Chiang Mai December 9
We dropped into Chiang Mai at 11:15am– by saying "drop" I was subtly indicating the quality of our landing, but we arrived safe and sound nonetheless. We were greeted at the airport by "Dave", Kevin's new custom tailor. A couple of months ago, Kevin caught wind of how economical it was to have a suit made for you while visiting Thailand. He scoured the interwebs looking for the right tailor and found "Dave" (which is not his real Thai name, if you haven't already guessed) who is the owner of "CM Custom Tailor" and connected with him. He took us to our hotel so we could check in and drop our bags off. This time around we are staying at the Sakorn Residence (1200 Baht/night = $42 CAD) which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It has a swimming pool, a fitness room (like we're going to have time to use it!) and more spacious rooms than our last hotel, Citin Pratanum and it includes breakfast. Dave then drove us back to his tailor shop.
Good for Kev for finding a tailor to make him a suit. I, on the other hand, am nervous for him. With this engagement being sight unseen, it requires a lot of trust. I guess we'll find out in a couple of days. Another point of contention I have with this whole tailor idea is it eats up our time in Chiang Mai. Today we lost a good part of our day looking at catalogues, selecting textiles, watching Kev get measured... the kids found ways to entertain themselves; I did not. Eventually I had enough and wandered over to the Wat (temple), across the street to try to counterbalance my anger and it worked. How could it not? I was in a quiet place with a monk and a giant Buddha. Afterall was said and done, Kev is having two Italian cashmere wool suits and two cotton shirts made for him for $500 CAD and of course Dave is throwing in two free ties. My fingers and toes are crossed.
Afterwards, we came back to our hotel and took the kids for a swim. We lasted about 30 mins and then decided we should nap for an hour so we can be bright- eyed and busy-tailed for the night market. Good thing we did, because we stayed there until 11:30pm. The market is HUGE and we only covered a fraction of it. We started out eating dinner at the Kalare Food Market, which cost our entire family 400 Baht (=approx. $13 CAD) that included beer, smoothies, main courses and dessert. (At the suggestion of Diesel Deegs from Twitter, we tried the banana roti with nutella and were not disappointed!) The girls found pretty lanterns with lights to hang in their bedrooms (500 Baht for both= $17 CAD) , Asian dresses (700 Baht for both =$25 CAD) , and 4 sarongs for (540 Baht for all =$18 CAD). We were at the market until they shut it down. We bartered with several drivers to get back to our hotel and finally found a "sung tow" driver that would take us for 60 Baht (= approx $2 CAD). Song tows are little red pickup trucks with a cab on the back and benches to sit on. Not as daring as the tuk tuks, but still fun to ride in. The funny part is our driver, bless his little old soul, took us to the wrong hotel at first. Kev showed him the map a second time and he got it right after meandering through a series of dark back alleys. We said "Korp Kun" (thank you) and went up to our rooms and fell into our bed. Another day in Thailand is over.
Good for Kev for finding a tailor to make him a suit. I, on the other hand, am nervous for him. With this engagement being sight unseen, it requires a lot of trust. I guess we'll find out in a couple of days. Another point of contention I have with this whole tailor idea is it eats up our time in Chiang Mai. Today we lost a good part of our day looking at catalogues, selecting textiles, watching Kev get measured... the kids found ways to entertain themselves; I did not. Eventually I had enough and wandered over to the Wat (temple), across the street to try to counterbalance my anger and it worked. How could it not? I was in a quiet place with a monk and a giant Buddha. Afterall was said and done, Kev is having two Italian cashmere wool suits and two cotton shirts made for him for $500 CAD and of course Dave is throwing in two free ties. My fingers and toes are crossed.
Afterwards, we came back to our hotel and took the kids for a swim. We lasted about 30 mins and then decided we should nap for an hour so we can be bright- eyed and busy-tailed for the night market. Good thing we did, because we stayed there until 11:30pm. The market is HUGE and we only covered a fraction of it. We started out eating dinner at the Kalare Food Market, which cost our entire family 400 Baht (=approx. $13 CAD) that included beer, smoothies, main courses and dessert. (At the suggestion of Diesel Deegs from Twitter, we tried the banana roti with nutella and were not disappointed!) The girls found pretty lanterns with lights to hang in their bedrooms (500 Baht for both= $17 CAD) , Asian dresses (700 Baht for both =$25 CAD) , and 4 sarongs for (540 Baht for all =$18 CAD). We were at the market until they shut it down. We bartered with several drivers to get back to our hotel and finally found a "sung tow" driver that would take us for 60 Baht (= approx $2 CAD). Song tows are little red pickup trucks with a cab on the back and benches to sit on. Not as daring as the tuk tuks, but still fun to ride in. The funny part is our driver, bless his little old soul, took us to the wrong hotel at first. Kev showed him the map a second time and he got it right after meandering through a series of dark back alleys. We said "Korp Kun" (thank you) and went up to our rooms and fell into our bed. Another day in Thailand is over.
December 10 Found and Lost
Today was one of our fullest days yet. We started off with a visit up the mountain to Wat Doi Suthep. During our ride up, we were stopped at a red light in our song tow and beside us was a pick up truck full of men who appeared to be construction workers. They were making funny faces for the girls and then one reached out and offered a package of sweets (toasted white bread with sugar). The girls gladly accepted and it didn't stop there. Once we arrived at Wat Doi Suthep, numerous people wanted to take pictures with them. It got to the point when Jasmine and Aislinn would find a spot and automatically start posing for other tourists to take pictures of them. Aislinn kept saying, "It's like we're famous!" If I had no morals, I would've made a few hundred Baht today.
