The primary aim of my trip to this northeastern province was to make merit and be blessed at the Nong Bua Khok temple in Chatturat district. It is an old temple whose Buddha statue — called “Luang Por Petch” — and a model of the Buddha’s footprint, are sacred to the locals.

Also, I participated in the off-season robes offering ceremony, together with the local people. The ceremony urges people to contribute money to the temple.

As the temple or village liaison prodded the people to offer more by announcing “there is still time left for contributions”, more people get up to make their offerings. Some old people contributed more than once with smiles on their faces.

After the divine obeisance, I visited Par (aunt) Ti’s coffee shop, which was about half a kilometre distance from the Nong Bua Khok temple. The shop is a two-storey wooden house, and its owner, Aunt Ti, is 70 years old.

The owner told me and other customers that she had been selling coffee since 1969 — when the price of a cup was just Bt1.50. Today, she charges Bt20 per cup.

She likes to take photos with her customers, and asked me to take a photograph with her to show that I had visited her coffee shop.

Aunt Ti’s coffee is strong, sweet and creamy. But, if told, she can make coffee with different levels of sweetness.

From Aunt Ti’s, I headed towards Nong Dong temple. My aim in visiting the temple was to participate in “Fang Luuk Nimit”, or inauguration ceremony.

This ceremony is organised during the New Year, as workers come back from the city to spend time with their families.

The ceremony is organised to consecrate a Buddhist temple. A sacred marker sphere, or “Luuk Nimit”, has to be buried in the temple compound as a ritual.

Buddhist people believe that they should attend a temple inauguration ceremony at least once in a lifetime, because the participants will receive a lot of merit by taking part in this ceremony.

Several Buddhists from Chaiyaphum and nearby provinces flocked to attend this ceremony.

While the sphere is buried, devotees drop notebooks, pencils and threads in the sacred marker sphere’s hole in front of the “Ubosot”, or the temple’s main chapel. Dropping these items, it is believed, will make the person smart.

The participants cover the entire sacred marker sphere with gold leaves and make a wish for prosperity in life.

The last place I visited was the local community in Ban Phet sub-district. Its highlight is the almost 100-year-old wooden houses that are a great draw for tourists to take photos.

However, the number of houses with antique value are rapidly going down as most house owners have already renovated their houses with cement.

This community was located near the Bamnet Narong District Office with various shops and modern buildings to welcome tourists.

Organised at the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, there will be six zones of activities and free snacks.

The DoiTung Playground zone was created to serve as more than a playground, but for physical and sensory development of children. There are many activities such as slider, mini zip line for kids, mini rock-climbing, and rope bridge setting amid the mountain views and flower garden of the foundation.

Nature-loving kids can walk on a treetop or ride the 297-metre long zip line, which is capable of carrying 100kg for free. For adventurous kids, there is a wooden cart formula racing; there are staff to guard and take care of equipment safety. On the special occasion, the racing will open two additional rounds.

Young artists can take part in handicraft workshops to unleash their imagination such as doll crafts with nipplefruit eggplant, do-it-yourself terrarium, fabric bag painting, ceramics hand-building, and banana leaf plant dish press, which could be brought back home.

While kids enjoy the activities, the adults and grown-ups can enjoy shopping the fabric craft by local students such as fabric bags, jackets, hair rubber bands, keychains, ear-rings, or wallets.

The Mae Fah Luang Arboretum at Doi Chang Moob is situated on the peak of Nang Non Range. The Chang Moob area is 1,500 metres above sea level, which is cool the year round. Once it was the largest opium-growing area and a major drug trafficking route in the region. It is now abloom with a variety of flowers such as Ardisia, Chamomile leaves, Azalea, Himalayan cherry trees, and Mona Lavender.

Doi Chang Mub, the highest viewpoint of Doi Tung, will teach the little ones more about nature while mums and dads can relax with a cup of coffee or tea at Faidee Café.

The pink rice field is owned by Naresuan University alumnus Jaturong Chomphusa, who turned his back on an office job three years ago to become a farmer.

During harvesting, he found pink Riceberry rice in his field and conducted an experiment four times on the strain, resulting in a four-square-metre pink rice field. He named the variety Pink Lady.

