Saturday at 5pm while shopping for groceries, we heard the store announce something to the effect of, "Buy your alcohol now because from 6pm there will be no alcohol sales through midnight Sunday due to election balloting tomorrow."
Thailand is voting for a new leader! They don't want people to make alcohol influenced decisions about their next man or woman in office (the leading female candidate has a lot of support). We drove into town Sunday for lunch, and encountered massive traffic & lines around one polling place... took us good 1/2 hour to get around it. Fantastic to see Thais doing their part to affect positive change. I think a lot of Americans would have turned around to go home instead of enduring the heat, traffic, lines and chaos we saw yesterday just to cast a single vote. We have our gripes, however life is good for us yankees and we are not such desperate people.
Talked about it a bit with the girls, but they seemed unphased... too excited about going home later today. We're fortunate to be heading to Michigan for a month this summer, and will be unplugged for most of it.
Happy 4th of July, Bastille Day, and summer freedom to you all! Peace, T
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Chiang Mai - Elephant Camp
While Riley and I were trapsing around Taipei, Allie was being charmed by elephants in Chiang Mai.
A group of girls from school flew to northern Thailand for a week of volunteering at an elephant reserve... rice paddies en route.
The eco-tourism camp welcomes individuals & groups wanting to learn more about elephants and how to help the endangered species.
Room to roam, the reserve provides a safe range and medical care for formerly abused elephants. They now have 33 females, 4 males, and 2 babies.
Each elephant has own mahout to care for it... and keep it out of trouble. Hope, a male, wears a bell to help make his mischieveous presence known.
The reserve also houses some 60+ dogs, 40+ cats, herds of cattle, water buffalo and 10 pigs. The dogs help corral elephants and they bark when elephants stray. The animals are guests that needn't worry about ever becoming dinner... the camp is vegetarian.
The camp provides housing for volunteers.
Basic with no air-con, mosquito nets were a must as malaria and dengue fever still persist. One night, Allie awoke to rustling noise that wouldn't stop. She shined a flashlight...a 12-inch (?) long RAT had found her Mama noodles (crunchy, ramen-like). It scurried out through the 2-inch gap at bottom of room's door.
Ready to work
Shoveling elephant stuff into fast moving river. She swam with the elephants near this same spot, but assured me the current was strong enough to carry away all the waste. Ha, fingers crossed.
One day they unloaded 3,028+ pumpkins (they counted) for the elephants' kitchen. "The week was exhausting!"
Pumpkins and melons are all washed to rid of pesticides before giving to elephants.
Elephants' pantry. They eat 18 hours a day, mostly grazing, but also fruit and treats from the kitchen. Allie made heaps of banana balls with spoiling banana, corn and oats... elephants love them.
The elephants were like kids, and eat sweet watermelon and banana first. Only after that's all gone will they eat the pumpkin and cucumbers. They toss veggies to ground if fruit is still around.
Lots of baths
Eddie Machetti is a puppy who was viciously sliced across the back with a knife. He was half dead when he came to the camp, but is now fine and (usually) full of sweet, puppy life.
Planting pumpkins and melons, with bamboo tools
Khun Lek began the reserve a decade ago. She has been widely recongnized for her work, "2001 Hero of the Planet" by Ford Foundation, "2005 Hero of Asia" by Time Magazine, and features on National Geo, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and BBC.
Found several interesting bugs during the week.
Le grande escargot
One afternoon they participated in a blessing of the trees. Monks blessed cloths that the girls tied around nearby trees. If cloaked trees are cut down, it is believed bad luck will follow the life of the tree chopper.
Another day they taught English songs to local school kids..."Head, shoulders, knees and toes"
They loved braiding her long blonde hair.
Allie loved sweetheart Khun B, her photographer & friend all week
On her last night when I talked to her, she said they had 4 hours of free time that day. I asked what she did. "Erin & I just hung out with the elephants, thought about things. I'm gonna miss them."
I'm grateful for yet another grand adventure for this girl.
Taipei
I helped 36 kids, aged 8-11, storm the plane... upon takeoff, 72 hands went into the air with excited "wheeeees" as if rollercoasting for the very first time, though most are gold mileage members
101 Tower... now, second tallest in world
World's fastest elevator... hardly felt we were moving
Textured Taipei... it is the capital of Taiwan, or Republic of China, not to be confused with the People's Republic of China (commonly known as China). After WWII, separtist Chinese Nationalists located in Taiwan during the communist rise of mainland China. Taiwan was occupied by Japan prior to WWII, and that influence is still felt today with many Japanese shops & restaurants, I am overjoyed to report.
First day of competition... to the pool. Taipei was a wonderful host, opening its national aquatics center and stadium for our young competitors
Lane 1, Ry's heat of 25 Backstroke
Silver... her first of several medals, but this one most proud. She made it to Taipei and earned it herself.
Fun races too... 12 person tyre relay
Gold with the team
Afternoon T-ball... she hit all 4 games (used a runner), fielded 2 games, and sat the last 2.
Her team took T-ball Gold, 3-0-1
Zippity Do Da... an area girls school put on a sweet show for opening ceremonies
5 schools from Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Hong Kong... each team with 36 students representing over 20 different countries. Such interesting vibes with loud, bronzed Western moms fueling kids with sandwiches and cookies while quiet, skin-covered Thai moms stuff their own children with seaweed wrapped rice, peeled eggs, tea. Indians who eat with their hands, East Asians who prefer hands not touch food, Thai moms later making noise with their drums & tambourines... I love it all!
Push Pass
No soccer, or football as the rest of the world calls it, for Riley... she tried to contribute by toting water bottles
And cheering... amazingly, we kept her wounds infection free
Football Silver, 1-0-3
Team Regents
Cutting loose at final night's dance & dinner gala I helped plan for the kids... over past training months, Riley has gotten to know students from another Thai school in attendance, here dancing with a buddy from Italy
She let her hair down and had a blast this eve
On our final day we planned for the team to go ice skating, but Ry & I explored Taipei on our own to preserve her leg. I was looking for OJ as we left hotel, stopped into Starbucks where line was long and decided instead to move on. Minutes later we stumbled across amazing, fresh squeezed on the street. Riley as we walked away, "I'm glad we bought from him instead of Starbucks. He only had a few coins in his box." Back home I try hard to support small business, but when travelling as much as we do, we can easily get sucked into comforts of brand recognition. Glad for this reminder, for this is what it's all about!
Taipei is intrigued with blondies
Kind of cool, strap on wheelies
Riley Mei blossomed during her week in Taipei, and I am so grateful.
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