The Wat itself was even more special than the last. Not because we had to pay to pee –yes, it cost 3 Baht to use the squat toilets (=10 cents CAD) and I'm proud to say I managed my Thai fisherman pants just fine today– but because there were plenty of monks around and hundreds of people making their pilgrimage to offer their prayers and receive blessings which made it a pretty sacred space and the scenery up in the mountains was absolutely breathtaking. The energy of the golden stupa was also incredible. Seeing it for the first time was definitely an "Oh my God" moment. For those of you who don't know, a stupa is where Buddha's remains are housed, in this case it is supposedly a piece of Buddha's shoulder. Jasmine and I made an offering and joined the crowd as they circled the Stupa chanting. As we walked around we could see thousands of prayer bells that have been hung by other pilgrims from over the years and from around the world; somehow they made the moment become even more larger than life.
On the way down from the Wat, we stopped along the artisan market for some eats and treasures and then it was back to the hotel. Kevin had a fitting for his suit, so I decided I would squeeze in one more Wat that Allison Menegoni had recommended and referred to as magical (what could be more magical than Wat Doi Suthep???) I would do it by myself, since there was no way I could expect the girls to come with me without having an over-stimulated-and-near-exhaustion meltdown. With Kev's blessing, off I went to Wat Umong via a song tow. Traffic was pretty bad so it took us close to 45 minutes to get there, but once I arrived, I knew Allison was right and understood why Wat Umong is also known as the "forest temple". I didn't know where to go so I just started walking and ended up in on a little path in the forest reading pearls of wisdom posted on the trees by the monks. Within five minutes, I heard the gong-ing of a giant bell and could see two monks standing on a porch ringing it. I proceeded to walk toward the gong-ing and found a little path leading to the temple. As I started walking toward the temple I caught a glimpse of a collection of beautiful, old, crumbling Buddha statues. As I was admiring them and taking pictures, out of the corner of my eye I saw a young monk approaching. "Sawadee-Kaaaa" I say to him and wai at the same time. He reciprocates my greeting and I'm think to myself My Thai must be improving because he began speaking Thai to me. I politely smile and let him know I speak only English (my charades are over). He smiles and welcomes me to Wat Umong in English and we strike up a conversation. I found out he became a monk at age 15 years and has been so for 4 years. He is originally from the northeastern part of Thailand and that ringing of the bell I heard earlier was to signal to the monks it was time to chant. Well that got me excited! That was my one wish for this trip: to hear monks chanting. He showed me which direction the building was to go listen and away I went. Once I found the building, I sat on the stone wall surrounding it and just soaked the sounds of their voices into my bones. In that moment, I knew I was meant to visit Wat Umong alone. I couldn't have been as present as I was if I had children tugging at me or telling me to hurry up. No, this experience was no mistake. Thank you Dave-the-tailor for creating this moment for me. I'm no longer mad that you took time away from our vacation because the truth is time was a small price to pay for the gift I received today. I also know that Kevin's suit will turn out just fine.
I ventured into the temple once the chanting was over where another "wow" moment was waiting for me. The 700+ year old temple was a series of tunnels with more Buddhas and beautiful, original wall paintings. I could've stayed there for hours... When I finally did come out of the temple, a couple of University of Chiang Mai students approached me and asked if they could interview me for a class assignment for which they need to converse with an English speaking foreigner. I was happy to help them out and told them so. It was short and sweet and it was legit. (HA!) They asked me where I was from, how long I've been in Chiang Mai, what made me come to Chiang Mai (they were very pleased to hear that everyone I spoke to back home had told me I would LOVE Chiang Mai) and they asked what resources I used to collect information about Chiang Mai. The whole interview was recorded and the students were lovely. It took all of 5 minutes and then we were all on our way once more.
I wandered around the grounds and saw the very old Stupa. I'm not sure what this one contained; I will have to do some research. I also learned they have various retreats and offer opportunities to basically live like a monk for short term and long term stays. I decided I have found my retirement home. If I wasn't married and with children, I would have handed over my clothes and donned monk robes for the rest of my life today. But alas, it was only a fantasy and judging by the sun starting to sink closer to the mountains, it was time for me to go back to the hotel.
This is where my exciting travel story begins– I approached the exit and noticed all of the welcome buildings were closed and there were no song tows around. Not good. So I decided to start walking toward the direction we drove in from. All was going well until I hit the infamous fork in the road. Crap! Which way did we come in from? I started toward the right, but my gut said "no". I started walking toward the left, my head said "this doesn't look right". I took the road to the right and kept walking, hoping to catch a song tow. After about 10 minutes I didn't see one red taxi and my surroundings didn't look familiar either. Crap! I looked at the sun and it was about to sink behind the mountains any moment... Crap! Ahead there was a little food stand at the side of the road. I stopped there to talk to the lady: "Song tow. Chiang Mai" I say as I point to my chest. "Me. Song tow. Chiang Mai." The woman looked at me, turned to the couple of other people with her and asked about a song tow. They shook their heads no. She turned to me and started talking. All I can understand is "Wat". She was telling me to go to some Wat for help. Crap! Crap! Crap!
You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you're just starting to get really scared? Yup. That was me. I kept looking at the sun thinking I've got to get on a song tow before the sunsets!!!! I kept walking and turning around hoping one comes along, while trying to keep myself from panicking. No song tows. Just people on motorbikes. I caught a glimpse of another foreigner on a motorbike. As he zoomed by, I waved my hands. He just looked at me and kept going, then he looked back again and I waved at him again. He slowed down, turned around and came back. He took off the earphones he was wearing and I yelled across the road to him "Do you speak English?" He nodded and said he did. Thank GOD!!! I jogged across the road and told him I needed a song tow to get back to Chiang Mai. He told me, I wouldn't be catching a song tow on the road we were on and then offered me a ride to take me to the main road. Of course, I said yes and hopped on the back of his bike.
We drove off and he asked me if I'm lost. I laughed and said "A little bit". I found out his name is Alex, he was from California and has been living in Chiang Mai for just over a year. Less than 5 minutes driving and we were at the intersection where I needed to get off. He told me which direction to go, I thanked him and apologized for interrupting his day. I crossed the intersection and within two minutes I flagged down a song tow and was on my way back to my family before the sun went down. I knew everything would work out just fine.
