Sauj – lexlimbu dot com, for your Nepali News and Connections

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I met Sauj at Elephant Nature Park, North Thailand, where we were both volunteering. He’s a nice young fella, born in Nepal but raised and educated overseas. He too has experienced the dreadful job of cutting corn for elephants and lived to tell the tale. 😀 You can read about that HERE

He now has a blog that focuses on ‘Nepali happenings from Nepal and the Nepali diaspora.’ Nepali-born, he has now returned to his Mother Country, and aims to enable locals see the opportunities becoming more available in their own country.

Take a gander at his blog –

lexlimbu.com

He also runs Tracing Nepal, ‘an experience that aims to bring Nepali youths living outside of Nepal together to experience Nepal like never before’, during which they will volunteer assistance to rural Nepali communities.

Tracing Nepal

Have a look at his Facebook page too, to see some beautiful photos of Nepal. What an awesome country!! I will have to drop in on him I think, for a cup of tea. As you do… 😀

https://www.facebook.com/lexlimbuofficial

Sauj - doing the dreaded corn-cutting job.

Sauj – doing the dreaded corn-cutting job.

 

Elephants Don’t Surf! Pass it on…

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An elephant frolicking in FRESH water - as it should be. Note the lack of surfboard... "Watch this Ellie. Just one more push and we got us a waterhole!"

An elephant frolicking in FRESH water – as it should be. Note the lack of surfboard…
“Watch this Ellie. Just one more push and we got us a waterhole!”

Seriously, have you ever been out surfing and had an elephant glide past you on a wave? I’ll bet all six of my toe rings that you haven’t. That’s because elephants don’t surf.

There’s a series of photos and videos that have been making their way around the net for far too long. They feature a baby elephant ‘playing’ in the surf. It looks all very cute, but it is a very wrong picture. So very wrong! The Mahout Foundation have put out a video that shows what goes into the training of baby elephants – the ones you see in these ‘Have you ever seen anything so cute?’ pics, the one’s that are still unfortunately left in circuses, the ones you buy bananas for on the streets in Bangkok and the ones apparently frolicking in the surf, amongst others. Continue reading →

World Elephant Day, August 12. Some Happiness for You…

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Yesterday was World Elephant Day. Elephant Nature Park and Foundation put up some of the most beautiful photos I’ve seen of elephants and elephant love, featuring some of the inhabitants of ENP. Please go to the link below and enjoy some elephant happiness:

HERE THEY ARE

Faa Mai and Dok Mai having a blast ditch-diving at Elephant Nature Park.

Faa Mai and Dok Mai having a blast ditch-diving at Elephant Nature Park.

 

Elephant Lullaby for Faa Mai – Who Snores Through It!!

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Whenever she can, Lek Chailert, founder of Elephant Nature Park, sings a lullaby to Faa Mai, who was born at the park and thinks that Lek is her human mummy. From what I gather, the flapping of the rag resembles the flapping of a mother elephant’s ears or tail.

Check it out HERE

Faa Mai being told off for stealing food.

Faa Mai being told off for stealing food.

 

Happy New Year and Some Elephant Gossip

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Gather ye around and I'll tell ye the latest...

Gather ye around and I’ll tell ye the latest…

Hi all. I haven’t posted for a little while as we’ve been pretty busy around here with the silly season and all that it brings. I want to wish you all a Happy New Year, or Joyous Pagan Festivities, or whatever peels yer bananas.

To those in America and England, I’m sorry to hear that you’re rather cold at the moment, so I won’t rave on about what a perfect summer we’re having, as I sit outside on a beautifully starry night enjoying the wee solar lights and the humidity – that would just be cruel and I won’t do that to you. Nor will I mention the plums and avocados raining down upon us on a daily basis or Rustle the Hedgehog snuffling about feasting on them or indeed the Zinnia and Cosmos flowering madly outside my bedroom window. Far be it from me to tease you in such a hard-hearted manner. Continue reading →

Photo Essay – A Week of Volunteering at Elephant Nature Park. (Contains Many Photos and Much Waffling.)

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A baby banana-hoover learns how to do it.

A baby banana-hoover learns how to do it.

September 2013 and I was at it again. I traveled back to Thailand and instead of wallowing at beach resorts and quaffing drinks with little umbrellas in them, returned to Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary North of Chiang Mai, and volunteered my sweat and gave myself some blisters to remember. This time I went for two weeks instead of one, and also hauled my partner along so he could see what I had been rabbiting on about for the last year or so. Here’s a photo essay on being an ENP volunteer.

Firstly, this is where we slept. We were surrounded by Australians, so we dug in, marked our territory and guarded it fiercely. It was a great spot – it had a huge veranda outside, complete with guard dogs and several cats, and our room had a bed with mosquito nets, an open-walled ensuite, a tiny frog and a gecko. Unfortunately, it was situated up some stairs. Fourteen steep stairs to be exact. I know this. I counted them at the end of each long, hot day. Fooouuurrrteeennn of them…

NZ territory - right smack in the middle of Australian territory.

NZ territory – right smack in the middle of Australian territory.

Continue reading →

Things That Rustle in the Night – or – No Nasties in New Zealand

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No words really...

No words really…

Much as I enjoy wandering around the fascinating tropical areas of Asia, there are times when I’m pretty glad I live in New Zealand. As I sit here right now (about midnight), in my awning outside my tiny house caravan, I can hear loud rustling outside amongst the dry leaves – the rustlings of a nocturnal creature of some sort. I am remaining fairly calm about this, because I know the odds are it’s just Russell, the avocado-eating prickle-critter. Russell won’t eat me. He just eats snails, slugs, cat biscuits (stolen ones taste best) and avocados. I think that’s why he lives around my tiny house – it’s situated under a plum tree and an avocado tree, and lately it’s been raining avos down so hard that it pays to wear a helmet outside. A veritable feasting ground for a prickle-critter.

Russell the prickle-critter, saving me from nasty vicious avocados.

Russell the prickle-critter, saving me from nasty vicious avocados.

Continue reading →

Camera Rambles: And Now For Some Elephants – Faa Mai Leads the Ditch Appreciation Project

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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…

vlcsnap-2013-11-15-22h48m23s140 Continue reading →

This One’s for Traveling Crone

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Fling yourself in the general direction of an American tattoo artist in a bamboo hut down a dirt track at an elephant sanctuary in a jungle near Chiang Mai and this is what comes up. There’s a blogger out there in the world who had a similar experience in the same place and ended up with a similar tattoo. You can read about that here. We’ve never met in person, but it would seem we have a wee bit in common… Lol. Cheers Crone, and cheers Jodi for a wonderful first-tattoo experience.

My first ever tattoo - had to be an elephant, right? Natch!

My first ever tattoo – had to be an elephant, right? Natch!

Free Shadows!!

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It is our right – the right of all beings – to cast our own shadow where we wish, a shadow that has no cuffs, no chains, no cage sides. A shadow that is business only between us and the sun that shines. This is the right of every creature, every being on earth, from the tiny ants to the largest beings on earth. Who is man to change that shadow? Rather, let us put our energy into ensuring that, as soon as possible, every shadow is free. If we insist on seeing ourselves as guardians of the earth, then let this be our aim.

Do what you can, from your little corner of the universe, to remove the things that shouldn’t be in anyone or anything’s shadow – no cuffs, no chains, no cages. Yell out for those who have no voice. Stand up and help whoever and whatever you can to have Free Shadows!

Early morning walk, Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai

Early morning walk, Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai