While I was at Elephant Nature Park, Jodi and I happened across Faa Mai and a few of her friends indulging in some ditch-diving. Faa Mai was enjoying herself so much she got in and out about three times. Little Dok Mai was very happy to copy what her big herd-sister was doing. Here’s some of the footage I got…
Category Archives: Travel
Ravings on places I’ve travelled to.
Beautiful New Zealand – My Middle Earth and a Habitat for Hobbits
I realised a little while ago that I tend to rave on about places in Asia that I’ve been to – especially Elephant Nature Park – but not really raved very much about the beautiful little country of my birth. So here’s a little rant about my place – Aotearoa, ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. Also know as Godzone by the denizens of the land, or Middle Earth to the world, since Peter Jackson used the exquisite scenery here as the background for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We may not have elephants here, but we do have hobbits. Yessss, we doesss.
The North Island of New Zealand (Middle Earth) with directions on where to find stuff.
Camera Rambles: Buffalo Sludge-Boulder Portraits (and a Cow)
I’ve always loved the look of buffalo – magnificent beasties. I finally got my chance to get some decent photos of them at Elephant Nature Park this year. Most of them were taken on zoom, so no sludge-boulders were disturbed during this filming. They did take a good look at me for a little while, then went back to the business of applying their mud packs.
Camera Rambles: Hunting Dog – Elephant Nature Park
Just a series of photos I took of one of the Park dogs hunting goodness-knows-what in the grass while we worked nearby. The ‘Platform Dogs’ – ones that roam freely around the Park – often follow the volunteer groups around and lie down or play nearby. It was such a nice setting on this morning – early morning sun, green grass, dragonflies flitting by – that I had to capture this little moment in Paradise on camera.
Steel – An Utterly Magnificent Being
If you happen to volunteer at the dog shelter at Elephant Nature Park, beware. There is a very dangerous animal here, aptly named Steel. I say aptly because she is a dog of tremendous determination, an animal with a Will Of Steel and she will snatch your heart and not give it back. If she happens to be in your vicinity, do not, I repeat, DO NOT look into her eyes. Because this will happen:
Scratch my neck. Gowonnnn, you know you want to…
You looked, didn’t you? I warned you… Continue reading
How to Assemble an Elephant – or – Building Your Pachyderm Successfully. Part 1.
So, you want to build an elephant? Firstly, may I suggest that you first purchase a forest. Elephants eat around 150 kg of food per day, so your garden won’t last very long no matter how big it is. That being said, they only digest around 40 percent of what they eat, so your compost heap is going to become mighty healthy. Thus the prudent purchasing of a sack factory so you can bag up and sell the associated by-products and therefore regain some of your investment is another idea worthy of looking at. Not to mention the size your potatoes will grow to.
The instructions herein are for the assembly of an Asian Elephant DIY Kit (TM). To build an African elephant, you will need to purchase the African Elephant DIY Kit (TM) and follow the instructions peculiar to that model. Continue reading
Camera Rambles: Elephant Nature Park – Dog Portraits
Some photos of some of the beautiful dog critters at Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai. After volunteering with the elephants for a week, we volunteered for another week at the dog shelter. Here are some of the new friends we made: Continue reading
Camera Rambles: Jetlag and Brain Snags
That strange place you’re in when you’ve just arrived home from another country, climate and culture. My brain keeps wondering why it gets dark so much earlier, there are no geckos crawling up the walls and my feet feel confined in shoes. Continue reading
Yawwwwnnnnnn – I Luvs Travelling, I Does…
After being on a bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai all night, we arrived at Bangkok at 7-something this morn. It’s now 10-something this morn and we’re sitting around our hotel waiting to check in, which isn’t supposed to happen untl 12 noon. I’m typing with one hand and holding one eye open with the other. I just looooove travelling – it’s so great to get outside one’s comfort zones from time to time. Did I mention I was starving too? Yawwwwwn…
My left toenail for a coffee…
Yeah, alright. Betcha you don’t look so great in the morning either.
Thailand 2013 (4) Scrooge McDuck Hits the Ground and the Trusty Chiang Mai Scooter Run
The delightful Diva
When we arrived at the Chiang Mai train station – on the bus – we grabbed a taxi to our guesthouse. We could have grabbed a songthaew (red utes with bench seats in the back under cover, that drive round and round the old part of the city and usually only cost 20 baht) but we were pretty ragged around the edges from sleeping sitting up with the other sausages on the bus and chose a bit of luxury to end our journey, in the form of a taxi. All to ourselves. We were horrendously overcharged but we just didn’t care. When I say overcharged, it cost us 180 Baht, which is the equivalent of approximately $7 NZ – hardly a tragedy, but you’d be surprised how quickly you become protective over your wallet contents when you have to survive somewhere for five weeks, forking out for absolutely everything you do. You even have to pay 3 Baht to use the toilet in some public places – add that up for 7 days a week, times 5 weeks, plus food (insert in and out joke here), transport and accommodation costs, and the gallons of water you have to buy and drink ongoingly, and you’ll begin to see what I mean. Your Scrooge McDuck alter ego tends to kick in pretty much as soon as you hit the ground. Continue reading
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