I arrived back at the hotel and had a good laugh with Kevin over my ordeal. We then gathered up the kids and headed back to the night market. This time we started out at the Warorot Saturday Night Market, where we found an offering of fried up, well-seasoned insects to tantalize our taste buds. I was going to go for the locust, since I couldn't stomach the thought of eating cockroaches or grubs, but then Kev said "There's probably a good reason why there are no locals eating at this stand" and I decided he's probably right. My life is complete without eating fried up bugs today, so I passed and listened to Jasmine for the next 10 minutes tell me I chickened out. I'm quite okay being taunted by an 8 year old. Instead I ordered up some grilled skewered calamari and shrimp. The shrimp turned out to be fake shrimp. It was processed imitation crab meat molded into the shape of shrimp. I still ate it though. The calamari, not so much. I like calamari, but for some reason my stomach said, "Uh uh... that's not coming down here tonight" so I spit the piece that was in my mouth out and tossed the rest into the garbage.
We did some more shopping and I found a beautiful white top for 190 Baht (= just under $7.00 CAD). Then we found our way back to the food market at the Kalare market, where I ordered a dish of Mango and sticky rice which was absolutely delicious. The girls had smoothies, Kev had his "Chang Draught" beer and we were all happy. When we were all finished, we packed up and headed back to our room for the night because tomorrow we meet the elephants.
The Wat itself was even more special than the last. Not because we had to pay to pee –yes, it cost 3 Baht to use the squat toilets (=10 cents CAD) and I'm proud to say I managed my Thai fisherman pants just fine today– but because there were plenty of monks around and hundreds of people making their pilgrimage to offer their prayers and receive blessings which made it a pretty sacred space and the scenery up in the mountains was absolutely breathtaking. The energy of the golden stupa was also incredible. Seeing it for the first time was definitely an "Oh my God" moment. For those of you who don't know, a stupa is where Buddha's remains are housed, in this case it is supposedly a piece of Buddha's shoulder. Jasmine and I made an offering and joined the crowd as they circled the Stupa chanting. As we walked around we could see thousands of prayer bells that have been hung by other pilgrims from over the years and from around the world; somehow they made the moment become even more larger than life.
On the way down from the Wat, we stopped along the artisan market for some eats and treasures and then it was back to the hotel. Kevin had a fitting for his suit, so I decided I would squeeze in one more Wat that Allison Menegoni had recommended and referred to as magical (what could be more magical than Wat Doi Suthep???) I would do it by myself, since there was no way I could expect the girls to come with me without having an over-stimulated-and-near-exhaustion meltdown. With Kev's blessing, off I went to Wat Umong via a song tow. Traffic was pretty bad so it took us close to 45 minutes to get there, but once I arrived, I knew Allison was right and understood why Wat Umong is also known as the "forest temple". I didn't know where to go so I just started walking and ended up in on a little path in the forest reading pearls of wisdom posted on the trees by the monks. Within five minutes, I heard the gong-ing of a giant bell and could see two monks standing on a porch ringing it. I proceeded to walk toward the gong-ing and found a little path leading to the temple. As I started walking toward the temple I caught a glimpse of a collection of beautiful, old, crumbling Buddha statues. As I was admiring them and taking pictures, out of the corner of my eye I saw a young monk approaching. "Sawadee-Kaaaa" I say to him and wai at the same time. He reciprocates my greeting and I'm think to myself My Thai must be improving because he began speaking Thai to me. I politely smile and let him know I speak only English (my charades are over). He smiles and welcomes me to Wat Umong in English and we strike up a conversation. I found out he became a monk at age 15 years and has been so for 4 years. He is originally from the northeastern part of Thailand and that ringing of the bell I heard earlier was to signal to the monks it was time to chant. Well that got me excited! That was my one wish for this trip: to hear monks chanting. He showed me which direction the building was to go listen and away I went. Once I found the building, I sat on the stone wall surrounding it and just soaked the sounds of their voices into my bones. In that moment, I knew I was meant to visit Wat Umong alone. I couldn't have been as present as I was if I had children tugging at me or telling me to hurry up. No, this experience was no mistake. Thank you Dave-the-tailor for creating this moment for me. I'm no longer mad that you took time away from our vacation because the truth is time was a small price to pay for the gift I received today. I also know that Kevin's suit will turn out just fine.
I ventured into the temple once the chanting was over where another "wow" moment was waiting for me. The 700+ year old temple was a series of tunnels with more Buddhas and beautiful, original wall paintings. I could've stayed there for hours... When I finally did come out of the temple, a couple of University of Chiang Mai students approached me and asked if they could interview me for a class assignment for which they need to converse with an English speaking foreigner. I was happy to help them out and told them so. It was short and sweet and it was legit. (HA!) They asked me where I was from, how long I've been in Chiang Mai, what made me come to Chiang Mai (they were very pleased to hear that everyone I spoke to back home had told me I would LOVE Chiang Mai) and they asked what resources I used to collect information about Chiang Mai. The whole interview was recorded and the students were lovely. It took all of 5 minutes and then we were all on our way once more.
I wandered around the grounds and saw the very old Stupa. I'm not sure what this one contained; I will have to do some research. I also learned they have various retreats and offer opportunities to basically live like a monk for short term and long term stays. I decided I have found my retirement home. If I wasn't married and with children, I would have handed over my clothes and donned monk robes for the rest of my life today. But alas, it was only a fantasy and judging by the sun starting to sink closer to the mountains, it was time for me to go back to the hotel.
