My mothers worst nightmare - Tattoos

After the Elephant Nature Park we had one more day to enjoy Chiang Mai. So we got Tattoos! It was planned quite in advanced to get these tattoos so dont fret it certainly wasn't spur of the moment WE"RE IN THAILAND LETS GET A TATTOO type thing!

Dionne got 'Strength Hope Happiness' in Thai written along her foot, and Nicole will be happy to know the Dionne went first, not me! We decided Dionne should go first because hers was going to be a lot quicker than mine and she may not have been so keen on it after over an hour of me screaming! Dionnes didn't seem to hurt so much which made me reasonably calm...

Except my tattoo is on the side of my torso underneath where my bra strap sits. It was EXTREMELY painful, I almost passed out. It was so hard to keep still I couldn't speak or breathe because it moves your stomach. I swore, a lot. It was a strange pain because it also tickled a lot, and of course I couldn't start laughing either!

I guess you'll want to know what the actual tattoo is..
I got one of the Elephants from the Elephant Nature Park, his name is Hope. The Thai word for 'Freedom' is written underneath.
The reason behind it starts with my last trip to Thailand and the Elephant Nature Park. I came to Thailand saying how much I wanted to ride the Elephants and never stopped to think about the consequences of my actions. I was then shocked when I learnt about how they 'break the spirit' of an Elephant and realised how naiive I was. I realised people should only need to be educated of the consequenses of their actions to make the right moral decision. And I don't want to forget that. I always want to remember what I learnt that day because it's too easy to slip back into old habits of not caring and thinking "what difference can I make" "What difference can one person make?"

Freedom means a lot to me. I think it means different things to everyone but I beleive everyone has the rights to their own freedom however they find it. I am very lucky in life to have the freedoms I have. I'm certainly not the only one who finds travelling a form of freedom but there are so many other ways to be 'free' that I am get to find. Freedom of the Elephant represents a lot to me because it was the start of my realisation that animals on this earth suffer just as we do and they have the right to freedom equally.

I chose the Elephant 'Hope' because he was the Elephant Nature Parks orphan who, instead of breaking his spirit, is being brought up with positive reinforcement to prove that Elephants can we under human care without shoving them into a small bamboo cage and torturing them, some to death. Hope has freedom.



Anyway enough of the mumbo jumbo! Photos will come as soon as I can get them uploaded, the internet in Laos is SO RIDICULOUSLY SLOW! (duh)

Elephant Nature Park - Chiang Mai

It was the highlight of our trip last year so we decided to go back, but this time overnight!
As we had been before we had an idea about what to expect. But when we arrived, the park had changed so much we wondered if we were in the same place! The park now has 30 Elephants, over 50 dogs and over 30 cats. Lek (the founder) just can't say no to all of the animals in need.

On the first day we did the same as last time - fed and bathed the Elephants, then watched a documentary called 'Vanishing Giants'. Dionne didn't want to watch it again because it was pretty upsetting last time. I watched it but managed to hold in my tears, I think the last time I watched it I was so naiive and had no idea of the torture I was about to watch. This time I knew what was coming and wasn't so much in shock regardless of how sad that doco is. I also bought it on DVD this time so eventually I can show people at home instead of trying to explain how the Elephants spirit is broken. On day one we spent most of the day with a Kiwi couple (some of the 1st Kiwis Ive seen so far!) Rebecca and Richard. They were only there for the day and were gutted they couldn't stay the night!

There was an ISV group volunteering too, I chatted to some of the volunteers breifly and they seemed to be having an awesome time. I was gutted I wasn't volunteering with them!

Out huts for the night at the park were SO nice, and the bed was so comfortable I almost couldn't get up for breakfast the next day. The balcony went all the way around the hut with views over the park and Elephants strolling by. It was perfect for meditation and yoga...until an Ele blows its trumpet!

On the 2nd day 'Brad Pitt' aka 'Mammoth' (I love how Thai guys give themselves movie star names so we remember them!) took us for a walk around the park and told us everything he knows about the Elephants. Heres what I can remember:

Elephants are pregnant for 22 months, longer if it is a boy, and the baby tries to walk straight away. Although at first it often thinks its trunk is its 5th leg!

