Until Jan31-Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Int. Horticultural Expo

International Horticultural Exposition for His Majesty the King

* The Significance and Symbolism of Ratchaphruek, an auspicious tree
* Exposition of Celebrations

In 2006, the Thai nation comes together to celebrate the most auspicious occasions of His Majesty King Bhumibol AdulyadejтАЩs 60th Anniversary or the Diamond Jubilee of His MajestyтАЩs Accession to the Throne together with His MajestyтАЩs 80th Birthday Anniversary.

To mark this momentous occasion, тАЬRoyal Flora RatchaphruekтАЭ is one of the grand celebrations being hosted by the Royal Thai Government in honor of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the ninth ruler of the illustrious Chakri Dynasty and the worldтАЩs longest reigning monarch. His Majesty is тАШFather of the NationтАЩ and тАШBeloved KingтАЩ to the Thai people.

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 represents a concerted effort of the Thai people to create one of the worldтАЩs most beautiful international horticultural expositions as an expression of deep love and respect for their Beloved King who has won the hearts of Thai people across the Kingdom through His MajestyтАЩs tireless dedication to bringing about a better quality of life of for the Thai people through His MajestyтАЩs gifts in agricultural projects as well as valuable lessons in life.

Through Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 -- International Horticultural Exposition for His Majesty the King, the Thai people come together to express their utmost gratitude for His MajestyтАЩs benevolence, care and concern. Time-honored traditions will be observed; only the very finest available will be presented to the тАШDevarajaтАЩ or тАШDivine KingтАЩ. This will be an exposition that deserves the name тАЬInternational Horticultural Exposition for His Majesty the King.тАЭ

Thailand will be joined by her international friends -- nations with whom Thailand has shared history, cultural, diplomatic and trade ties, many spanning the centuries. Over 30 countries are expected to participate in тАШGardens for the KingтАЩ. The International Gardens will feature unique or innovative landscaping and horticultural highlights from the participantтАЩs homeland.

The expo site is situated on 80 hectares of land at the Royal Agricultural Research Center in Mae Hia sub-district, Muang district, Chiang Mai Province in Northern Thailand. Set amidst the lush landscape of the surrounding mountains, the location provides a picture-perfect setting for Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006.

A one-of-a-kind event, Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 is being organized to present to the world the marvels of plants and breeds of over 2,200 species of tropical plants and flowers. 2,500,000 plants in total will be enriching the land and the minds of onlookers.

Presented under the theme of тАШTo Express the Love for HumanityтАЩ, conceptual designs and layouts of the event have been conceived to function seamlessly with and to complement the remarkable geographical surroundings.

The foundation of the Kingdom of Thailand lies in the glory of Buddhism and the Monarch whose kindness towards His people is like the comforting shade of a big tree with a canopy that extends incessantly to provide sanctuary for His people.

Destined to be a wondrous spectacle, during the 92 days of the expo, Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 is expected to draw an audience of over 2 million visitors from around the world.

Celebrations of this magnitude happen only once in decades. So mark your calendar and join us in Thailand for this historic event not to be missed. We warmly welcome you to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

http://www.royalfloraexpo.com/about_expo/intro.asp

I'm not sure how many pansies they'll have there

[Bob]

Attended the show yesterday and was rather impressed.

They have great bus service (from train station and other places) for 15 baht out to the Flora site (it's somewhat southwest of the Chiangmai University grounds). I'm not sure if tuktuks will go out that far but am sure that the bus ride was more comfortable and a hell of a lot cheaper.

The King's Pavillion is by far and away the classiest structure at the show. It's visible from all the surrounding area and quite beautiful.

Saw a lot of beautiful flowers and thought that some of the international grounds/gardens were quite well done. The Netherlands site was rather nice as was Vietnam's, South Africa's, etc.

I got there at opening (09.00) and walked around until about 12.30. I was wilted by then (rather warm) and just got tired of photographing. So headed for the nicely air-conditioned bus and back to the hotel.

