Elephants Here I Come, or Scrat, Vegetarian Banquets and Killer Elephant Pooh. Day 1 at Elephant Nature Park.

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Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The view over my coffee cup.

Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand. The view over my coffee cup.

I’m not one to swan about on deck chairs, sipping cocktails while watching the sunset at a luxurious beach resort. Oh no – I have to go out and punish myself in some strange and unusual manner for being a Westerner whose life is easy compared to many the world over, and who can scrounge up enough spare dollars to jump on a large airplane and fly to foreign climes. Far be it from me to wallow in comfort in pleasant surroundings while locals scurry to and fro with platters of gorgeous food and glasses with wee umbrellas poking out of them. That will not do at all! Far better that I throw myself into yet another deep end, fray my nerves with unfamiliar situations and learn to swim like hell until I’m at the other side of God-knows-what pool I’ve dunked myself into this time. Continue reading →

Please Don’t Ride the Elephants – this post is actually serious.

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BabyElephant 72

Please Don’t Ride The Elephants – A Serious Note.

Planning on going to Thailand for a holiday soon? Thinking you’d like to have a ride on an elephant or maybe watch elephants paint pictures while you’re there? Consider this first – the elephant you have a ride on may well be living a harsh and lonely life.

I’m writing this from the Elephant Nature Park, an hour or so from Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand. My friend Ursula and I have come here for seven days to help out as volunteers. The elephant park was started in 1995 by Lek Chailert who, whenever she can, rescues elephants from unhappy situations and gifts to them freedom from what is more often than not, a life of slavery. Continue reading →

And Home Again…

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SeeyaLaterBangkok 72Up and packing was I at 8am on our last morning in Bangkok – due to the fact I had gotten carried away with chatting with others the night before and other forms of indulgent procrastination measures, rather than get it done then. I finally had to face the chore head on, as it obviously wasn’t going to do itself, no matter how many chances I gave it. So morning found me throwing out things that were replaceable in New Zealand and squeezing things into places they shouldn’t have been able to fit. Several things got donated to the Imm Fusion Hotel Staff Benevolent Fund along the way – I hope what I left behind was of use to them. Continue reading →

Mangosteins and Purple Monster Shoes

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Croc Shop Bangkok Yesterday morning we went back to the Pratunam market, in case we missed buying everything in sight last time. First, onto the Skytrain, smugly clasping our all day passes, then through the Zen Mall – apparently one of the biggest malls in the world, where we went looking for the ahem, facilities. After admiring the enthusiasm of the flushing toilets (comparable to those on airplanes in their keenness to suck you into the Bangkok sewer system) and the rather splendid marble bowls in said facilities, we wandered back out, looked about us like yer average awestruck goldfish. Then we heard voices and cheering. Down on the ground floor (we were on the 3rd) there were a whole lot of young people dancing. At first we thought it was a flash mob, but it turned out to be more like a class being held by an obviously experienced male choreographer. It was great fun to watch and kept us amused and away from our shopping expedition for all of 10 minutes. A veritable miracle. Then we saw the Croc shop…
Ayla – there is now an entire shop dedicated to Croc shoes. I took photos for you – I knew you’d be pleased. Heh heh…(ebil chuckle) They even sell accessories to attach to your crocs… Continue reading →

Tokay Gecko in the Kitchen and the Two-Headed Cambodian Taxi Driver

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2HeadedTaxiDriverCambodia 72In the evening after my last email, I got a lesson on making Cambodian fried rice in the kitchen out the back, from one of the lads – ‘Destiny’ he calls himself. Not long after we started cooking, a Tokay gecko started up. Much to my frustration, I couldn’t find him to photograph him. He sounded like a big one too. So noisy yet so hard to find. As I was taking my generous pile of fried rice up to our room, the manager walked by. ‘Goodnight’ I said. ‘I am drunk – goodnight.’ said he. He’d been at a wedding all day…

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Cambodia – Points of Interest

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A great way to travel...

A great way to travel…

There are many stalls along the side of the road into Siem Reap with piles of crickets. Snack anyone?
 
Many people are happy to eat dog here but some are fussy about eating cat. Go figure.
 
The roads are very potholed and full and puddles and hard to walk down. There are some footpaths but often there are cars parked all over them.

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Fat Frogs and the Temple of Doom

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The Side Walk Never Die Hotel is rather a nice place.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap, Cambodia

It’s about 3 stories high with lots of columns and plants, is painted a sort of pinkish-strongish-marone colour and has a fantastic ornate teak ceiling on the inside of the lobby. It’s very spacious with lots of glass, the rooms are big and pleasant and the staff are really friendly. A nice oasis from the water-laden, pothole-strewn mess outside.

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Border Rip-Offs and the Side Walk Never Die Hotel

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Office Tree, Cambodian BorderWe arose at a disgusting hour to go and stand outside the Khao San Police Station to await our minivan to Cambodia. It arrived and we climbed in, only to be kicked back out because we were apparently on the wrong one. So we waited some more. Twenty past seven went by,as did several drunken stragglers from the night before who obviously don’t contain an off switch, and our 7a.m. van still didn’t arrive. Continue reading →

Streamlined Chickens and the Tarantula Larder

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Available for a reasonable price at Chiang Mai airport.

Available for a reasonable price at Chiang Mai airport.

Continuing from the last post, we moved across Old Chiang Mai to Chieu’s guesthouse in a very nice ute that his boss had lent him. After bumping around the place in tuk-tuks, we felt akin to royalty with the air conditioning of full blast and tinted windows to gaze out of. The ‘Tip Guesthouse’ is right next to a Wat, which was fairly quiet as there was construction of a new building going on in its grounds, so we didn’t hear early morning chanting or the crowing of competing roosters who can’t tell the time to save themselves. The chickens in Asia look rather different to ours – sort of streamlined models up on stilts, probably so designed as to keep out of the way of snakes. They make ours look like contenders for the Weight Watchers programme.

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Return from Elephant Nature Park to Chiang Mai

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Two friends bathing

Baby Girl Elephant

In Which I Get a Baby Elephant Kiss

We’re back in civilization now – Chiang Mai – and I have to confess that after 7 days of eating vegetarian food only, the first thing I bought was pork on a stick. For those who are mad about both elephants and tofu, however, I highly recommend you go to the park for a week or two and you will get your fill of both. Continue reading →