Ok...I know it's been awhile since I posted. A LOT has gone on during that time. I'm going to try to get all caught up. The last adventure I wrote about was cooking school. The next day (Sunday) was a free day for the students to relax, do some shopping, and enjoy Chiang Mai. That night we went and saw the new Harry Potter movie (sorry, Laura!). While there were a few previews before the movie, there were a lot of commercials in Thai. Also, prior to the movie starting, everyone stands for a singing of the national anthem. The movie was good and marked the end to a relaxing day.
The next morning was a big hiking day. We were hiking Doi Suthep, one of the highest points in Chiang Mai. I was not prepared for the steepness of the climb and about 1/4 the way up, I opted for the much easier Spicy Thai van. I hopped in the van with Aum and we met the group about halfway at this magnificent jungle temple. Everywhere you looked there were statues and Buddhist sayings. Upon reaching the top, I had some time to walk around and shop a little while waiting for the rest of the group. Once they were up (and exhausted), I was glad I didn't try to make it up myself - it might have been the end of me. Little did I know what the rest of the day had in store. To get to the temple at the top of the mountain, we still had to ascend about 300 steps to the top. It was worth it though. The temple and the view were really great. We learned more about Buddhism and shrines in the temples while up there. After grabbing some lunch, it was time to head down the mountain. The decision was made to all ride down to a waterfall halfway and then hike the rest of the way down. The waterfall was really nice (much bigger than the one in Peru, Megan!) but everyone wanted to do a little hiking alongside it and find the swimming area above. We hiked up this little path by the waterfall and with the students a little ahead, I made it to this large rock that I needed to get up. The rock was a little slippery. I was determined that I would get up it though. I stepped halfway up the rock and could feel myself slipping. All of a sudden my foot slipped out and I fell. Apparently the first thing I yelled was, "my face is gone!". I remember thinking it -- I don't remember yelling it. After a trip to the hospital, I came out with a stitched up lip and two chipped front teeth. This pretty much put me out of commission for a week. The students went on a meditation retreat and trekking during that week and I stayed back at the hostel and recovered. It was hard watching people go out and do things but not be able to participate. The following Monday, I returned to the hospital and got some of the stitches out and got fillers put on my teeth. I didn't realize how much that would make me feel better. It brought me out of my funk. The hospital was great and did a really wonderful job with everything. Thanks, Chiang Mai Ram!!
Even with my new teeth and stitches out, I still decided to take the next day off as the group was going and hiking around in a national park. I'm still a little wary hurting myself again. Wednesday was mostly a work day in the house. The students worked on projects, essays, etc. and we went to the student market at night for dinner and shopping. Yesterday, we spent the morning at a Botanical gardens. We had a tour led by Eric and he was great. It's rare to find someone with so much passion that can convey that passion to others. He was a testament to the fact that you can take the thing you love and make a career out of it if you really want. We saw different areas of the gardens and he taught us about edible plants. His blog is here (http://dokmaidogma.wordpress.com/) and he already has a post up about our visit.
Today started with a trip to a snake farm that included a snake show. The students enjoyed holding the python. It reminded me of my Cincinnati Zoo days! Now there is some project work time and a pretty chill rest of the day.
Soon we head back into the jungle for a week and then I'm home. It's been a whirlwind trip and I can't believe it's almost over and the school year will start up soon. Didn't the summer just start?!?!
Hope everyone is doing well. Instead of me posting pictures, you can check out all the photos from the trip on our flickr site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/loopabroad2011/)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loopabroad2011/
Friday, July 29, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Photos from the Elephant Nature Park
I know these are a little late but since I didn't take any of my own, I had to wait to get them off someone's camera. Most of these were from the first few days. Anyway....ENJOY!
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| Welcome to ENP!! |
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| Elephants making their way over for bath time |
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| Looking out towards the mountains. Great view!! |
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| I loved how close you could get. |
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| Bathing time!! |
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| Elephant Nature Park - looking out over the water |
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| Unloading bananas from the truck |
Temples and volleyball and cooking...Oh my!
