My Adventures at Nong Nooch Botanical Gardens

[Kumar]

My Dear Friends, - It is a week from the day that I spent at Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Gardens at Pattaya, Thailand and during this time I have been organising my thoughts on my experience there as well as sorting my photographs. That having been done, I put the lot before you for your viewing and reading pleasure. However you must excuse the quality of my photographing as it was a very sunny day and the glare makes it impossible to provide a faithful reproduction of the colour, as also the fact the my camera was a simple sony DSC-150 point and click, (intentionally taken to reduce weight). You must also forgive errors in identification of palms (and doubtless there will be lots of that) for I am only an amateur of amateurs and many of these palms I have seen in person for the first time.

Very Sincerely, etc.

PS - This narrative will be in instalments, so it may appear as incomplete at times, especially if my writing is held up due to my work schedule.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter I : Location and Getting There

Nong Nooch Gardens (NN) is about twenty to thirty km southeast of the coastal town of Pattaya (depending on which part of Pattaya you are in). Pattaya itself is about 170 km south of Bangkok and therefore a two / two and half hour drive from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport or Bangkok. There are scheduled buses that ply between the airport and Pattaya or ten seater vans that can be hired for about 2500 baht (USD 1 = 30 baht). The road from the airport is good and smooth and bordered generously with young oil palms. Here is a short clip -

If you are staying in Pattaya you can either hire 10 or 6 seater vans (1500 baht) or take a cab (1000 baht) or go pillon on a 'motorbike taxi' (200 baht). These are one way fares and are meant to cover the empty fare back. For an additional amount they will agree to wait or be there at NN at the time of return. Big groups usually hire a large bus that has all the usual comforts. I was travelling alone and engaged a friendly motorbike taxi for 350 baht to drive me to NN at 0930 and be there at 1530 for the return. The travel time from central Pattaya was 40 minutes, half of that careful driving within city limits. Parts of the route within Pattaya feature heavy use of Bismarckias and Wodyetias on the road dividers. The former are obviously well cared for, simply spectacular and all are huge, thick-stemmed and bright silver. The foxtails pale in comparison. Here are some photos of the route along with a short video clip.

Dozens of tour operators, travel agents and hotel staff will offer 'tours' of NN. Be warned - these tours are usually very short and leave you with little time to spare at NN. There's no need of a tour guide at all and it is probably best to custom hire your transport. The entry fee is 500 baht per adult per day and there is officially no discount for groups though there is some benefit if you buy a 3 or 5 day pass.

NN has a resort that offers lodging and has the advantage of being adjacent to the premises but it is a simple affair with limited capacity and limits your ability to travel anywhere other than NN.

Be sure not to start too late - there will probably be a blazing sun and the park is severely humid and its best to do the first bit of sighseeing before 1300 when it becomes scorching hot. I made a mistake and got boiled in the noon heat that easily penetrates the overhead canopy. Lots of water and hand towels are a must too, preferably with some electrolyte powder for emergencies. Insect repellent is a good idea - citronella oil perhaps. Food is available for purchase inside but remember - food, medical, toilet, water, telephone or rest facilities are only to be found in the main 'tourist' area of the park; the core palm zone is 2-4 km away from all of this and is void of all facilties as well as human presence - perhaps a testament to how few people visit that area. Mobiles work though. There is a lot of dust at places so asthmatics should not forget their inhalers.

Edited February 12, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter II: Arrival at Nong Nooch

After the modestly long journey from Pattaya, the entrance to NN arrives very suddenly without much warning other than one hoarding.

Once in, there's another good ten minutes of road till the ticket gate, along a private path filled with silver fan plams - bizzies, copernicas and braheas as also some robust cycads - all potted, and which provides a taste of things to come. Here are photos and a short video clip of this stretch, that appears to be an entrance to palm heaven :

[...continued]

[BS Man about Palms]

Kumar-

I am looking forward to this thread as I very much want to go on the biennial next year and any info re: Nong Nooch would be great!

[Kumar]

Chapter II: (cont'd)

The entry gate appears as the first sign of human habitation along the palm filled path, which even crosses a narrow gauge railway line at one point. At the time I reached there was no waiting queue but that may well not be the case after noon when the half day tours start.

