Doi Tung Royal Villa

In theory it should be possible to get to Doi Tung by public transport. In practice I got the bus as far as it would take me, then when it deposited me at the side of the road, where it veered off to the left, the only form of transport on offer at this point was a motorbike. I looked at the motorbike and decided that I would rather go back to Chiang Rai than sit on the back of that thing for forty kilometres. Then I had a bright idea. Why not hitch a ride with one of the tourist cars going past every two minutes. Luckily for me one stopped for lunch and the occupants, a surly bunch of Finnish people, grudgingly let me ride in the boot, like a dog, and like a dog they ignored me for the whole ride, up the swirling, curving mountain road, through steep sided hills.

The "villa" at Doi Tung is a giant Swiss chalet, designed by the King's mother when she was eighty eight. But instead of building it  Swiss style out of whole trees, she had them build a concrete shell and cover it with off-cuts from the teak industry. She lined the inside of the building with wood recycled from pine packing cases. Then she designed a garden full of plants from temperate countries, so that Thai people who could not afford to travel could experience these plants.

Photographs of the Princess mother show a lovely smiling woman with white hair. Concerned that the hill tribes were destroying the environment by their slash and burn agriculture, she institued a crop-substitution and reforestation programme for twenty six villages.

The gardens at Doi Tung are full of birdsong, streams and fountains. Armies of gardeners dressed in brilliant purple shirts plant out flowers (is this part of the crop-substitution programme?)