This is where my exciting travel story begins– I approached the exit and noticed all of the welcome buildings were closed and there were no song tows around. Not good. So I decided to start walking toward the direction we drove in from. All was going well until I hit the infamous fork in the road. Crap! Which way did we come in from? I started toward the right, but my gut said "no". I started walking toward the left, my head said "this doesn't look right". I took the road to the right and kept walking, hoping to catch a song tow. After about 10 minutes I didn't see one red taxi and my surroundings didn't look familiar either. Crap! I looked at the sun and it was about to sink behind the mountains any moment... Crap! Ahead there was a little food stand at the side of the road. I stopped there to talk to the lady: "Song tow. Chiang Mai" I say as I point to my chest. "Me. Song tow. Chiang Mai." The woman looked at me, turned to the couple of other people with her and asked about a song tow. They shook their heads no. She turned to me and started talking. All I can understand is "Wat". She was telling me to go to some Wat for help. Crap! Crap! Crap!
You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you're just starting to get really scared? Yup. That was me. I kept looking at the sun thinking I've got to get on a song tow before the sunsets!!!! I kept walking and turning around hoping one comes along, while trying to keep myself from panicking. No song tows. Just people on motorbikes. I caught a glimpse of another foreigner on a motorbike. As he zoomed by, I waved my hands. He just looked at me and kept going, then he looked back again and I waved at him again. He slowed down, turned around and came back. He took off the earphones he was wearing and I yelled across the road to him "Do you speak English?" He nodded and said he did. Thank GOD!!! I jogged across the road and told him I needed a song tow to get back to Chiang Mai. He told me, I wouldn't be catching a song tow on the road we were on and then offered me a ride to take me to the main road. Of course, I said yes and hopped on the back of his bike.
We drove off and he asked me if I'm lost. I laughed and said "A little bit". I found out his name is Alex, he was from California and has been living in Chiang Mai for just over a year. Less than 5 minutes driving and we were at the intersection where I needed to get off. He told me which direction to go, I thanked him and apologized for interrupting his day. I crossed the intersection and within two minutes I flagged down a song tow and was on my way back to my family before the sun went down. I knew everything would work out just fine.
I arrived back at the hotel and had a good laugh with Kevin over my ordeal. We then gathered up the kids and headed back to the night market. This time we started out at the Warorot Saturday Night Market, where we found an offering of fried up, well-seasoned insects to tantalize our taste buds. I was going to go for the locust, since I couldn't stomach the thought of eating cockroaches or grubs, but then Kev said "There's probably a good reason why there are no locals eating at this stand" and I decided he's probably right. My life is complete without eating fried up bugs today, so I passed and listened to Jasmine for the next 10 minutes tell me I chickened out. I'm quite okay being taunted by an 8 year old. Instead I ordered up some grilled skewered calamari and shrimp. The shrimp turned out to be fake shrimp. It was processed imitation crab meat molded into the shape of shrimp. I still ate it though. The calamari, not so much. I like calamari, but for some reason my stomach said, "Uh uh... that's not coming down here tonight" so I spit the piece that was in my mouth out and tossed the rest into the garbage.
We did some more shopping and I found a beautiful white top for 190 Baht (= just under $7.00 CAD). Then we found our way back to the food market at the Kalare market, where I ordered a dish of Mango and sticky rice which was absolutely delicious. The girls had smoothies, Kev had his "Chang Draught" beer and we were all happy. When we were all finished, we packed up and headed back to our room for the night because tomorrow we meet the elephants.
December 11 Sometimes Dreams Have Bad Parts, Too.
When we woke up this morning, it seemed like we had just gone to bed. Not complaining though... scratchy eyes and sluggish bodies were a minor discomfort in exchange for spending a full day with elephants.
The driver from Patara Elephant Farm picked us up from our hotel at 7:30am and took us on a 45 minute drive into a rural area, during which we were able to enjoy the company of a handful of other tourists from England, U.S. and Australia. Once we arrived, we got out of the van and were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty of our surroundings. Every step we took along the grassy footpath toward the entrance began to feel more and more like a dream. We crossed a foot bridge and the grassy field opened up into a beautiful forest... then we saw the elephants. There were two adults and a little wee one waiting to greet us. It was so surreal. They were in excellent condition, they were happy and they weren't in chains. My eyes welled up with tears. I felt so privileged and humbled to be in their presence. The baby was very playful, rolling around like a cat and then bounding around to meet everyone. We fed bananas to all three of them and couldn't do so without our entire hands being gobbled up into their mouths, which were warm and VERY slimy. They were all so gentle with us. Elephants are such incredible Beings.
We were greeted by Pat, the son of the farm owner. He gave us some background on the farm, which essentially is to adopt domesticated elephants who have been mistreated and to restore and maintain their physical, mental and spiritual well being. They are also involved in returning elephants into the wild. Pat shared his passion for elephants and the importance of conservation, rehabilitation and education. He spoke of other elephant experiences that are available for tourists (which we were well aware of) that have no concern for the elephant's well-being and are more like a circus show. He gave our girls some special homework on elephants, we were given a traditional mahout (elephant trainer) smock to wear and then we were off to meet our elephant.
We walked out into a pasture (and deeper into our dream) where we saw several more elephants. We were given a quick tutorial on how to check the health and well being of our elephant; the first thing a mahout does when greeting his elephant in the morning:
1. Mood: elephant's ears and tail should be flapping– this means she's happy. If ears remain in flapped out position the elephant is defensive and approach with caution. If the elephant is ill the trunk will hang and not move.
2.Poop: should be a minimum of 5 droppings that are moist with little or no odor and with lots of fibre.
3. Sweat: Check around the toes for moisture– healthy elephants will perspire
4. Sleep: Check both sides of the elephant for dirt marks. Healthy elephants will sleep on their sides and will switch the sides their sleeping on. Sick
elephants will sleep standing up because if they lie down they won't be able to get up.
