Chiang Mai, Thailand Part 4: The Museum of World Insects and Natural History

On Christmas day, we decided to pay a visit to a little known museum I stumbled upon online. Even the hotel reception and taxi drivers I spoke to had not heard of it. The reception counter had difficulty finding the street indicated in the address on the tourist map at first, due to variations in translation from the traditional Thai into its English version. Looking back, I do not recall any tourist publicity such as pamphlets or information boards about this place at all. I was starting to wonder if this was worth a visit. Driven purely by my love for natural history, and a desire to share the beauty of God's creation with my kids, I decided to go ahead and plan a visit there.

Map on the museum's brochure

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we summoned a Tuktuk to take us to Nimmanhemin Road, about 2 kilometres west of the moated square. We took some time to find it, and finally spotted a three storey building decorated with giant mosquito sculptures all over its front gate. The building resembled any other office building surrounding it, but a closer look revealed large insect motifs all over the exterior walls.

The museum's exterior.

Exterior signages.

We rang the doorbell and someone unlocked the small gate to allow us in. We found ourselves in what appeared to be a house garage and driveway. We found out that this museum was indeed the residence of the owners Dr. Rampa and her husband Mr. Manop. Dr. Rampa is a semi-retired mosquito specialist and entomologist (one who specialises in insect scientific studies) and Mr. Manop is a retired malaria specialist. Their daughter mooted the idea of turning their residence into a 'home museum' to display and celebrate their lifetime of work dedicated to their respective fields, and they have become the museum's curators since.

The museum's brochure cover

Before we entered the house, we marvelled at a rare display of vintage sports cars parked in the garage and took some photographs with them. A narrow pebbled pathway took us through the sliding doors of their house and into their modified living room. We were greeted by a simple registration counter and given some pamphlets describing the exhibits in different rooms and floors.



A vintage red Ferrari!

The biggest honour was to have Dr. Rampa herself be our personal tour guide! We found out that it was usually her daughter who would do the guiding as the seniors were rarely available. However on this special occassion, Dr. Rampa was at home and gladly welcomed us. Her enthusiasm rubbed off immediately, and we knew we were in for a special treat.

Without much time to marvel as the large exhibits in the 'living room' (more about that later), we were quickly ushered into a small room adjacent to the main hall where Dr Rampa briefed us on the history of the museum, and her lifetime of work into the mosquito species of the world. She showed us memorabilia such as her research posters, early notebooks, first collections, and photographs of people she had collaborated with over the years.

A display cabinet depicting the early years of Dr. Rampa and Mr. Manop's career interests in the field of mosquito studies. Dr. Rampa's first note book from 1950 is on display here.

Dr. Rampa describes to us here research interest. On the walls are photographs of people she has worked with in the past, conferences and workshops she has participated in, and some research posters. On the study bench is an optical microscope and under the table, some netted boxes for holding live specimens!


Just then, a mosquito flew by and with a single swat, the professor handed us the dead insect in her palm. She identified the species, and then told us to wait while she excused herself. A few minutes later, she returned with a square inch of cardboard, wrapped it with a small piece of tissue paper, and attached a similar sized clear plastic card over it with a stapler. Pressing the newly collected specimen between the board and the plastic, she passed it to the children and explained to us how we can encourage our girls to start collecting specimens from a young age. Her materials were simple and effective, and I was impressed with her genuine desire to pass on her interests not only to the 'experts', but to the next generation as well.

"Here you go..." The expert shows us how it's done!

We had some moments following that to soak up the main ground floor exhibits on our own as Dr. Rampa left us to attend to some matters. With the help of our trust 'exhibit description' pamphlet given to us earlier, we were able to identify many of the natural treasures clustered and hung all over the room. I must admit that to the eye of a lay-person like myself, some of the exhibits resembled more to me like driftwood or rocks than anything extraordinary. 

A treasure hall dwarfs the intrigued pilgrim.



Dr. Rampa explains the signficance of the items in this corner.

But extraordinary they were, when you realised what you were looking at. Here are some of the interesting things we got to see in this area:

1 - Horns of a giant Thai Water Buffalo (approximately 120 years old); 2 - Petrified tree root (Dipterocarpaceae species) approximately 100,000 years old; 3 - Teak wood form created by running stream; 4 - Teak wood forms created by a river; 5 - Artistic wood form created by termites and exposure to rain; 6 - Giant wasp nest; 7 - Hornet's nest

Left to right: petrified fungi; a cabinet full of giant insect replicas; artistic rock forms from river erosion.

Left to right: display of mosquito specimens; descriptions of some of the larger forest critters; another perspective of the main hall showing a large wasp nest hanging over the welcome counter and cabinets containing wood carvings. 

After spending some time mulling over the collection on the ground floor, we explored the second floor of the building, which held even more specimens in pretty vintage display cabinets. Below is an exerpt from their pamphlet describing the things you can see here:



You can read about the significance of item number 13 "The Vulture Egg Stone" on their website (link provided below).

A panoramic view of the second floor.

The "Beetles" section: have you seen more beetles in your life?

Soaking up the second floor!

