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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading →

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

Posted on by

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…

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by
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 →

An Awesome Woman!!

Posted on by

Lek Chailert, founder of Elephant Nature Park – she gets to many places and helps many other beings. An awesome woman!

Lek in Burma

The Elephant Whisperer – Documentary, 2012.

Posted on by

Produced in 2012, this is a documentary that features Lek Chailert, founder of Elephant Nature Park, and covers a wide range of the situations and issues of the Asian elephant today.

The reality is that the Asian elephant is becoming extinct. If we don’t all come to the realization that in little or big ways we can help the ones that are left, our grandchildren or their children will have to visit museums to gasp at an animal that until recently walked this earth.

What will they think of us, their recent ancestors, the ones that allowed the unethical treatment of elephants to continue, and allowed the extinction of them to occur? I, for one, don’t want to find out the answer to that question…

View the documentary here

Chang Yim - young male elephant and all around ratbag. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Chang Yim – young male elephant and all around ratbag. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Elephants: Another Poignant Piece to Read. Warning! Grab Your Tissues!!

Posted on by

Grant Hayter-Menzies is an author of several books and is about to write one about Elephant Nature Park and Lek, the founder of the park. I’m rapt about this because both the Park and Lek are well worth reading about! Here is a piece he wrote about a childhood experience that haunts him to this day. Be warned – you will probably cry. I did.

Unpeacable Kingdom

Little humans with buckets swarming at the Drive In Ele Wash. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, North Thailand.

Little humans with buckets swarming at the Drive In Ele Wash. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, North Thailand.

 

Elephants on a Young New Zealand Traveler’s Blog – Please Read

Posted on by

I read this heart-rending post on the blog of a young New Zealand woman. Please read it and other posts on there, and share it around. It’s my wish that every tourist in the world refuses to attend elephant shows and riding parks and makes much more informed and ethical choices in the future. People like this young lady are making it happen.

Read her blog here

Thank you.

One giant step for pachyderm, half a dozen steps for mankind.

One giant step for pachyderm, half a dozen steps for mankind.

There but for the Grace of God…

Posted on by

I had to share this with you. It was just posted by saveelephant.org (Elephant Nature Park). A tour by blind students from Korea entitled ‘Touching an Elephant’. So very poignant…

Read their post here

A blind boy feels Faa Mai. Just look at the patience on her face...

A blind boy feels Faa Mai. Just look at the patience on her face…

A Human Being is a Part of the Whole Universe…

Posted on by

“A human being is a part of the whole universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

— Albert Einstein

"Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." Albert Einstein. Elephants strolling by at Elephant Nature Park

“Our task must be to free ourselves from this by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” Albert Einstein.
Elephants strolling by at Elephant Nature Park