Doi Thung royal villa

Another place related with Somdet Ya, the mother of King Bhumiphol, is her royal villa in the north of Thailand. Located on a hilltop halfway between the town Chiang Rai and the Thai-Burmese border in Mae Sai, this villa was one of the most favorite residence places of the Princess Mother. The hilly landscape reminded her of her long-time home in Switzerland (though the hills there are much lower and it is much warmer), and it was in this area where she worked on helping the villagers to stop growing opium and selling their daughters into prostitution by teaching them to grow vegetables and other crops instead. The area around the royal villa even became a district named "Mae Fa Luang" in 1992 - Mae Fa Luang (mother from the sky) was the name she was know to the hill tribes.

The royal villa complex consists of three parts. One is of course the villa instead with a small flower garden around. As with all royal compounds one has to wear "appropriate" clothes to enter, or instead don one of the ugly blue overtrousers at the checkpoint not to show the bare legs. The buildings form a nice mixture of traditional northern Thai (Lanna) architecture with elements known from Switzerland like the flower boxes on the window. Located on the top of the hill, one has a beautiful view over the hills from the veranda.

On the other side of the street is a large flower garden, with small ponds, a circular flower bed, many orchids of course. Though I prefer the natural landscapes, this nicely designed artificial one was also enjoying.

Not far from the villa is another attraction, the temple Wat Phra That Doi Thung, which I will feature another time.

Suan Somdet Ya in Bangkok

I mentioned it already earlier, the Somdet Ya park in Bangkok's Khlong San district is also a place worth visiting. It is a bit hidden, I don't recall to have seen any signs on the main road pointing there and it wasn't marked on my map either, so we had to ask our way to there. But actually if you know how the direction it's not difficult to find anymore - after crossing either Memorial Bridge or Pok Klao bridge to the Thonburi side of the town, turn into the next big street to the left, Somdet Chao Phraya road. And directly after the temple Wat Anongkharam Worawihan turn into the small sidestreet to the left, Soi 3. And then just straight on until you see the small parking lot to the left.

As usual at the tourist attractions or other notable locations within Bangkok, there's a brown bilingual sign explaining the location. The English text reads as follows:

Somdet Phra Sri Nagarindra The Princess Mother Memorial Park

Nearly 100 years ago, a young girl who then daughter of a goldsmith, but would later be Her Royal Highness Sri Nagarindra the Princess Mother, lived in a small rented house behind Wat Anongkaram. This was the first home that she could remember, and a school near Wat Anongkaram was the first school she attended. Her Royal Highness Sri Nagarindra the Princess Mother, who was affectionally called "Princess Grandmother" of the Thai people, remembered in great detail this simple home in a mixed community of several ethnic groups and religious faiths. Her son, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, wanted to honor his mother on her eighth 12 years cycle (96th) birthday by preserving her childhood home; but unfortunately the house had long been torn down. Luckily, when Mr. Daeng and Mr. Lek Nana learned of the search for the house, they donated a 4 rai (0.64 ha) plot near the original home. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej decided in 1993 to renovate this plot, once the home of Chao Phraya Sriphiphat Rattanarakosathibodi (Pae Bunnag), Director General of the Royal Cargo Department during the reign of His Majesty King Rama V, to be the Somdet Phra Sri Nagarindra The Princess Mother Memorial Park. One of the older buildings, from the time of His Majesty King Rama III, has been converted into a museum on the life and work of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother and on the neighborhood where she first grew up. A replica has also been built of her original childhood house, while the grounds have been developed as a community park where a variety of activities are held for people of all ages of the neighborhood and other visitors.

As I went there with our then two year old daughter, I was only able to stroll around the park compound, but had to skip the actual museum. But that one is on my list of places I have to revisit in more detail when I get the chance, and then also checking out the two temples at the main street, including the district museum of Khlong San which should be located within one of them.

But the park, even though it is small, has quite some nice views, like a wall overgrown with the roots of a tree, an old well, or the large two sided relief. Too bad I haven't photographed the sign with the description of that relief, so I cannot recall anymore what is the actual meaning of the procession on the one side and the various activities on the other side.

Suan Somdet Ya in Cha-Am

Somewhat outside of the town Cha-Am is one of the several Somdet Ya parks (สวนสมเด็จย่าฯ) which exist around Thailand. In fact, there are at least three kinds of parks named after the mother of HM King Bhumipol. The first one is the historical park in Khlong San district of Bangkok around the birthplace of the princess mother - a place I plan to feature here later as well. Then there are several recreational parks named after her, for example the one in Nonthaburi province near Mueang Thong Thani. The one in Cha-Am district is of another kind, an educational park. The full name is สวนสมเด็จพระศรีนครินทราบรมราชชนนี, Suan Somdet Srinagarindra Boromarajajonani, the full ceremonial name of the princess mother, and is operated by the Chaipattana Foundation.

The park is located between Cha-Am and Hua Hin, west of the Phetkasem highway bypass on road 1001 leading towards the Springfield Village resort. Directly before the Huai Ta Paet reservoir the large sign "Welcome to Suan Somdet Ya" is nearly impossible to miss, there turn to the right and maybe 50 meters inside that road is the entrance. The area has just now become visible in hires in Google Earth, which will come into the WikiMapia view of the place soon as well.

Both days we stayed near there I have seen several buses parking at the entrance, bringing school kids to the park. Inside the park it has several outdoor school rooms - open huts with lots of chairs. And it is probably this way to get most of this park, as there are hardly any descriptive signs on the exhibits, so without a guided tour one hardly gets anything from this park. Only within the herbs garden it has signs with the names of the plants, and their medic effects. The fields with various vegetables or fruits grown for either display or agricultural techniques or for experimentation come without any signs, so I can only suspect it is these two purposes of them. If looking for scenic places within the park it is really not the place to go, the only thing scenic is the fountain at the pond right at the entrance, or a few views within the herb garden.