My favourite display: the "Seashells & Marine Life" section. Notice the large spider crab, which Dr. Rampa bought from the local market and curated all by herself.

The kids had the opportunity to take their time to browse and explore, making more than one trip up and down the stairs to look and re-look at some of the exhibits. They were most interested in the fossils and dinosaur egg specimens. Their questions centered around the themes of 'baby dinosaurs', and their curiosity was aroused by the mystery and majesty of these creatures that we unfortunately know only from the fossilized remains they leave behind. Perhaps Singapore's decision to bring in dinosaur specimens of their own aren't too bad an idea after all, especially if it will inspire generations to notice and become interested in the natural history of our own little red dot, Singapore.

Examining the fossils from the Cambrian periods (550-500 million years old).

Discussing the fossilized dinosaur eggs from the Triassic period (250-200 million years old).

The third floor houses even more collections but they is closed to the public at the moment. The hosts also have their own living areas on that floor.

It was an amazing morning, and by the time we were ready to leave, we realised that we had spent the entire morning in this small corner of Chiangmai. Needless to say, it was a small corner filled with some of the most valuable treasures in the city, and we hope that we have inspired you to pay this corner a visit the next time you pass by the moated city.

Other Important Information:

Address: 72 Nimmanhemin Road (Sirimungkalajan 3, Huay Kaew Road)

Website: www.thailandinsect.com

Email: insectmuseum@hotmail.com

Telephone: 053-211891

Fax: 053-216262

Opening hours: 9 am to 5 pm daily (including public holidays)

Entry Fees: Adults 300 Baht, Students 200 Baht, Children 100 Baht

Tripadvisor reviews are available here.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Part 3

We signed up for a Long Neck Tribe and Elephant Ride Tour with the hotel. The tour guide picked us up in a van and along with other participants, we headed off to visit the Long Neck Tribe first. 

I was expecting the visit to be a really authetic one, somewhere in the jungle where the tribe stays, where the members go about their daily activities, allowing me to have a glimpse into how they live. Well, turned out we were brought to a community of tribes which, according to the guide, the government has put together in a bid to preserve their ethnic identities. According to her, many of the tribal members have chosen to move to the cities to work, leaving behind a lot of the elderly, women and children.

A concrete road led up to a sandy ground where the first thing that greeted us were stalls selling different soveniors. The stalls were managed by the different tribes and besides selling the common soveniors which can be bought easily anywhere,  they sold clothes and scarves which they made themselves. As we walked along the sandy path with stalls flaking us on both sides, the guides explained (very quickly) the characteristics of each tribe. We had the opportunity to take photos at each stall but after a while, the novelty kinda wore off. There were only a few wooden houses on stilts. Maybe the rest are located away from the tourist belt so as to maintain their privacy.

We were then left to walk to the end of the path. Hanging onto the possibility of getting more insight into the tribal life the further we walked, we did so without any questions. 

We were greeted with more stalls. Some of the stalls were manned by young girls and they got upset when we did not buy any souvenirs from them. I couldn't help but feel sorry as I supposed they must be depending quite a fair bit on tourism to survive. The elder ladies were more friendly and it was nice trying to converse using merely hand guestures.

We learnt that none of the girls are forced to wear the ornamental rings on their necks, wrists and legs. Instead, after a certain age, they are free to make a choice to continue with the tradition or have the rings removed. Still, many women do opt to keep wearing them. We also learnt that the rings do not actually stretch the neck. Instead, they only create the illusion that the neck is lengthened as the weight of the rings on the shoulders causes them to be pressed downwards. To make it enriching for the children, I posed some questions to them based on my own background knowledge, such as 'Why are the houses built of stilts?' and 'How do the different tribes differentiate themselves?'.Development is one of the topics for Secondary School Geography curriculum so being one of my favorite topics when I was teaching in school, the content came in handy when explaining things to the kids.

Our very own long necked girl

The tribal girl is 2 years older than A.

Handweaving clothes

Next, we headed off to the elephant camp for our ox-cart ride and elephant ride. I had my reservations when I signed up for the tour because I know the controversy behind such 'animal tourism'. A lot of times, animals were not treated well and were fed very little. A big percentage of the money from the tourists went to the boss or staff, leaving little for the welfare of the animals. Afterall, the animals cannot speak back right? As much as I want to find a responsible elephant camp, I do not have access to all the information. So why did I still sign up for it? The answer is simple - the kids. We have always been teaching the kids the importance of respecting people and the environment and I am proud to say that they are doing a great job. The kids always help to sort out the recyclable trash. They make sure they use both sides of the paper and they are careful not to litter. They know that trees are important to both animals and mankind but they have never seen animals interact in its natural habitats. The ones in the zoo are as 'natural' as they have come into contact with and we hoped that the elephant ride would help open their world a little bit more.

The ox cart rides were bumpy and boy, they sure pee a lot. But seeing them so skinny, I felt sorry for adding to the weight just by sitting on the cart.