We then met our elephants to give them a check. Kevin and Aislinn greeted Maeka Por while Jasmine and I said "sawadee ka" to Mae Bua Tong and our trainer, Niroot. Mae Bua Tong and Maeka Por passed their morning check up with flying colours (not that they would give anyone a sick elephant) and our next task was to bathe them. Another quick tutorial and we were off. First Jasmine and I told Mae Bua Tong to "Na long" (lay down) then we swept the dirt off of her with a small bundle of green leaves. "Didi" (good job) we kept telling her. Then we called out "Louk" and she stood up. We held her ear and said "Ma" (come) and she began to walk toward the river. Once we got to the river bank we called out "How" so she would stop, we took off our shoes and then Jasi and I guided her into the water. Niroot handed us each a basket and scrub brush and we began to splash and scrub Mae Bua Tong. She allowed us to lift her trunk and clean right near her mouth, around her eyes and ears... Jasi and I wanted to do a good job for her, so we were very thorough. At the end of the bath we posed in front of the elephant for a quick kodak moment when unexpected ly the elephant sprayed us with water.
When the bath was over we were taught more words to communicate with our elephant, as well as three different mounting techniques: leap frog onto her head, use her thigh as a ladder or she could lift you up with her trunk and you could climb on. Mae Bua Tong prefers the leap frog style, so that was the route I took, which wasn't all that bad. Jasmine was a little too small for that approach so she used Mae Bua Tong's leg as a ladder. Once we were on her neck we went for our first trek through the forest. This was where our I started to wake up from our dream. Niroot was carrying a bamboo stick that had a pointed end and within 15 minutes of our walk he began poking Mae Bua Tong with it. After about the 5th or 6th poke I started getting angry because Mae Bua Tong was not misbehaving and it seemed excessive. My first inclination was to ask him if he would like me to poke him like that, but I kept my mouth shut because I needed to find a better way to approach the situation and still get my point across. After a half hour of this we arrived to the waterfall to eat lunch. I was beside myself and felt we had made a mistake participating in this experience. Kevin saw the expression on my face and knew something was wrong. I told him what was going on and as he says, he thought I was having a "PETA moment" and wanted to rescue the elephants from the farm, but at the time he just listened quietly to what I was saying and was hopeful it would get better on the ride back.
We sat down for lunch, which was AMAZING (and we have pictures to prove it) and then there was an opportunity to swim with the elephants. Kevin and the girls went, but I decided not to. Instead I chose to feel guilty about being there and by doing so being partly responsible for the abuse my elephant was experiencing. I happened to glance up at the top of the hill where some of the elephants were waiting and saw my mahout, Niroot, joust Mae Bau Tong with his stick. I wanted out of there fast. I looked around and saw everyone else enjoying themselves; maybe I was having a PETA moment.
Finally, it came time to leave. The elephants cleaned up our eating spot and we were off again. Jasmine and I sang songs to Mae Bua Tong: Jai Ganesh- a hindu kirtan chant summoning the god of removing obstacles. More poking. Then Niroot decided to poke Mae Bau Tong in the eye with his finger. I couldn't be silent any more. "Niroot! Please! No more poking. No poke. Too rough!" I was as calm as I could be, but I was out of my skin. I couldn't take anymore. Niroot understood what I had said and apologized. The last few minutes of our ride were peaceful for Mae Bua Tong and then finally we were back at our starting point. I was hoping to see Pat, but he wasn't around. I guess I would have to write a lengthy email to him, as well as a trip advisor review. I heard other people talk about their experiences and it was a mixed bag. Some people, like Kevin and Aislinn, had good mahouts who treated their elephants well. Out of about 12 people in our group, 3 elephants had crappy trainers. That's three too many. I was sick to my stomach– at the very best there seemed to be a disconnect between the owners of the farm and the trainers; at the very worst everything Pat said to us when we arrived was a lie.
We got into our van with the group we drove up with and made our way back to our hotels. We told our driver about our experiences and the driver called Pat right away. The next thing we knew, we pulled over at a cafe and and Pat met up with us. He was not happy about the situation and wanted to talk with us. Another couple in our van saw another trainer poke an elephant with what looked like a little pick axe after it had reached it's trunk out with a twisting motion at the wife as she walked past. Pat indicated that typically when a female elephants make that motion it is an aggressive action in which they intend to grab a person and pull them in. It is a behaviour that could injure someone, but he would definitely investigate it further. Niroot, on the other hand, was a newer trainer and while their philosophy is for the elephants also help their trainers become better people, sometimes it doesn't always work out. If he needs to make changes to his staff, he will. I felt a lot better knowing Pat heard my concerns and that action would be taken. Up until that moment, I felt I had betrayed Mae Bua Tong.
Once we arrived to our hotel, we quickly freshened up and met Dave-the-tailor in our lobby for Kevin's second fitting. As we're leaving the lobby, Pat from Patara Farms was waiting for us. He let us know he was still very upset with what we experienced today and wanted to personally refund our money for our time with Mae Bua Tong. We both choked up with tears as we wai'd to each other. I said "Korp Kuhn-Ka" (thank you) and wanted to hug him but didn't know if that was appropriate so I wai'd again. We got into Dave-the-tailor's car and I cried into the sarong I was wearing as a scarf as he drove off. (I still get emotional about it as I type this)
I collected myself as we pulled up to CM Custom Tailors to see the progress on Kevin's suits. I have to admit, they're coming along quite nicely. Dave gave us drinks and fed us a bowl of bacon-cheese-seaweed Lays potato chips and like all Lays chips, I couldn't eat just one. We finished up with Kevin's fitting and Dave offered to drop us off at the Sunday night market.
We have yet to see as many people in one spot as there were at the Sunday market, which was the most biggest outdoor market I have ever seen. How big? Well, considering at the end of the night when both of our kids were fast asleep and we wanted to leave to find a song tow, we couldn't find a way out. Every street was a sea of people and vendors and there was no end in sight. We walked and walked and walked and walked... still no cleared street to be found to catch a song tow. Finally, we went into a hotel and asked where the closest exit street was. We still had a 15 minute walk. Our kids were like sacs of potatoes and our muscles were starting to cramp from carrying them. I guess it would have been helpful if we had done our research before hand. That's how big the market was.
