Chiangmai (26 March 2022 - 2 April 2022)

 

 

The pandemic has disrupted so many of my overseas butterflies trips plans.  Hence, when Thailand relaxed the quarantine rules, I jumped on the opportunity to visit Chiangmai again.  

Catalina and I rolled out the plan. After checking with some friends, we finally managed to get Gan and Gladys who were able to come on board with us.   

Travelling was not quite the same anymore.  The first thing we had to do was to apply for the Thailand Travelpass and the requirements to apply for the Travelpass was quite a nightmare. We had to book for the one night hotel quarantine confirmation with PCR test booking, insurance and ensure all our vaccinations certificates were in placed before the Travelpass was approved. 

The next anxiety was to ensure that we do not get Covid before the travel, which would then disrupt our travel plans. It was at a time when the Omicron was spreading quite prevalently.  Each of us diligently went through all our pre departure PCR tests and was glad we were all tested negative.

We arrived at the airport early in the morning of 26 March 2022 before the queue to check-in started to build up.

 

   

The plane was rather empty.  We found our seats and made ourselves comfortable with our masks put on at all times

 

 Arrived Chiangmai on time.  It was good for me to be back again for the second time.

The hotel chauffer picked us up from the airport and drove us straight to the hospital for the PCR tests.  After completing the PCR tests, we were driven to our most comfortable rooms at Ana Park  Chiangmai for an ovenight quarantine until the test results were released the next morning.

My experience of the one day quarantine was quite a unique one.  I was lucky to have a room with a view of a big tree  and I had the luxurious pleasure of birding from my hotel room.

Here are some of the photos of the birds I managed to shoot from my window.

We got our PCR results at around 11.30 am on 27 March 2022 and Antonio was all ready to pick us up to start our butterflying journey in Chiangmai.

Day 1 (27 March 2022) - Doi Suthep 

As we have only half a day on Day 1 due to the late release of the late PCR test results, we headed to the nearest national park, the Doi Suthep National Park after the hotel confirmed our tests were all negative.  Antonio came immediately and he drove us straight to the Doi Suthep View Point and was greeted by this lovely Green Commodore!

I was extremely happy too, to be able to catch up with Noah, whose parents had moved back to Bangkok last year.  Prince brought Noah to Chiangdao for the weekend but we were only able to meet in the afternoon at Doi Suthep.  We spent some good 2 hours butterflying before they had to head off to the airport to return to Bangkok.

Quite amazing, Prince unknowingly spotted the Grey Commodore which apparently is a rare butterfly, not seen since  2017 in Doi Suthep.

 

 

Day 2 (28 March 2022) - Chiangdao Wildlife Sanctuary

Checked out from Ana Park Chiangmai and headed straight to ChiangDao.  We arrived at the famous Chiangdao carpark with full of butterflies activities around 9.00am.  Back as it was in 2019, there were more butterflies and we were all really excited to see them everywhere!

 

 These were some my favourite butterflies:                                   

                                                     Constable                                                                Paris Peacock

Day 3- Fang (29 March 2022)

The highlight of our trip was to trek through the forest trails of Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park in our quest to find the Kaiser-i-Hind.  

Entrance to the mountain trails

We had to trek a stretch of steep slope for about half and hour and trekked through these beautiful misty forest 

I was behind everyone and took a photo of the group, wondering what our friends were looking at!

Here was what they were photographing, a Dung beetle near the poo of the mountain cow.

Not long after that and to my horrid, we saw a herd of the mountain cows.  It was a relieved that they were tame and and we walked pass them slowly.

 

 

 

 

 We finally came out of the misty forest and saw these beautiful flowers up on the mountain, close to the summit. 

We reached the summit just after 9 am.  The sun was not out and it was rather cloudy on that day.  While waiting for the appearance of the Kaiser, we took the opportunity to enjoy the breathtaking views of the mountain and took some photos.

We got quite worried that the Kaiser would not turn up but not long after we have enjoyed the breathtaking views of the moutain and with the appearance of the occasional sun,  we saw the first Kaiser flew in, much to our excitement.  I tried so hard to take some flying shots of the Kaiser but they were just too fast for me.  I ended up just watching the flying jewels with awe.  Antonio had informed us that the Kaiser would stop to rest and perch after the flights.  Hence, we just tracked where they would stop and we finally spotted 2 that perched close enough for us to get some good shots.  They were simply awesome!

In addition to the Kaiser, we managed to see the Brown Gorgon, but they were far shots!

We were overjoyed with our mission achieved to see the Kasier and were extremely happy after we got down from the summit!

Day 4 - Chiang Dao (30 March 2022)

It was back in Chiang Dao to stay at the Nest on day 4.  The chalets were clean and comfortable.   

On the way back, we stopped at the market place again to enjoy our coconut drinks and shopped for nuts and strawberries.  I was most happy to find the black ginger stall and bought lots to plant at home.

We returned to the car park to spend another full day of shooting and were delighted to be greeted by the Banded Royal.

 

Day 5- Doi Inthanon

I missed coming to Doi Inthanon on my last trip to Chiangmai due to the weather.  Glad the weather was good this time.

 First stop was the -----waterfall.  

 

 

The Blue Imperial was most obliging!

 After spending about 2-3 hours here, Antonio drove us to the Huai San Lueang Waterfalls

Here, we were greeted by the Grand Duchess.   The sheer size of the butterfly was quite amazing!

 

 The Stately Nawab

Day 6- Sri Lanna National Park

Our last day of shooting was at Sri Lanna Park.  We were so delighted with this beautiful Eastern Courtier which kept coming back to puddle.

 

We ended our trip with a nice dinner at The Riverside Bar & Restaurant which has an enchanting views of the River Ping.