After planting, Pink Lady took 120 days to be ready for harvesting.

The rice seeds are plump and short in length, similar to Japanese rice but plumper. Each kilogram fetches a price of Bt80.

Jaturong said Rice Research Centre staff came to inspect the quality of the rice and found that the grains mutated into an exciting colour. The staff took a picture and uploaded it to social media, which has drawn the attention of netizens.

Now people and even villagers are travelling to the rice field daily to catch a glimpse of the rare Pink Lady.

The Suphanburi admission office in collaboration with the Suphan Buri City Pillar Shrine Committee and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Suphanburi office is holding the “Chinese New Year Suphanburi; a miracle of 12 years of the heavenly dragon” at the Dragon Descendants Museum, which is situated in the City Pillar Shrine area.

The event is organised annually to promote tourism during the Chinese New Year, good relations between Thailand and China and preserve cultural traditions, which are auspicious festivals for Chinese people and Chinese-Thais who have sttled down in Suphanburi province.

The highlights of the event will be the majestic and grandeur creation of the Suphanburi colourful light garden, light and sound show, Thai-Chinese cultural performances of schools in Suphanburi province with Chinese actors, such as the Thousand-Hand Guan Yin performance, Tibetan dance, drums shows, kung fu battles, and a show of tiny dragons.

Tourists can enjoy the beautifully decorated photo corners throughout the Paradise Dragon Park and Dragon Descendants Museum.

The main attraction is Doi Ang Khang, located on the mountain range of Chiang Mai, Mae Ngon subdistrict, where the Angkhang Royal Agricultural Station is located. It is the first royal project of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej His Majesty who established a royal initiative to be used as a research and experimentation station for growing various kinds of winter plants, such as vegetables, fruit trees, flowers and temperate flowers. The project aimed to encourage hill tribe farmers to grow these plants for financial returns instead of making money from opium.

As the various winter flowers spread their beauty, the royal agricultural station later developed into a tourist attraction.

Tourists can visit the station by private car or use the tour tram of the station. The entrance fee is Bt50 per person for the entire day. A ride costs Bt50.

For those who love to take photos, the place offers plenty of opportunities, but the main attraction is the Suan Somdet garden, located in front of the entrance near the breeding house of roses while the flower house is opposite the garden. The visit ends with a trip to the Plum Garden and the vegetable collection house which is opposite the Plum Garden.

The temperate flowers in Somdet Gardens change every year, varying according to the season. Therefore, each year you will see different floral arrangements.

During January, visitors can see real cherry blossoms, not Wild Himalayan Cherry.

The official forecast that wild Himalayan trees will bloom throughout Doi Khun Sathan mountaintop and Khun Sathan Water Source Research Station at the beginning of January with the flowers starting to be visible between January 1 and 5.

“Normally, these trees bloom in late January,” the official said. “This year, the weather has been cold, with the temperature plummeting to 4 degrees Celsius during December 5-7 and no rain.”

The official invited tourists to enjoy the beauty of wild Himalayan cherry blossoms and the cold weather of 10-15 degrees Celsius at Khun Sathan National Park in Nan.

“Tourists can buy winter vegetables and fruits grown in the Royal project, as well as visit the Hmong hilltribes in Khun Sathan,” he said, adding that further information could be obtained by calling the national park’s tourist information centre at (087) 173 9549 and (095) 148 1645.

Khun Sathan National Park is located in Na Noi and Na Muen district and is spread over 285,826 rai. It features a variety of forested areas including deciduous, dry dipterocarp, pine, tropical rain and dry evergreen.

Wildlife includes tigers, Asiatic black bear, the Northern red muntjac, Siamese hare, hill myna, racket-tailed drongoes and butterfly lizards.

To get there by car, take Highway 101 (Yontrakit Koson Road) from Phrae for 50 kilometres, then turn right at Huai Kaet village into Highway 1216 and go through Khun Sathan village. The park headquarters are about 24 km further on.

Songkhla Governor Jaruwat Kliangklao has surveyed the readiness of the province to support the locals and tourists who will celebrate their New Year holidays there.

Officials and private organisations together have set up check-in spots at Koh Noo and Koh Maew for tourists to take pictures and created sculptures of rats and cats, since the next year will be the Year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac.