The Mae Fah Luang Garden

The Garden is located on land that was originally the Akha village of Pa Kluay. This village used to be an important route for opium caravans and those involved in heroin-related trafficking and weapons. Situated in a deep gorge where the Akha lived in a dense settlement without the possibility of expansion, there was little space for hygiene, trash or wastewater management. At the request of the Doi Tung Development Project, the villagers agreed to be relocated to a new site 500 meters away. This site sits on a hill with expansive land. It has running water, electricity, and a paved road into the village.

Back in their former settlement, a garden of temperate flowers was built over 10 acres of land in accordance with the Princess Mother's wish, to give Thai people who have never travelled overseas an opportunity to enjoy a temperate flower garden.

In the middle of this garden stands "Continuity", a sculpture by the late Misiem Yip-In-Soi. The Princess Mother gave this name to the sculpture to draw attention to the fact that continuity ensures the success of any endeavour.

The decorative flowers in Mae Fah Luang Garden are grown and nurtured by local villagers. The Garden brings substantial income to the area, directly as job opportunities for the locals, and indirectly as a tourist destination.

In 1993, the Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) named the Mae Fah Luang Garden winner of PATA Award for Tourist Site Development.

HRH Princess Srinagarindra called the villa "home at Doi Tung". The Royal Villa was built with Princess Mother's private funds; she considered it her first real home in Thailand. The Princess Mother also made it known that without the Doi Tung Development Project, she would not have built a house in the area. She only stayed because she could reforest the land and helped to improve the lives of the local people.

The Royal Forest Department planned to present the land for the construction of the Royal Villa to the Princess Mother. However, she refused their offer, on the grounds that she was not more privileged than any Thai who had no right to own land in a forest preserve. Therefore, the Royal Villa was leased out to the Foundation for 30 years, the same period as the Project's timeframe.

The exterior of Doi Tung Royal Villa was built of concrete and decorated with wood slabs cut from discarded teak trees, which came from forest thinning work by the Forest Industry Organization. The interior of the Royal Villa is paneled with recycled pine wood, which came from crates used for imported tools and equipment. The gold teakwood that lines the floor was presented to the Princess Mother by the Forest Industry Organization. The simple interior design exudes elegance and functionality, which reflects the nature of the owner of the residence.

The upper floor of the building accommodates four sections. These include the late Princess Mother's private area, a reception hall and kitchen, and the private quarters for the Princess Mother's daughter, Her Royal Highness the late Princess Galyani Vadhana and Thanpuying Tasanavalaya Sornsonggram, Princess Galyani Vadhana's only daughter. The highlight of the Royal Villa is on the ceiling of the main hall. It has hand-crafted wood inlay of the Princess Mother's favourite constellations. Designed by the Astronomy Society of Thailand, installed light bulbs representing the stars in the centre of the ceiling showed the position of the constellations on October 21, 1900, the day the Princess Mother was born.

The Princess Mother first took up residence at the Doi Tung Royal Villa on November 23, 1988, 10 months after the start of construction, and before it was completed. She stayed at the Royal Villa on five more occasions for several months at a time to allow her to work on her projects.

Doi Mae Salong is  one of those places where the journey there is more beautiful and worthwhile than the place itself. Don't miss this trip, as it leads on a very good road through beautiful mountains. The splendid views on the way alone are worth driving to Mae Salong. The little town was founded in the 1960s by former Kuomintang (anti-Communist) soldiers who had been expelled from Burma (Myanmar) and settled on the lovely mountain, unfortunately only in order to compete with the local drug barons for a sizable share in the opium and heroin trade.

Mae Salong is 1800 meters above the sea level and cool enough for Japanese cherry trees to bloom - as you will see if you come in the right season. The town has Chinese temples, open air bazaars, and shops that offer Chinese specialties as tea and locally grown preserved fruit. There are  several little restaurants that offer good southern Chinese food, and even a couple of simple, but clean guest houses. Mae Salong is also a market place for the Lisu and Akha from the surrounding hill tribe villages. For these reasons it is definitely worth spending a few  hours in the town, to walk around, savour the special atmosphere, and to enjoy the grandiose mountain panorama.

The Chiang Saen of today is a normal south east Asian town, a little bit sleepy and dusty, with lots of simple little shops that sell all kinds of goods, some government offices, some guest houses, a wet market (interesting, especially if you come in the morning when the freshest fruit and vegetables are offered in a large variety), and friendly small restaurants along the main street.

The main attraction of present day Chiang Saen is the river Mekong on whose banks it has been built. River boats from Yunnan in China are unloading almost every day. There is a long promenade along the river, with many stalls that sell clothes, shoes, toys, and souvenirs, as well as some simple restaurants. Take a stroll and watch as the boats unload their cargo. At the boat rental booth you can rent a long tail boat for a one hour (or more) ride up the Mekong; you will be able to observe interesting scenes of daily life along the river.

