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The Lan Na Kingdom effectively came into existence as an independent entity under King Mangrai the Great (r. 1259-1317), but the capital was not established at Chiang Mai ('New City') by Mangrai until 1892-96.<br/><br/> The Mangrai Dynasty ruled over an independent Lan Na Kingdom until 1558, when Chiang Mai was captured by Burma's King Bayinnaung (r. 1551-181). Chiang Mai remained a Burmese tributary state until the Lan Na Revolt (1771-1774).<br/><br/> In 1881 the former Lan Na Kingdom regained its independence in an alliance with Siam. Chao Kawila (r. 1781-1813) was the first of nine Chiang Mai Lords who ruled over the Kingdom of Chiang Mai until its last vestiges were subsumed with the Thai polity in 1939.<br/><br/> At its peak under King Tilokarat (1441-1487) Lan Na territories extended west across the Salween River and north to Kengtung in Shan State, northeast to Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna) in China's Yunnan Province, and east towards Luang Prabang in the Lao Kingdom of Lanchang.<br/><br/> Today the former Lan Na Kingdom is fully a part of the Kingdom of Thailand, though it retains its own distinctive language, customs, culture and cuisine. Since the end of the military government of Kriangsak Chomanan in 1980, Lan Na cultural pride and ethnic distinctiveness have made an ongoing recovery with the general support of the national government in Bangkok.
Chiang Mai is known as 'the Rose of the North', but it really blooms into flower in February, towards the end of the cool season. Every year on the first weekend of February, the Chiang Mai Flower Festival is opened. The flower beds in public spaces all around the town are especially beautiful at this time of year. Everywhere there can be found gorgeous displays of yellow and white chrysanthemums, and the Damask Rose, a variety found only in Chiang Mai. Also, the pink and purplish Dendrobium orchids, and the yellow Daoruang.<br/><br/> The real focus of this Chiang Mai festival, however, is the public garden of Suan Buak Haad on the south-western corner of the moat. The road next to the moat all around the park is closed to traffic, and vendors of plants, Thailand flowers, Thailand orchids and garden decorations set up their stalls there.
The Mae Had Valley lies in the northern part of the greater Chiang Mai Valley. The small Mae Had River runs through the valley.<br/><br/> The people of the Mae Had Valley are overwhelmingly Khon Muang. Their whole lifestyle is a celebration of flatland, wet-rice paddy culture. Their attitudes are conservative, restrained, old-world.
Viranga was the last independent ruler of the Lawa who, according to legend, ruled over the Chiang Mai area around one thousand years ago. Oral history relates how Viranga fell in love with Chama Thewi (Chamadevi), the Mon Queen of Lamphun, who rejected his advances. Viranga tried to win the queen's affection by performing the extraordinary feat of hurling a javelin from the summit of Doi Pui to the walls of Lamphun—a distance of some thirty kilometres.<br/><br/> According to legend, Chama Thewi weakened Viranga's supernatural powers by presenting him with a cap dyed with menstrual blood, thus sapping his strength. The unsuspecting Lawa king, after two failed attempts to hurl his javelin to Lamphun, threw the weapon high in the air and allowed it to pierce his own breast as it fell to earth. He was buried on a nearby hilltop, facing his beloved's Lamphun.<br/><br/> The Mae Had Valley lies in the northern part of the greater Chiang Mai Valley. The small Mae Had River runs through the valley.<br/><br/> The people of the Mae Had Valley are overwhelmingly Khon Muang. Their whole lifestyle is a celebration of flatland, wet-rice paddy culture. Their attitudes are conservative, restrained, old-world.
The Mae Had Valley lies in the northern part of the greater Chiang Mai Valley. The small Mae Had River runs through the valley.<br/><br/> The people of the Mae Had Valley are overwhelmingly Khon Muang. Their whole lifestyle is a celebration of flatland, wet-rice paddy culture. Their attitudes are conservative, restrained, old-world.
The Mae Had Valley lies in the northern part of the greater Chiang Mai Valley. The small Mae Had River runs through the valley.<br/><br/> The people of the Mae Had Valley are overwhelmingly Khon Muang. Their whole lifestyle is a celebration of flatland, wet-rice paddy culture. Their attitudes are conservative, restrained, old-world.
The Mae Had Valley lies in the northern part of the greater Chiang Mai Valley. The small Mae Had River runs through the valley.<br/><br/> The people of the Mae Had Valley are overwhelmingly Khon Muang. Their whole lifestyle is a celebration of flatland, wet-rice paddy culture. Their attitudes are conservative, restrained, old-world.