Sawadee Ka!!
I think I left off on Wednesday. Because Wednesday had an earlier wake-up call then most mornings, we left Thursday free to give everyone time to sleep in or go exploring if they wanted. It was a lazy kind of morning! I find, for me, that being in a different place and having the sunlight coming in that I can't sleep past about 8 here. This is good because I won't get too far off my school schedule! We rounded everyone up around 2 and headed to the old city walled city. Aum led us on a tour of the city. We discussed the history of Chiang Mai and then made our way to a temple in the middle of the city called Wat Phra Singh.
The temple above was in the center of the area and was surrounded by other temple buildings; each one ornate and unique. There is an ongoing debate about whether to restore/refurbish the temple or to leave it the way that it is. Currently, they are leaving it the way that it is. After walking around the temple (clockwise) we went into one of the nearby buildings. It was a shrine to a famous monk. There was a wax sculpture of him right in the entrance. Normally the don't make shrines to living monks but this monk was so influential that they made a shrine to him prior to his death. After he died a couple years ago they added jars of hair, ashes, teeth, and nail clippings in the shrine from that monk. After that we continued on to another temple in the city. This was the first temple that we had actually gone in to. Everything is so ornate inside the temple and lavish. You really can't help but be reverent and respectful because the space demands it. Inside the temple, Aum continued to teach us about Buddhism. It was fascinating to hear his explanation of it. You can read about it in books but it does not compare to having someone who practices explain it. At one point he addressed a question that had come up many times; why are temples so ornate while Buddhists profess simplicity. As he explained it, monks often start in a small village; their home village. They start with a small, simple temple. Over time and good work, people want to provide a bigger space for the monk to show their appreciation. This continues over time and produces these fantastically ornate temples. We wrapped up our tour in the market and weaved through one of the local markets in the old city. There were lots of items that I had never seen before that I was tempted to just buy. For dinner we went to a local curry place, Aroon Rai, and then headed over to the night market. I didn't really feel like shopping so I just hung out. Back at the house, I hung out and watched everyone play poker for a while and then headed off to bed.
Friday!! Happy Buddha Day (and Maria's birthday)!! Friday's first activity was a game of volleyball at Chiang Mai University. We just played on their courts. I held my own until slipping a little in the water and popping my knee. Not a great feeling. Not surprisingly, I continued to play for awhile after it happened. Ultimately, my team won one of three games and the one they won -- I sat out -- go figure! We ate at Organic Vegetables for lunch. Instead of just getting plain fried rice this time, I got it with yellow curry and vegetables. It was a good change. Back at Spicy, we had a little brainstorming session about possible college essay topics that the students write about. Once we got going on a list, they came up with some really good moments/thoughts/experiences that they had that could be formed into solid essays. Rest time complete and snacks eaten - we headed to Noom's village to make preparations for Buddha Day. At Noom's house we made cones out of banana leaves and decorated them with banana leaf foldings. I desperately needed my sister Laura, the origami queen, in that moment because I could not manage to adequately made the object. Several misfolds and staples later, I had a decent enough product that I decorated with flowers, incense, and a candle. Once everyone's were complete, we headed back into the city to a temple. We bypassed one temple because it was already too crowded. Walking up to the temple at night with candles and incense lit up outside and the temple illuminated was a calming sight. We lingered a little outside as Noom expressed the chanting inside the temple was almost complete. Soon monks and others were filing out of the temple with offerings in hand. We all followed in line behind them and circled the temple three times going clockwise for good luck stopping each time at the doors to the temple to wai. During this time our incense was lit. Following the third trip around, we deposited our incense and lit our candle and left it on a big metal stand. After leaving my incense and candle behind, I went up to the shrine to pay respect and leave my cone of flowers as an offering. It was strange because it was one of the first moments that I didn't feel as much like a foreigner. To be invited into someone's home and village and be allowed to participate in a ceremony that is very sacred to Buddhists made me feel more a part of the culture. We hit up the noodle soup place near Spicy for a little dinner when we were done and then walked home. After a lot of scheming, whispering, and planning it was time for Maria's birthday celebration. The song "Sweet Sixteen" was blaring and Maria came down the stares to a lopsided (there was some Fahrenheit/Celsius oven confusion) but beautifully frosted cake with an M&M "M". In the cake were two candles; a 6 and a 7 that was whittled into a 1 - nice problem solving team! I was impressed that after only two weeks, the students went above and beyond to make Maria's 16th birthday special. Because I'm lame I couldn't stay up much longer and had to call it a night so that I was fully rested for cooking class!
