I left you the evening we returned from our trek... Thursday night I believe? And now it is Monday afternoon, and we are sitting in a quaint internet cafe near the market in Chiang Rai, a city about 3 hours northeast of Chiang Mai (where we were on Thursday). It's been a busy past few days, so let's get started....
Friday morning, Julie and I woke early and eager to get our day started. It was the day of our adventure at an elephant conservation park called Elephant Nature Park (www.elephantnaturepark.org if you care to check it out) where they focus on caring for abused and neglected domesticated elephants... I would love to go into detail about the plight of these poor creatures, but that would take too much time. So if you're interested in learning more, check out the website. Lek Chailert, the founder of the park, has a vision to restore the relationship between the elephants and mahouts to one of respect and admiration through love and positive reinforcement during training. Right now, many elephants are beaten and mistreated in order to teach them to obey their trainers. We watched a couple documentaries on Lek and her park and learned about the dark truth of many elephant shows and camps in the area, and it just pained me to see the reality. But at the park, the elephants are free to roam the property (quite large) and are encouraged to act as they would in nature as wild elephants -- and many do, now that they are safe and cared for at this park. There are 30 elephants there, and all have very different backgrounds and histories as to how they ended up there. I'll share one with you... Jokia was working in the illegal logging industry up in the hills, and was pregnant at near-full term (22 months.. yikes) and went into labor while she was working one day. The baby fell out and rolled down the hill, and she was not allowed to go after it, and the baby died. Jokia was so sad and depressed that she refused to work... her owner shot her in the eye with a slingshot until she was blinded, and then she was sold... she refused to work for the next owner, and so he felt it necessary to blind her other eye as well. Lek found her, and brought her to the park... now she is thriving, thanks to another elephant -- Mae Perm -- who has befriended her. The two are never apart... Mae Perm is Jokia's eyes, and watches out for her. It's the sweetest thing to witness. Our experience at the park was incredible... we arrived late morning and had the opportunity to feed a baby elephant (he was about 8 years old I believe) and that was SO fun. We relished every moment. After, we ate our own lunch, and then made our way out to the river that flows through the property, where the elephants have their daily baths. We were able to go out into the river with the elephants and bathe them... buckets and scrub brushes and all. Quite surreal, I felt like I was in a dream! I couldn't believe that we were standing next to such gentle, incredible creatures. It is an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
After arriving back in the city, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant on the river, aptly named The Riverside restaurant.. I ordered some fried rice, and should have known not to eat the egg on top with the runny yolk... I know many of you are probably shaking your heads, and I wonder what I was thinking when I think back, but I figured that it was a reputable restaurant, so it had to be safe. Well... it came back to haunt me the next day. I woke up Saturday morning feeling a bit queasy, and was really scared for the 4 hour bus ride to Tha Ton... I said a little prayer that my stomach would hold up, and thankfully it did. THANKFULLY. The Lord was definitely merciful... we arrived to our guesthouse in Tha Ton, and my stomach was definitely churning. We took a tour of a local temple, quite beautiful, and Chompooh gave us a lot more Thai history and told us about each king -- including the king from one of my favorite movies, The King and I. Julie and I have really loved learning about Thai culture and the background of this amazing country... I'm hoping that I'll have time to tell you more about it, one of these days when I don't have so much to blog about! So after we arrived back from the temple, I spent the rest of the evening and night running back and forth to the bathroom... I'll spare you the details, but thankfully we came equipped with prescription meds to fight the bacteria that was at war with my digestive system. I woke up Sunday morning feeling quite well, surprisingly, and grateful as we had another long day of traveling ahead of us.
Sunday we left our guesthouse to head further north, to see the Golden Triangle -- where Thailand, Burma, and Laos all meet. We stopped along the way at a temple (not sure what the actual name is) but nicknamed the "monkey temple" -- quite obvious when we arrived, as the place was crawling with the cutest little monkeys! We were excited to take pictures from afar, but were surprised when Chompooh took us to the booth selling peanuts for monkey food... We actually got to feed them! They were quite friendly, probably because they are used to humans feeding them... so we walked up and held out our hands full of peanuts and they came right up and grabbed them from our hands! It was a fun little excursion. They were adorable. Crafty little guys though... I was feeding one, and another came up and tugged on my pants expecting to be fed! It was quite funny. After we left the temple, we drove a bit further north to the city of Mae Sai, which is the northernmost point of Thailand, right on the border of Burma. We shopped for a bit, as it is quite cheap up there (many Burmese who come across the border to sell their goods to tourists). We then hoped back in our shuttle (the back of a pick-up truck converted to a taxi, called a songthaew) to our next stop, the Golden Triangle. We ate lunch and took a bunch of photos at the lookout point there, walked around the streets, and finally made our way to our final destination for the day - Chiang Rai. We had a couple hours to relax in our comfortable guestroom before checking out the local night market. We shopped around, and enjoyed the live entertainment -- a "ladyboy" show! Quite hilarious. Thailand, I guess, is known for its transexuals... and how convincing they are... Julie and I really couldn't tell the difference. It was quite the spectacle. We then made our way around the market, taking in all the sights and sounds... I love the marketplaces here. So much fun to explore and bargain for gifts and souveniers :)
Today we've finally had a free day, where we didn't have to rush off with our group to go somewhere, and Julie and I have been taking advantage! We ran into Chompooh as we were leaving the hotel, and she took us to explore another local market, where they have the widest assortment of things for sale... targeting locals, and not tourists. We were bombarded with smells -- our sensory system is not prepared for this! We passed FRESH fish and pork on one side, then a small bakery selling sweets (not the best location, my appetite was suppressed with the pig head staring at me) and then dried bugs opposite that. Crazy. But we weaved through the maze of aisles where the locals purchase everything, from home appliances to school uniforms. And everything in between. Aside from the pungent odors, we enjoyed the experience. Not sure I'm ready to go back in there any time soon though :)
Well, I guess that brings me to where I am now! We are going to wander through the markets again today, and then tomorrow we head back to Chiang Mai and on to Bangkok for a couple days before we make our way south! Julie and I are both ready to relax on the white sand beaches that await us.... I can hear the waves crashing outside our beach bungalow door now....
Monday, April 6, 2009
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I dont even know how you have time to write you are having so much fun!! cant wait for the fotos m
ReplyDeleteI would love to visit the elephants...but it would be so hard to see the abuse. What a great experience. Not so sure about the cuisine over there. I think I would bring my own supply of power bars. Monkeys are crafty...good word choice there. They can be rascals. Monique would love it there. Can't wait to see the photos!!!! mom
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying following along. Thanks for sharing.--Aunt Madeline
ReplyDeleteDid you check your bags and pockets after the monkeys? Last time I came face to face with monkeys, they were stealing stuff...they stole helen's jacket right out of her hands!
ReplyDeletesounds like you're having a blast. miss you!
(by the way... last comment was from me :) xx Chia
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