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Noong Nooch Garden is a place to be visited in near Pattaya for flower lovers and sightseers alike. You do not have to be an avid gardener to enjoy the spectacle that is Nong Nooch Garden. It is a huge garden to the south of Pattaya City and easily reached by public transport or by one of the many tours that are laid on for hotel tourists. The garden is known throughout the world as a horticultural masterpiece of enormous size, with many different aspects to keep all interested - or even entertained! the garden covers an area of five hundred acres or so, so it is not for a brisk walk! |
Nong Nooch Garden is probably the finest garden in
Thailand, and must rank in the top ten gardens in the world. Such a
statement is of course subjective, but that is how the writer feels.
For
this page, the emphasis will be on the ‘tourist’ visitor, rather than the
gardening enthusiast or botanist even. The horticultural details will follow
at a later date – after a further visit. It is of course impossible to write
about a garden without mention of the plants, so non-gardeners please be
patient. I will also try to whet your appetite as well.
Nong Nooch has a huge range of tropical plants – as you would expect being
so close to the equator, and with normal South East Asian climatic
conditions.
Nong Nooch started life as a fruit orchard, later developing into this
magnificent tropical garden as a result of world-wide travels by the owners.
It just shows what you can do if you set your mind upon it. Maybe not to
this scale for all of us, but somewhere there must be a dream. Nong Nooch is
one such dream that came true for the owners. Dreams are simply a vision.
For them to materialise, there has to be action. Concerted action and a
sense of purpose!
Nong Nooch Garden claims to have the largest collection of plants in Asia.
It would certainly be difficult to question that claim, even after a short
visit. As well as being a huge collection of plants, there are of course
rarities that go with such collection. At Nong Nooch, some of the rarest
plants in the world are to be found.
Tourists will invariably come to the garden in on of the
fleets of luxurious buses that are almost built for the purpose of ferrying
to Nong nooch from the local hotels and resorts in Pattaya. The driveway to
the garden is in itself a spectacle, and you will be impatient for the bus
to stop, so you can get out and have a closer look. Be patient. It will be
worth the wait. just savour the wide range of palms and sculptured plants
from the comfort of your air-conditioned bus - or with the wind blowing in
your face, if like me you have a motorbike and live locally!
You will be instantly and pleasantly surprised at the way the gardens and
surrounding grounds are kept. Later as you wander round the garden, you will
see how this comes about with the myriads of gardening staff on hand. The
staff at Nong Nooch, are also responsible for all entertainment – of which
there is much – cooking, and even making the majority of the pots in which
many of the plants grow.
The entertainment on hand at Nong nooch Garden includes all many of shows
and exhibitions, most with a Thai cultural flavour. Animals – of the type
you would like to take home – are there to wander through. There are other
animals which perhaps you would prefer NOT to take home with you!
There are restaurants to cater for all taste of food, and of course plenty
to drink to stop you from becoming dehydrated. It will be hot, and you could
be in for a lot of walking.
Arial walkways are a must if you want to see the garden from a different perspective. For the keen photographer, the walk through the palm tops is essential. You will get many close-up pictures of spectacular palm trees, and I doubt if you have every seen so many silver foliaged palms in your life. The palms are reputed to be the finest collection in the world. Even if you are not a ‘gardener’ you will be taken aback at the range of sizes and shapes of the palm collection – to be seen in virtually every part of the extensive garden.
There
are many, many more fine plants in the gardens besides the palms of course.
Orchid and Euphorbia collections to name but two. There are huge expanses of
formal gardens, with amazing colour schemes from various plant foliages.
Ferns, Bromeliads, Bonsais, and ‘not so bonsai’ sculpted trees and foliage
shrubs.
Anyone travelling through this part of Thailand will have been taken in with
the endless colour cacophony of red, pink, orange, white and all other
colours from the Bougainvilleas. Nong Nooch garden has them in huge array.
Absolutely spectacular!
As I said earlier, I will write of the horticultural and botanical aspects
in a later page. I hope that what you have read so far will tempt you to
visit one of the most spectacular gardens in the world.
How to get to Nong Nooch Garden.
Nong Nooch Garden is based on Sukhumvit Road(Highway No.3), 18 kilometers/20minutes driving from Pattaya City head to Sattahip/Rayong Pass the turn-off for Silverlake Vine Yard, and about 2 kilometers you will see the big billboard of Nong Nooch Garden at the entrance. This will be at km.163 marker on your left hand side.
