Thailand 2013 (1) – Volcanoes, Icicles and No Camels and Welcome to Your Asian Experience.

The volcano we flew over.

The volcano we flew over.

Hi all. As you can see, we made it to Thailand safely and are still alive and kicking so far.

 We got to Auckland Airport with plenty of time to spare, and managed to get the Malayasian Airlines staff to accept our slightly overweight luggage at check in – we have our wonderful donors to thank for that: Whangamata Library who donated books for Cambodian kids, Whangamata Vet Hospital who donated syringes, gloves, IV lines, etc, for the Elephant Nature Park clinic, and Sunny’s, Whangamata who gave us coloured pencils and half a carton of kids t-shirts, also for kids that are less fortunate than us. Awesome people, bless their lovely hearts for that! Peter modified a large plastic toolbox to use as a suitcase, which gave the check-in staff cause to wonder if he was transporting tools, but it was more along the lines of a good hard shell, somewhere to sit while waiting in line after line, as you do when travelling, and also a rather marvellous vehicle for scooting around the large international airports. We can duly report that this worked very well, as well as amusing airport staff. We try to be adult, but it doesn’t always work out that way… 

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Thailand and Cambodia 2013. Or, Travel Anxiety – Am I Normal?!

One more sleep then we’re off to Thailand. I’ve found I’ve been somewhat anxious over the last week or two. This is what I’ve been doing:

  • Packed my suitcase, repacked it 15 times minimum – and that was only in my sleep.
  • Checked my passport and ticket. Checked again in case they have disappeared since last time I looked.
  • Checked that Malaysian Airlines still exists and hasn’t gone bust and sold off all their airplanes while I wasn’t looking.
  • Checked that I have the day right for our flights and don’t turn up at the airport to hear ‘I’m sorry Madam, your plane left yesterday’.
  • Sent copies of my itinerary, travel insurance, passport and other documents to multiple members of my family in case of attacks by rampant snakes or being sat upon by a absent-minded pachyderm.

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A New Baby at Elephant Nature Park – The Aunties are in Fits!

A new baby was born at the park yesterday. Have a look at this video and check out the excitement of the aunties. This is the third baby born here in the last few months – they’re absolutely beside themselves!!

Video of the new baby

Try having one of these very close to your own...

Try having one of these very close to your own…

The ‘Nine Nanas’ – a Really Cool Story to Warm Your Cockles…

This is such a cool story that I wanted to share it and help spread it around. It warmed the cockles of my heart, and I hope it warms yours too. Have a great day.

Namaste.

The Nine Nanas.

THE9NANAS

 

A Bit of Sunday Reading for You… Fabulous Factoids and Morsels for the Mind

Good morning fellow NERDS. It’s been raining here so I’ve been reading through this wonderful page full of fabulous factoids. I decided that I couldn’t possibly keep them to my self any longer, as they’re too interesting not to share. So here they are – enjoy your Sunday reading!

SciLogs – Morsels for the Mind

A Big Thank You for Donating to the Elephant Nature Park Projects

A Big Thank You to these business in our lil’ town in New Zealand:

Whangamata Veterinary Hospital for their kind donations of supplies for us to take to Elephant Nature Park for their animals.

Sunny’s, Whangamata, for their donations of pencils and T-shirts for us to take to the free school for Cambodian kids that ENP is developing at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary.

And Whangamata Library for donating books for the kids also.

Big smiles and thanks to all of you – I know this stuff is going to be really appreciated at the other end. 🙂

Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy...

Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy…

Returning to the Banana-Hoovers. Traveling, Logistics, and Nightmares of Things Forgotten

Luckily, elephants are vegetarians. One of the Park residents, Pom, giving an ele a treat.

Luckily, elephants are vegetarians. One of the Park residents, Pom, giving an ele a treat.

My partner and I are off to North Thailand in three weeks to work with elephants. Specifically the ones at Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, North Thailand. Large, grey proboscis-laden pachyderms banana-hoovers abound there, as well as many rescued dogs, cats, buffalo, cows, chickens and assorted other beasties. They’ve had 2 baby elephants since I was there last year – Navann and Dok Mai. Will I be able to resist hanging around them like a tween at a Bieber concert? Probably not. Will I be able to stop myself from trying to sneak one home in my luggage? Well, that would be a yes, because we only have a 30kg luggage allowance, and I’m pretty sure even a baby banana-hoover weights more than 30kg. Will I be able to avoid snakes, spiders and leech attacks? That remains to be seen. Last time I was in Thailand, it wasn’t out in the jungle I came close to having a snake-related cardiac arrest, it was in a town where I was innocently waiting to cross the road and one fell out of the power lines beside me! Very funny God! Read that story here. Read about the Giant Killer-Leech Attack here.

And so, the preparation begins: Continue reading

Lizard Queen of Navarac – (Contains Lizards).

Tiny house living has its idiosyncracys. Such as being stuck inside a small space during very bad weather. A couple of winters back I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing this while it rained for two weeks solid. After several days I got to wondering if I should tie 44 gallon drums around the outside of my wee home, while nursing visions of it lifting from the ground and gently drifting out to sea.

A bottle of wine or two combined with over a week of solitude, and three nights later, I had written a poem/saga encompassing the visions that flashed through my head. It contains lizards because I’m great fan of them and somehow a collection of lizards ornaments and doodads has grown around me over the years. Funny what happens in a 17ft-long tiny house when the rain and the wine do flow…

Never had the lizards seen a sighting like the Lizard Queen, leading from the towbar thus...

Never had the lizards seen a sighting like the Lizard Queen, leading from the towbar thus…

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Death by Balloon

Balloons - not so cute once they've landed.

Balloons – not so cute once they’ve landed.

I feel very strongly about this matter, so I decided to put a post up about it.  When you buy balloons and let go of them, they float off into the sky and look ever so pretty. But eventually they will pop or deflate and land somewhere out of your sight. Then it’s very possible that an animal or bird will come along and try to eat it, or get tangled up in it. And your lovely little momentary thrill will torture this animal or bird to death.

Please use your awareness a little more and refuse to buy balloons. And pass this around, because it’s something people just don’t think about. And it’s time more people did. Thank you, on behalf of the animals of the world.

Read more about balloons and sky lanterns (formerly known as Chinese lanterns) here