After adding the Gibbon Experience to our itinerary, the next task was to see where to go from there and just how to get there. We had been told about Luang Prabang, a French settlement in Laos (it was once colonized by the French) that sounded like a lovely place to visit. So, we raesearched ways to travel from Huayxai to Luang Prabang. Trains and airplanes were not options. There was a fourteen hour overnight bus, a nine hour boat ride or a two day boat ride. Obviously, nine hour boat ride seems like the best option... until reading further into it. My travel book says, "Be aware that deaths are not uncommon given the recklessness of the drivers; if you do choose to go ahead with the trip, bring earplugs and close your eyes." Less appealing now, huh? I've already shared my thoughts on buses, so we opted for the slow boat, and it has been a fairly pleasant way to spend the better part of two days.
We had heard about a boat that was a bit more luxurious, including stops at caves and food, but that one was not leaving when we needed it to. The man at our hotel where we bought our tickets said if we paid a little more we could be guaranteed some of the better seats. Perfect, no problem. Yeah, he pocketed that money. All seats are the same and they are all first come first serve.
We were told the boat departed at 11, but boarding was at 10:15-10:30. We raced around getting breakfast, packed up, retrieving somewhat cleaner clothes and purchasing snacks, then boarded about 10:30. The boat was really quite large. There were a few seats at the front which faced one another, and then about twenty rows with a pair of seats on each side and a wide, six-foot wide aisle across the middle. The seats are old bus seats that are mostly bolted to the wooden floor boards making it feel like a large, open air bus. There was a room in the back for our luggage so that we didn't have to keep it in our seats with us.
The boat filled, but locals said it didn't depart until 11:30. Oh well, we were glad to have seats and ones that were next to one another.
The Mekong River that we are traveling down provides so very much for so many people who live in this region of the world. It has been compared to the Nile and the Amazon in ways that it brings life to so many. It is a wide, calmly flowing river the color of mud. Pockets of trash gather where currents collide and small logs drift alongside our boat. I assumed since so many people depended on this river that the river banks would be quite full of people, but I was very wrong. Instead, many of the banks remain perfectly empty. There are pockets of small communities, but those are incredibly small and also, not all that common. Those communities have homes that I would call more huts. They're made of wood and most show no sign of electricity. Near the pockets of people it is common to see cows, water buffalo, goats and chickens wandering along the shoreline. There is also some of the land in these areas that evidently is used as farm land, complete with a small shelter that provides the farmer relief from the rain as well as a great place to nap when escaping the summer sun.
In these pockets we've seen some people as well. Some are out on the shorelines, seemingly waiting for boats to pass as their entertainment for the day. Children laugh, smile and wave at the passersby, many of the young ones are without clothing and many of the young boys are busy chasing one another along the beach or doing flips in the water trying to impress us all. Fisherman pass us frequently in small, narrow boats.
We had heard that this trip was scenic and a beautiful way to travel. I would have to agree. The shorelines are a mixture of sandy beaches and black, rocky points. The lush green surrounding hilltops are often covered in low-hanging clouds. The gentle breezes caused from the movement down river have meant we've been very comfortable. Gentle waves and a slow-moving boat have kept my motion sickness at bay. In a way, it is similar to a train, airplane or bus that we are basically bound to our seats for a long duration, but we have fresh breezes blowing in and beautiful scenery to occupy us. An audiobook has been a great way to occupy most of my time. It has rained several times, but they have been gentle rain and we haven't gotten any wetter than a refreshing gentle mist on our faces.
The boat stops at a one-road town called Pak Beng for the night. The most difficult part of the journey may have been getting off the boat and onto the shore. The step off the boat was a large one, and then we were balancing on craggy, slippery rocks while wearing a backpack on both sides. The hotel we had booked was thankfully only about 100 yards from the dock and only about halfway up the hill. We had a delicious Indian dinner and were surrounded by mainly familiar faces as it seems most people staying in the town were on our same boat.
Before we de-boarded the boat, the man had shouted to everyone that we departed at eight the next morning. We wanted to make sure we once again got seats and so we were down at the boat around 7:30. It was then that we heard the locals talking about the boat leaving at 9. Oh well.
Our boat, however had been replaced by one that was a great deal smaller. There were probably about twelve rows of two pairs of seats and the aisle was just a little wider than that of an airplane. Each time we assumed the boat was full, more and more people came on. The boat was about half tourists and half locals. There are a few stops along the way aside from the main destination and sometimes local passengers and supplies got on and off at these stops. At one stop, about three people got off and more than twenty got on. I'm honestly not sure where everyone went to. There seems to be a room in the back of the boat where people kept disappearing to, but I'm not honestly sure what was back there. I'm just thankful we kept our seats, despite the fact that sitting for nine hours on an old bus seat is not the most comfortable. But, we made it safe and sound to the adorable town of Luang Prabang that has great charm!