They have 4 teeth in their mouth which are replaced 6 times in their life. When the 6th set wears away (from eating so much!) that is when they die because they can no longer feed themselves, knowing this they seperate from the pack into the jungle to die and later on the pack will walk into the jungle to pay respect to the dead.

Female Elephants can become pregnant at around 13, have around 6 babies and die between 70 and 80 years old.

Mothers are very protective of their babies and often find 'nannies' to help. The families at the Elephant Nature Park are not blood related but they still form communities which they love and look out for.

Elephants eat for 18 hours a day and sleep for 4 hours. That doesn't leave much time for tourist trekking!

They eat 40% of their body weight each day and only digest 60% of their food. One can only assume the rest just goes straight back out the other end...

There is a plant which I didnt get the name of... when rubbed together it makes a red paint and the females use it to paint their toenails!

Speaking of toenails...they play a very important part in the balance and walking of an Elephant. They also feel a lot about the environment around them using the bottom of their feet.

You can tell how old an Asian Elephant is by how hollow their temples are.

Asian Elephants are smaller than African Elephants, they have rounder backs and bums, and only 1 'finger' on their trunk where as African Elephants have 2 'fingers'.

The Asian Elephants tusks are now growing shorter because of people poaching them.

Well I hope you all learnt a little about Elephants in that blog if you managed to make it to the end!

<3 Elephants

Doi Inthanon National Park

On the 15th July (I know..ages ago) we headed to Doi Inthanon National Park. We were geared up for a trek because we assumed to go to the peak of Thailand we would have to trek.

Instead of doing a tour we figured we could do the whole thing ourselves much cheaper so we caught a public bus to Chom Thong, got off where I thought was Chom Thong but we really had no idea! No problems though we had a man in a songtheau take charge and take us on a little tour! He didn't speak much english so kept reffering to a map and from what I could gather he was taking us to 2 waterfalls and then the peak.

Off we went uphill on this windy road, for quite some time, it started to get a bit cloudy (we couldnt see 5m infront), then a bit cold, then a bit misty. And we soon realised maybe we didnt have to hike to the top..this guy seems to be taking us the whole way! We didnt stop at any waterfalls and when we reached the peak it was absolutely freezing!! How ironic that we had been complaining about how hot it was in Chiang Mai and as soon as its cold we were complaining about that too.

Anyway we ran (to warm us up) in the direction the driver pointed and after a whole 50metres found a sign saying THE HIGHEST SPOT IN THAILAND. So there we were, on top of the world, and we couldn't see a thing!! However, the trees we could see around us were truely beautiful, it was like rainforest. And the air was quite possibly the cleanest and freshest I have ever breathed.



We were pretty thankful when we found the little souvenier shop offered hot milo :)

Then on the way back downhill we were taken to a buddhist temple which at first we thought was just a staircase to the clouds because we couldnt see any further. When we reached the top there was infact a beautiful temple there!

We then headed to 2 waterfalls which were good, just great scenery really! We headed back to Chom Thong and went to a Burmese style temple, we weren't sure whether to go in until we read that the actual right side of the Buddha's head lies in there so we had to look! Of course it was locked up very tightly in a magnificant golden statue. I've never seen so much detail even though I swear I've been to 100 temples!

Chiang Mai - Almost disasters and Night Markets

We left Kachanaburi about midday on the 13th, a little later than we planned. After a while we started to wonder if we were on the right bus because not once did we see a sign for Bangkok. Time was getting on and we had a plane to catch. It got to the point when we really thought we were going to miss the plane (first almost disaster). It was a stressful hour but to get through it Dionne and I pretended we were on the 'Amazing Race' and we made it just in time! Actually, we even had enough time to stuff our faces with Onion Rings and Hash Browns from Burger King at the airport. Yuk, we regretted that soon after.

We arrived in Chiang Mai and Ingrid was waiting for us at Julies Guest House. The hostel is really sweet and funky and uber cheap. It's really popular, there are tons of people every morning waiting outside for people to check out so they can check in!!

Within the first 6 hours of being in Chiang Mai I already had sore feet from shopping! The Sunday Walking Street market was on and my god was it cheap. If you've ever been to the Night Bazaar, the Sunday market is even CHEAPER! I felt as though I was robbing people as I bought an Elephant necklace for 10baht (about 30cents). So Dionne and I went a little crazy and bought a HEAP of stuff, really cool t-shirts and jewelery and bags and dresses. My backpack is officially packed to the brim.