Like every other night so far, once we got home we fell into bed out of sheer exhaustion. Tomorrow is going to be yet another busy day.
The driver from Patara Elephant Farm picked us up from our hotel at 7:30am and took us on a 45 minute drive into a rural area, during which we were able to enjoy the company of a handful of other tourists from England, U.S. and Australia. Once we arrived, we got out of the van and were immediately overwhelmed by the beauty of our surroundings. Every step we took along the grassy footpath toward the entrance began to feel more and more like a dream. We crossed a foot bridge and the grassy field opened up into a beautiful forest... then we saw the elephants. There were two adults and a little wee one waiting to greet us. It was so surreal. They were in excellent condition, they were happy and they weren't in chains. My eyes welled up with tears. I felt so privileged and humbled to be in their presence. The baby was very playful, rolling around like a cat and then bounding around to meet everyone. We fed bananas to all three of them and couldn't do so without our entire hands being gobbled up into their mouths, which were warm and VERY slimy. They were all so gentle with us. Elephants are such incredible Beings.
We were greeted by Pat, the son of the farm owner. He gave us some background on the farm, which essentially is to adopt domesticated elephants who have been mistreated and to restore and maintain their physical, mental and spiritual well being. They are also involved in returning elephants into the wild. Pat shared his passion for elephants and the importance of conservation, rehabilitation and education. He spoke of other elephant experiences that are available for tourists (which we were well aware of) that have no concern for the elephant's well-being and are more like a circus show. He gave our girls some special homework on elephants, we were given a traditional mahout (elephant trainer) smock to wear and then we were off to meet our elephant.
We walked out into a pasture (and deeper into our dream) where we saw several more elephants. We were given a quick tutorial on how to check the health and well being of our elephant; the first thing a mahout does when greeting his elephant in the morning:
1. Mood: elephant's ears and tail should be flapping– this means she's happy. If ears remain in flapped out position the elephant is defensive and approach with caution. If the elephant is ill the trunk will hang and not move.
2.Poop: should be a minimum of 5 droppings that are moist with little or no odor and with lots of fibre.
3. Sweat: Check around the toes for moisture– healthy elephants will perspire
4. Sleep: Check both sides of the elephant for dirt marks. Healthy elephants will sleep on their sides and will switch the sides their sleeping on. Sick
elephants will sleep standing up because if they lie down they won't be able to get up.
We then met our elephants to give them a check. Kevin and Aislinn greeted Maeka Por while Jasmine and I said "sawadee ka" to Mae Bua Tong and our trainer, Niroot. Mae Bua Tong and Maeka Por passed their morning check up with flying colours (not that they would give anyone a sick elephant) and our next task was to bathe them. Another quick tutorial and we were off. First Jasmine and I told Mae Bua Tong to "Na long" (lay down) then we swept the dirt off of her with a small bundle of green leaves. "Didi" (good job) we kept telling her. Then we called out "Louk" and she stood up. We held her ear and said "Ma" (come) and she began to walk toward the river. Once we got to the river bank we called out "How" so she would stop, we took off our shoes and then Jasi and I guided her into the water. Niroot handed us each a basket and scrub brush and we began to splash and scrub Mae Bua Tong. She allowed us to lift her trunk and clean right near her mouth, around her eyes and ears... Jasi and I wanted to do a good job for her, so we were very thorough. At the end of the bath we posed in front of the elephant for a quick kodak moment when unexpected ly the elephant sprayed us with water.
When the bath was over we were taught more words to communicate with our elephant, as well as three different mounting techniques: leap frog onto her head, use her thigh as a ladder or she could lift you up with her trunk and you could climb on. Mae Bua Tong prefers the leap frog style, so that was the route I took, which wasn't all that bad. Jasmine was a little too small for that approach so she used Mae Bua Tong's leg as a ladder. Once we were on her neck we went for our first trek through the forest. This was where our I started to wake up from our dream. Niroot was carrying a bamboo stick that had a pointed end and within 15 minutes of our walk he began poking Mae Bua Tong with it. After about the 5th or 6th poke I started getting angry because Mae Bua Tong was not misbehaving and it seemed excessive. My first inclination was to ask him if he would like me to poke him like that, but I kept my mouth shut because I needed to find a better way to approach the situation and still get my point across. After a half hour of this we arrived to the waterfall to eat lunch. I was beside myself and felt we had made a mistake participating in this experience. Kevin saw the expression on my face and knew something was wrong. I told him what was going on and as he says, he thought I was having a "PETA moment" and wanted to rescue the elephants from the farm, but at the time he just listened quietly to what I was saying and was hopeful it would get better on the ride back.
We sat down for lunch, which was AMAZING (and we have pictures to prove it) and then there was an opportunity to swim with the elephants. Kevin and the girls went, but I decided not to. Instead I chose to feel guilty about being there and by doing so being partly responsible for the abuse my elephant was experiencing. I happened to glance up at the top of the hill where some of the elephants were waiting and saw my mahout, Niroot, joust Mae Bau Tong with his stick. I wanted out of there fast. I looked around and saw everyone else enjoying themselves; maybe I was having a PETA moment.
Finally, it came time to leave. The elephants cleaned up our eating spot and we were off again. Jasmine and I sang songs to Mae Bua Tong: Jai Ganesh- a hindu kirtan chant summoning the god of removing obstacles. More poking. Then Niroot decided to poke Mae Bau Tong in the eye with his finger. I couldn't be silent any more. "Niroot! Please! No more poking. No poke. Too rough!" I was as calm as I could be, but I was out of my skin. I couldn't take anymore. Niroot understood what I had said and apologized. The last few minutes of our ride were peaceful for Mae Bua Tong and then finally we were back at our starting point. I was hoping to see Pat, but he wasn't around. I guess I would have to write a lengthy email to him, as well as a trip advisor review. I heard other people talk about their experiences and it was a mixed bag. Some people, like Kevin and Aislinn, had good mahouts who treated their elephants well. Out of about 12 people in our group, 3 elephants had crappy trainers. That's three too many. I was sick to my stomach– at the very best there seemed to be a disconnect between the owners of the farm and the trainers; at the very worst everything Pat said to us when we arrived was a lie.
