Royal Flora in Chiang Mai

In a perfectly similar sense for Phuket, the northern province of Chiang Mai also has a nickname - "The Rose of the North". Some tourists give it an even broader credit as the Rose of the Southeast Asia, in particular, after the biggest exhibition it ever hosted. Not only biggest in Thailand, the Royal Flora is reportedly the largest plant exposition in Southeast Asia. To add to this magnitude it is also the largest international horticultural exposition as well. It was just so big that no-one would ever have seen every spot in fine detail. This might be one of the reasons why the event had been planned for 92 days. To show the scale in short, it requires 80 hectares (almost a square kilometer) of overall space with more than 7 kilometers of strolling path, swirling around 30 international gardens and 80 domestic gardens. These one-hundred-and-ten gardens take up only less than a third of the area. More than two million visitors have come to witness this, to witness how faithful the Thais love their King. This event was organized by Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives Department of Agriculture Horticultural Science Society of Thailand in respect and honor of His Majesty the King. The main aim was to highlight HM invaluable contributions to Thai agriculture that have helped advance technologies, increased the agricultural productivity, and shaped the way of life of the people in this country at large.

Though the event is over, many still remember and smile at what they have experienced. Thanks to YouTube, here is a nice video clip of the exposition.



Sincerely,
Boone (http://smilingland.blogspot.com)

Factoid: from Siam to Thailand

Siam was used as the country's official name only until June 24, 1939. It has then been changed to Thailand, with the word "Thai" meaning freedom as reflected by the revolution and slave abolishment in the era.

Can't Scuba Dive!

No problem at all. You can still enjoy the colorfulness of marine lives. What you essentially need is simply a snorkeling set, viz. a mask and a breathing tube which is better familiar as a snorkel. These two pieces of equipment usually come as a single package with an elastic strip holding both together. To increase mobility at the skin of and under water, a pair of fins are particularly quite helpful, though not indispensable. Once putting on these, you are good to go. I met several non-swimmers who could get along with this equipment very well and had had a great time at the sea level. Snorkel is absolutely an amazing device; its structure and technology are fairly simple, but its usability and effectiveness are enormous. You might be able to stay in the pool water for ten minutes, trying to keep your head above the water. You could most likely do much shorter in the sea water if the waves are a little raging. But with the tube, you could stay for in for the whole afternoon. It helps slow down the state of exhaustion, as you no longer need to push yourself vertically. The head stays literally underwater most of the time, gazing at those fish and seahorses. All your body energy is then used most economically to kick the fins and propel yourself to that cluster of sea fans. The time really does not matter any more as it stops right there. I once felt that the whole afternoon was just a short moment that I needed it prolonged, until I realized the burning pain on my back and shoulder because of the sun. After that trip, the scarfskin on those parts started to peel off, and it felt really strange!

It's a lot cheaper to go on a snorkeling trip than a scuba trip due to lower equipment requirements. The experience may not be quite identical as of scuba diving, but I am sure you will get quite a lot out of it. To give some idea, a snorkeling day-trip to the Coral Island or Koh Hae (just 15 minutes offshore off Phuket's south by speedboat) including equipment and lunch costs from only 500Baht (roughly equivalent to 10EUR or 13US$)

Sincerely,
Boone (http://smilingland.blogspot.com)

PS: Be informed that fins are normally not included in the package and hardly be available even with extra cost. Instead, a live vest is provided for the novices. The only reason is to protect shallow-water corals which are usually hard and get broken easily when being walked upon. Some people walk -- with fins on -- on the hard corals and thereby damage them with no bad intentions. These corals takes decades to naturally grow, so please help protect them. Fins are a great propeller for divers but at the same time a great danger to the beauty we are after.

Scuba Diving at Phuket Island

The Pearl of the Andaman Sea is given as a metaphorical name of the provincial island of Phuket. Tourists to Thailand usually know this province best -- if not Chiang Mai -- after the capital metropolitan of Bangkok. The name is justified by its impeccable location just offshore the west coastline of the Thai South. The island itself hosts several white-sandy beaches enticing to lie on, but Phuket is much more than its island proper. There are several satellite islets and colorful coral reefs clustering around. Hence, scuba diving is one of the most popular activities at Phuket. It offers a large selection of dive sites ranging from as shallow as 8 meters to as deep as 40 meters. No matter what level your skill and experience, there is always something for you. Last time, we went diving for 2 dives at Koh Racha Yai (Big Royal Island) at the depth of 9-18 meters. The day was bright, the water was crystal clear, and the tide was still. In all, it's such a memorable smiling activity in the land of smiles ;-)

Sincerely,
Boone (http://smilingland.blogspot.com)

Smiling Land is the Land of Smiles

Many Westerners choose southeast Asia as their destinations for a long holiday -- an annual vacation. Most of them have been to the region for more than a single time, so there must be something nice, something they are after, that lures them back years after years and attracts even more & more newbies. You know what I'm talking about already, don't you. One of the main purposes for making this blog happen is to share the first (and second and third and so on, as long as they are useful) hand experience and knowledge about traveling and smiling in the land of smile, the Kingdom of Siam or as we all know of these days Thailand. So stay tuned and let's see what we have to show and share!!

Sincerely,
Boone (http://smilingland.blogspot.com)