In March, Jessica and I went camping in the Smokey Mountains. One afternoon, while sitting by the creek, reading our travel book, I came across something called the Gibbon Experience. My excitement in reading about it grew with every sentence and I knew it had to be on our itinerary. I will be forever grateful for that moment.
Houayxai is a small town just across the border in Laos. It holds little attraction on its own, rather than being a passing through point, or the connection to the National Park and the Gibbon Experience.
We had read lots of reviews online, but still did not know wholely what to expect. We were excited but rather anxious for this experience.
We started our time with a short safety video in the office then loaded into trucks (those with the benches and cover in the back). Driving through valleys, rice fields, up curving mountain roads and onto a dirt road, we made the two hour journey to a small village where we met our guides.
The website had listed the hiking on the Classic tour, the one we had chosen, as difficult. I believe I would have changed that to strenuous. I did not take into account that the tree houses, at such high heights, needed to be reached. Climbing was difficult in large part because it was so much up, and also, due to some rain, the hike was a bit slippery. It was made even more difficult when we added our harness for the zip line around our waist and thighs. The hiking was also beautiful, though, as we hiked through lush greenery, down narrow paths in the forest floor deep below the tall trees above us.
Let me pause and tell you a bit more about the Gibbon Experience. Their motto is "A childhood fantasy with a serious purpose." This organization is not just a tourist destination, but an organization that is trying to make a real difference in the area. It operates in the Nam Kan National Park, a region set aside in the late 20th century to protect land from deforestation and the wildlife that call this place home. Gibbon Experience employs locals, even some former poachers, to act as guides through the forest and teach people about conservation. As one of our guides told us, it is very difficult to get hill tribe people to grasp why not hunting tigers and other endangered animals is so important for the future. They work to educate locals, even school children about the importance of conservation and sustainable agriculture. In many ways, it reminded me of my beloved Heifer International. How do they get money for these important causes and bring awareness to people? That's where the tourists come in. They want visitors at the park to change their perspective, and what better way to do that than to zip line through the jungle and sleep high in the trees in a tree house? Yep, every childhood fantasy come true, and I was one of the lucky ones who got to participate.
With a harness around me, I nervously stepped on to the first wooden platform where the guides helped me attach the two pieces of my harness to the cable. My stomach churning with excitement and nerves, I stepped off and flew into the air. It didn't take long before the butterflies escaped and I was left only with a sense of amazement and wonder as I zipped from peak to peak over a valley that was over 100 meters below. It was breathtaking, incredible, liberating and stunning.
Zip lines felt amazingly safe. They were marked as one way so that we'd never meet in the middle, once we arrived somewhere, there was a clearly marked cable where we could put our safety rope. There were guides stationed periodically, but not at each station, so we mostly loaded ourselves, but it was incredibly easy. The part that I did not take into consideration was that to get from one zip line to another was often a fairly strenuous climb in between.
After monkeying around for a bit, we split our group of 12 into 8 and 4 and headed to our perspective tree houses. And yes, the way to get into our tree house was by zip line. Magical.
Our tree house (number 7), forty meters above the forest floor, was three stories tall. We entered on the bottom floor where we left shoes on all sides of the tree that supported our home and on the opposite side of the zip entrance was the most incredible bathroom one could imagine. To be fair, it may not have been the most luxurious, but I'd dare to say it had one of the best views of any in the world. There was a working sink and toilet (squat toilet, but those are common here) and a rainforest shower head. Showering there, facing the seemingly unendless green before you was an awesome experience. The second night, although there was light in the bathroom, when I showered the world around me was black, but sparks of fireflies and lightening in the distance was equally as majestic.
On the second floor, the main floor, it was one large circular room surrounding the tree. There was a table and stools for all of us to eat and play cards. In the middle, attached to the trunk was a full sink where we could get drinking water and wash dishes. Several lights powered by solar panels allowed our card games to continue into the night. A packet explaining animals we might see, binoculars for exploring the trees and a box to protect our food from small nibbling creatures were all provided. Four pairs of two mattresses were laid around the edge of the room covered in large canvases that provided some privacy as well as protection from mosquitoes.
The third floor was more of a tower room, a fun lookout tower with a trap door floor and one mattress in case a guide needed to stay the night.
Cooked just up the hill a little way, our meals were zipped into us and then made incredibly presentable.
They were all different and all quite tasty. In the evenings and each morning, our guides would come to make us tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Sliced fresh fruit was often served as a snack or dessert.