We were treated to an elephant show after the ox-cart riding where the animals did stunts like head-stand and even kicked soccer. The highlight of the elephant show would be the elephant painting. I had my doubt at first as the elephant kicked up a paint brush with its trunk and paused before dipping it into the correct colors for his work of art. Children at the show came off their seats and stood near the artist as he concentrated on his work. My seat was just in front of the artist and I found myself staring into his eyes, hoping to find his inner thoughts and maybe some hints of how he had been living thus far. Strange but I seemed to find serenity in his eyes. I did not know what to make of it. Was he happy or has he resigned to his fate? Still, I was glad to see him happy when he completed his work. Afterall, he got a treat for that.

Elephant Bath Time

Good Morning

Getting up and down

FIFA Fever

Elephant Style Thai Massage

Artist at Work

Masterpiece going for 500 Baht

Feeding time

After lunch (including in the tour fee), we walked across the river through this old, shaky suspension bridge which made walking a feat itself. The kids were frightened and I had to hide my own fear in order to make them feel safe. It didn't help that the narrow bridge was for a two way traffic. Just thinking about it again gives me the creeps. I sure hope they use the money from the tourists to mend the suspension bridge before anything else.

The picture doesn't show the height well but the bridge is high!

As there were 4 of us, we were assigned the biggest elephant in the camp. At 25 years of age, the elephant towered over many of elephants which we thought were huge already. The trainer was kind towards the elephant, allowing the elephant to wonder off the trail whenever it felt like plucking some grass off some random patch. There was an occasion when the elephant was just chewing away for about 30 minutes and we were left sitting in the sun. The trainer did not say anything and let his charge eat to its heart's content. The elephant did make many pit-stops and as the trainer was very  patient, and we ended up being the last one to return (even though we were the among the first to start out) Still, I rather he did that than to have him hit the animal to rush it. The trainer used mainly his voice to guide and I was glad to see the bond between the trainer and the elephant.

Our friendly guide

Our elephant is eating again, this time, blocking the other elephants behind him.

The kids had a great time on the elephant. They had a good view of the elephant and its amazing skill in manoeuvring its way up and down the steep and rocky terrains. We talked about the elephant's diet and its strength. We talked about how the forest is important to the animals. We talked about how we need to respect their space and use our resources responsibly. Though the weather was hot that day and I was sure I got two tones darker, we were all glad we were able to chat so happily together, as a family.

Walking down the river

Conquering the steep slopes. It felt even steeper when we were sitting on the elephant.

Next up on the itinerary, river rafting. There was nothing much actually. Not much scenery to enjoy and the sun sure made its presence felt. The kids were tired and bored and we were glad that we did not have to do the full course. The tour guide was already waiting for us at the half way mark and we were glad to make our way back to the hotel. However, on hindsight, by the time we made our way back to the hotel, it was only 3pm. The guide seemed to be in a rush throughout the day but I had no complaints because the kids were already tired. It was indeed a fruitful day.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Part 2

The day had finally arrived for Daddy's 10km race. We were all up early at 5am and when Daddy went for his warm up, I got the girls ready. They were all very cooperative despite the waking up in the wee hours. We put on our jackets, head lights and armed with our cheerleading pom-poms and star baton, we were ready to stun the crowd. And boy, we really did stun the crowd. We stood out, not only in the dark, but also in the very very thin crowd. Forget about barricades and a huge mass of cheering crowd because there was none. Besides the participants, there were a few, a few supporters. The rest were crowd control officers and photographers. As we walked, people were amused by us. Everyone, including the policemen, thought we were Japanese and started greeting us in Japanese. I responded with gentle bows and smiles. Photographers started snapping away at the two cute cheerleaders and it was starting to get fun. 

When  the race started, I started cheering but I was the only one. It did not take me very long before I decided to stop. No one was cheering and soon, the excitement wore out. While waiting for Daddy at the finishing line, the cheerleaders had some snacks and as Daddy was only running a 10km race, we were on standby 30 minutes after the race started. The full marathon runners who started a few hours earlier were coming in so no harm cheering for them too. I was intrigued by the fact that there were so many spectators standing just a stone throw away, in front of the finishing line. From the races which we had previously cheered in, spectators were usually by the side. Well, I suppose the up close and personal touch adds to the local atmosphere. By the way, Daddy came in second for his category and his cheerleaders went up to collect the trophy with him, with beaming smiles on their small faces.

After a good shower and afternoon rest, we headed early to the Sunday Walking Street which was just within Thapae Gate. We were so glad that we were early. We got there around 430pm and stalls were already setting up. Streets were rather empty and we were able to do our shopping in peace. Boy, the whole walking street is long...with many turns to small alleys. We were not able to finish the whole area. 

Drink, eat, shop...

We had to try some fried insects!

Rest for tired legs and refuel with a strawberry smoothie.

Refreshing massage (kids get to try too) and herbal juice

At night the crowd begins to build up.

Night snack: the best barbecued mushrooms I have ever tasted.

By the time we returned back to our starting point, 4 good hours had past. Next time, we would be sure to cover more. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a street cart selling on-the-spot prepared Mexican food, and brought chicken quesadillas back to the room to end the day. It turned out to be quite a hit.