Chiang Mai Flower Festival

I had the good fortune of attending part of the 32nd Annual Flower Festival in Chiang Mai on Saturday. The festival runs for three days, and includes a parade with he most beautiful, intricate and colorful floats I have ever seen.

Chiang Mai is centered around the Old City, which has a moat around it, and a main road around the moat. For the festival, part of the road was closed off, and booths were set up by vendors selling their wares. A majority of the booths were selling plants and flowers, although food was of course available, and various other types of market goods.

Walking down the street you would never guess this was a temporary market. The booths were very beautiful in there own right, and if I were visiting, and had not driven on this part of the road in the past couple days, I may of thought it was a permanent market!

There was a very good turn out, lots of people strolling the marketplace, a very festive feeling. I saw sooooo many plants I would have liked to have purchased, but as it was I only bought one.

The parade was over, I had missed that part of it, but the floats were all parked for display at one end of the market place. Oh joy! What an opportunity for photos! I have posted a few of the float and market pictures in my Photography Album Chiang Mai Flower Festival it you would like to see more. But here are a few of the shots I took to share with you.

It was so hard to choose which pictures to post here… some of the shots may not be the greatest (do you remember the plant I said I had bought? Well, I had purchased it before finding the floats, so I had that to carry with me while trying to take these photos, big mistake! Half the time I was taking shots with one hand. And the shadows on some of the photos could not be avoided. But I think the subject matter more than makes up for the quality, the floats were simply amazing!


Next year I will be prepared, I look forward to seeing what incredible floats they come up with in 2009!