In our tree house, Jessica and I had nearly ten years on our fellow residents, but we all had a great time getting to know one another. There were two girls from Belgium. Charlotte who had studied to become a physical therapist, worked for a year, then took off and had been traveling through Australia and this part of Asia and the Pacific for nearly two years. She would stop periodically for a month at a time to work at hostels or in cafes, but was savvy with her money and just one week away from returning home. Veelna who had graduated from university recently and was traveling through this part of the world for several months. We had three young Canadians who had just graduated from university and were all in the fencing club together, enjoying a few months worth of travel before they begin their career. Mathias, who was traveling with the two other fencers was our token male in the treehouse and was a great sport. There was also a fellow American from Virginia who was currently taking several months to travel around this part of the world.
Our first evening, Jessica and I stayed up for a while playing cards with our new Belgian friends. We played Uno with some new rules, like when a 0 is played, everyone gives their hand to the player to the left and when someone plays a 7, they trade hands with one player of their choosing. It made the game even more fun and made it last for quite sometime. We also played Hearts, a game my family and I had been bringing out again recently. Veelna and I both knew the game and were able to piece together the rules and explain it to the others. Without knowing really what she was doing, Jessica shot the moon on her very first hand of Hearts.
At 6 the next morning I awoke to strange, unique jungle sounds that almost sounded like a car alarm, the sound of gibbons! The black crested gibbon that lives in this part of the world is endangered and rarely seen, but oh, we heard the song of the gibbons, in fact, it was a sound that woke me up. That's a joy I believe few have experienced. Although they sounded close by, it was very foggy and we could not spot them.
After breakfast, our guides took us on a trek through the jungle to visit the other tree houses and zip along the way. The journey was strenuous, but the views provided and the zip lines along the way were well worth it.
Each treehouse had its own charm and appeal, but after seeing them all, we still agreed we had the best. We first went to treehouse 3, where the other four people from our group were staying. Their house was much smaller than ours, all on one level, but their view was pretty amazing. The house hung out over a valley of sorts, making it feel even higher. They said they had great views of the sunset, but as they were high above some trees, I think we had better chances of seeing creatures.
Next, we took some of the longest and highest zip lines out to treehouse 5, one in a truly stunning setting. If you Google the Gibbon Experience online, this is the treehouse you see. It is on a very tall tree that seems to tower others in the valley so that it stands out apart from the rest of the forest. The zip line into this treehouse was much longer than the ones into others. It, too, had a lookout tower, but much of the main floor was similarly designed to ours, plus a bathroom on the same floor. On our way back to our tree house we were able to go back and forth on some of the longest zip lines, zipping across one, climbing up to the next, back again and repeat. I must admit that due to lack of skills, and the blame I'll give to my small size, there were many times that I did not make it to the end of the zip line. Feet pulled up close and head leaning back, without my backpack seemed to be the best arrangement, but there was not always a rhyme or a reason. Most times, I ended just thirty meters or so from the platform and would monkey climb with my arms to bring myself in. Twice however, I stopped much further than that and the guide kindly met me halfway to pull me in. They were always helpful, grabbing feet to pull us in or giving us a bamboo pole to grab so they could pull us in.
After lunch back at our own treehouse, we ventured onward, across zip lines and up and down mountains to treehouse 1, a huge treehouse with incredibly planned architecture. You zip in on a platform by the bathroom, then step up a few steps to a large living space with the same table, stools and mini-kitchen that ours had. On the same level, there was a double mattress at a great lookout point. Up a floor, another double mattress with its own view and up one more floor two double mattresses. Can you imagine the joy architects have in designing these creations?
It was at this treehouse that our guides, with incredibly keen eyes spotted movement in the trees. We watched for nearly an hour, commonly seeing branches move, and every now and then spotting langur monkeys gliding through the trees or swinging on the branches. Every now and then, one, including the little baby ones, would sit to just hang out on a branch. Almost silent, we allowed them to continue their daily routine and just enjoyed watching them.
We let them be, headed back to our treehouse for showers, dinner, games and some storytelling. Our guides, locals to the area, showed us some "stick" games similar to toothpick challenges I do with my students involving moving sticks around with specific rules to recreate a new design. Mor, our young, free-spirited, recently married guide typically just laughed and smiled through our time together, probably laughing at how difficult we found climbing the mountain, or how uncoordinated we looked on the zip line compared to him. In large part though, I also think that is a great way to communicate when language is not easy. Thongchanh, our older and wiser guide typically took the lead, and although he was always sure to keep us safe, he also was able to have fun with us. He told us more about the National Park, its founding and the purpose for it. He told us about his growing up near these woods and the one and only time he saw a tiger. He told us about the wide variety of jobs he's had from being a primary school teacher, to working in a hotel in the city we now head to, being a trekking guide for another nearby national park and the difficult task of creating the zip lines. We asked about how the country was affected by wars in the area, the government and his religion. The country is a democratic communist country where people vote for local officials and then those officials vote for a president. The people in the hill tribes and rural areas of Laos are not Buddhist as 65% of the country is, but rather he is Animism. As best I can understand, they believe in spirits and the worship of different spirits such as the sky and the mountains. I loved listening to his life story and appreciated his openness.