At the night bazaar the next night Dionne found an artist to paint a photo of her and Nautee (the girl at the orphanage). We gave him my camera memory card to download the picture, and when I returned the card to my camera the photos weren't showing, there was an ERROR! (almost disaster number 2!) Obviously I had a heart attack and to cut a long story short my memory card is a bit screwed for now but the guys computer still had the photos and we managed to get them off there thank GOD!

Speaking of photos I have been TRYING to upload them but it takes too much time so...be patient :)

Kachanaburi

OK so I'm a bit behind writing on here...

We left the orphanage super early in the morning on the 12th of July, and arrived in Kachanaburi at about midday. B, one of the volunteers had suggested we stay at the 'Jolly Frog' guest house which the Lonely Planet describes as 'dirty, but so are the guests' haha! We ended up paying a man on a bicycle to take us there, yes, a bicycle. At first we thought one person per bike, but no, we were both squeezed onto one little seat and the driver/rider used a handy wooden stick out the back to dangle our backpacks on while he rode us through town. You should have seen the guys calf muscles!! I was slightly concerned for my bag but it managed to hang on quite well.

There are a lot more tourists in Kachanaburi, compared to what we had been used to out in Sangklaburi. We stayed on the main tourist drag where of course there are a million guest houses, bars, Thai massage places and travel desks.

While eating our lunch at the guesthouse, we saw this old man standing in blue hawaiin print shorts, no shirt, sunnies and a cigar...holding a GIANT fake gun. Well, at least we thought it was fake at the time. It was hilarious how stupid this guy looked and we nicknamed him 'Rambo'.

After lunch, we watched as police took him away. Maybe the gun was real?! The guy didn't seem too fazed though as he carried his glass of red wine out with him.

The film 'Bridge over River Kwai' was filmed in Kachanaburi, which is the reason a lot of people visit the place. This is where in 1944 the Japanese bombed the bridge, killing thousands of prisoners of war. We went to the war memorial museum which looked as though it would have been nice years ago but wasn't well kept.

We then walked across the bridge, which in any western country would have health and safety barriers all over it. It was pretty dangerous because so many people were walking across it you had to balance on beams over the river. All in good fun though! Good thing it wasn't too windy!

As we reached the other side we saw a Thai Popstar recording a music video - which we had to walk right through and it was pretty hard to keep a straight face.

On the other side we saw an Elephant, strapped to the ground by a chain no longer than 30cms. It was horrible. The Elephant just stood there trying to rip off the chain with its trunk and foot. I have no idea how long it has been strapped there and I didn't see any food around it. It made me so angry but there was nothing I could do. After literally stomping my feet I walked away from the whole situation. I know I go on and on about it at home and I'm going to continue going on and on about it when I write about the Elephant nature park, but this is exactly why I wish people would stop supporting the Elephant tourist trade in Thailand.

Anyway...Since it was Saturday night we figured we'd hit town! We started early because we hadn't really been to bed past midnight for the past 2 weeks haha! We headed to the 'Buddha Bar' which was like this little hippy reggae bar and we sat on some cushions with Martha from Mexico and had a few drinks. A few hours later the street was still dead! I had had enough to drink to just fall asleep, so thats what we did!

We soon learned why the Lonely Planet described its guests as dirty - it seems the Jolly Frog is just the place for Western Men and Thai Women to meet! Hrmmm

Next stop Chiang Mai!

The kids of Baan Dada

After spending 2 weeks with 58 children at Baan Dada Orphanage I feel rather useless for only remembering the following names....

Puchida - 9 year old boy with glasses, he cant go to school because of his sight which is terribly sad because he is super intelligent and soo eager to learn. When I met Puchida he wanted to carry my bags to the volunteer house. I let him have my day pack. As we walked down the trail he said very quickly 'need to pee!' and before I had a chance to understand what he said I turned around to see him standing in the middle of the path peeing. He then proceeded to hold my hand as we walked up the path. Cute! Hes also a photographer in the making, he loved my camera!

Nautee - Definitely a favorite! Only arrived 2 weeks prior to us, and was brought up in a Karen tribe with a different dialect so can only speak to her sister. She clung onto us a lot, had so much love to give (and tears) and was the cutest little girl ever! Wish I could take her with me!!

