Dollars to Dong-Bahts

Plant Exploration in Northern Vietnam and Northern Thailand
8/9/2005-9/2/2005

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Thursday 8/25/2005

After a buffet breakfast at the nearby Downtown Hotel in Chiang Mai, we were off to the Chiang Mai plant market on the north side of town. This amazing plant market is home to hundreds of plant vendors, many of whom live at the facility. The entire open air complex covers approximately 10 acres. The open-air market was filled with vendors, mostly retailing plants from wholesale growers, with a few mom-and-pop nurseries thrown in. It was amazing to see that the new Colocasia esculenta 'Coffee Cups' is already being carried by quite a few market vendors. My favorite find at the market was an Alocasia macrorhizos with dark purple stems. Let's hope it's winter hardy. Even several landscape design firms had booths showing off their design styles.

After quickly perusing the market and making a few purchases, we were off to the north and the town of Chiang Dao and another plant market. We arrived just before noon and spent a little time perusing their offerings. The Chiang Dao plant market is tiny in comparison to Chiang Mai, with only 15-20 vendors. They are all mom-and-pop vendors, with many selling wild collected plants, mostly gingers and aroids from the Doi Chiang Dao mountains nearby. Most of the booths even had signs with the name in Thai and the medicinal use of each written in broken English. With as many curative plants as could be found at this market, it's a wonder anyone ever becomes sick or dies. Annop rejoined us at the market after finishing his meetings in Chiang Rai, so off to the mountains we went. The nearby cave at Doi Chiang Dao turned out to be a dud, so we ate lunch, then it was time to head up the mountain behind the temple.

Just as we began our ascent from the 1600' base along the steep, narrow trail, the heavens opened up. Before long, the path had become an even more slippery watercourse. Throughout the downpour, we were still able to find amorphophallus everywhere. Within 30 minutes, we were able to find Amorphophallus thaiensis, A. longituberosus, A. krausei, A. macrorhizus, and one species that we weren't able to identify. The cliffs were filled with terrestrial orchids, smilacina, disporum, as well as gingers galore. Because of the rain, descending was more problematic than ascending. With the abundance of animal paths through the vegetation, I managed to descend the wrong way, winding up at the edge of the near vertical rock face that served as a backdrop for the giant Buddha. There's no fun in retracing your steps back up a steep rainy mountain and then trying to find the correct path. This is an amazing summit that would be well-worth further botanical exploration. Reportedly, there is trachycarpus palm near the summit of the mountain.

We then traveled further northwest toward the Burma border. One of the most amazing sites was a 'forest' of Amorphophallus paeonifolius. The plants numbered in the thousands with every shape and size imaginable, including one with a leaf-spread of 10'. After a few more ginger stops, it was time to turn around and head to the Chiang Dao Hotel for the evening.

Friday 8/26/2005

I noticed that a pair of monks stopped by the restaurant while we were eating breakfast to pick up food. Annop, a former monk himself, explained that the monks are fed at no charge by the local villages and businesses, and that the monks and the construction of their amazing monasteries and statues are also underwritten by the national government. He also explained that the young monks that we often see tagging along with the older monks are actually children, sent there by their families who cannot afford to raise them. It sounds like the American equivalent of a very strict boarding school.

We departed Chiang Dao after an early breakfast and headed up Highway 107 to the north and eventually the town of Mae Sai. We made several stops along the road, before we passed the town of Fang. One of our favorite stops was a monastary, whose base was littered with gallon jugs. Annop explained that everyone climbing the stairs was obligated to carry a jug filled with sand to the top of the stairs.

At each stop, we found anywhere from 4-6 amorphophallus species. These included A. paeonifolius, cf. corrugatus, longituberosus, A. thaiensis, A. macrorhizus, and 4 other species whose identity we could not determine. One of these was especially ornamental, with a beautiful snakeskin petiole pattern, usually only seen in arisaemas such as A. speciosum. Alan even found another three-leaf arisaema that is probably A. maxwellii or a related species.

We had still not seen a single hedychium in the wild since we arrived in Thailand, so when we saw a clump of what might be H. chrysoleucum growing in a roadside ditch on Hwy 107, we came to a screeching halt, and Hayes jumped from the van and attacked the clump. After the hedychium stop, we continued to climb higher as we angled off on Hwy 1089. At the town of Mae Ai, we took the fog-shrouded loop road Hwy 1089, which divides Thailand from Burma. Evidently, there is a bit of dispute since Burma (Myanmar) thinks the road divides the country and Thailand thinks the dividing line is the river below. We stopped and spoke to an armed Thailand border patrol on motorbike, who was nice enough to stop and reluctantly pose for photos.

After we passed Mae Ai, the road split for the next 50 km. We opted for the northernmost route, the winding Highway 1234, that went through the 3600' elevation town of Maesalong. This fascinating tourist town is primarily Chinese, being inhabited by escapees from Communist China. Large billboards adorned the roadside, advertising their Chinese Martyrs Museum. This region is known as the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Burma, and Laos meet. Although it has been best-known for its huge opium production, the government has spent quite a bit of energy converting the area into tea plantations and ornamental flower production. Greenhouses dotted the mountainside, and there is even a tea-tasting headquarters there now.

It was interesting to note during our restroom break here that the public restrooms have American Standard urinals and Chinese-style toilets...often referred to as 'squat and drop'. Did I mention that none of the public toilets in Thailand provide toilet paper? It would be nice if they advertised that tourists need to BYO. Horticulturally, it was also interesting to note that one plant we saw planted from Bangkok to Maesalong was Hymenocallis 'Tropical Giant'. Seeing how well it grows in a variety of climates and conditions explains why it's such a wonderful and tough plant in US gardens.

Because of the higher elevation and slightly cooler climate, the Maesalong region is heavily agricultural. Consequently we had not seen any natural area worth stopping at for several hours. We finally spotted a tiny patch of woods, actually a bamboo forest on a very steep bank, and stopped to take a look. We didn't find anything interesting, but Hayes didn't give up and continued to climb higher. Upon returning to the van, he showed off his prize, a 4.5' tall disporopsis with 1' long leaves. More than likely, this is little-grown Disporopsis longifolia. The 2' wide clump was nearly inaccessible, which is probably while it still remained.

Our stops for the reminder of the day were scarce, because of the extensive agricultural production. There was no doubt that because of the unique plants that we did find, we were most certainly picking up some of the little-known Burmese flora.

We spent the evening on the Thailand/Burmese border town of Mae Sai. Mae Sai shows up as a tiny dot on the map, and I was expecting it to be difficult to even find a hotel. I was shocked to find a bustling town, complete with quite nice hotels. Our hotel was only a few hundred feet from the border crossing into Burma (Myanmar), so we found a small restaurant under the crossing bridge and enjoyed dinner as close as we could get to the border without crossing over.