After he left, a game of spoons amongst the eight of us sparked. I have such great memories of this high-speed, chaotic game. My friends and I frequently played in high school with whatever items we could find such as pens or chapsticks. On a mission trip to Panama, we taught our bus driver to play and he soon beat us, repeating for the rest of the trip in his beautiful accent, "Who iz ze champion?" The game went on for several hours in our treehouse, no doubts our screams and squeals scared some of the animals. The meek and kind new comers to the game soon learned that one had to be assertive, sneaky and sometimes downright vicious to ensure one got a spoon at the end of each round. There were lots of laughs and only a few scratches before we finished up our game.
It was then that we looked at the night sky. It had been cloudy the night before, but our second night, between the tops of the distant trees and the overhang of our treehouse, we could see the stars. We turned off all the lights in our house, each sat with our legs dangling through the railing, over the side of the treehouse watching fireflies flicker and watching for shooting stars. Mumford and Sons played in the background, and in the quiet, calm of it all, many voices joined in. I thought of another time I had listened to this band, a time that I set out on a day's journey on my own in England to see the White Cliffs of Dover. It was a time I felt supremely independent, and I loved sharing the songs, this band with another group of travelers, younger, in a different stage of their lives, but never the less, also seeking and feeling that independence. I should also mention that there were also several Moana sing-a-longs in our tree house.
Clouds snuck in and covered the stars and we took that as a sign to go to bed. We had heard reports of how loud the jungle was at night, and yes, there were noises, but nothing all too surprising for this Alabama girl. Frogs, cicadas, and the fluttering of bat wings were really the only sounds I heard. None of them woke me nor kept me up, but if I awoke, the sounds always made me smile.
As for weather, we were incredibly lucky. It is the rainy season here, that's why it is the tourist low season. That doesn't mean it rains all the time, but more like our Alabama summers with frequent pop up storms. The first evening, it rained just a bit after we had settled into our treehouse. On our walkabout the next day, it rained just a bit, but that seemed to blend in with the sweat dripping down my chin, but was even cooler, so it was simply a welcome relief. When we left treehouse 1 after watching the langurs, it had become dark and we heard thunder rumbling, but the skies managed to hold back until we reached our own home away from home a good forty five minutes later. We saw more rain from the safety of our vehicle on the way back to town.
The bugs were annoying, relentless and incredible. Mosquitos were present, but truly only relentless at dusk and dawn, but burning mosquito coils (similar to a citronella candle) helped tremendously. Leeches were the most unpleasant. When I think of a leech, I think of a large slug-like creature. Not the ones here. In fact, I'm glad I was shown one as I may have picked it up thinking it was a large inch worm. They were frequently on our shoes, and largely due to the ickiness of them, we had big reactions to finding them. A couple people in the group, Jessica included, had leeches sneak in through their shoes and socks and attach themselves. They didn't leave large marks, nor could they even really be felt, but rather they just sucked off a layer of skin and made blood flow. Icky, yes, but nothing that should deter one from the jungle. We also saw some incredible bugs. At night, especially as it was dark and our lights were on, the jungle bugs flocked to us. There were bright green grasshoppers the size of a mouse and a rainbow of colored moths, many even with shining golden eyes. Thankfully, the largest spider over ever seen was spotted out in the jungle at a safe distance.
That brings me though to the lack of wildlife that we did see. This national park is close to where the Jungle Book took place. There are tigers, panthers, bears, leopards, wolves, deer and so much more. I didn't see a single reptile of any kind. I saw a handful of small, bright green birds, but not many, and not ones that I'd consider greatly tropical. I saw a squirrel, but he didn't look all that different from my brown ones back home. We did see a small rat the first night, but he quickly scampered away. But I did, for an incredibly brief moment spot a gibbon. As we were completing our zip lines, we began to once again hear the sounds of the gibbon songs, coming from nearby. Just minutes away from the small huts where we'd leave our harnesses behind, the guides spotted a few in some nearby trees. Most of what I saw was movement, but I did see those long arms on a dark body as he moved from one high branch to another.
One would think that going into the jungle, zip lining over high heights and sometimes being left on our own, I'd feel unsafe. I never once felt unsafe. Our guides, like geese parenting their goslings, protected us in a line, one in the front to guide us and one in the back to protect us. Our treehouse was close to the kitchens where they slept, not close enough that we could hear one another talk, but close enough that they could certainly hear our screams if something went terribly wrong.
I cannot recommend this experience enough. Yes, it was a bit expensive, but I believe that the money we spent goes to a good cause. I lived a childhood fantasy for the past three days, and I have no doubt the Gibbon Experience will be a highlight in my life for a very long time.
