Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens

Nong Nooch tropical gardens is an amazing day out for all the family, bought in 1954 by Mr Pisit and Mrs Nongnooch Tansacacha – 1500 rai some 600 acres of hills and valleys off the Sukhumvit Road on the left side about 15 minutes drive after leaving Jomtien Beach heading towards Sattahip.

I last visited the gardens some four years ago I found a pleasant surprise on arrival that the whole of the area had been greatly improved so much so it was barely recognisable.

Guided by Mr ‘Jingle Bells’ we started our day at the show theatre with an exhibition of Thai Boxing (Ouch!) followed by a spectacular cultural Thai dance team, beautiful costumes, bright colours and choreographed to perfection. This was swiftly followed by the Elephants and warriors demonstrating the old traditions of hand to hand combat of years gone by.

Some 30minutes later on the way to the Elephant auditorium have your picture taken with a real live fully grown Tiger and move on swiftly just in case breakfast was a while ago.

The Elephant show is fantastic to say the least these towering animals were pedalling carts, throwing darts at balloons and scoring, standing on a few of the guests (No damage reported) playing football with superb accuracy and ten pin bowling. Arm yourself with plenty of bananas they sure eat a lot!

It was time for coffee, totally exhausted after all that exercise, then off to view some of the most amazing gardens and specimens in the world today.

On route we past a number of shops offering all kinds of wares, I am sure you will not go back home empty handed but for me all I wanted to do was fill my camera.

Passing the boating lake and area for major parties and events seating some 3000 people we headed to the home of the Orchids and Pineapple plants hosting over 100 varieties flowering in full bloom, as it was soon Valentines day we were surrounded by fabulous displays of hearts made from the plants and bushes in an amazing array of colours too stunning to mention by word alone.

It was lunch time and anyone knowing Thailand knows that a meal is never missed, with many restaurants to choose from with both English and Thai foods available all guests are well catered for!

After lunch we toured for a further two hours by bus and walking and barely touched the surface of this extensive floral universe, finally we just had to take a look over the park from the ‘Sky walk’ Tarzan made it look easy this really is, no need for a vine your on solid steel and concrete – it simply takes your breath away as you wind your way through the tree tops! 360 photographs later it was time to go home.

My heartiest thanks to all those thousands of staff that made Nong Nooch tropical gardens what it is today – you’ve done a great job and made my day!

At just 400 baht per person it’s a great discovery fun day out for everyone.