1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
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Thailand
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Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
3.
Laos
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Present day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to the kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao, which existed for four centuries as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Due to Lan Xangs central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom was able to become a hub for overland trade. After a period of conflict, Lan Xang broke off into three separate kingdoms— Luang Phabang, Vientiane and Champasak. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three territories uniting to form what is now known as the country of Laos and it briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a civil war ended the monarchy. Laos is a one-party socialist republic and it espouses Marxism and is governed by the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party, in which the party leadership is dominated by military figures. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam Peoples Army continue to have significant influence in Laos, other large cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse. Laos is a country with the politically and culturally dominant Lao people making up approximately 60 percent of the population. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other hill tribes, accounting for 40 percent of the population, live in the foothills. It is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997, on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. According to the anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Transparency International, Laos remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this has deterred foreign investment and created major problems with the rule of law, including the nations ability to enforce contract and business regulation. This has contributed to a third of the population of Laos currently living below the poverty line. Laos has an economy, with one of the lowest annual incomes in the world. In 2014, the country ranked 141st on the Human Development Index, according to the Global Hunger Index, Laos ranks as the 29th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 52 nations with the worst hunger situation. Laos has also had a human rights record. In the Lao language, the name is Muang Lao or Pathet Lao. Stone artefacts including Hoabinhian types have been found at sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in northern Laos, archaeological evidence suggests agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC
4.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
5.
Thai highlands
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The Thai highlands or Hills of northern Thailand, Thai, เขตภูเขา, is a mountainous natural region in the north of Thailand. Its mountain ranges are part of the system of hills extending through Laos, Burma, the highlands in the north of Thailand are characterized by a pattern of generally steep hill ranges, intermontane basins and alluvial gorges. Elevations are generally moderate, little above 2,000 metres for the highest summits, there is a wide range of elevations though, with floors ranging between 200 and 500 metres above sea level. Towards the Lao border, the divide to the Mekong basin becomes higher with peaks rising above 1,500 metres. The climate is typical of tropical mountains with clearly delineated wet, winter temperatures can be cool with frosts occurring most years at higher elevations, but no snow even on the highest peaks. The region of the Thai Highlands encompasses the nine provinces of northern Thailand, based on the six-region system, as well as parts of Tak. Some areas of the highlands are sparsely populated, except for the Daen Lao Range at the far northern edge, all ranges in the north of Thailand are roughly aligned from north to south. They are linked to a system of ranges in neighboring Burma and Laos that do not have a specific name for the whole. This area has the highest elevations, with Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand, a great part of the highland area is drained by rivers Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan, all tributaries of the Chao Phraya River flowing in a roughly southern direction. The ranges separating the rivers are generally steep, high. Towards the east, as well as in the Wang and Yom drainage basins, the Pai River in the northwest flows westwards into the Salween and the northeastern part is drained by rivers of the Mekong basin, like the Kok and Ing. Geologically in the southern subranges of the Shan Hills layers of alluvium are superimposed on hard rock, the ranges closer to Laos consist of Permo-Carboniferous limestone, which makes for a more jagged and steep relief, despite the more moderate height. Most of the Thai highlands are part of the Shan-Thai Terrane, the natural environment of the hills used to be dense montane rain forest. Swidden agricultural practices and logging have much reduced the old-growth forest areas which have been replaced by secondary forest. For centuries the Thai highlands have been inhabited with hill tribes mostly from Chinese or Tibeto-Burman descent, such as the Akha, Yao, Lahu, Khmu, Hmong, for the past decades these groups have been undergoing a process of integration into the Thai mainstream. Owing to the unrest in Burma, some camps have been established for cross-border refugees in the Thai highlands. Certain Kayah and Karen communities, like the long-necked Karen, are visited by organized tourist groups. Yearly wildfires are started by farmers during the dry season in different areas of northern Thailand
6.
