Saturday 1 February 2025
Returning to Khun Chang Khian to see the Sakura

Mukda is a long-time friend of mine who owns a massage shop on Loi Kroh Road here in Chiang Mai. I often sit and chat with her after an evening walk, watching the people walk by. She told me that one of her massage ladies, Yui, wanted to go up the mountain to Khun Chang Khian to see the Sakura. She came to Chiang Mai recently and is unfamiliar with the area, so wanted Mukda to lead the way. And they both wanted a day away from work to re-energize and have some fun. And this day was a LOT of fun – a very good day.

The Sakura (cherry blossoms) is the flower of trees in the genus Prunus or subgenus Cerasus. “Sakura” usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, not trees grown for their fruit. In the U.S. we often think of the cherry blossoms on the east coast, Washington DC in particular, as blooming in early April. The climate is different here, and they typically bloom here in mid-January.

The plan emerged that on Saturday, we would leave from the massage shop at 9 AM and take two motorbikes – Mukda and me on one, and Yui and her boyfriend Laurence on the other. We actually got on the road by 9:30. And we all were wearing helmets.

One thing to note is that Mukda loves photos to share on social media, so this blog post will have many photos, mostly of Mukda. To start things out, we stopped about halfway up Doi Suthep at a viewpoint at which I took some photos of Mukda.

The road after Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is very narrow. I know this road because Rudy and I hiked down this road a few weeks ago after we had been a little lost in the forest. We got to Khun Chang Khian and stopped at the same coffee shop at which Rudy and I took a break. We did not see many Sakura, and learned that the best Sakura viewing was back down the road a few kilometers. So after a coffee and food break, we headed down to the viewing area. On the way, Mukda decided to stop at a flower garden area just off the main road – another photo opportunity. So here I am at the flower garden, and another of Mukda there.

The flower garden is a bit of a lure to sell their fruit wines. After a few samples, Mukda and Laurence each bought a bottle, and they got loaded into my backpack since I had plenty of room. We then continued on to the Sakura viewing area.

The Sakura are very pretty although not as prolific as I saw last year. It was a good opportunity for more photos. Two more of Mukda with Sakura trees in the background.

The next stop was to be near Doi Pui, a Hmong tribal village Mukda visited several years ago and wanted to see again. I found the following quote from a web site about the Doi Pui Hmong hill tribes:

Like most ethnic hill-tribes of Northern Thailand, the Doi Pui Hmong people used to cultivate opium poppies for a living. But after majesty the King gave Thai nationality to the villagers and introduced them to lychee cultivation by offering 16 lychee trees for each household. As a result, the villagers stopped opium cultivation permanently in 1972. The Hmong villagers now make an income from selling agricultural products, entertaining tourists and selling tribal souvenirs.

Being close to the Dio Pui campground near where the turnoff to the Hmong tribal village is, we continued on. We stopped at the Doi Pui Campground Information Center, and while I was getting off the motorbike, I lost my balance and did a slow-motion fall, more embarrassing than anything. Except, I had lightly hit my head and there was a small cut by my left eye. Seeing blood on my face, Mukda and Yui became very concerned. We went into the Information Center, they had a first-aid kit, and knew what to do, very helpful and friendly. They cleaned the small cut with alcohol and then Betadine, and applied a small bandaid – good to go! As I said, more embarrassing than anything. And fortunately, I saved the wine in my backpack from breaking.

So on to the Hmong hilltribe village. This village has become more and more popular, and it seems to me that there is little “authentic” about it. It is now a means of selling to tourists. There are some large gardens to see, but mostly it is clothing and food stalls. At one place, you can put on authentic traditional Hmong hill tribe dress clothing and have that on for your photo opportunities. Mukda, Yui, and Laurence all got dressed up. I was not into it and passed, opting instead to take many, many photos of them in their tribal dress. Here are a couple:

And a couple more of just Mukda.

We were at the Hmong hill tribe village for quite a while. Then we headed down the mountain to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Neither Yui nor Laurence had been to this temple, and it is a very important temple in the Chiang Mai province. There are always many, many tourists here, both Thai and foreigners.

After slowly climbing the 309-step Naga stairway, we got to the actual temple area. Here is a photo of Mukda at the base of the gold chedi.

It is traditional to hold a flower and walk three laps around the inner walkway of the chedi while praying. We all did the meditative walk.

Then we left the inner temple area and walked around the outside. I have published many photos of the dancing thewada (pronounced “tay wah da”, essentially angels) on these doors. They always make me smile.

On the other side is a very tall wood standing Buddha. Here I am at that image with the bandaid on my small cut.

And here are three photos showing the left, middle (the standing Buddha), and the right.

While leaving Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and climbing down the long stairway, Mukda and Yui decided they were too tired to stop at Wat Phalad on the way down the mountain. So we got on the motorbikes and headed back to Chiang Mai, arriving at the massage shop close to 5:30, almost 8 hours since we left. A really fun day, and a great adventure.

Next: Wrapping up my twelfth winter in Chiang Mai.