Nadoo - Older sister of Nautee. Really interested in learning and achieved a lot in the 2 weeks we were there. A bit of a trouble maker with the other kids but cute so she gets away with it!

Ali Baba - Wriggle worm! Often seen without his pants and likes to start fights. Also extremely cute so gets away with everything :P

Chu Chu - young girl with a bell round her ankle and a necklace made of teeth! Likes to grab your little finger and is often seen with a giant butchers knife! Youngest of 4 sisters

Pordilla - Older sister of Chu Chu, very cute smile and loves to have her picture taken.

Ni Ana - Older sister of Chu Chu and Pordilla

Nina ay - Oldest of the sisters. Really intelligent and willing to learn, but unfortunately doesn't have Thai papers so she can't go to school yet!

Suteeda - Was really quiet at first but by the end of the 2 weeks was playful and fun. Had a wiggly tooth which she liked to wiggle in front of me at the dinner table.

Malay - Young girl who at first had curly hair but by the time I left had a bowl cut. Also a photographer in the making, she kept stealing my camera!

Faa - little girl who is always attached to Dada and always wearing pretty dresses

Sirikou - one of the older girls who is very far ahead in her learning. Loved to play dead. Also loved to play duck duck goose!

Baan Dada Orphanage

How many kids can you fit in a ute?

25 plus 2 volunteers at my last count!

We took a public bus 7 1/2 hours from Bangkok into the jungle...and we are now amongst some of the most beautiful land I've seen. Its soo soo green (even compared to NZ) and there are massive mountains and big gullys and rivers flowing, incredible.

We arrived in Sangklaburi and 'Dada' (Ricardo Zolenta) picked us up in the truck already filled with kids. We took a short drive to the orphanage. It is offroad - so that was fun, the kids were bouncing around everywhere!

When we arrived there were 4 other volunteers here, now there are 9 others! The other volunteers are so great, all from different backgrounds and all with both different and similar views to each other. Some of the conversations I have had have been great! We eat 3 vegan meals a day, which consist of tofu (much better tofu than the stuff at home) veges and rice. That is for breakfast as well. Sometimes we get spoilt and get chips and tomato sauce! Yumm! We've been eating plenty of fruit as well, because the fruit here is fantastic - dragonfruit, snakefruit and rambuttan. They may look a little weird from the outside but if you come to Thailand you must try them all!! In the evenings us volunteers have been having 'Uno, toast and tea' parties, heaps of fun!

One of the volunteers Anthony, who was here when we arrived, taught Dionne and I some simple yoga. Well, supposedly simple but I still almost blacked out on the first day! I've been really enjoying it, Anthony isn't an actual teacher but he knows a lot and I think we learnt a lot from him. He'll be happy to know we are still doing yoga almost every morning :)

The kids are great - they have so much independence and so much love to give. Most go to school - the ones who have Thai papers. The others and the young ones stay home during the day. We have been teaching basic ABC's 123's and colours in the evenings with the girls which is fun but hard work, they have so much energy! The philosophy the orphanage follows is Neo -Humanism. I found a book in our volunteer house about it and this is a quote which I think sums it up very nicely:

Neo-Humanist education

"We want the children to feel a full and unconditional acceptance of themselves as unique and precious beings, responsible for their own lives and dedicated to the welfare of all. Values we are projecting include non-violence, compassion, freedom, dignity, justice, tolerance, reciprocal respect, friendship, faith in oneself and love for nature. Looking at all creation we see it as a complete and harmonious system where the sky, the clouds, the earth, the plants and the animals all help each other.

Every being exists for and depends on the good of other beings. We are all part of this united earth so no one should harm others. These values are reinforced by daily habits such as the vegetarian diet. sentient songs and stories, daily care of plants and animals, and by learning about people from different backgrounds and races."

I think this is fantastic! I'm glad I found this place, I'm glad there is places like this. I've already decided I have to come back (yes, I've already been planning my next trip to Thailand..)

Pillokkhi Village Fish breeding project

Baan Dada has been working on fishing nets for one of the nearby villages, where some of the children are from. Some people have asked me where I stand on this; I guess I know that every time I have a meal I have the choice to eat meat or not. These people do not have that luxury. For them to survive they need to have a sustainable business and this is the best way for them.

