I won't bore you with all the names and such but just look at the amazing buildings. They seem on one hand all so similar but teach one brought its own surprises.
These are all in Chiang Mai.
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Wat stands for temple or monastery and we saw a lot of them.
I won't bore you with all the names and such but just look at the amazing buildings. They seem on one hand all so similar but teach one brought its own surprises. These are all in Chiang Mai.
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Is there anything cuter than a muddy baby elephant? Since one day of elephants wasn't enough we went for a second day what was elephant filled. Elephant Nature Park is very different then the elephant tracking. Here is where they have had elephants from a variety of bad situations that have come to live out their days. There are elephants that have come from logging situations that were treated brutally in some cases. There was one elephant that was blinded in one eye because she acted up when her baby was taken from her. Later she was blinded in the other eye when she swatted her abuser with her trunk. One elephant stepped on a land mine and her foot was healing. One came from the circus who has vision problems. One of the great things was to hear the stories and knowing they were now safe and can life out their days in comfort. They all create their own families or herds, even though there was 44 or so elephants. Sadly the blind elephant had her best friend be taken to be a nanny for one of the baby elephants so she was still finding her heard. She was a sweetheart. They also had a coupe hundred cats and dogs that were abandoned and had the run of the place. The dogs were kept separate until their temperament was determined to be fine for the general population. If they had a questionable temperament but was allowed to roam they had a red bandana on. The best picture of the day. It take a lot of food to feed elephants! We got a chance to walk among the herds and get a sense of what elephants paired up and becomes social with others. The water buffalo meandered the area. We got a chance to see them in a social environment which was just amazing. Elephant Hunting! Sounds impressive, or brutal depending on your perspective, but it was really elephant tracking. Whatever you want to call it it was very cool! First though we had to get to the village, (if you call 4 families in the jungle a village) before and hunting/tracking could take place, and that in and of itself was an adventure. So lets start at the market, I love Thai markets. Fresh, fresh, fresh! Trish, Cassidy and I, joined by Phil and Cindy, from our guesthouse also signed up for this overnight adventure. Climbing into the back of a covered pick up truck we started driving out of Chiang Mai and into the surrounding mountains. After a brief stop at a market to pick up some supplies, we made our way to a National Park. Our first stop was a waterfall. A tall, gorgeous waterfall. Thailand as a whole, unlike India is very clean. The water was clean, the surrounding banks had no litter, and even though it wasn’t that far of a hike off the road, and was a popular spot, it was not ruined by inconsiderate people leaving their trash anywhere they pleased. After the waterfall, we drove a bit further up the road into the National Park and reached some hot springs whose whose waters were heated deep in the earth and then corralled into these manmade ponds for our enjoyment. We laughed a bit about if it was legitimately rather heated water or if there was a gigantic hot water heater up the river. We would find out for sure after we were sufficiently parboiled. Our 9.4 km hike to the village would bring us by the geysers that fed the ponds down the way. Sadly, a video I shot I some how screwed up and still pictures will have to do. As you can see the kids are hard boiling eggs in the water that was being pushed up through the ground. Our guide explained that there was going to be three hills. Baby Hill, Mamma Hill, and Papa Hill. He didn’t really tell us that there was an unnamed hill between Baby and Mamma. Nor that there was an endless downhill, which at the time was a bit nice, but it made Papa Hill that much move to climb! We would also pass through two other villages along the way. Papa Hill put Trish in a foul mood, and Cassidy was exhausted, as we entered the village after a long day of hiking. Later, we were told that we did quite well on time. Some groups are so slow that they arrive after the sun goes down. That would have been horrible as there are some rather sketchy footbridges you have to go over and the path isn’t always clear so doing it at night wouldn’t have helped Trish’s mood whatsoever. We were shown our sleep quarters for the evening, as our guide busied himself by making a fire and said food would be served in a little bit and to relax. Which we were already doing before he said it. Cassidy and I went down to the river and saw they were building a bamboo raft. The bamboo raft would be how we floated downstream back to civilization. We also spied the iffiest bridge we have ever seen! It was something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie or was used as inspiration in Temple Run. Of course we all had to take a walk out across it, as it bounced and swayed with every step. Dinner was served and was amazing. The yellow curry was one of the best of the trip, if not the best. The Happy Water that our guide broke out was special indeed, but one shot was enough for me. Phil made our guide happy by joining him in a few more shots. Then we gathered around the fire and sang songs. No we didn’t! No songs, come on wouldn’t that be sappy? Instead we sent up a Chinese lantern, and our guide, using broken reeds played silly puzzles with us. Me, thinking I was helping, had thrown some bamboo on the fire, of which the entire fire was made from. Earlier I had seen the guide breaking up the bamboo, but it seemed to me that the fire was going on just fine and didn’t need smaller pieces. Little did I know there was a practical reason for breaking it up some. If you know