We got into our van with the group we drove up with and made our way back to our hotels. We told our driver about our experiences and the driver called Pat right away. The next thing we knew, we pulled over at a cafe and and Pat met up with us. He was not happy about the situation and wanted to talk with us. Another couple in our van saw another trainer poke an elephant with what looked like a little pick axe after it had reached it's trunk out with a twisting motion at the wife as she walked past. Pat indicated that typically when a female elephants make that motion it is an aggressive action in which they intend to grab a person and pull them in. It is a behaviour that could injure someone, but he would definitely investigate it further. Niroot, on the other hand, was a newer trainer and while their philosophy is for the elephants also help their trainers become better people, sometimes it doesn't always work out. If he needs to make changes to his staff, he will. I felt a lot better knowing Pat heard my concerns and that action would be taken. Up until that moment, I felt I had betrayed Mae Bua Tong.
Once we arrived to our hotel, we quickly freshened up and met Dave-the-tailor in our lobby for Kevin's second fitting. As we're leaving the lobby, Pat from Patara Farms was waiting for us. He let us know he was still very upset with what we experienced today and wanted to personally refund our money for our time with Mae Bua Tong. We both choked up with tears as we wai'd to each other. I said "Korp Kuhn-Ka" (thank you) and wanted to hug him but didn't know if that was appropriate so I wai'd again. We got into Dave-the-tailor's car and I cried into the sarong I was wearing as a scarf as he drove off. (I still get emotional about it as I type this)
I collected myself as we pulled up to CM Custom Tailors to see the progress on Kevin's suits. I have to admit, they're coming along quite nicely. Dave gave us drinks and fed us a bowl of bacon-cheese-seaweed Lays potato chips and like all Lays chips, I couldn't eat just one. We finished up with Kevin's fitting and Dave offered to drop us off at the Sunday night market.
We have yet to see as many people in one spot as there were at the Sunday market, which was the most biggest outdoor market I have ever seen. How big? Well, considering at the end of the night when both of our kids were fast asleep and we wanted to leave to find a song tow, we couldn't find a way out. Every street was a sea of people and vendors and there was no end in sight. We walked and walked and walked and walked... still no cleared street to be found to catch a song tow. Finally, we went into a hotel and asked where the closest exit street was. We still had a 15 minute walk. Our kids were like sacs of potatoes and our muscles were starting to cramp from carrying them. I guess it would have been helpful if we had done our research before hand. That's how big the market was.
Like every other night so far, once we got home we fell into bed out of sheer exhaustion. Tomorrow is going to be yet another busy day.
December 12 Swinging Through the Trees with the Greatest of Ease...
This morning it hurt even more to wake up. Our bus for the Flight of the Gibbon zip-line tour was to pick us up at 7:00am. As we're rushing around to get ready, Jasmine was moving really slow. "Jasmine! Hurry up! The bus will be here soon!" It felt like a typical school morning back home. Jasmine complained that her belly was hurting. Kevin and I both looked at each other and thought she'd be okay so we continued to coax her to get dressed. The bus arrived and we still took another 5 minutes before we made a mad rush out the door. We hopped in the van and apologized for holding up the other couple that was quietly waiting in the back. We settled in and made our way down the road... for 2 minutes. That's about how long it took before Jasmine started throwing up. Good times indeed.
We asked the driver to pull over and we got out. I made a futile attempt to wipe up the with Kleenex and Kevin assured the couple in the back it was only water so it shouldn't smell too bad. Our driver flagged down a tuk-tuk for us and we zipped back to our hotel room. Of course, as we were driving back we were feeling bad. Feeling bad for Jasi, feeling bad about missing the opportunity to zip-line through a 1500 year old rain forest, feeling bad for not listening when Jasmine initially told us she wasn't feeling well. Once we arrived back at our hotel, we let all that go and let the day unfold the way it intended to. I seized the opportunity to take a nap with Jasmine, as Kevin and Aislinn went to eat the breakfast we missed to catch the van.
An hour and a half later, Jasmine woke up feeling fine and wanted to make another attempt at Flight of the Gibbon. (Jasmine thinks it was the early morning that was upsetting her stomach) We called and they had spots available for 1:15pm pick up, so we booked (and crossed our fingers). 1:15 rolled around, a different van came to pick us up and we made the one hour drive into a remote village within the mountains. When we arrived, Poon-Poon, our guide, greeted us and escorted us right away to the toilets, as there would be limited opportunities to do so once we were in the rainforest. Outside of the bathrooms there was a sign of apology posted stating there had been a landslide that took out Flight of the Gibbon's office and as a result were temporarily using the facilities of the village school. Now there's something we don't have to worry about back home.
Once we were all emptied, we picked out our complimentary t-shirt and then Poon-Poon and our other guide, Bor, helped us put our harnesses and helmets on. We hopped back into the van and took a short drive to our access point into the rainforest. Our dream state returned once again. We couldn't help but to compare our scenery to the movie 'Avatar'– it was that beautiful. We walked along a path, stopping along the way to look at the exotic flora and fauna and take pictures. Within 5 minutes we reached a set of stairs to our first zipline. We ran through the rules and guidelines for using the ziplines and in a blink of an eye, Aislinn was flying through the rainforest and then we all were. No one was scared and no one puked. We had such a good time laughing and screaming through the treetops. There was over 5 km of ziplines, The longest being 800 metres (that one was my favourite) and there was another one that was super fast (that one was fun, too!) And the trees... the trees were unbelievable, like the elephants, I was humbled to be in their presence. We had the pleasure of seeing one of three gibbons that live in that particular forest and we ended our zip-lining by rapelling (40m) down beside a 400 year old Banyan tree. AMAZING!