Saturday morning we all hopped in a red trunk at about 8:15 to take us to the train station where we met our cooking instructors. We made our food selections so that everything would be ready when we got to the cooking school. Two stops on the train and we were off. Waiting for us were a row of bikes. All morning my knee had still been bothering me; popping in and out regularly. Jane suggested that the bike ride might do the trick. We mounted our bikes and began to ride off somewhat single file towards the school. Despite the bike turning at will a few times, the ride was lovely. We made our way through a few villages and allow a small stream. I greeted people as we passed and everyone (except for a truck that was delayed) seemed amused by our parade of bikes. After about 20 minutes we arrived at the cooking school. We were given refreshments and a snack. The snack was delivered to our tables. It was a big plate with several piles of food; leaves, roasted coconuts, roasted peanuts, honey sauce, chilli slices, shallot, ginger, and small lime pieces - rind on. It appeared that we were in essence making lettuce wraps. However, I was not so sure about putting all the ingredients in together as the instructor suggested but when in Thailand...So I put it all in the small leaf and took a bite. It was really delicious. I don't know why I was skeptical. A recipe can be found at this link. After we had a little sustenance, it was time to cook! We started with the first two dishes; soup and stir fry dish. I chose to make sweet and sour prawn soup and pad thai. After those, we sat down to eat them. Both were great but the pad thai was I think the best I've ever had. Then it was time to make our spring rolls and salad and get our curry paste ready. I made traditional spring rolls and papaya salad. The salad was made with green papaya and is a savory dish. Round 3 was our curry and desert. My phanang curry turned out so good it became my favorite for the day. The desert was sweet sticky rice with mango and jackfruit. Everyone was full and satisfied with their cooking endeavors and we even got a cookbook with all our recipes to take home. I would definitely recommend the cooking school to anyone coming to the Chiang Mai area. It's called Smart Cook: Thai Cookery School (this is the package we did - Daily Course). Only problem, now we had to bike back to the train station on a full stomach. As with the ride in, though, it was a really nice. As we got off the bikes and milled about waiting for the train, I noticed my knee was no longer popping. Jane was right -- the bike did the trick. Soon we hopped the train back to Chiang Mai and descended back on Spicy Thai. The students were eager to sign out and do some shopping. I was eager to lay down and have a little quiet for a moment. That quiet moment led to me thinking that it had been a few days since I had updated everyone on all that's been going on --- so here we go!
Hope everyone back home is having a great summer. I miss you guys a lot and hope you are having great adventures as well. I would love to hear what everyone is up to - leave a comment or e-mail me!!
I think I left off on Wednesday. Because Wednesday had an earlier wake-up call then most mornings, we left Thursday free to give everyone time to sleep in or go exploring if they wanted. It was a lazy kind of morning! I find, for me, that being in a different place and having the sunlight coming in that I can't sleep past about 8 here. This is good because I won't get too far off my school schedule! We rounded everyone up around 2 and headed to the old city walled city. Aum led us on a tour of the city. We discussed the history of Chiang Mai and then made our way to a temple in the middle of the city called Wat Phra Singh.
