Nong Nooch park
Nong Nooch Park is an unusual collection of the best examples of landscape design and attractions, collected from around the world. The garden is located near the resort city of Pattaya in Thailand.
This site with an area of 240 hectares was acquired in 1954 by one of the richest families in Thailand, headed by Madame Nong Nooch for planting orchards and vegetable plantations.
A rich woman loved to travel around the world and collect rare unusual plants. Impressed by what she saw abroad, Nong Nooch wanted to create her own tropical park, selecting for him the best of the famous world gardens.
Landscaping to create a garden was very painstaking and lengthy, the opening took place only in 1980, but the result was an incredible combination of European styles of landscape design and Asian luxury.
The territory of the park is divided into separate thematic zones, interconnected by well-groomed garden paths and bridges.
Air bridges are multi-level paths with awnings, raised above the ground to a height of 5 meters for a better overview of attractions. The idea is not bad: canopies protect from the scorching sun and at an open height a refreshing breeze adds comfort to the walk.
The European part of the park is designed in a classic French style, like the famous gardens of Versailles. The ideal symmetry and geometry of the shapes of trimmed trees and plants is complemented by Thai small architectural forms and Buddhist temples, creating the effect of oriental wealth and abundance.
The Italian garden is represented by flower beds and perfectly trimmed trees and shrubs framing fountains and marble statues.
Orchid Garden is a special pride and attraction of Nong Nooch Garden. Visitors to the garden are certainly always delighted with the richness of flowers and smells of an infinite variety of representatives of different types of orchids, the natural beauty of which is complemented by garden figures and excellent installations. Flowers are grown in hanging baskets and greenhouses, most of them are enjoyed by tourists.
In the Cactus Garden, one of the best collection of cacti in the world of a wide variety of species, shades and sizes is collected: small, medium and large, flowering and not blooming, branched and spherical. All this looks especially impressive during the flowering period.
Students at the local college of landscape architecture look after plants in orchid and cactus gardens, improving their knowledge and skills in practice.
One of the sections of the park is given under the Bonsai Garden - miniature Japanese trees. This is an ancient art, a truly long and painstaking, but fascinating work. Trees are grown in pots in the form of large turtles, giving them additional beauty by cutting crowns into various geometric shapes.
The blue garden is given over to palm trees and ferns. Here is the world's largest collection of palm trees (1100 species from 2800 existing species) and numerous fern plants, including fairly rare species.
The garden is famous for its variety of brightly flowering bromeliad plants (more than 300 species of the pineapple family).
Also interesting is the idea of an unusual flower garden on the slopes of a small artificial hill, created from a large number of diverse plants, in shape and pattern resembling butterfly wings.
Nong Nooch Park is constantly evolving. In the near future it is planned to open the Rose Garden, the basis of which will be baskets with desert roses. These plants with white-pink flowers, a thick trunk and strong roots combine magical beauty and amazing unpretentiousness.
Gardeners decorated one of the hills with figures of various animals from trimmed plants, turning it into a Topiary Garden.
The Nong Nooch flower and plant park would not be so beautiful without the same beautiful butterflies. About 2000 various specimens have found a house here, represented by a large enclosure closed by fine mesh. They, like natural flowers, endlessly flutter in a fabulous dance, above the heads of admiring tourists, striking with a variety of species, sizes and colors.
Garden of Eden is also impossible to imagine without the bewitching singing of beautiful birds. Of course, they are presented here in large numbers, exotic specimens are especially good. Birds are not afraid of anyone at all, they are happy to receive refreshments from the hands of curious visitors to the park, while sometimes allowing themselves to sit on their heads.
For romantics, there is a special place - the Garden of Hearts, where designers from flowering plants create compositions in the form of this symbol of love. In the center is a stone walkway, also in the shape of a heart, surrounding a small bench. This place is holy for lovers, especially on Valentine's Day, as it is believed that it strengthens family relationships. Here, couples are always walking and a lot of offers are made of the hand and heart.
There is a lake on the territory of the park, the surface of which is half-decorated with beautiful floating annual flower beds with patterns of the correct form. Walking bridges are suspended above the water from which you can admire the beautiful surrounding landscape.
Arapaim live in the lake - giant fish up to 3 meters long. Thrill-seekers are offered to feed these monsters with small fish, mounted on fishing rods, sticks.
On the shore there is a Coastal garden with wave-like multi-colored flower beds, stone paths and decorative trees.
From the point of view of Thais, an ideal garden is the atmosphere of a universal holiday, therefore the severity of the European landscape is everywhere supplemented by painted garden figures, from small to gigantic, symbolizing Thai generous abundance and love for everything bright and colorful.
Throughout the park amidst greenery, animal figures are arranged, especially in this regard, the Valley of the Mammoths is impressive. The sculptures of these ancient life-size animals look very realistic in their surroundings.
For children, the Alley of Dinosaurs located in the open air will be interesting. Life-size dinosaurs of the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods stand on both sides of the road, some of them make ominous sounds, causing shyness and admiration. They can be touched and photographed.
The excellent abilities of creative imagination perfectly manifested themselves in the Pot Garden. What is there: arches, butterflies, a steam locomotive, a car, a boat, a jug, elephants, monkeys, owls, arbors - this is only part of the Thai artists ’architectural art, created from ordinary flower pots.
Landscape designers even created a semblance of English Stonehenge here. Several times a copy of the mysterious stones of the ancient monument is one of the amazing sights of the garden, attracting many tourists here.
Thais revered an ant as a symbol of hard work, so all the park staff are wearing T-shirts with his image. We give them their due, the team is working tirelessly, resembling an anthill. In gratitude to their hard work, as well as in order to emphasize respect for the ant, the Ant Tower was erected in the park, on which more than 5000 figures of this insect persistently strive to reach the top.
In Nong Nooch there is a small interactive zoo, especially pleasing to children, because you can not only watch the animals, but even feed and pet. Donkeys, monkeys, pigs, goats, deers, camels - the kids play and have fun with them. And on older tigers, snakes, an aquarium with turtles and fish can be viewed from afar.
The son of the founder of the park, Kampon Tansaca, the director of the park and a passionate lover of expensive cars, has collected in his garage a collection of exclusive sports cars, SUVs and antique rarities, which you can also admire.
Several Nong Nooch sites attract visitors with their entertainment programs. The audience especially likes the show featuring elephants. It is well known that an elephant is a very intelligent and easily trained animal. Indeed, on stage, elephants spin the hoop and play ball, ride bicycles and perform many other numbers. Another fascinating show pleases guests with national dances and performances in Thai boxing. In the park you can ride on a small railway.
Today, Nong Nooch Garden has acquired the status of one of the largest and most famous botanical gardens in Southeast Asia, which every year is visited by more and more tourists from all over the world.
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