Chiang Mai - Rose of the North
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These are some attractions you can find in Chiang Mai, an old city of 700 years which still retains its natural charm and old culture .if you can have a chance to visit this paradise on earth, you will understand why people call it " The Rose of the North".
Chiang Mai is Thailand's principal northern city and is the provincial capital of a largely mountainous province, also called Chiang Mai, which is some 20,000 square kilometres in area. Many lowland Thais regard Chiang Mai city and province as being something of a national Shangri-la, thanks to its beautiful women, distinctive festivals, historic temples dating from the 1300s, arresting scenic beauty, temperate fruits such as apples peaches and strawberries, and a crisp, invigorating cool season climate.
The people of Chiang Mai enjoy one of the most distinctive cultural identities in the whole of Thailand. Largely farmers and artisans, they have their own lilting dialect, their own customs, their own festivals, their own architectural traditions, their own indigenous handicrafts, their own dances and their own distinctive cuisine. Hill tribes also lend a great deal of character and colour to the crisply beautiful mountainous landscape.
City Attractions
There are numerous places of interest in Chang Mai and the places most worth visiting in Chiang Mai are its centuries - old warts (Buddhist temples ).To name just a few :
Wat Suan Dok :
This temple was built in a 14th century Lanna Thai monarch's pleasure garden sand is a favourite spot for photographers, particularly for striking sunsets. Several of the white chedis contain ashes of Chiang Mai's former royal family. The 500- year-old bronze Buddha image in a secondary chapel is one of Thailand's largest metal images.
Wat Chiang Man
This is Chiang Mai's oldest temple and probably dates from 1296. The temple was the residence of King Mengrai, who founded Chiang Mai, and is noteworthy for a chedi supported by rows of elephantine buttresse
The other attractions are Tribal Research Institute this contains a permanent cultural exhibition of northern hilltribes , Chiang Mai Arboreum which attractively landscaped garden contains many kinds of tropical trees and lovely flowers where as Chiang Mai Zoo is an artfully landscaped complex occupies the lower forested slopes and contains a fascinating collection of Asian and African mammals and birds.
Chiang
Rai province covers some 11,678 square kilometres with a population of 1.23
million. The average elevation is 580 metres above sea level, Myanmar
borders on the north, and Laos on the north and northeast. The provincial
capital is 829 kilometres north of Bangkok .
Known
in Thai as Maenam Kok, this scenic 130-kilometre long waterway runs through
the heart of Chiang Rai. The river is a major transportation artery from
neighbouring Chaing Mai province, especially the town of Tha Ton , whence
tong-tailed boats make the 3-4 hour journey every day . The river passes
several hilltribe settlements and elephant camps from where jungle treks
originate.