The Entry Point

Along with your entry ticket, you get a helpful map which would have been a lot more helpful had it been to scale. Here it is -

Note the entrance route from the North West corner that comes down and curves into a horizontal route. Entry point is at No.7. The cluster of buildings in the centre, bordering the two massive parking areas at 27 and 30 is the tourist area and houses food courts, juice stalls, viewing platforms, an elephant enclosure and even a small zoo of sorts!

Food Courts

Elephant Enclosure

The park management obviously depend on this to draw in the crowds (and the revenue) and there is all the usual commericial exploitation - such as paying 40 bahts to feed six tiny bananas to the elephants. This area is however only about 7-10 acres and is a miniscule proportion of the overall park size (about 700 acres). Though palms are generously found all over the park, the Palm Area is to the East (No. 21 on the map) about a fifteen minute walk in that direction from the Centre. You can see it on the map as a inconsequential label in the East-Centre. There are also other specialised areas such as for orchids, succulents, vines, etc. which are all equally far in different directions.

I didn't like the elephant attraction at all and the zoo was miserable. The entry ticket also allows access to an elephant circus and a Thai cultural program but that was not the purpose of my visit and it would have upset my timing so I gave those a miss. Also, transport around the park is almost entirely by foot (electric golf carts and vans run short bits but these are very few and they ply only on the metalled roads - perhaps another reason for the lack of human presence outside the Tourist Area) so after getting off my motorcyle taxi, acclimatising my sore rear and giving strict instructions to the taxi to be present at 1600 for the return, I started off towards the Palm Area immediately with a little over four hours at hand (excluding one for the walk back).

[Kumar]

Chapter III: Onward to the Palms!

The official entrance to the Palm Area is approximately a twenty minute walk away from the Parking Lot / Elephant Enclosure (which I shall use a starting point). But nevertheless, palms are everywhere along the way. This place incidentally has an attractive garden with metal framed sculptures covered with Ficus pumila, the climbing fig.

I am thereafter confronted by a planting of magnificent Corypha utans that remind me of illustrations of the Martian fighting-machines from HG Wells' War of the Worlds.

Here's one with me for scale

[...continued]

Edited February 12, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter III: (cont'd)

I take a last look at road to civilisation on one side -

See off a squatting narrow-leafed CIDP,

And start towards the valley of the palms along a road that turns non-metalled very soon

Along the way, I see these tall pinnate fellows - that seem to have very palmate looking petioles (ID ?)

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter III: (cont'd)

I know I'm close to the entrance when I see this young, good-looking Lodoiecea

Near the entrance is a grouping of very healthy dwarf Areca catechu's, though I am the one who is dwarved

some of these are in bloom

Finally, the entrance!

[Kumar]

Chapter IV: Inside the Palm Area

Now that I am inside the main Palm Area, a short description is wanting that will allow for better appreciation of the journey ahead. The core palm enclosure is in the shape of a long rectangle, about 4 km by 1.5 km. Within this area is a well watered tropical paradise with many dozens of different palms scattered about, only vaguely organised. Through this area, meanders a broad muddy road that is a few feet lower than the plantation, making it seem like a miniature canyon. The planted area is bordered by huge irregular granite slabs so access to and from the road is limited and requires some climbing. Since the road snakes around, it will be necessary to cross it at a few places so the climbing is unavoidable. It is best to avoid the road as there is no sun protection, the breeze can stir up the dust and occassionally a dumper will come through like a dinosaur with no warning and leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. This road eventually staightens out and heads towards immense fields where flowers, bromeliads and other plants are farmed before turning around the North-East corner of the map and heading back towards the Parking Area. I estimate the entire road length alone to be about 10-15 km but you can if you want restrict yourself only to the core palm area.