The temple above was in the center of the area and was surrounded by other temple buildings; each one ornate and unique. There is an ongoing debate about whether to restore/refurbish the temple or to leave it the way that it is. Currently, they are leaving it the way that it is. After walking around the temple (clockwise) we went into one of the nearby buildings. It was a shrine to a famous monk. There was a wax sculpture of him right in the entrance. Normally the don't make shrines to living monks but this monk was so influential that they made a shrine to him prior to his death. After he died a couple years ago they added jars of hair, ashes, teeth, and nail clippings in the shrine from that monk. After that we continued on to another temple in the city. This was the first temple that we had actually gone in to. Everything is so ornate inside the temple and lavish. You really can't help but be reverent and respectful because the space demands it. Inside the temple, Aum continued to teach us about Buddhism. It was fascinating to hear his explanation of it. You can read about it in books but it does not compare to having someone who practices explain it. At one point he addressed a question that had come up many times; why are temples so ornate while Buddhists profess simplicity. As he explained it, monks often start in a small village; their home village. They start with a small, simple temple. Over time and good work, people want to provide a bigger space for the monk to show their appreciation. This continues over time and produces these fantastically ornate temples. We wrapped up our tour in the market and weaved through one of the local markets in the old city. There were lots of items that I had never seen before that I was tempted to just buy. For dinner we went to a local curry place, Aroon Rai, and then headed over to the night market. I didn't really feel like shopping so I just hung out. Back at the house, I hung out and watched everyone play poker for a while and then headed off to bed.
Friday!! Happy Buddha Day (and Maria's birthday)!! Friday's first activity was a game of volleyball at Chiang Mai University. We just played on their courts. I held my own until slipping a little in the water and popping my knee. Not a great feeling. Not surprisingly, I continued to play for awhile after it happened. Ultimately, my team won one of three games and the one they won -- I sat out -- go figure! We ate at Organic Vegetables for lunch. Instead of just getting plain fried rice this time, I got it with yellow curry and vegetables. It was a good change. Back at Spicy, we had a little brainstorming session about possible college essay topics that the students write about. Once we got going on a list, they came up with some really good moments/thoughts/experiences that they had that could be formed into solid essays. Rest time complete and snacks eaten - we headed to Noom's village to make preparations for Buddha Day. At Noom's house we made cones out of banana leaves and decorated them with banana leaf foldings. I desperately needed my sister Laura, the origami queen, in that moment because I could not manage to adequately made the object. Several misfolds and staples later, I had a decent enough product that I decorated with flowers, incense, and a candle. Once everyone's were complete, we headed back into the city to a temple. We bypassed one temple because it was already too crowded. Walking up to the temple at night with candles and incense lit up outside and the temple illuminated was a calming sight. We lingered a little outside as Noom expressed the chanting inside the temple was almost complete. Soon monks and others were filing out of the temple with offerings in hand. We all followed in line behind them and circled the temple three times going clockwise for good luck stopping each time at the doors to the temple to wai. During this time our incense was lit. Following the third trip around, we deposited our incense and lit our candle and left it on a big metal stand. After leaving my incense and candle behind, I went up to the shrine to pay respect and leave my cone of flowers as an offering. It was strange because it was one of the first moments that I didn't feel as much like a foreigner. To be invited into someone's home and village and be allowed to participate in a ceremony that is very sacred to Buddhists made me feel more a part of the culture. We hit up the noodle soup place near Spicy for a little dinner when we were done and then walked home. After a lot of scheming, whispering, and planning it was time for Maria's birthday celebration. The song "Sweet Sixteen" was blaring and Maria came down the stares to a lopsided (there was some Fahrenheit/Celsius oven confusion) but beautifully frosted cake with an M&M "M". In the cake were two candles; a 6 and a 7 that was whittled into a 1 - nice problem solving team! I was impressed that after only two weeks, the students went above and beyond to make Maria's 16th birthday special. Because I'm lame I couldn't stay up much longer and had to call it a night so that I was fully rested for cooking class!