If you enjoy seeing some nicely decorated gardens (some with waterfalls, sculpture, etc.), you'll enjoy visiting the site. But I'd suggest you try it on a cooler day. [They do have trams that take groups all over the site but I can't believe the riders get a very good view of the individual sites. The entry fee is 200 baht for all (because I got a ticket over the internet in advance, I only paid 100 baht)].

Bob, The show is running for 3 months. Now flowers don't last that long. At Chelsea Flower Show they are all wilting after 5 days. I am thinking of going mid January. Did you hear how they are going to keep it full of flowers?

[TrongpaiExpat]

Thanks Bob. We are going tomorrow morning. Chiang Mai is really packed and busy for the very classy Loy Kathong celebrations on the river. There's a parade tomorrow I hear.

[Bob]

Wowpow, I really didn't hear anything about the replacement of the flowers but I would guess that they will continually replace many of them. There are a lot of currently blooming flowers that certainly won't last more than a week or two whereas there are a lot of season-long flowers too. I read somewhere that a few of the flowers installed at a couple of the international sites won't actually bloom until next summer (whereas the show runs to February sometime, it's fairly obvious that this will become a permanent site).

Trongpai.....yep, the big parade is tonight, all originating by Thaipae Gate. I'd suggest going there and enjoying the scene and then go about half way toward Narawat Bridge to actually watch the parade (it'll be a hell of a lot less crowded there). I watched and photographed the mini-parade (only an hour or so) the last couple of nights so I'll let you report on the big one (last time I saw it, it was 2-3 hours) as I'm heading home in about an hour. As for Narawat Bridge, proceed at your own caution. It'll be pretty crazy there tonight, especially below on the north side (home-made pyrotechnics, bottle rockets, etc. - all rather thrown indiscriminately).

[TrongpaiExpat]

Thanks again Bob, found the bus at the RR Station and it was free. The expo was very impressive.

Anyone going to this event if you like flowers, plants and gardens, it might be a good idea to plan on more than one day. We spent about 6 hours and with little shade and hot as hell, we did not see everything. Two shorter days might have been a better plan.

I did not notice many farangs there yet back in town there all over the place.

We did not take the free bus back. The exit is a little confusing and we were herded to some mini buses and for 40B each were taken back to the hotel. A tuk tuk would cost at least that from the train station to the hotel.

Fake flowers shock expo visitors
Garden team replaced dead plants with synthetic imitations
Bangkok Post : By Sarot Meksophawannakul and Cheewin Sattha

A white lily shines at a corporate garden in the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 expo but fails to impress visitors due to it being an imitation. тАФ SAROT MEKSOPHAWANNAKUL

A number of visitors to the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek expo were disappointed yesterday after they spotted artificial flowers poking out amongst withering plants they were supposed to be imitating. After three weeks of the exhibition drawing in thousands of visitors, flowers in certain parts of the expo have begun giving in to the heat, with many withering and dying.

But instead of replacing the dying flowers with fresh ones, a corporate garden exhibitor desperately put in a bunch of synthetic flowers to try and attract expo-goers.

One visitor yesterday said he felt ''cheated'' after learning that a vase of colourful lilies at a corporate waterfalls garden were made out of fabric.....

more at http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/26Nov2006_news05.php

''I paid for my ticket. I didn't expect to see this,'' said Songkran Sornpha, 52, from Chiang Rai.

Thirteen-year-old Dueanchai Maneekul, another visitor, said she was upset by the artificial flower, but that she was still glad to be at the expo as there were still ''a lot of beautiful flowers to see''.

[Bob]

No fakes when I was there......the flowers were gorgeous.
http://upload4.postimage.org/1753593/FlowerShow037.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1753593/photo_hosting.html)

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[Bob]

http://upload4.postimage.org/1753626/FlowerShow097.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/1753626/photo_hosting.html)

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