17th December 2015 ~ On the last day in Chiang Rai, I decided to visit another tourist's spot called Doi Tung. However, my time was quite limited as I had to leave the town for Chiang Mai and my bus would leave at 3:00 p.m. I was having a personal chauffeur to send me to Doi Tung and take me back to the bus station. He spoke a bit of English but I had to listen very carefully to understand him. Unfortunately, that morning, lady luck was not on my side. It was drizzling and Doi Tung, which is located on a highland, got really foggy and driving up the elevated roads was not a pleasant experience.
The driver dropped me off at the ticket counter and from there onward, I was again on my own. After buying the entrance ticket, I first walked up the hill to the Royal Villa. Everything was really, really foggy. This reminded me of a horror movie called "The Fog" a long time ago - scary creatures would emerge from the thick fog and kill people.
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| monks in the mist |
The villa was a house built by the Thai royal family and the Princess Mother used to live there. The focus of the villa was not the building itself but rather on the Princess Mother who had done some inspiring work. She had helped the hill tribe people, stopped the destruction of the forest and put an end to opium plantation and in the end. She tried to eradicate poverty among the people of Doi Tung and the place has now become a major tourist attraction in Chiang Rai.
Visitors were not allowed to take photographs of the interior part of the villa. As the weather was not good, I could not admire the beautiful garden outside. I am quite sure the whole place would look spectacular under a bright sun. This could be a good reason to make a comeback to this place one sunny day.
I left the place after about an hour and walked to the other attraction nearby.
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