Saturday morning we all hopped in a red trunk at about 8:15 to take us to the train station where we met our cooking instructors. We made our food selections so that everything would be ready when we got to the cooking school. Two stops on the train and we were off. Waiting for us were a row of bikes. All morning my knee had still been bothering me; popping in and out regularly. Jane suggested that the bike ride might do the trick. We mounted our bikes and began to ride off somewhat single file towards the school. Despite the bike turning at will a few times, the ride was lovely. We made our way through a few villages and allow a small stream. I greeted people as we passed and everyone (except for a truck that was delayed) seemed amused by our parade of bikes. After about 20 minutes we arrived at the cooking school. We were given refreshments and a snack. The snack was delivered to our tables. It was a big plate with several piles of food; leaves, roasted coconuts, roasted peanuts, honey sauce, chilli slices, shallot, ginger, and small lime pieces - rind on. It appeared that we were in essence making lettuce wraps. However, I was not so sure about putting all the ingredients in together as the instructor suggested but when in Thailand...So I put it all in the small leaf and took a bite. It was really delicious. I don't know why I was skeptical. A recipe can be found at this link. After we had a little sustenance, it was time to cook! We started with the first two dishes; soup and stir fry dish. I chose to make sweet and sour prawn soup and pad thai. After those, we sat down to eat them. Both were great but the pad thai was I think the best I've ever had. Then it was time to make our spring rolls and salad and get our curry paste ready. I made traditional spring rolls and papaya salad. The salad was made with green papaya and is a savory dish. Round 3 was our curry and desert. My phanang curry turned out so good it became my favorite for the day. The desert was sweet sticky rice with mango and jackfruit. Everyone was full and satisfied with their cooking endeavors and we even got a cookbook with all our recipes to take home. I would definitely recommend the cooking school to anyone coming to the Chiang Mai area. It's called Smart Cook: Thai Cookery School (this is the package we did - Daily Course). Only problem, now we had to bike back to the train station on a full stomach. As with the ride in, though, it was a really nice. As we got off the bikes and milled about waiting for the train, I noticed my knee was no longer popping. Jane was right -- the bike did the trick. Soon we hopped the train back to Chiang Mai and descended back on Spicy Thai. The students were eager to sign out and do some shopping. I was eager to lay down and have a little quiet for a moment. That quiet moment led to me thinking that it had been a few days since I had updated everyone on all that's been going on --- so here we go!
Hope everyone back home is having a great summer. I miss you guys a lot and hope you are having great adventures as well. I would love to hear what everyone is up to - leave a comment or e-mail me!!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Go to the Cause!
I'm still trying to get the students to put their pictures on the computer so that I can share some of them with you - soon, I hope!
So we went to Jungle Flight on Tuesday. It's the longest and highest zipline tour in Thailand.
I decided not to participate. I was feeling a little tired and with my fear of heights there were a few parts of the course that I felt might be a little much. The real adventure, though, was the drive up to Jungle Flight. It was the most windy, narrow road I think I've ever been on. That didn't stop our driver from taking the turns at a fast speed and hugging the edge of a cliff for most of the way up (and down!). It took the students about 3 hours to complete the whole course. During that time Jane and I rested and did some planning and hung out. It was a lovely day in the shade. The students all came back alive and seemed to have a really good time. That night we decided to make dinner in and Jane and I prepared an Italian feast of pasta, salad, and garlic bread. It didn't quite taste like home but it was a hit! I went to bed pretty early that night because we had an early wake-up time for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning we were off to explore nature. Jane's father, Brian, led us on a nature hike through a local park. We saw a lot of different kinds of birds and am now able to pick out Myna birds fairly easily. This park had a shrine on one side with a gazebo. We sat there for awhile and let the students feed the fish. We then made our way to the other side of the lake and everyone had the chance to hang out and enjoy the rest of the morning. There was swimming and napping and frisbee - good times! All the relaxing made everyone quite hungry so we headed off to get a Northern Thai specialty - Khao Soi. It egg noodles in a coconut curry broth with the option of getting some meat in it. I had khao soi with meatballs and then another bowl with pork. Note to self: Next time go light on the chili paste when adding it in (mai ped - no spicy!). The second bowl with less spice was better and it's probably one of my favorite things I've had in Thailand. Eventually we made our way back to the hostel and did a reading and discussion on Buddhism and becoming a monk. This was all in preparation for our "Monk Chat" that night. We went to Wat Suan Dok temple in the city and three times a week they allow you to sit and chat with a monk and ask questions. So we listened to an introduction about Buddhism and then had time to have a question and answer session with a monk. It was a very cool experience. My favorite thing that he said was stop trying to fix the affect -- just go to the cause. Simple - but always a good reminder in life. Below are a few pictures of the temple (not ones that the students took but ones from online).