Anyway, we spent a long long time setting up these nets. Then we spent 12 hours on a raft down a river to get to the village. The raft consisted of blue barrels and long poles.....it was great! I actually had a really awesome time even though we got rained on about 4 times and had little food and no toilet. A lot of the things I have done here, I know would have annoyed me at home. Like sitting in a monsoon on a raft for hours. But I loved every minute of it! And I loved the fact that I loved every minute of it! Does that make sense?

We spent the night in Pillokkhi village, then the next day headed back to the fishing village to set up nets. It was a long process! By the time we arrived back to the orphanage (at around 10pm) I was sick, literally. I actually threw up about 5 times in a gumboot! (Not my own gumboot either to Georginas suprise)...


So the next day I took off work. You are meant to take at least a day off a week but I've found that hard because there is so much to do! I actualy spent the day doing washing and cleaning and sewing. Washing here takes an eternity. Its so humid and it takes so long for anything to dry. All of my clothes smell gross, but I'm used to it. It helps because we all smell pretty disgusting..

Yesterday we all decided to go to the Three Pagodas Pass. This is the border of Burma that not many people go to anymore because the border is closed. Previously you could cross over for the day but of course now thats not possible. We went and saw these pitiful 3 statues simply for bragging rights...I saw Burma! ha.

In the afternoon Ingrid, Dionne and I met with a 'Didi', she runs another orphanage in the area and also teaches meditiation which I have been very interested in! She talked to us a little about the principles of NewHumanism and the kind of meditation she teaches and then showed us a basic universal practice. All I could see when I was doing it was the colour purple! I'm not quite sure that that was meant to happen but I accepted it. She then asked us individually why we were interested in meditation and from my answer decided I was ready for a first individual lesson. I'd love to tell you all about it because it was amazing but I promised to keep it a secret. I was given my own personal mantra which I can never say out loud again, only mentally.
We had to go after that, and I told the girls to really consider if they are ready for it because its going to be the start of something big for me I can tell. It couldn't have been better timing and it couldn't have felt more right!

Today Ingrid and I have been working on a Project proposal that some previous volunteers made a huge mess of, I think that will probably take us till the end of the week.

The last 2 weeks have gone way too fast. If anyone is planning a trip to Thailand please consider coming here, its truely an amazing place. Dada doesn't mind if you come from days, weeks, or months. Contact me if you want to know anything!

We leave early Saturday morning to Kanchanaburi, where we will trek to a waterfall in the afternoon. Then on Sunday we're heading to Bangkok then Chiang Mai, one of my favorite places in Thailand! Can't wait.

Im going to try to write a full blog on the kids who I can remember on here next time. Theres so many of them! I do have my favorites ...

Half Moon Party

In the truck on the way to the Half Moon Party
Kiwi - Ozzie- Made in Canada
Glowing paint everywhere!

Koh Phangan - 'Samuis little hippy sister'.

The half moon party was on the 26th - it basically exists because the full moon party's were so popular that once a month just isnt enough. There is also a 'Shiver moon' and 'Black Moon' party...so pretty much every week thousands of tourists come together and paint themselves in glowing fluro paint and party till dawn.

We discovered the main town Haad Rin on the 26th during the day - this is where one of our friends, Gary, who we met in Bangkok was staying. We found out they were offering free vodka and redbull after 11pm so we had a pre party there - while drinking and painting eachother! Although the drinks were so ridiculously strong they were almost impossible to drink. 90/10 Vodka/ Redbull..yuk! The pre party was great, we met so many people! I remember thinking to myself that this is one of the reasons why I love travelling...the fact that all of these people from different countries and different backrounds can all come together and have a fantastic time together.

We got on the back of a Ute to go to the party and the driver, as per usual, was all over the windy and hilly road. Very safe of course...

The actual party was in the jungle, it was pretty awesome. There were fluro lights and decorations all through the trees and people everywhere over 2 levels. I did a lot of people watching because it was quite halarious watching all of the western men picking up Thai girls. Ok, it was funny but also really sad. These guys are just your average guys, they should have no problem picking up a girl but choose to pay into prostitution.

We left at about 5am when the repititive trance music was just too much the same. Then the next day we had to check out in the morning and take the boat over to Koh Samui. When we were waiting I saw people with broken bones and massive cuts, scrapes and bruises. Looks like I wasn't the only one who crashed my moped!!