Thai Tiger Kingdom

From Elephants to Tigers...

After a long exciting and exhausting day of elephant trekking on Saturday, we had a quiet relaxing dinner of yummy traditional Thai food, blah (fish), som tum (papaya salad) and of course white rice.  Sadly they were sold out of one of my favorite desserts, sticky rice and mangos with coconut milk. however the food we ate was delicious and the view of the river at dusk was just wondrous as we planned our Sunday adventure.

We began the morning with a Thai omelet with rice and fruit Then we hailed a red "Taxi" which was really just a pick up truck with two bench seats in the back. After a bit of negotiating we settled on a round trip price to take us on the 45 minute ride to Tiger Kingdom just outside of Chiang Mai.

What follows are some of my favorite Tiger photos... from baby tigers to medium and very large.
Needless to say I fell in love. Something about the expressions, "sleeping with the tigers" and "I've got a tiger by the tail," made us all laugh.

SMILE... smiles are everywhere in Thailand which is known as "the land of smiles." Baby tigers (four months old) and mamas alike were happy to show their toothy smiles!

The Tigers seemed to have so much fun swimming and playing in the water. I guess it must get boring taking photos with tourists all day but they don't seem to mind. They all have their own personalities and are incredibly gorgeous creatures, big beautiful cats!

We ended the visit sitting with our feet being eaten by Garra fish... why??

Well the Dr. Fish Spas say to be young and beautiful of course. Only four crazy American women would believe that!

It was nice to have the driver waiting to take us back to the city because I had an overnight bus to catch back to Ban Chang. Another 14 hour bus ride and I arrived at 6am, with enough time to shower before I began my day of teaching.

In gratitude I send blessings, and may you be happy and healthy. 

Chiang Mai Elephants

The amazing adventure continues...

The next Friday, June 17th, after teaching all week, I took an overnight bus (14 hours) to Chiang Mai to meet my sister, Lola and her friend. The plan was to go Elephant trekking on Saturday morning, continue on a hike to a hidden waterfall and then after lunch experience bamboo river rafting ... on a raft of long pieces of bamboo tied together with twine. We were told to leave our stuff on the van and no cameras, unless they were waterproof. So no photos. The chant became, "its not fun if your not wet." WE got soaked!

The elephant Rita and I rode was seasoned... just like us! Really, I guess the word is old, but that just doesn't sound as nice, and "BO" agreed, that was his name and every so often he would just stop and wait for us to feed him some bananas, which of course we did. Bo also did not go along the path with the other elephants, he trudged along to his own beat as we swayed in the rickety wooden seat. I tried to take some video but the bumpy ele-motion made it impossible.
The day was beautiful and the forest incredibly lush and green. It is rainy season now in Thailand, so we did have a downpour at lunch.

Bo also took the short way down to the river. Why go the long way around if you know the shortcut? I guess that is one if the benefits of age, wisdom! After he led the other elephants into the river, he decided to walk along the bank, another senior perk.

 We were lucky enough to have a baby elephant trek with us, he was just adorable and stayed very close to mama. I promised to ride an elephant and so another one gets checked off the list!  Buddha Blessings

June Joy

Happiness is visitors from the USA!

 

When Thai Airways landed on June 10th it brought my sister Rita, and her daughter Lola along with her friend from Alaska, to Thailand. What a joyous time we had together.


I met them in Bangkok the first weekend and we had dinner at "Cabbages and Condoms"... yes that is the name of the restaurant. It was started to promote awareness of birth control in Thailand.

The decor is amazing, clothes on the mannequins are all made from multicolored condoms. Light shades, and flowers in vases are made from condoms. One is even served with dessert!

  The restaurant souvenir store has handcrafted works from the Hill Tribes in Northern Thailand which help the women in the villages earn money for food.

On another day in Bangkok we took a small ferry boat to Kho-Kret where they still make pottery by hand. An almost lost art, the elders still carve intricate cut out designs in the damp clay before they fire the pots in large stone and mud caves. 

The island visit would not be complete without the traditional young and beautiful Thai Dancers in their colorful jewel encrusted Thai silks.

In stark contrast to the young and beautiful, very old Wats (temples) and ancient Buddha figures dot the little island village. You can always discern      a Thai Buddha by the position of the hands and pointed headpiece.

                                Buddha Blessings from Thailand