After the monk chat we did a little dinner and then made our way to iBerry for ice cream. iBerry has a bunch of sculptures and interesting art pieces in their lawn and shop. We went there during the day on our first day in Chiang Mai. It was cool to see iBerry at night because all the sculptures are lit up and it's very festive. Below is a picture of the big sculpture right when you enter.
Well, it's now Thursday morning. We gave everyone the chance to sleep in and then we are doing a Old City tour this afternoon led by our two Thai staff, Noom and Aum. It should be interesting.
So we went to Jungle Flight on Tuesday. It's the longest and highest zipline tour in Thailand.
I decided not to participate. I was feeling a little tired and with my fear of heights there were a few parts of the course that I felt might be a little much. The real adventure, though, was the drive up to Jungle Flight. It was the most windy, narrow road I think I've ever been on. That didn't stop our driver from taking the turns at a fast speed and hugging the edge of a cliff for most of the way up (and down!). It took the students about 3 hours to complete the whole course. During that time Jane and I rested and did some planning and hung out. It was a lovely day in the shade. The students all came back alive and seemed to have a really good time. That night we decided to make dinner in and Jane and I prepared an Italian feast of pasta, salad, and garlic bread. It didn't quite taste like home but it was a hit! I went to bed pretty early that night because we had an early wake-up time for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning we were off to explore nature. Jane's father, Brian, led us on a nature hike through a local park. We saw a lot of different kinds of birds and am now able to pick out Myna birds fairly easily. This park had a shrine on one side with a gazebo. We sat there for awhile and let the students feed the fish. We then made our way to the other side of the lake and everyone had the chance to hang out and enjoy the rest of the morning. There was swimming and napping and frisbee - good times! All the relaxing made everyone quite hungry so we headed off to get a Northern Thai specialty - Khao Soi. It egg noodles in a coconut curry broth with the option of getting some meat in it. I had khao soi with meatballs and then another bowl with pork. Note to self: Next time go light on the chili paste when adding it in (mai ped - no spicy!). The second bowl with less spice was better and it's probably one of my favorite things I've had in Thailand. Eventually we made our way back to the hostel and did a reading and discussion on Buddhism and becoming a monk. This was all in preparation for our "Monk Chat" that night. We went to Wat Suan Dok temple in the city and three times a week they allow you to sit and chat with a monk and ask questions. So we listened to an introduction about Buddhism and then had time to have a question and answer session with a monk. It was a very cool experience. My favorite thing that he said was stop trying to fix the affect -- just go to the cause. Simple - but always a good reminder in life. Below are a few pictures of the temple (not ones that the students took but ones from online).
After the monk chat we did a little dinner and then made our way to iBerry for ice cream. iBerry has a bunch of sculptures and interesting art pieces in their lawn and shop. We went there during the day on our first day in Chiang Mai. It was cool to see iBerry at night because all the sculptures are lit up and it's very festive. Below is a picture of the big sculpture right when you enter.
Monday, July 11, 2011
I'm BACKKKK!!
to having internet that is! Time to update all of you on all that's been going on --- there's been a lot.
I'm going to try to give you the abbreviated version and then get some pics up from the students since I didn't bring my camera.
