Singha Park in Chiang Rai is managed by Boon Rawd Brewery Co., Ltd..
So, yes, I went to a brewery. Or at least a tea field managed by one, and for me that is close enough. Established in 1983, the park spans over 8,700 rai.
Which brings us to today’s ‘Americans don’t know things’ lesson. A Thai Rai (which is fun to say. Just saying) is a unit of surface measurement equal to 1600 square meters in metric measurement. So, America, that means 1 acre is approximately 2.5 Rai, and the park spans 3,480 acres.
I had visiting a tea farm on my list because I read about experiences you can have in Sri Lanka and a few other places around the area. I like tea. I drink a lot of tea. I thought it would be neat to learn tea in the fields and do a tasting of different types, and learn to brew it properly… and so forth.
Sadly, this is not the time of year to have that experience, and this is absolutely not the place.
They do have tea here. Good tea, or at least I enjoyed the cup I bought at the cafe.
They do have great landscapes, and you can wander the tea fields, then you can drive further on and see a bunch of trees with yellow flowers. Have no idea what they are, or why they were there, but everyone was stopping and taking pictures. They were pretty.
But where they are a beautiful setting, and an agritourism location, this is more of an adventure park that you need larger groups and more time to explore fully.
If you do have the time and interest, there are zip lines, rock climbing walls, bike paths and you can rent ATV’s or scooters and zoom around. They even have a zoo. I have no idea if they offer tea courses or not, but apparently there is a farm tour for groups larger than 3, and I thought I saw a sign for a blend area where one might blend the various teas to create a sipping masterpiece.
Yeah, masterpiece would not describe what I might blend. I am not good in the culinary arts. Good thing the world was not subjected to me blending.
We did look around. I assume they were tea plants. We did not have a guide so most of it was lost on me, but it was pretty to look at, and again, the tea was good.
And then there was the lion. If you are driving down the road in this area, it is obvious where this place is because of the giant Singha lion out front. So, we posed for the obvious pictures with the lion and moved on.
I will keep tea plantation and learning tea on my bucket list for another trip taken at the right time of year. Gives me a reason to travel again.