There is no labelling at all of the specimens and I found that really irritating. The humidity is particularly high and I had to continously keep wiping the sweat of my camera lens and eyepiece. I also had to switch off the LCD display to conserve battery which made taking photos difficult. The ground is well manicured to start but gradually runs wild as you go deeper and no attempt has been made to prepare a walking trail so care must be taken not to trip over roots, leaf bases, fruit, seedlings and rocks. A misstep can be very dangerous especially near the masses of armed palms and cycads. Many palm seeds are slippery on granite and the pulp must be steered cleer of. There are plenty of insects - wasps, bees, and others - and these have to be given a wide berth.

I deliberately avoided taking photos of the common palms such as royals, dypsis lutescens, bizzies, coconuts and phoenix to save battery. The great variety of cycads have also been ignored.

Here is a nice African oil palm (Elaeis guinensis) - these are very common in Thailand and get quite big.

Mobile on stem for scale

Profile of a petiole, showing spines

Male and female inflorescences and ripe fruit - with view of the petioles.

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter IV: (cont'd)

Golden Adonidia merilli in bloom - These are also very very popular ornamentals here

A thick cluster of Caryota mitis

Walking among gigantic Copernicas - they make even a respectable sized cycad seem puny. Several of the leaf tips look yellow - sunburn perhaps

Canopy of Veitchia joannis (verified)

[...continued]

Edited February 12, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter IV: (cont'd)

Spindles old and young

Young pritchardia, getting ready to take off

Forest of D. lutescens / cabadae

A phoenix (sylvestris?) with bright red fruit

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter IV: (cont'd)

Here is another massive Corypha, which seems to have a gene for leaf bases being precisely on top of each other

Licuala paludosa

Tall Licuala grandis

Another pretty Licuala

[Kumar]

Chapter V: Deeper and Deeper

Soon, I leave behind the well trimmed lawns and the timed mechanical water sprayers and enter an area where the palms rule and we are only visitors. It feels as though I have stepped back into the jurassic (the cycads help) and there are signs that the Park management are hard pressed to keep the palms at bay. I am already soaked with sweat and have stopped even trying to wipe my glasses.

The first signs of trouble are an army of Arengas (microcarpa)

Arenga undulaifolia - bigger and stronger than the above

Arenga tremula

While a cycas sp. gets ready to flush

Arenga pinnata I have already captured in my discussion here. With luck I will be able to grow one of these monsters.

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter V: (cont'd)

There are many palms whose identity I cannot even speculate. Like this robust pinnate form, with a caryota-like inflorescence.

Or this

Or this petite slender palm (wallichia?) on the left, resembling a bamboo

A genetic mutation has produced this freak bismarckia?

[...continued]

[dalmatiansoap]

What a park!!!

Give us more.....

[Tassie_Troy1971]

What a great collection of Tropical palms Thanks for posting

[Walter John]

Oh Kumar, this is a fantastic read and view. Your commentary is tops and really does give a good feel of what to expect on travelling to and visiting NN gardens. It entices me to go there, and just maybe, that biennial could be a chance. I'm with you on the elephants and zoo, not my kind of thing.

Those palms without the crownshaft that you said had fan palm like petioles may be Heterospathe of some species. What do the experts think ?

[ariscott]

Thanks Kumar. It looks like you had fun!! More please if you have time....

Regards, Ari

[Cycadcenter]

Kumar,

Post 7 the second photo are actually a planting of cycads with the "norrow leafed CIDP" being Macrozamia moorei from Central Queensland Australia, They were imported about 10 years ago and planted at the Garden

Bruce

[Cindy Adair]

Really enjoying these photos and your descriptions! Next best thing to being there!

[Daryl]

Great photos and travelogue Kumar. Those palms you mention with 'palmate' petioles look like Pigafetta

regards,

Daryl

[Gbarce]

I am enjoying tthis

Hope there are lots more

[Kumar]

Chapter V: (cont'd)

Continuing, I have my first encounter with some thin palms of the spiny kind - in this case clustering as well. This combination ranks near the bottom of my palm-attractiveness scale and I am tempted to bypass them completely. Nevertheless who knows if I will ever see their like again and I duly take a few photos; It is, I think a Bactris.

Closeup of stems. There is an abandoned pot lying in the background, a relic of an age when humans dared to confine flora in enclosed spaces

Having done the needful, I move on to a few large and D. decaryi, whose very silver fronds are hard to spot against an equally silver sky.

