Trees in Chiang Mai

Something in my bones feels at home in the tropics. And some trees greet me as old friends.

 This is a Madagascar flamboyant. When it blooms, it will be crowned with fire. These trees carpeted the hills in parts of Tanzania.

Indian almond, called mkungu in Swahili. They seem to grow taller here. Noted for being one of the few tropical deciduous trees: you can see here that half the leaves are red, and many have fallen.

 

Frangipani. Lots of it around town, and many of the trees are like the ones I remember from Tanzania and also common ornamentals in Hawai'i. But the kind (species? cultivar?) that is most common here is a little different than I remember: the trunks are thicker, and the bark is a very shiny silver-grey, leaves more oblong and less pointed.

And some new friends...

 This is called Indian flame tree. This is in a park not far from our hotel. The roof belongs to a little pavilion where Todd and I practiced martial arts together.

 Female fig tree: look at all the fruit!

 Male fig tree. On the right is part of the canal around the the Old City: more on this in the next post...