Apparently, three days in the jungle wasn't enough time with these incredible people, so after we showered, we met back at BarHow and enjoyed six hours together, drinking, eating and conversing with our new friends. Two Americans, two Belgians, a Slovakian, a Northern Irish man, two from Guernsey and a German who joined in sat around discussing a wide variety of topics from politics to music to Disney movies to healthcare to how to give all people equal opportunities, but mostly sharing a whole lot of laughs.
Traveling is truly glorious. It opens your eyes to new worlds and customs, but also to a new you. When you put yourself into situations that are not typical for you, you must find new ways to accomplish things. You are often faced with challenges, but it is in the overcoming of those that you learn about yourself and strengthen who you are. Today was a challenging and yet strengthening day.
I've grown accustomed to train travel throughout Europe. I love trains, even though they sometimes still confuse me. My friends and I struggled traveling through Europe years ago when we had to take seven trains in a day or didn't book in time so there were no seats and we sat between cars or slept on the floor of a dining cart. Despite all of that, I still feel fairly comfortable with trains. Buses are a completely new challenge for me, though. I have only ridden a public transportation bus a handful of times in my life. The schedules confuse me as do determining where, in a new city, I am to get off.
Jessica and I rode a bus from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai the other day and had few troubles, even though the bus was not in the nicest of conditions. We had read of the bus from Chiang Mai that went to the Laos border, we did our research as best we could and arrived nearly an hour early to the bus station to find that tickets for the bus were sold out. Traveling during the low season, not encountering many crowds along the way, we never imagined this would happen.
Let me also mention how crucial timing was for this day. We knew that we had a 6-7 hour bus trip that would take us to border control, where we then took a bus across the border and into Laos. We had heard conflicting information that the border control office closed at either 4 or 5, but we wanted to be there in plenty of time, as well as hoping to get to the Gibbon Experience office before they closed at 5 to check in for tomorrow's adventure.
Going back to the bus station... we bought a ticket for a bus that left soon after the one we wanted to, but went to Chiang Rai, a town about 2/3 along the way of our journey. From there, we had heard there were local buses we could take that left every half hour.
The Green Line bus to Chiang Rai was great: clean, air-conditioned, assigned seats and Thai music playing. No problems.
We arrived at the Chiang Rai bus station, and by station, I mean gravel, dust-filled parking lot with a few seats under a cover and vehicles moving all around. (We later heard the real one was under reconstruction.) Arriving at 12:05, we watched the 12:00 bus pull out as we entered. So, like any other American my age, I pulled up Uber to see if it were possible for an Uber to take us the two hour journey. A driver quickly responded and we moved out of the parking lot to try to meet up with him. Through broken English and Google translate, we had trouble communicating. The price seemed fine, but we didn't feel completely comfortable and he seemed to be saying he would just drive us to another driver, so, we backed out and went back to look for a local bus. For some reason, the next one did not leave until 1:30, pushing our time incredibly close, but we seemed to have no other options. While waiting to load the bus, we watched our driver struggle to reverse it out of one spot and into another. So much trouble in fact, that six other drivers had to come to push the bus. Yep, the bus we were about to board had to be pushed.
There was little shade in the parking lot, so in heat like an Alabama summer, we sat on the non-air conditioned bus for an hour in the parking lot, sweating profusely, but making sure to claim our seats. The bus filled up and we pulled out, just a few minutes late. To help you picture this bus, know that I felt it looked more like a trolley, including its bright red color. Windows down and the door tied open as we drove down the road made the heat very bearable. We drove through beautiful valleys surrounded by lush, green mountains, passing farmers working in their rice fields.
Our driver seemed to struggle with the gear shift, and it often felt as though we left a transmission or two behind. The smallest of hills made me feel like chanting "I think I can, I think I can!"
At 3:45, the bus assistant signaled to us that it was our stop, the stop to Laos. Tuk-tuks were waiting at the bus stop to help take travelers the five kilometers to border patrol. However, our driver appeared to not be in quite the rush that we were in. At 3:54, we pulled up, leapt out of the vehicle and were thankfully greeted by friendly patrol officers who also did not seem to be in a hurry. (Just FYI, when you come into Thailand, you are given a sort of immigration card. Hold on to that.)
Laos and Thailand are separated by a river, so crossing from one country to another does not all happen inside the same building. After leaving Thailand immigration officers, you buy a ticket for a bus. The bus, just outside the door takes you across the river and drops you off at Laos border control. Here, after filling out paperwork, you hand your passport over. Yep, that's a terrifying thing. Some people, behind closed doors took my passport for a matter of minutes and thankfully returned it to me with a new stamp and a new Laos visa.
Outside, two men greeted us and asked if we wanted to share a taxi to town as it was cheaper. We gladly climbed into the taxi (a pick-up with a cover and a bench on each side) and rode the fifteen minutes to town where we arrived at the Gibbon Experience office with about twelve minutes to spare. All signed in and ready for our adventure, we headed to find our hotel in this itty bitty town. Size apart, we got conflicting reports of where the hotel was, but eventually made it safely to the place we'll call home for a night. Whew.
