December 22, 2025

adventure, all part of life, art, hiking, landscapes, photoblog, photography, portrait, national park, videoblog, Thailand

The king and queen pagodas of Doi Inthanon

Sundar Narayanan

December 22, 2025

adventure, all part of life, art, hiking, landscapes, photoblog, photography, portrait, national park, videoblog, Thailand

The previous post in this series is here..

After going on the Ang Ka trail to the highest point in Thailand we came down that mountain and went up to another mountain within the park that overlooked Chiang Mai. Forty years ago the royal family commissioned two pagodas in memory of the previous king and queen with a beautiful park on top of this mountain as a tourist attraction.

The place is amazing. First you have to wait for a Hummer looking vehicle to take you to the top. Once up, there were escalators you could use to go up. We did use them where they worked. We walked around the pagodas and soaked up the views. Took some pictures. Then we had to wait in a station for a return vehicle. Joy managed to squeeze us in, given we were only two people and not part of a large group!

This was our last stop in the park. The next two hours was a ride back towards our hotel.. so we could rest.

The one pano shots I took from the top…

San dozed off while I watched the landscape change from mountain to traffic!

Here is a video highlights reel..

We finally made it back to the city center after a long day of travel and constant hiking..

Sundar Narayanan

December 21, 2025

adventure, all part of life, hiking, landscapes, national park, photoblog, photography, portrait, Thailand, travel, videoblog

The Ang Ka trail to highest point in Thailand

Sundar Narayanan

December 21, 2025

adventure, all part of life, hiking, landscapes, national park, photoblog, photography, portrait, Thailand, travel, videoblog

The previous post in this series is here..

After going on the trail to the village, Goy had already got the car to the trail exit. We hopped in and went to another parking spot. Here we were to go on the Ang Ka trail to see the forest inside the top of a volcanic crater. We also got to see the highest point in Thailand which was within this park. There was a memorial for the king who used to hunt wild elephants in this park near this spot.

The whole ecosystem with walking birds, a spongy moss that releases water in a controlled way to form streams at the top, moss covered trees, a beautiful walkway with clear explanations.. loved it.

There is a Ho Chih Minh rain forest trail in Washington State in Olympic national park. This must be close to the original.. similar trees but different ecosystem because of the ground moss..

Here are the pictures..

A video highlights reel..

There were a. couple of vista points from which you could see the mountain ranges and clouds. We were ready to go to the next spot within the park. We also told Joy and Goy that we had lunch thanks to lefover breakfast and the to go we packed from Raj Dharbar the night before. We ate in the van while they also had their packed lunch. Then we drove slowly through the vista point areas while I clicked photos from the open window. It was chilly and we did not want to make the cold worse.

We were on to our next and last stop within the park..

Sundar Narayanan

December 21, 2025

adventure, all part of life, hiking, landscapes, national park, photoblog, photography, portrait, rivers, Thailand, travel, videoblog, waterfalls

Doi Inthanon National park - Pha Dok Sieo trail

Sundar Narayanan

December 21, 2025

adventure, all part of life, hiking, landscapes, national park, photoblog, photography, portrait, rivers, Thailand, travel, videoblog, waterfalls

The previous post in this series is here..

We drove to the Doi Inthanon Park sign where we had to pay token money to the local village people. They usually have a village lady accompany tourists on the walk to the village. We spent an hour walking through the forest on the Pha Dok Sieo trail crossing multiple waterfalls on the way and learning a lot of things about the forest and the village we were visiting.

The village was again inhabited by folks who originally came from Burma. They cultivated coffee (originally Heroin which was discontinued by government and switched to coffee) and rice.

Our guide was a lady from the village. She explained everything on the long hike and Joy translated where reqiured. It was a pleasant day and we thoroughly enjoyed the hike. It ended in the village where we met a very old lady operating a loom to make scarves. We sat at a cafe and had bananas and San managed to get a coffee (made from local beans) and it was time to walk to the car and drive to our next stop.

While we walked to the car, we met a 106 year old grandma who was so sweet. She could not hear at all, but she asked San to sit next to her to take photos and spread the tarp for her. We were truly touched by this grandma. She had three kids, the oldest son was 86 and the youngest daughter was 66. We met the daughter. Apparently grandma had a tough life in Burma.

Here are the pictures..

Landscape mode photos.. we learned about stingless bees, plants that can confuse fish and make them drunk, jumping snakes, and a lot of forest facts..