Sandstone
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Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earths crust, like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow, red, grey, pink, white, and black. Since sandstone beds often form highly visible cliffs and other topographic features, quartz-bearing sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure, usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. They are formed from cemented grains that may either be fragments of a rock or be mono-minerallic crystals. The cements binding these grains together are typically calcite, clays, grain sizes in sands are defined within the range of 0.0625 mm to 2 mm. The formation of sandstone involves two principal stages, first, a layer or layers of sand accumulates as the result of sedimentation, either from water or from air. Typically, sedimentation occurs by the settling out from suspension. The most common cementing materials are silica and calcium carbonate, which are derived either from dissolution or from alteration of the sand after it was buried. Colours will usually be tan or yellow, a predominant additional colourant in the southwestern United States is iron oxide, which imparts reddish tints ranging from pink to dark red, with additional manganese imparting a purplish hue. Red sandstones are seen in the Southwest and West of Britain, as well as central Europe. The regularity of the latter favours use as a source for masonry, either as a building material or as a facing stone. These physical properties allow the grains to survive multiple recycling events. Quartz grains evolve from rock, which are felsic in origin. Feldspathic framework grains are commonly the second most abundant mineral in sandstones, Feldspar can be divided into two smaller subdivisions, alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The different types of feldspar can be distinguished under a petrographic microscope, below is a description of the different types of feldspar. Alkali feldspar is a group of minerals in which the composition of the mineral can range from KAlSi3O8 to NaAlSi3O8. Plagioclase feldspar is a group of solid solution minerals that range in composition from NaAlSi3O8 to CaAl2Si2O8. Lithic framework grains are pieces of ancient source rock that have yet to weather away to individual mineral grains, accessory minerals are all other mineral grains in a sandstone, commonly these minerals make up just a small percentage of the grains in a sandstone
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Laterite
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Laterite is a soil and rock type rich in iron and aluminium, and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the parent rock. Tropical weathering is a process of chemical weathering which produces a wide variety in the thickness, grade, chemistry. The majority of the area containing laterites is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Laterite has commonly referred to as a soil type as well as being a rock type. This and further variation in the modes of conceptualizing about laterite has led to calls for the term to be abandoned altogether, at least a few researchers specializing in regolith development have considered that hopeless confusion has evolved around the name. Historically, laterite was cut into shapes and used in monument-building. After 1000 CE, construction at Angkor Wat and other southeast Asian sites changed to rectangular temple enclosures made of laterite, brick, since the mid-1970s, some trial sections of bituminous-surfaced, low-volume roads have used laterite in place of stone as a base course. Thick laterite layers are porous and slightly permeable, so the layers can function as aquifers in rural areas, locally available laterites have been used in an acid solution, followed by precipitation to remove phosphorus and heavy metals at sewage-treatment facilities. Laterites are a source of ore, the ore exists largely in clay minerals and the hydroxides, gibbsite, boehmite, and diaspore. In Northern Ireland they once provided a source of iron. Laterite ores also were the major source of nickel. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton first described and named a laterite formation in southern India in 1807 and he named it laterite from the Latin word later, which means a brick, this highly compacted and cemented soil can easily be cut into brick-shaped blocks for building. The word laterite has been used for variably cemented, sesquioxide-rich soil horizons, a sesquioxide is an oxide with three atoms of oxygen and two metal atoms. It has also used for any reddish soil at or near the Earths surface. Laterite covers are thick in the areas of the Western Ethiopian Shield, on cratons of the South American Plate. In Madhya Pradesh, India, the laterite which caps the plateau is 30 m thick, laterites can be either soft and easily broken into smaller pieces, or firm and physically resistant
8.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
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Deforestation
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Deforestation, clearance or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, the most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 30% of Earths land surface is covered by forests, Deforestation occurs for multiple reasons, trees are cut down to be used for building or sold as fuel, while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock and plantation. The removal of trees without sufficient reforestation has resulted in damage to habitat, biodiversity loss and it has adverse impacts on biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Deforestation has also used in war to deprive the enemy of cover for its forces. Modern examples of this were the use of Agent Orange by the British military in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency, as of 2005, net deforestation rates have ceased to increase in countries with a per capita GDP of at least US$4,600. Deforested regions typically incur significant adverse soil erosion and frequently degrade into wasteland, disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that allow deforestation to occur on a large scale. In many countries, deforestation, both naturally occurring and human-induced, is an ongoing issue, Deforestation causes extinction, changes to climatic conditions, desertification, and displacement of populations as observed by current conditions and in the past through the fossil record. More than half of all plant and land animal species in the live in tropical forests. Between 2000 and 2012,2.3 million square kilometres of forests around the world were cut down, as a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres remain of the original 16 million square kilometres of forest that formerly covered the Earth. According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, subsistence farming is responsible for 48% of deforestation, commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%, logging is responsible for 14%, and fuel wood removals make up 5%. Experts do not agree on whether industrial logging is an important contributor to global deforestation, some argue that poor people are more likely to clear forest because they have no alternatives, others that the poor lack the ability to pay for the materials and labour needed to clear forest. One study found that population increases due to fertility rates were a primary driver of tropical deforestation in only 8% of cases. Other causes of contemporary deforestation may include corruption of government institutions, the distribution of wealth and power, population growth and overpopulation. Globalization is often viewed as another cause of deforestation, though there are cases in which the impacts of globalization have promoted localized forest recovery. The degradation of forest ecosystems has also traced to economic incentives that make forest conversion appear more profitable than forest conservation. Some commentators have noted a shift in the drivers of deforestation over the past 30 years, Deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography. Deforestation is a contributor to global warming, and is cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect
10.
