Chiang Mai Flower Festival

This weekend is the annual Chiang Mai Flower Festival. Chiang Mai is the garden city of Thailand and people from throughout the country converge to partake in all things floral.

Along the old city walls growers display drowsy blooms, the showier the better. Wandering by the canals I saw sensual orchids of all shapes and sizes, busty petunias in hot pink, swollen cacti, and exquisit bonsai. The orchids were my favorites. I think I am partial to tropical plants with complex ecologies!

Along the way people snack, the favorite pasttime of Thailand. Noodles snacks, rice snacks, fried snacks, nutty snacks, spicy snacks, sweet snacks, you name it and someone has it. For me I chose a bowl of khao soi, the regional North Thai curry dish...delicious.

Before heading home I picked up a motorbike to explore over the weekend. The plan is to make it four hours north to the small village of Suppong near the Burma border, famous for its gorgeous scenery and elaborate karst cave system. It seems like the perfect place to work and a good base to explore forests full of orchids dangling from misty tree tops....the real thing!