On another side are several large, slightly plumose cycads -

Edited February 13, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter VI: Time of Troubles

It was around this time that I had a series of misfortunes.

First, I saw this clump of slender palmate stems, a bit like a C. humils or A. wrightii. Now I have a A. wrightii at home myself and this was nothing like that; nor did it resemble the C. humils that I have seen. Perhaps a Rhapis...

I therefore stretched out for a closer look, with hand for scale

This harmless gesture apparently angered a few horribly large wasps and one came after me, pulling out only after delivering a sting to my neck, just behind the collar. (I had read a warning many months ago about giant asian hornets attracting their kinsman when threatened and so decided to take the sting in a very Gandhian fashion without provoking the wasps further). Nonetheless, a few non-Gandhian expletives followed; It was a painful sting and the skin is still irritated. I of course had no medication or water and could only put a hand towel on my neck in a feeble attempt to soothe the blister.

Thereafter I brushed past the jagged edges of a juvenile Livistona, similar to this one which easily poked through my trouser and delivered some scratches on the thin skin just below the kneecap.

All I could do was photograph one of his more presentable brothers.

I came across more clustering palms -

[...continued]

Edited February 13, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter VI: (cont'd)

The first of these, perhaps a Rattan of some kind?, was no less spiny than the clump I described a little while back and I tried to take a photo with my camera case for scale - (Notice the plumose leaves)

Hanging up the case was all good but taking it back again was clumsy and I ended up tearing a hole in the soft strap . Naturally I make a short lived resolution never to repeat that particular mistake again.

I then attempt to get close to one of the fronds of a neighbouring, slightly larger clump with slightly less colourful (though equally deadly) spines. See the plumose leaves again -

Again, despite my best efforts, a spine goes into a nailbed , fortunately of my left hand. The pain is a joke next to the wasp sting which is throbbing

Immediately adjacent is a mysterious palm, with similar fronds - but no spines (most likely unrelated)

I try to bend a few fronds for a better photo, and nothing seems out of the ordinary until by chance I turn to see my shoulder and back covered with 30-40 small, sticky green larvae - apparently I have dislodged a bunch of them while trying to bend the leaves. These remind me superficially of gypsy moth larvae - the kind that can reduce a cycad flush to zero before sunset. While not hurt physically, I am disgusted and a little scared . Getting these larvae off without squashing them is not easy and they stick to the fabric of my shirt. After fifteen minutes of struggle - felt like an hour - I cleared myself and got out of there. Tired, thirsty, sweaty, stung, scratched and covered with insect viscera I was all set to go back but there was an unexpected problem - the motorcycle taxi would be back only at 1530-1600 and I would have to wait until then. The prospect of waiting a few hours in this heat was perhaps the worst thing to do and so I reluctantly carried on.

(Here are those fronds by the way)

[Kumar]

Chapter VII: Monsters' Ball

All that pain I went through may have been by design from a Higher Force - for in trying to get away from that area I saw one path flanked by large Livistonas

Passing though the path and finding myself in a low lying area, the sight that confronts me is overwhelming...

Can this be the majestic Raphia? - a palm said to be so large it makes the Corypha look like a schoolboy (if I may exaggerate a little). I notice more compact forms -

Judge for yourself who the big boss is - (plenty of everyday palms around for scale)

[...continued]

[ariscott]

That spiny palms might be Salacca?

[Kumar]

Chapter VII: (cont'd)

Nearby, an old Corypha breathes its last even as it produces a spectacular show of flowering. Unfortunately it was not fruiting or I might have got a few seeds (but more on that later)

But the Coryphas are mistaken if thought they would be getting all the attention for a little further are hefty representatives of the fearsome Borassodendron - a.k.a. the elephant crying palm - for good reason. The petioles are cruelly sharp and easily cut through a few old leaf midribs that I use as a test, taking good care not to injure myself this time.

Notice the distinctive tips of the fronds

[...continued]

[Gbarce]

Palms in post #26 are Attaleas I think.

More more more!!!