bamboo, you are aware it grows and has sections. Turns out these sections are also more or less sealed, so when a bamboo section is thrown on the fire, sometimes the hot expanding air in these sections build up pressure and BOOM! The first was more like a “psssssffffsssstttt” The second was was kind of a “boom” the third and fourth one was “BOOM!” throwing hot ash around with embers. It was funny, scary and a learning experience. We slept well after our long hike under mosquito nets and and looked forward to the following morning when we would search for the elephants. It seemed almost preposterous to “search for elephants” after all how can you misplace them when they are so big? Morning came and we had a breakfast that was as yummy as dinner and with fresh fruit that was out of this world as most of the fruit in Thailand is. We were also given the outline. The elephants are sisters, and live a semi-wild life. Much of the time in the surrounding hills of the park. They have both wooden bells to help hear where they are, and they have a chain around one ankle so that they leave a trail if the bells weren’t doing their thing. Who knew that elephants wouldn’t leave a trail, but they walk so delicately that they are hard to track without help? So off we went into the jungle with our mahout, which is the technical term for one that trains and works with elephants. He took the lead, at times hacking our way through the jungle, with out guide taking up the rear. After getting up the mountain some the mahout started calling out in grunts and guttural words. Calling out for his “pets” and to “come to him.” We were in the jungle about 45 minutes before there was a faint “ting” of a wooden bell. We stopped. He calls became more regular and we waited. ELEPHANTS!!!!!!!We waited. He called. And we waited. Nothing. He called more, standing still straining to hear. He called more, and we waited, then finally we all heard some back to back “tings” of wooden bells. Then we heard a few twigs snap and we strained our eyes looking through the branches for a sign on an elephant. We waited, and he called. Tings got closer, branches broke more, sublet movement, but we still couldn’t see an elephant, it was weird. They seemed they should be able to be seen, but we couldn’t. The snapping and tings got closer and finally we could see branches moving, but no elephant. Then we could make out an outline of an elephant and it was so close, like it snuck up on us. They moved slowly, purposefully and with grace. It took more calling but they did come down the mountain and stand there, waiting. Their mahout draped their chains over their necks and started to lead them down the mountain. We took up behind the elephants, watching how they have such a delicate walk. Their foot falls nearly impossible to hear. They worked their big bodies through small openings and didn’t leave a trace they had been there. The mahout brought them down to the river, and brushed them, more like a loving beating with some branches to clean them off. Phil and Cindy were going to ride without a saddle. She on the head of the elephant and he on her neck. Trish and I got a saddle or sorts, more like a loveseat and Cassidy got on her neck for the trip back to the village. The mahout urged them along and we went through rivers, and down steep inclines that made us all nervous and never once did the elephants miss a step. I was so amazed at the sure-footedness but even more so by how they were so quiet. Returning to the village we dismounted and got some quality time just hanging out with them. Patting them, I don’t think you could call it petting. The tip of their tails had such a unique design. Their feet were so impressively large, but soft looking. Their eyelashes would make a movie star blush. The never ending search and touching with their trunks. They seemed mildly interested in us, but when we were brought bananas we were their best friends! They would take it with their truck, put it into their mouths and it was gone, poof! Its strange because most of the animal kingdom lips are top and bottom, but elephants are more side to side, like a food vice that clamp down on the food and makes it disappear in a moment! Chewing wasn’t part of the equation. Trunk, mouth, gone! After feeding time, they were lead to the river and laid down so we could bath them. Armed with water pails, we got all the dirt off of their big, bodies. Cassidy was between the front legs of one of them when they wanted to move. This tree trunk sized leg pushed Cassidy like she was a fly. Apparently cleaning elephants is a pretty popular thing to do. The weird part of it is, they are just like dogs. Once they are done with their bath, they go get dirty. While dogs to roll in something, elephant use their trunks to throw dirt all over themselves!
We were now done with the elephants and our trip on the bamboo raft was about to begin. The bamboo raft is just that. Lengths of bamboo bound together and we float on down the stream. my camera was back up in a waterproof bag so no pictures of it, sorry. (but at the end of the elephant video you see others on bamboos rafts floating why while we bath the elephants) The rafts are narrow to make it easier to maneuver around some rocks but apparently there was a lack of rain recently and it was a bit low, so it was a bit more difficult in spots. The meandering of the river for the most part made it possible to enjoy the jungle all around us, and the occasional water buffalo. But the rocks in some of the rapids we hit nearly throwing a couple of us off. I skittered a few feet on one of them. The abrupt stop twisted the raft a bit, but it was still river worthy. At the end of the bamboo rafting we had a nice dinner at a restaurant and was then driven back to the guesthouse. Now we had a full two days of adventure, and we loved the elephants. As it turned out because this trip was spur of the moment because it sounded so cool, we were going to sleep and go to the Elephant Nature Preserve the next day. MORE ELEPHANTS! |
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March 2018
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