Sainyabuli Province
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Sainyabuli is a province of Laos, located in the northwest of the country. Sainyabuli Province covers an area of 16,389 square kilometres, the province borders Bokeo Province and Oudomxai Province to the north, Luang Prabang Province and Vientiane Province to the east, and the Thai provinces Loei, Phitsanulok, Uttaradit, Nan and Phayao. Sainyabuli is the only Laotian province that is completely to the west of the Mekong River, the province is quite mountainous with the Luang Prabang Range running roughly in a north-south direction and forming a natural border with the Thai highlands. Sainyabuli town is the capital of the province, Sainyabuli has the largest concentration of elephants in Laos. The province is rich in timber and lignite, and is considered the rice basket of northern Laos, other important crops include maize, oranges, cotton, peanuts, sesame, sugarcane and vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage, and beans. The name is derived from the Sanskrit words Sena and Puri, in 1904, Siam was forced to cede the area of the province to the French Indochina colony. In 1941, it was annexed by Thailand under the name Lan Chang Province, the area is allegedly a heartland for the Laotian militarys involvement in the illegal timber trade. Since the Mekong isolated Sainuyabuli from other Laotian provinces with Hmong villages, most Hmong villages in Sainyabuli did not see any fighting. Houaysouy was a Hmong village in Sainyabuli and it had no fighting during the Quiet War, and Vang Pao did not recruit any of its men. After the war, Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the occupying Vietnamese soldiers regarded the residents of the village as traitors and for this reason the Vietnamese soldiers persecuted them. In 1979 around 400 members of the Lee, Vang, Xiong, the family of Lia Lee, the subject of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, originated from Houaysouy. Sainyabuli Province, one of the provinces of Laos, is in the shape of an upside-down-L and it covers an area of 16,389 square kilometres. The province is located in the northwest of the country, the province borders Bokeo Province and Oudomxai Provinceto the north, Luang Prabang Province and Vientiane Province to the east, and the Thai provinces Loei, Phitsanulok, Uttaradit, Nan and Phayao. The province is mountainous with the Luang Prabang Range running roughly in a north-south direction. The flattest and most tropical Laotian area is the floodplain which stretches between the provinces of Sainyabuli and Champasak, there are many mountain peaks with more than 1.000 meters elevation. Other features include the Pak Kimin ridge near the Nam Heung stream, the Sainyabuli province is home to Laos’ majority of domesticated Asian elephants. Approximately 75% of the nations 560 domesticated elephants work in Sainyabuli and their main work duties are within the logging industry, which causes a loss in both wild and domestic elephant habitat. The area is little patrolled, which makes the enforcement of conservation measures difficult, the Sainyabuli province is also home to the annual Elephant Festival, organised in Hongsa by the Lao National Tourism Authority in partnership with Elefantasia, provincial and district authorities
11.
