would mistake me for an insect and swallow me whole. Luckily, they were not real (they don’t grow that big), but the realistic-looking fake plants surely fooled me.

I did see real Venus Flytraps large enough to snatch a finger or two from my hand, as well as several other kinds of carnivorous plants, such as purple pitchers (capable of eating whole mice and small frogs), the salmon-coloured sundew plants, the cobra lilies with their translucent windows, the butterworts with their single long stalks topped by fuchsia blooms, and the aquatic waterwheels with their rope-like whorls. One thing I learned is that if a plant is strangely beautiful or has a unique feature, be very wary! But do not fear, for this applies mainly to insects, rodents and other small animals.

One house that stood out for me was the Medicinal House filled with plants used as herbs, natural medication, and aromatherapy ingredients. This was of special interest because even as a child, I had always preferred natural healing methods over synthetic medication. I saw some familiar plants, but also learned about new ones and their uses.

Our tour circled back to the Tropical Rainforest House. My tour mate, who was some kind of a botany enthusiast, had the time of his life learning about the exotic species in the rainforest from the caretakers. And while he was interviewing the botanist, I went back to the Orchid and Ferns House to snap pictures of  the beautiful Thai orchids (Thailand’s national flower), as well as other tropical flowers, and of course, the ancient ferns, that I find fascinating on account of their history and association with folklore.

As I was examining the tourist map that was handed to us at the entrance, I saw that the garden had more than a dozen walking trails, again with different themes (as evidenced by their names), lengths, and levels of difficulty, depending on one’s fitness level.

• The Waterfall Trail

• Ornamental Garden

• Arboretum Trail

• Climber Trail

• Fern Garden

• Banana Avenue

• White Flower Collection

• Pill Millipede Trail

I should mention that the Canopy Walk (not on the list above), which is a fairly new trail and the most popular among visitors nowadays, was not yet in existence at the time of my visit. I was in Chiang Mai in May 2001, and the Canopy Walk was opened to the public only in December 2015.

Contrary to its name that conjures an image of a swinging-rope-kind-of-trail that is suspended high up in the air, the Canopy Walk is actually a mesh steel walkway interspersed with some glass panel sections that takes you to a viewpoint overlooking the forest. The Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens covers a conservation area of natural vegetation that extends up to 1,200 metres that’s not accessible to the public, but can certainly be enjoyed from above.

Even though this trail seems enticing and is relatively short and easy (it takes only 15 minutes each way and is also wheel chair-friendly), I would never have taken it even if it had been available in 2001 because I heard that this trail is also called, “The Flying Drago Trail,” after a lizard species that inhabits the area. I do not like reptiles and I have no intention of seeing one, let alone the flying kind, up close.

But I didn’t go on any of the other trails that time either due to our schedule and limitations. I was aware that we were mainly there for my tour mate’s interview and we had to get back to our hotel in the early afternoon. Besides, the humongous complex is way too big that it was impossible for us to see everything on foot in one day. It is actually recommended to explore the grounds by car or scooter, or take advantage of the trolley buses within the property if you want to spend a full day there exploring all it has to offer.

The royal garden was developed not only to provide an aesthetic place for the general public to appreciate and enjoy, but was actually built for the research and conservation of Thai flora, as well as to raise awareness of biodiversity and promote environmental protection. Hence, aside from glasshouses, there are also facilities that house a natural science museum, an herbarium, an orchid nursery, a rock garden, a botanical library, specialized labs, and even an insect museum.

It has something for everybody. Academics go there to do their research, students visit on educational trips, families spend the day for casual strolling and picnics (there are traditional huts everywhere), and avid hikers explore the trails. Of course, garden enthusiasts, like my tour mate, come to enjoy its beauty and learn about its plant species.

Though I am not a gardener and I do not have a green thumb, I do appreciate beautiful gardens, and this one is exceptionally pretty because it is also surrounded by mountain ranges (after all, Chiang Mai is located in the Thai Highlands) and this sprawl is mostly covered by natural forests. It’s like a paradise in the skies!

On the taxi ride back to the hotel, my journalist tour mate, freshly hyped after his interview with the botanist, shared with me his interest in architecture, design, botany, and horticulture. He told me that he normally writes about heritage homes and gardens, which explained why he visited the Dusit Palace Park in Bangkok, and now this famous garden in Chiang Mai. He was glad that he got two articles up his sleeve from this trip, and thanked me for keeping him company on both excursions. I told him that I should be the grateful one, for I got to see two beautiful places that were not part of our group itinerary for free, courtesy of him and his newspaper assignment funding.

As tourists, it was indeed an honour for us to have visited sites that have strong ties with Thai royalty. As you know, Thai people are known to hold a deep love and reverence for their King and the entire Royal Family, viewing them as symbols of national unity, stability, and cultural identity.