The Dara Pirom Palace, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand

5Michael B 5:00 PM Sep 9, 2020

Back in Time.
If you are visiting Chiang Mai, you really must stop and visit Dara Pirom Palace. Although in reality , it is a quaint little house. However, the history contained within is worth it. Excellent presentation and ambience. Great little restaurants just around the corner as well. Terrace Farmers Bar for one, Baa Baa Black for another.

5parrot45 5:00 PM Jul 14, 2015

Fascinating Royal Museum with Lovely Rose Garden Reminded Me of Great Grandma's House!
I visited this museum last year, when I spent 7 months in Mae Rim. I had to move here with my Thai boyfriend when his construction job in Nantaram (Chiang Mai) finished and he started a new job at Green Valley Golf Course.. After a year in Chiang Mai city, I was disappointed that most of the sights here in Mae Rim were not walking distance from Green Valley, and also because they charged very expensive tickets and were "touristy." This museum, however, was an exception. It was easy to walk to from my place, and it charged only 20b. It was frequented mainly by local Thais. It turned out to be one of the most interesting museums I had visited in the area, and just as good as the museums in the city. At first, I had a bit of trouble locating this museum, as it wasn't on the main road in the town. However, using my free Chiang Mai map which had a Mae Rim inset, I found Mae Rim Plaza, a good shopping place. One day while shopping there, at the other side of Mae Rim Plaza, I saw the beautiful white border around the grounds, which I followed to reach the outer grounds. I finally saw the museum, but it was closed on Monday, so I decided to come back the next morning. I was so glad I'd decided to come! The museum proved to be extremely interesting. It is dedicated to Princess Dara, a past princess of Bangkok who later came to live in Chiang Mai. While in Chiang Mai, she did a lot to help the local people, revitalizing the arts and culture of the Northern Lanna people and also helping with education. She spent a lot of time on agricultural projects, and this building was her former house, from which she supervised these projects. The lower floor of the building has a large weaving loom and many photos of past processions and festivals. There is a sign-in book where you can write comments. However, the upper floor is the most interesting. It shows the rooms where the Princess stayed, as well as her furniture and personal items, with much information exhibited about her life history. It reminded me so much of my great-grandmother's house in Atlanta, Georgia (a huge old house with white columns that was later sold to an architect and featured in an architecture magazine after she passed away). The bathroom, in particular, was interesting to me, because it was like the bathroom in a typical older Georgia house, not a typical Thai bathroom. There were nice views of the garden from upstairs. The outside grounds were just as interesting as the inside of the museum. They were very large, well-maintained, with many security staff and pleasantly green. Besides the museum building, there were several other buildings, some not yet completed. There was a beautiful rose garden, with many pink and yellow roses. (My great-grandmother's favourite colour was pink, so she had her whole garden full of pink roses and other flowers...this reminded me of that!) The grounds were a pleasant area to exercise and hang out in the less hot times of day, like the evenings and early mornings. So, after the museum closed at 5 pm, I was able to spent the hour from 5 to 6 walking around the grounds and the adjacent military area. Many Thai people were also here for their evening exercise. I'm so glad I visited this museum. Because the outside grounds were free, I was able to come back here again several evenings after shopping in Mae Rim Plaza to enjoy the garden and surrounding area. I knew my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother would have loved it, and wished they could also come to Thailand to see it!