As our time in Thailand comes to a close, I want to mention a few things I've learned about the people and the customs of Thailand.
The first is shoes. No, it's not that they wear very different shoes from us, but rather the lack of shoes in public places. All hotels, temples, homes and some businesses expect you to leave your shoes at the door. I believe it did help to keep the dirt down, but walking around the photo museum or hotel lobbies without shoes just felt kind of funny, and yet also very homey.
During our first few days in Thailand, I noticed small houses, ones that at the time I thought were ornate bird houses, or the child in me thought would make great doll houses. Neither were true. These are spirit houses, almost like a mini-temple to put in your front yard. Many businesses have them as well. Thai people are quite superstitious, and they believe that if they make offerings to the spirits who once inhabited the space where they are, they will be blessed. The business owners believe it will bring them good fortune and prosperity. The spirits are especially fond of red drinks, so open Fanta bottles and other red liquids are left behind.
The Thai people love their king, not only because it seems to be law to feel that way as it is illegal to talk poorly of him in public, but they truly seem to love him. Or perhaps I should say loved. The beloved king, one of the longest ruling monarchs, passed away last September. The country is in mourning until this September when they will have the cremation ceremony. Government employees were still wearing all black. Giant photos and paintings of the king hang from buildings, on store fronts, on the side of the road or even a miniature one on the dashboard. While the new king had not yet been coronated, his picture was also visible, although not nearly as much as his beloved father's picture, but I'm sure that will change upon his coronation.
In Sukhothai the first evening, at 6, out in the middle of the old ruins, a loud speaker blared playing strange music we did not recognize. After a few minutes, the music changed drastically and everyone in the park stood perfectly still. The second it was over, they began moving again simultaneously. Curious, and a bit baffled, we assume it was the national anthem, for it happened the next night and at the bus station. I was impressed with the respect and revenance every Thai citizen gave to his country.
I believe what stood out to me the most, was the true kindness of Thai people. They were genuine, friendly, jovial and welcoming. I will admit that unfortunately my cautious ways may have sometimes made me feel rude. Like when strangers would ask where you were traveling to or where you were staying, but it wasn't ever in hopes of gaining something other than a little practice in English. When you travel here, be open and accept their kind gestures as truly that rather than being a skeptical tourist.
Make sure Thailand is high on your list of places to travel to!
I will admit that as an Auburn fan, it is sometimes difficult to look at elephants with love. However, they truly are amazing creatures, and I feel I can love them as one of God's creatures and not be supporting my rival. So, please consider that my disclaimer.
Much of Chiang Mai tourism is elephants as the city is not too far from the mountains where these creatures used to roam free (and a small number still do). We heard different estimates, but there seem to be at least 100 different elephant parks in the area. All are a little different, offering tourists something a little different. Some are certainly more humane than others. We did our research and felt confident about the one we chose, and even after our visit, I still felt that way. Many of the parks offer elephant riding. I hope you will consider, if you ever have the opportunity to ride an elephant, not to do it. Why? First off, we saw the backbones of two different elephants standing side by side. One of them had been in the logging industry for years, carrying large things and more than likely being ridden while the other was born in the park. The difference was startling. The one who had been worked for years had almost a flat back, where the other one's spine curved above her back, showing a stark difference. For elephants to allow riders, their spirits must first be totally broken. Heart-breaking, right? Many in Thailand are working to make the activity illegal.
Let me tell you first a bit about Elephant Nature Park. A passionate Thai woman, Lek started this park as a haven for Asian elephants who had been mistreated. She works to save elephants from difficult conditions such as street begging (which has only recently been outlawed), logging industry, circus-type shows and elephant riding. The stories of these poor creatures are truly heart-breaking. Some of them have broken hips from so much work, some of them have broken feet or legs from stepping on land mines at the border, some are blind from the bright lights of a show, some were babies found abandoned in the woods and some show signs of mental distress from being on the streets for so many years. One gave birth to her baby, but it fell down the side of a mountain and she could not save it. So deep in depression, she wouldn't work. Her mahout (muh-hoot) got so frustrated that he shot a slingshot at her eye and blinded her. Upset, she threw her trunk at him and he stabbed her in the other eye. Truly heartbreaking stories.
While I believe Lek would love for these animals to live free, their injuries, and the fact that they have always been domesticated means that they cannot take care of themselves. So, she's not trying to prepare them for the wild, but rather give them a comfortable home where they can live out their days. While a very few babies have been born at the park, the adult male elephants are separated (they usually live on their own anyway) to prevent any more pregnancies. They'd rather spend money on rescuing elephants than breeding them.