[Kumar]

Chapter VII: (cont'd)

Mention of the Borassoids usually brings B. flabellifer to my mind (with good reason - it is one of the most common palms back in India). But here it is the even more massive B. aethiopium that looms large.

This monster with its cannonball like fruit (doubtless rigged and ready to fall on an individual carelessly passing beneath) is very close in proportion to a corypha. What gives it away (when it is not fruiting) are the bifurcated petiole bases (coryphas tend to be unbifurcated).

Closer to the edge of this part, I am about to ignore what seems at first glance to be a royal

But it's not - Rather it is some species of Acrocomia. The stem is of course a death trap -

[...continued]

[BS Man about Palms]

Enthralling!

[Kim]

Oh, Kumar, this is great stuff! Your reportage is fantastic, thanks for all the informative photos and posts. Looking forward to your next installment.

[Zayin]

Great shots!! Regretable about the wasps though.. ugh.

[Kumar]

Chapter VII: (cont'd)

By now I have spent over an hour with these giants and I have to move on if justice is to be done to the 500 baht ticket price. I have been fortunate with no more injuries but the sun is at its hottest, I am beginning to feel dehydrated and my leather shoes, used mostly to the environs of my practice are protesting. I am also mindful of the fact that by now I have reached one end of the Palm enclosure and all along the way I have seen nor heard a single human sight or voice. Not wanting to tempt fate any further, I head back towards a more civilised part of the park.

Along the way out are a few more giants, like this -

I speculate it may be an Attalea alanni after seeing the infructescence

A heavyset sabal with chiseled features passes by -

I look back and see the valley of the giants already obscured with just a lone corypha sentinel on guard above the canopy

Edited February 13, 2011 by Kumar

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: In Which I Continue My Journey Through The Land Of The Palms

Just to provide a short summary of where I am - I have all along been travelling East-South-East along the lower boundary of the rectangular Palm Area. It is half past one and I decide to explore the North-Eastern corner of the rectangle and therafter follow the Northbound road and see where that goes. This is slight risk for I have walked about two hours and may be in danger of overextending myself should it happen that this road goes out of the Park.

The environment is a lot more friendly now and the granite slabs have reappeared; I can not only rest a little but take some self photos too.

Towards the eastern boundary wall are a series of Dypsis, some small, some large.

There are evidently some pollination experiments going on - see this leptocheilos

Clumps of light green lutescens

And a hunchbacked cycad that has obviously undergone some severe trauma in the past

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: (cont'd)

As I carry on, I see a dense grove of Ptychosperma macarthurii. Native Kerriodoxa on the right.

Some armchair deductions follow.

Is this Aiphanes ?

Coccothrinax argentea ?

Close up

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: (cont'd)

I manage to pose with this willing Copernica - no doubt next year I will not have to bend!

The shuttlecock-formed drawrf clumping palm that I had posted on a different topic. Somehow it does not seem like areca

The stems show extensive structural damage but new shoots are pushing through..from what seem like stumps??

Juvenile Bentinckia ready for launch (These are so beautiful at this stage)

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: (cont'd)

A mysterious Dypsis for the Dypsis-fanatics, very droopy leaflets. There's a nice comparison of crowns with the Acrocomia in the back

A foxtail looks frail besides a well-nourished cycad

Nice Silver Brahea

And a well-suited-booted Sabal (yapa?)

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: (cont'd)

While nearly all the specimens at NN are in good condition (expectedly), a few strugglers, stragglers and evolutionary dead-ends are also to be seen. I really feel for these fellows - they may have beaten nature with their genes but having done so live constantly under the shadow of the gardener's axe

Here is some sort of Syagrus that has obviously undergone a lot of stress

A wilting D. lutescens,

and a defoliated royal

[...continued]

[Kumar]

Chapter VIII: (cont'd)

Eric reproduced some photos of a serpentine phoenix sometime ago - Here is a serpentine A. wrightii

Like the Hydra, there's plenty of backup in case the older heads fail -

Serpentine inflorescence overflowing from a Sabal

Another unusual clustering variety - no name comes to mind - the fronds remind me more of a cycad