Bokeo Province
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Bokèo is a northern province of Laos. It is the smallest and least populous province in the country, Bokeo Province covers an area of 6,196 square kilometres. Bokeo Province borders Luang Namtha Province to the northeast, Oudomxai Province to the east, Xaignabouli Province to the south, the province has five districts and is rich in deposits of precious and semiprecious stones. Bokeos provincial capital is Houayxay on the Mekong river, the province is part of the “Golden Triangle”, at the crossing with Myanmar and Thailand. There are 34 ethnic groups in the province, Houay Xay is the border town with Thailand and regional economic centre. Bokeo was named after the sapphires mined in Houay Xay District, a stele that is dated to 1458 is located within the Wat Jom Kao Manilat, a pagoda built in 1880 in teak wood in Shan architectural style. Fort Carnot is another monument of the French colonial period. The province was created in 1983, when it was split off from Louang Namtha Province, in 1992, Paktha and Pha Oudom Districts were reassigned from Oudomxay Province. In olden times, Houayxay town was a cross road trading centre between Yunnan province of China and Thailand, particularly for Chinese goods. Bokeo Province is the smallest of the provinces, covering an area of 6,196 square kilometres. Bokeo Province borders Luang Namtha Province to the northeast, Oudomxai Province to the east, Xaignabouli Province to the south, and Thailand to the southwest and Burma to the west and northwest. Notable settlements include Houayxay, Mong Lin, Ban Thakate, Ban Meung Hong, Ban Ha Li Tai, Ban Khai San, Ban Nam Kueng, Ban Long and Ban Paung. The Nam Nga River flows through the provinces Bokeo Nature Reserve, don Sao is an island in Tonpheung District, which is connected to the mainland except during the rainy season. The Bokeo Nature Reserve was created as protection for the black crested gibbon, discovered in 1997, elephants and wild water buffalo migrate through the reserve, bears and tigers are also present. The protected area, is characterized by a mix-deciduous forest and mountainous terrain, according to a preliminary survey the number of gibbons in Nam Kane is substantial, particularly in and around the uninhabited Nam Kan river and its tributaries. This project is being supported and implement by Animo by the French entrepreneur Jean Francois Reumaux as a Gibbon Experience Project, Gibbon Experience is a conservation project which came into existence after the indigenous black-cheeked gibbon was discovered. This experience is provided in the Bokeo Nature Reserve, another experience is of the Waterfall Gibbon Experience which involves 3 hours of trekking to the location, deep in the reserve traversing along the Nam Nga River. The 10,980 hectare Upper Lao Mekong Important Bird Area stretches across the provinces of Bokeo, Oudomxai and it is located at an altitude of 300–400 metres above sea level
12.
Chiang Rai Province
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Chiang Rai is the northernmost province of Thailand. It is bordered by the Shan State of Myanmar to the north, Bokeo Province of Laos to the east, Phayao to the south, Lampang to the southwest, the average elevation of the province is 580 metres. The Mekong River forms the boundary with Laos, the Mae Sai, through the town of Chiang Rai itself, flows the Mae Kok Kok River and south of it the Lao River, a tributary of the Kok. While not the highest elevation of the province, the 1, the Wat Phra That Doi Tung temple on top of the hill, according to the chronicles, dates back to the year 911. Nearby is the Doi Tung royal villa, former residence of the princess mother Somdej Phra Srinagarindra. Thanks to her activities the hills were reforested, and the hill tribes diverted from growing opium poppies to other crops including coffee, bananas, coconuts, and pineapples. Populations have dwelled in Chiang Rai since the 7th century and it became the center of the Lanna Thai Kingdom during the 13th century, the region, rich in natural resources, was occupied by the Burmese until 1786. Chiang Rai Provinces golden triangle bordering Laos and Burma was once the hub of opium production, Chiang Rai became a province in 1910, after being part of the kingdom of Lannathai for centuries. After Lanna Thai was incorporated into Thailand, it remained an autonomous region, Chiang Rai Province is a transit point for Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who are transported there from Sangkhlaburi district in Kanchanaburi Province. The majority of the population are ethnic Thai who speak Kham Muang among themselves, but 12. 5% are of hill tribes origin, a smaller number are of Chinese descent, mainly descendants of the Kuomintang soldiers who settled in the region, notably in Santikhiri. The seal of the shows a white elephant, the royal symbol, recalling that Chiang Rai was founded by King Mengrai. The provincial tree is the tree jasmine, and the flower is the orange trumpet. The former provincial slogan was, เหนือสุดในสยาม อร่ามดอยตุง ผดุงวัฒนธรรม รสล้ำข้าวสาร หอมหวานลิ้นจี่ สตรีโสภา ชาเลิศรส สัปปะรดนางแล, the current slogan is, เหนือสุดในสยาม ชายแดนสามแผ่นดิน ถิ่นวัฒนธรรมล้านนา ล้ำค่าพระธาตุดอยตุง Chiang Rai is divided into 18 districts. The districts are subdivided into 124 sub-districts and 1,751 villages. Air Chiang Rai Mae Fah Luang International Airport has domestic flights to both Bangkok airports, which connect to regional and international flights, boat There is daily boat service between Chiang Rai and Tha Ton. Rail There is no system in Chiang Rai. The nearest station is in Chiang Mai, decent bus services are available in the province. In more remote areas, songthaews are the norm, khon Muang are the city folk who originally came from Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, and Phrae