Here, at the Elephant Nature Park, the mahouts still "train" the elephants, but it is for rewards rather than with punishment techniques. Every one of the 72 elephants in the park has its own mahout, its own care taker who spends ten hours a day with it every day (imagine the level of trust and devotion there). The mahouts are there to keep the elephants safe as well as the people who visit the park. Elephants form families, groups that they live in. In the wild, these are made up of a small number of adult females and some babies, most of which are probably related. Here in the park, they formed their own families. These bonds are stronger than blood. The babies are nannied by all adults in the group, and certainly protected by the whole family. The healthy ones lead the unhealthy ones. They mourn the loss of one of their own and they protect their family. Which is another way the mahouts play a role. The mahouts try to navigate the families around the park so that each of them gets time in each part of the park each day, without families fighting over coveted parts, like perhaps wallowing in the river. At night, the mahouts put the animals into large cages within their families, once again for protection. For protection from other families and to keep them from wandering off as there are no fences around the edge of the park.
My thoughts on Elephant Nature Park went back and forth a lot. On the one hand, it sort of felt like a zoo with the males in a large enclosed area, another family in an enclosure, animals letting us pet them, feed them and pose with them. But on the other hand, these animals are loved and well-cared for. And, if the park didn't offer a few of those cheesy, up-close encounters, I doubt it would draw many tourists, then where would the money come from to help more elephants? So, overall, I believe Lek is a truly-good-hearted animal lover who is trying to do some amazing things, and I was thrilled to get to see the park.
The Elephant Nature Park is much more than that, it is a home for the orphaned and the misfits. There are over 100 water buffalo who help to trim the grass. (We had a couple close encounters with some of their horns!) It is believed that if you give away a water buffalo, it raises your spirit or betters your afterlife. Some farmers also sold theirs after they were able to purchase machinery to do the work on their farm. Over 400 dogs (plus the ones that come from the villages to play for the day), call the place home. Many of these dogs came from the streets of Bangkok, puppy mills and even saved from the slaughter house. About 300 cats currently have a home there, not to mention the cows, the goats, the chickens and who knows what else. I loved seeing so many animals in one place living, perhaps not as friends, but harmoniously never the less. Cats made their homes on scooter seats, tables, nooks and crannies, and even snuck into guest quarters. Dogs wandered about, sometimes chasing the buffalo, but generally staying away from the elephants. We had to watch where we sat to ensure we did not disturb a creature, as they had first dibs.
The park is also full of people. The park employees hundreds of people who cook, clean, guide tourists, give massages, care for elephants, grow and gather crops and much more. Volunteers come from around the world to stay at the park for a week or a month to help out however possible. Vet students volunteer, do research, and get practical experience, plus there are the people like me, a tourist. So this park is flooded with people and creatures of all sorts of types living and working together in a beautiful harmony.
Now, I think I've given you enough background information about Elephant Nature Park that I can tell you more about my time there. It felt so very much like camp! Not just because we all smelled of sunscreen and bug spray, and it was hot outside, but also because of our groups. K was our leader for the first day. He picked each of us at our hotels and was in charge of the 8 of us most of the day. We had our own assigned table and times that we were to do specific things. (There were probably about 8 other groups like us.) We started our time by feeding the elephants from the platform. We fed them bananas, pumpkins and watermelons. The large items were cut in half, but they ate peel, skin, stem, seeds, every bit of it. I don't think we could overfeed these guys even if we tried. Did you know they eat around 300 pounds of food a day? Yeah, now imagine that times 72 elephants!
Side note: these are Asian elephants which are slightly smaller than their African cousins and have noticeably smaller ears.
K took us on a walkabout where we got to meet and feed another elephant, one who's broken foot had healed improperly, became infected and as such, she had to be contained. We walked around more as K told us stories about individual elephants. There was the five year old male whom he called "Fat Boy" because most elephants wean at 3-4 years old and yet he was still nursing. And because of his size, he had to lie down to nurse as he could no longer fit under his mom. There were the two females who stuck side by side because one was blind and the other lead her around and cared for her.
Then, it was time for lunch, and while the gong brought people running just like it does at camp, food was not like any camp food I ever had. There were heaps of Thai food, wrapping around the corner and spilling over to more tables. My plate was overflowing, I didn't really know what I was eating, but I loved every bit of it.
We had some free time after lunch, so Jessica and I went to our own little haven, the Cat Kingdom! It was a true kingdom for cats: blankets, pillows, cat beds, benches, high walkways, everything the hundreds of cats could want. Some were new to the park and were in enclosures while they became accustomed to the area, but most that were roaming free welcomed attention. They didn't follow or swarm you (they're cats, remember?), but they allowed you to walk amongst them and stroke them, allowing more stroking if you were doing it correctly.
