Tourists flocking to view sea of Mexican sunflowers

LOTS of tourists have flocked to view the breathtaking beauty of buathong or Mexican sunflowers blooming across Doi Mae U-Kho mountainous fields in Mae Hong Song’s Khun Yuam district, Thai News Agency said today.

These flowers, with their Thai name meaning golden lotus, are blooming in glittering yellow across 500 rai of land amid bright sunshine and cool wind.

Annually, the Buatong Blooming Festival is held from November to December. Travelers are allowed to put up a tent near a buatong field to get as close as possible to the flowers in their cool natural surroundings.

Seventy years ago, this area was devoid of this species of flower. It wasn’t until later that this flower, which is indigenous of Central America and the Caribbean, is said to have been brought to Thailand by Christian missionaries. according to Tripsthailand.com

During this period, those traveling from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son by Highway 108 will be fascinated by a sea of golden Mexican sunflowers blooming along both sides of the road over the rolling hills for miles, according to Thai Airways magazine

The trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son on Highway 108 via Mae Sariang takes about five to six hours by car but longer on motorbikes, according to Northernthailand.com.

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Top: A field of Mexican sunflowers in Mae Hong Son and, inset, an individual flower with a bee on it. Both photos by John Shedrick (CC-BY-2.0)

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