Our feet touched ground and Kev and I had a quick beer at a little patio hut, then we were driven back to return our equipment. While we were waiting for the next part of our excursion, some of the other guides were in the parking lot playing a game with a wicker ball that looked like a cross between soccer and volleyball. It looked like a lot of fun. I wanted to join them, but it required a fair amount of skill and I didn't feel like making an ass out of myself. (HA!)
Next up, we were driven to a waterfall for a quick trek. All I could say the entire time was "My GOD!!! It's so beautiful!!" We were all so excited to be hiking near a waterfall in Thailand– we are so blessed. We trekked approx. 10 storeys before turning around back to the van as the sun was going down. We returned to the office and were led to an outdoor village restaurant for our meal, which was absolutely delicious. While we were eating we were entertained by local hill tribe musicians. Aislinn was starting to go into "tornado mode" because she was tired. I directed her excessive energy to the musicians, encouraging her to see if they'll let her play the bells. The musicians were happy to have her help. So there she was, sitting on the little stage with the locals playing music– a dream within a dream (and a great way to calm her down). Soon, it came time to leave and we were on the road again. We all fell asleep on the drive home. Kevin and I somehow managed to stumble our way back up to our hotel room while carrying the girls. Kevin left again to pick up his suit* and I stayed with the girls. This was our last day in Chiang Mai, but I can't let it be our last visit. Jason, Allison, Kyra, Chris and Diana you were all right. I LOVE Chiang Mai.
*We'll have to post pics of Kev's new suit once we get home– it's all neatly packaged for our flight home, but Kevin is very happy with it!
We asked the driver to pull over and we got out. I made a futile attempt to wipe up the with Kleenex and Kevin assured the couple in the back it was only water so it shouldn't smell too bad. Our driver flagged down a tuk-tuk for us and we zipped back to our hotel room. Of course, as we were driving back we were feeling bad. Feeling bad for Jasi, feeling bad about missing the opportunity to zip-line through a 1500 year old rain forest, feeling bad for not listening when Jasmine initially told us she wasn't feeling well. Once we arrived back at our hotel, we let all that go and let the day unfold the way it intended to. I seized the opportunity to take a nap with Jasmine, as Kevin and Aislinn went to eat the breakfast we missed to catch the van.
An hour and a half later, Jasmine woke up feeling fine and wanted to make another attempt at Flight of the Gibbon. (Jasmine thinks it was the early morning that was upsetting her stomach) We called and they had spots available for 1:15pm pick up, so we booked (and crossed our fingers). 1:15 rolled around, a different van came to pick us up and we made the one hour drive into a remote village within the mountains. When we arrived, Poon-Poon, our guide, greeted us and escorted us right away to the toilets, as there would be limited opportunities to do so once we were in the rainforest. Outside of the bathrooms there was a sign of apology posted stating there had been a landslide that took out Flight of the Gibbon's office and as a result were temporarily using the facilities of the village school. Now there's something we don't have to worry about back home.
Once we were all emptied, we picked out our complimentary t-shirt and then Poon-Poon and our other guide, Bor, helped us put our harnesses and helmets on. We hopped back into the van and took a short drive to our access point into the rainforest. Our dream state returned once again. We couldn't help but to compare our scenery to the movie 'Avatar'– it was that beautiful. We walked along a path, stopping along the way to look at the exotic flora and fauna and take pictures. Within 5 minutes we reached a set of stairs to our first zipline. We ran through the rules and guidelines for using the ziplines and in a blink of an eye, Aislinn was flying through the rainforest and then we all were. No one was scared and no one puked. We had such a good time laughing and screaming through the treetops. There was over 5 km of ziplines, The longest being 800 metres (that one was my favourite) and there was another one that was super fast (that one was fun, too!) And the trees... the trees were unbelievable, like the elephants, I was humbled to be in their presence. We had the pleasure of seeing one of three gibbons that live in that particular forest and we ended our zip-lining by rapelling (40m) down beside a 400 year old Banyan tree. AMAZING!
Our feet touched ground and Kev and I had a quick beer at a little patio hut, then we were driven back to return our equipment. While we were waiting for the next part of our excursion, some of the other guides were in the parking lot playing a game with a wicker ball that looked like a cross between soccer and volleyball. It looked like a lot of fun. I wanted to join them, but it required a fair amount of skill and I didn't feel like making an ass out of myself. (HA!)
Next up, we were driven to a waterfall for a quick trek. All I could say the entire time was "My GOD!!! It's so beautiful!!" We were all so excited to be hiking near a waterfall in Thailand– we are so blessed. We trekked approx. 10 storeys before turning around back to the van as the sun was going down. We returned to the office and were led to an outdoor village restaurant for our meal, which was absolutely delicious. While we were eating we were entertained by local hill tribe musicians. Aislinn was starting to go into "tornado mode" because she was tired. I directed her excessive energy to the musicians, encouraging her to see if they'll let her play the bells. The musicians were happy to have her help. So there she was, sitting on the little stage with the locals playing music– a dream within a dream (and a great way to calm her down). Soon, it came time to leave and we were on the road again. We all fell asleep on the drive home. Kevin and I somehow managed to stumble our way back up to our hotel room while carrying the girls. Kevin left again to pick up his suit* and I stayed with the girls. This was our last day in Chiang Mai, but I can't let it be our last visit. Jason, Allison, Kyra, Chris and Diana you were all right. I LOVE Chiang Mai.
*We'll have to post pics of Kev's new suit once we get home– it's all neatly packaged for our flight home, but Kevin is very happy with it!