The flights basically went the way they were supposed to. We were a little rushed in Minneapolis and Tokyo to get to our next plane but got where we needed to go each time without any big problems. The twelve hour flight was LONG. I thought I was doing really well early on until I found out that only 2 hours had gone by. I definitely thought it had been at least 5 (note: I didn't have my watch on me at the time). With a lot of sleeping, and movie watching, and sleeping, and eating, and sleeping, and whining - we made it to Bangkok. At that point we had about a 6 hour layover but by the time we got our luggage, went through immigration and customs, and let the students get some food and get on the computer, it was about 2 in the morning in Bangkok which meant --- time to sleep behind the departure/arrivals sign at the airport and wait for our flight to Chiang Mai. We were all able to get a couple hours of sleep before getting on our last plane for awhile. The flight into Chiang Mai was an easy 90 minutes and it was nice to be at our final destination. We made our way to the hotel we stayed at for the night, checked in, and then went exploring for lunch. We ate a small little place and had our first real Thai food. Then it was back to the hotel for a little swimming. At that point I had convinced myself that I wasn't tired but was just going to lay down for a little bit (at about 3 pm) and take a short nap. 16 hours later I woke up and had missed dinner and the night market. Thankfully Addam took all the students out and Jane and I were able to sleep. Surprisingly, staying up for about 3 days straight and then sleeping FOREVER seemed to do the trick and I didn't really have bad jet lag. Score one for me!
We left the next morning (Monday) for the Elephant Nature Park. We spent the entire week there. Each day we got up at about 7 and ate breakfast. The morning was spent doing a chore around the park and feeding the elephants and then there was the biggest lunch buffet of amazing Thai food. In the afternoon there was elephant bathing and another chore. This was followed often by some resting time and then dinner. At night there was sometimes an activity (Thai lesson, presentation, movie) or there was free time. Some of the chores that we did included cutting grass (very hard...I couldn't get using the machete down!), scooping elephant poo, preparing elephant food, cutting boxes, planting banana trees, making banana balls, and saving the trees by tying blessed cloths around them. Each task helped the park run day to day and it was really great to feel like we were helping in some small way. Our first night, a shaman came and did a welcome ceremony. We were each blessed and got a rope tied around our wrist as a reminder. It was a cool way to start the week. One day we got to go on an elephant walk. Our group leader Aek took us out and we just walked the park and learned about the different elephants in the park. They all have sad stories about their lives before the Elephant Nature Park but it was great to see how well they were doing at the park. Everywhere you walked was another elephant and you always had to be on the look out for another to walk up behind you. While walking we made our way over to the Medical hut. There was an elephant that had a bad foot infection causing it to have to spend the last three months there. Standing next to her was another female elephant. When we asked Aek about her and why she was in medical, he said, "she's not injured. She just stays here with her friend." She has stayed in the Medical building area for all three months to be with her friend. When they come to work on her foot, the friend stays close and is tuned in to what's going on all the time. After that, how could people say that elephant's don't have emotions. One of the afternoons, Lek, who started the park, came and spoke to us. She has so many stories and expressed how hard it was to get the park started. She's this petite, humble woman and you can tell that she just lives for that park and the elephants. She's not interested in credit or notoriety; just saving elephants. It was inspiring to just be in her presence.
On Sunday we left ENP and made our way back to Spicy Thai Backpackers, our home for the next three weeks. We all got settled and took in some of the area. Today (Monday) we had another Thai lesson. I think I'm starting to pick up at least some words and phrases. I'm trying really hard to practice them while we are out. Tonight we went to the big mall by the airport. It looked just like a mall in America. I used that time to go off and journal a little and enjoy some quiet time.
It's about time to go to bed because we have to be up early for Jungle Flight in the morning. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm having a great time and wish I could bring you all here to experience it with me.
While you are waiting to check out some of my pictures, you can take a loop at the blog they are all contributing to as we go. They have posted some cool pictures and one student made a neat video of our time at the Elephant Nature Park -- http://loopabroad2011.tumblr.com/
I'm going to try to give you the abbreviated version and then get some pics up from the students since I didn't bring my camera.