The Golden Triangle is the place of the Mekong where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Laos touch and the rivers Ruak and Mekong join. If there was no sign on the bank of the river that advertises this fact no doubt nobody would notice anything there that is special. Nevertheless, the Golden Triangle is a "must" for every visitor of Chiang Rai province. There used to be nothing at this place but with the advent of tourism a small village, called Sob Ruak, was founded, and now countless souvenir booths and small restaurants line the road.

The Hall of Opium, Golden Triangle Park

The Golden Triangle: infamous worldwide for its poppy fields, drug smugglers, and opium warlords. Throughout the 1960s to early 1990s, the Golden Triangle supplied most of the world's heroin. Even today, Myanmar and less so the Laos PDR produce significant amounts of opium.

In 1988, HRH the Princess Mother expressed her desire to educate people on the background of opium in the Golden Triangle and elsewhere in the world. While the Doi Tung Development Project and other Sustainable Alternative Livelihood Development projects helped solve the problems of drug supply, HRH recognized that the fight against drugs also needs to address drug demand. The Hall of Opium was created to help reduce demand through education.

While intended for people of all ages and all nationalities, the target audience of the Hall of Opium is teens and young adults, those most susceptible to the lure of illegal drugs, to show them how opium addiction became a world-wide problem, and how drug abuse affects individuals, their families, neighborhoods, and even their country.

The exhibition was designed to be fun and captivating, entertaining while providing information, what we call edutainment. Covering an area of 5,600 square meters, the exhibition in the Hall of Opium is the result of almost 10 years of research. Here visitors learn about the 5,000-year history of opium: how it was a drug to treat illnesses, how its use spread throughout the world, how imperialist expansion used opium in the economic colonization and control of China, and how it eventually came to dominate in the Golden Triangle and now in Afghanistan. Visitors also learn about current issues of addiction and illegal drugs, efforts to control drugs, and the impacts of drug abuse and addiction.

Wat Rong Khun or The white temple

This contemporary wat was designed by renowned Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat. The entire temple in all it's ornate detail is completely white and covered in mirror-mosaic adding a distinctive shine. The temple is still under construction and is expected to take another 90 years to complete. As such, is has been dubbed Thailand's "Buddhist Sagrada Familia".

Doi Din Dang Pottery

Located in the verdant hills 12 km north of Chiang Rai, Doy Din Dang Pottery is surrounded by a tranquil landscape which provides both the inspiration and the natural materials for the work. The wares reflect both the simple and complex beauty found in nature. Since the establishment of the studio in 1991, Doy Din Dang has been producing original pieces that are both functional and decorative and adapt themselves to a contemporary lifestyle.

Long-Neck Karen hill-tribe village

All the Long Neck "villages" in Thailand are established with government help and tourists are definitely kept in mind when planning them out, they aren't managed by the Padaung people themselves.  Some of the ladies are illegal immigrants in Thailand (not official refugees) and are vulnerable to exploitation.  The "villages" are basically set up as shopping stalls set up with the Long Neck ladies as the stall holders.

Mae Fah Luang Art & Cultural Park

Following the establishment of the Doi Tung Development Project, students had access to schools located closer to their village homes, and the role of the Rai Mae Fah Luang as an educational institution for ethnic minority youths came to an end.

Today, the Mae Fah Luang Art and Cultural Park is the region's largest collection of art items from the Lanna culture or Tai culture (the minorities in northern Thailand, China's southwestern region or Yunnan, eastern Myanmar or the Shan States, northwestern Vietnam and western Lao). Opened to tourists, the Mae Fah Luang Art & Culture Park features not only artifacts but beautiful Lanna architecture such as the "Haw Kham" (Golden Pavillion), a building the people of Chiang Rai built and presented as a gift to the Princess Mother to celebrate her 84th birthday. Other attractions include Haw Kaew where permanent exhibition on teakwood is featured alongside year-round revolving exhibitions and a botanical collection of indigenous plants from the northern region.

Chiangrai walking street

Every saturday on 4 pm.- 12 pm. at the middle of the city.(In the past,locals people call the " business street".

The road will be closed for any vehicles so you can safely walk and enjoy it, it is a location well known as Saturday market or Chiangrai walking street.

The Walking-street runs from Thanalai road, around a kilometer long.
It is a place for entertainments, Thai classical dancing show, and any activities. The merchants come early at 3-4 pm. setting their selling.

There's lot of local foods,various stores,handicraft, handmade products, sourvenir, thai massage and foot massage. It is a good place for shopping, eating,relaxing and night life can't be beat. In the area which is famous attraction lilks Chiangrai night barzaa that tourists can't miss.

