Nong Nooch Gardens, Thailand

On Wednesday, our first full day in Thailand, we went to the Nong Nooch Gardens. This is very much a tourist attraction, and there were many tour buses parked in the upper lot. (I think the majority of the tourists were Koreans) The entry price was crazy expensive by Thai means, 400 Baht per adult.  (about $13 in American currency).

We were there to see the gardens and cultural shows, however there was also an animal portion of the park we walked through. The mini zoo was terribly sad. The animals were generally in small pens, about twice the size of their own bodies, and all were on the concrete but one pen. (Not sure why this one animal was favored over the others… but it was the only one with a dirt floor…) There was also a cow in a pen. I didn’t realize that was considered interesting and unique enough to be a zoo animal, but there it was. Baby tigers were chained onto small platforms throughout, so one could sit next to them and “get a picture with a tiger”. I don’t have picture proof to show you because I didn’t want to support or encourage such a system, but the Asians were eating it up and paying the extra fee to get a picture with a tiger at the little stands.

There were lines of elephants, ready to be boarded with people for a stroll around the concrete exterior of the place. It rather reminded me of going to the county fair, where people line up to put their kids on the “pony ride”.  When their turn arrives they pay an inflated fee, then they sit their child on some poor pony that shuffles its way around in the same tired circle while they snap pictures of their child’s riveting and exhilarating adventure. Elephant rides are the adult version. You plop the adults onto a some poor, sad, highly decorated elephant, who shuffles around the same tired concrete circle he does all day long, all year around, and their friends on the ground oo and aw as they snap pictures of their friend’s grand adventure on an elephant. It’s a sad and pathetic scene really, but people were eating it up and to hear one talk afterward about how they “rode an elephant”, they say it as if they were Legolass surfing down the back of an out of control Oliphaunt and taking the wild beast down in order to save middle earth as we know it. However do not be fooled, they sat atop a beat down elephant and shuffled around a large concrete circle, like the children who sit on tired ponies and shuffle around the circle at the fair.

However the sad the animal portion was, the gardens and cultural show were a great improvement and a fun experience. Here is a sample of our day from there:  

This was part of the cultural show we enjoyed before touring the gardens/grounds. 

I believe this was an example of Thai kickboxing

Their traditional wear costumes were pretty. One could pose for pictures with them afterward if desired. 

A portion of the well kept gardens

A platform in the trees. These tree house type structures were spaced throughout the park.

This was a part of my view as I looked down from a platform in the trees

This structure was 5 or 6 stories tall (sorry, don't recall the exact number, but at least 5!) How neat is this tall, old tree?

Distant view of a city

It's a jungle out there

They had a large area of decorations made with pots, even large boats and cars one could sit in. 

I enjoyed the Orchid Room most, they smelled sweet and were lovely to photograph. 

More Thailand posts to come! When I have the time to sit down and put another something together...