The flights basically went the way they were supposed to. We were a little rushed in Minneapolis and Tokyo to get to our next plane but got where we needed to go each time without any big problems. The twelve hour flight was LONG. I thought I was doing really well early on until I found out that only 2 hours had gone by. I definitely thought it had been at least 5 (note: I didn't have my watch on me at the time). With a lot of sleeping, and movie watching, and sleeping, and eating, and sleeping, and whining - we made it to Bangkok. At that point we had about a 6 hour layover but by the time we got our luggage, went through immigration and customs, and let the students get some food and get on the computer, it was about 2 in the morning in Bangkok which meant --- time to sleep behind the departure/arrivals sign at the airport and wait for our flight to Chiang Mai. We were all able to get a couple hours of sleep before getting on our last plane for awhile. The flight into Chiang Mai was an easy 90 minutes and it was nice to be at our final destination. We made our way to the hotel we stayed at for the night, checked in, and then went exploring for lunch. We ate a small little place and had our first real Thai food. Then it was back to the hotel for a little swimming. At that point I had convinced myself that I wasn't tired but was just going to lay down for a little bit (at about 3 pm) and take a short nap. 16 hours later I woke up and had missed dinner and the night market. Thankfully Addam took all the students out and Jane and I were able to sleep. Surprisingly, staying up for about 3 days straight and then sleeping FOREVER seemed to do the trick and I didn't really have bad jet lag. Score one for me!
We left the next morning (Monday) for the Elephant Nature Park. We spent the entire week there. Each day we got up at about 7 and ate breakfast. The morning was spent doing a chore around the park and feeding the elephants and then there was the biggest lunch buffet of amazing Thai food. In the afternoon there was elephant bathing and another chore. This was followed often by some resting time and then dinner. At night there was sometimes an activity (Thai lesson, presentation, movie) or there was free time. Some of the chores that we did included cutting grass (very hard...I couldn't get using the machete down!), scooping elephant poo, preparing elephant food, cutting boxes, planting banana trees, making banana balls, and saving the trees by tying blessed cloths around them. Each task helped the park run day to day and it was really great to feel like we were helping in some small way. Our first night, a shaman came and did a welcome ceremony. We were each blessed and got a rope tied around our wrist as a reminder. It was a cool way to start the week. One day we got to go on an elephant walk. Our group leader Aek took us out and we just walked the park and learned about the different elephants in the park. They all have sad stories about their lives before the Elephant Nature Park but it was great to see how well they were doing at the park. Everywhere you walked was another elephant and you always had to be on the look out for another to walk up behind you. While walking we made our way over to the Medical hut. There was an elephant that had a bad foot infection causing it to have to spend the last three months there. Standing next to her was another female elephant. When we asked Aek about her and why she was in medical, he said, "she's not injured. She just stays here with her friend." She has stayed in the Medical building area for all three months to be with her friend. When they come to work on her foot, the friend stays close and is tuned in to what's going on all the time. After that, how could people say that elephant's don't have emotions. One of the afternoons, Lek, who started the park, came and spoke to us. She has so many stories and expressed how hard it was to get the park started. She's this petite, humble woman and you can tell that she just lives for that park and the elephants. She's not interested in credit or notoriety; just saving elephants. It was inspiring to just be in her presence.
On Sunday we left ENP and made our way back to Spicy Thai Backpackers, our home for the next three weeks. We all got settled and took in some of the area. Today (Monday) we had another Thai lesson. I think I'm starting to pick up at least some words and phrases. I'm trying really hard to practice them while we are out. Tonight we went to the big mall by the airport. It looked just like a mall in America. I used that time to go off and journal a little and enjoy some quiet time.
It's about time to go to bed because we have to be up early for Jungle Flight in the morning. Hope everyone is doing well. I'm having a great time and wish I could bring you all here to experience it with me.
While you are waiting to check out some of my pictures, you can take a loop at the blog they are all contributing to as we go. They have posted some cool pictures and one student made a neat video of our time at the Elephant Nature Park -- http://loopabroad2011.tumblr.com/
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