Night Bazaar & Food Court - The bazaar is located between the bus station and Phaholyothin Road in the center of town. The market consists of many small stands lining the narrow street running between Phaholyothin Road and the bus station. Everything on display from silk ready-made garments to tattoo etching, even pets. The hill tribes sell an amazing selection of old coins, collector's pieces of needlework and very fine quilted bed spreads.

Chiang Rai Golden Clock Tower

The golden Clocktower in Chiang Rai is the work of the Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipap. The Chiang Rai Clocktower echos Chalermchai's revolutionary design of the White Temple, Wat Rong Khun .The clock tower rings and colored every evening

From 7-9 p.m.

Wat Phra Singh

This temple located on Singhakhlai Road  near T.A.T. Office is a fine example of Lanna-Thai religious architecture. The Buddha image ( Phra Singh ) now house in Chiangmai's Wat Phra Singh ( the same name) was formerly enshrined here.

Wat Phra Kaew

Located behind Wat Phra Singh on TriRat Road. This is a very old temple, we could not know what period this temple had been built and because of the place surrounding to this temple have so many yellow bamboo that have no thorn, which can be used to make bow and cross bows. In the old time local people called the name of this temple "Wat Pa Yeach " or " Wat Pa Ya " after the name of those bamboo. Untill 1434 a pagoda in the temple was strucked by lightning inside we found an emerald Buddha image call " Phra Kaew Morakot ". So people changed the name of this temple after that Buddha image as " Wat Phra Kaew " since then.

King Meng Rai Monument

Is located on the city outskirts at the intersection of Uttakit Road and Singhakhlai Road, beside northern road ( highway No 108 ) to Maesai. To honours the monarch who founded Chiangrai in 1262. It is rarely without its incense- burning and flower-laying devotees.

Attraction In Mae Fah Luang University

After its establishment on the 25 th September 1998 , the University accepted the first cohort of sixty students into two programmes and simultaneously started building the main campus in the proximity of Doi Ngaem, Muang District, Chiang Rai Province . The construction, which started on the 22 nd of July 1999 , was completed on the 6 th of May 2004 , at a total cost of 2,325 million Baht.

The Universitys entire campus area at Doi Ngaem amounts to 4,997 rais, consisting mainly of hills, with a small amount of plain, and by consent of the Cabinet, the University was given another 2,556 rais of land in Jom Mok Kaew Subdistrict, Mae Lao District, Chiang Rai Province, to accommodate its future expansion. In addition, His Majesty the King also kindly granted the University about 700 rais of land in Mae Suay District, Chiang Rai Province . The University has been developing its curricula and instruction to meet international standards, adopting English as the primary medium of instruction, with regularly arranged activities to promote self-studying. Since its establishment almost seven years ago, Mae Fah Luang University in its continuing academic development has offered study programmes that meet both the domestic demand and that of Greater Mekhong Subregion countries. Currently, Mae Fah Luang University offers twenty six Bachelors Degree programmes, seventeen Masters Degree programmes and seven docorate programmes through nine Schools, namely, School of Liberal Arts, School of Science, School of Management, School of Information Technology, School of Agro-Industry, School of Cosmetic Science, School of Nursing, School of Health Science and School of Law, with the entire population of 7,111 students, 257 teachers and 498 operating staff.

HRH the Princess Mother's Statue

The construction of HRH the Princess Mother's Statue advanced according to the governmental procedure. After the Statue Construction Board commissioned by Department of Fine Arts had consented to the construction principles and statue design, the University invited Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana to perform a close inspection of the statue prototype on the 15 th of June, 2004, and give advice based on which the Sculpture would refine it to glorious perfection. Subsequently, the Office of the Secretary to the Cabinet requested the Office of Royal Secretary to bring the statue-building issue to His Majesty the King's attention and to ask His Majesty for royal permission to erect the HRH the Princess Mother's Statue at Mae Fah Luang University, in Tha Sud Subdistrict of the Muang District, Chiang Rai Province, which His Majesty kindly granted, giving all the staff and students of Mae Fah Luang University and Thai people nationwide greatest delight in his boundless lovingkindness.

The Sirindhorn Chinese Language and Culture Center in Mae Fah Luang University was established through the cooperation of Mae Fa Luang University and the People’s Republic of China. The center was built as a memorial to honor the Princess mother as a symbol of friendship between the two nations. The center’s design was drawn to adhere as depicted in China. The construction took 7 months to complete at a cost of approximately 60 million Baht. The architecture replicates the Suzhou Chinese structure, building decorations and the garden ornaments by complying with the design layouts and using authentic materials shipped from China. The roofing tiles, the doors and the marble tiles laid at the entrance are all examples of a few of the materials brought from China