Our afternoon consisted of another walk where we watched elephants wallow in the river, splash about and act like stubborn children when their mahouts called them to get out. After a great bath, what else to do but throw mud on yourself? They do this as a natural sunscreen.
We also got to help in the bathing! While a mahout offered a basket of bananas to some elephants, we threw buckets of water on them. I think it was a win all around. I think they love water, but perhaps not as much the way we did it as wallowing in the water, but then again, there was a large basket of bananas there.
In the afternoon, after the place cleared of many day-guests, we were led to our accommodations, of which we were all expecting dorm-style rooms. It was not, it was absolutely luxurious. Our room had a queen bed and a twin bed, both canopied in a mosquito net along with a large bathroom including a rainfall shower that was attached to a "tree." Our balcony faced one of the elephant enclosures where they were put up for the evening. Much of afternoon was spent on this deck that we shared with our two Australian neighbors. Like us, close friends that liked to travel together, they had impressive backgrounds and lists of places they had traveled to. Kristen had grown up on a farm where they raised racing horses while Felicity had grown up on a farm with thousands of sheep, cattle and more. They had both lived and worked in England for sort of a gap year before college, sparking a love of travel that continues today.
The dinner bell called us all back to a massive spread of food once again. I was half-way through eating the pork, chicken, noddles, rice and vegetables when someone mentioned that the Elephant Nature Park was vegan. I have no idea what exactly I had been eating, but man, it was delicious.
During dinner, I also enjoyed meeting a young woman from Portland. She was there for ten weeks, volunteering, trying to get a new business up and running. The Elephant Nature Park is also involved in a new industry of coffee in the area. The climate is perfect for naturally growing coffee beans without deforestation. They are working to give women a sustainable way to make money on their own, and in the process making delicious coffee. And guess what, you can even get free US shipping. Want to feel good about where your next cup comes from? Check out ENPCoffee.com
After dinner, we were treated to a show by the local women, ones that were employed at the park. They wore traditional Thai dresses and danced to traditional Thai songs. Dogs wandered amongst the guests, stopping for some attention periodically, confident that the guests were in fact there to see them rather than the women performing.
Then, it was time for audience participation. Forty or so of us got lessons from the women about dancing and then, we broke into dance circles, conga lines and even danced to "Gangnam Style." We were all dripping with sweat and laughter by the end, thrilled to be surrounded by such great diversity.
During the night, sounds of elephant calls woke me up, but I drifted back to sleep thinking what an extreme pleasure it was to hear those noises.
Breakfast was once again, a huge spread of healthy, natural foods, including a fire burning grill where we each could make our own toast. We visited the cat kingdom once again, and were thrilled to find the kittens beaming with energy, climbing the fences of their enclosures, all the way to the ceiling. The kittens pounced and pranced about, leaping on one another or chasing bugs while their mothers looked on, seemingly thankful they did not have to participate.
Our new guide, Dao (rhymes with cow) led us on another walk around the park where we met Sexy Lady, an older elephant who came to the park with a small hole in her ear. Her mahout wanted to make sure she felt pretty, so he put a flower in the hole.
We also saw the male elephants and a couple more families who enjoyed the riverside. One family had a year-old baby who seemed to love the attention. She was quite the ham putting on a show for us. She could climb on the log, over it, back cross and was thrilled with her skills. What a treat to watch this young one enjoy herself!
We played with the cats some more, bathed some more elephants and once again enjoyed a massive hot meal. Then, it was time for us to cook for the elephants. Some of the older elephants don't have teeth, so it is harder for them to chew and get the nutrients they need. Working together in a large bowl that fit all eight pairs of our hands, we mixed sticky rice, bananas, oatmeal, rice powder, salt and ground corn into a giant messy dough that we then formed into balls. Next, was one of the biggest treats: feeding the elephants these balls. As they were messy, we had to get right up close to them, and man, they loved the rice balls!
Messy, tired, but full of excitement and thankful for the timing of the rain, we loaded up and headed back to Chiang Mai with our new-found friends, eager to share what we had seen and learned, but also eager for a shower.
On our way to dinner, we ran into Emilia, a solo traveler from England who had been in our group. A paramedic by trade, she had been living in Vietnam for the past year, teaching English, but was spending two months traveling before heading home. We enjoyed our street food dinner, our favorite Thai dessert, mango sticky rice, a drink at the bar and getting to know our new friend. It was a great last night in Thailand before heading on to a new country.
After a six hour, semi-air-conditioned bus ride, we made it to our next Thai city of Chiang Mai. This is where most tourist come to, and I can certainly see why. The old city is surrounded by a small moat, and inside the moat, the side streets are barely wider than a side walk. The remaining city walls, the narrow roads, give this city a certain charm that slightly resembles European charm we are more accustomed to. The air, while still warm, is noticeably cooler. And the surrounding countryside is known for its beauty and for its elephants. I believe that's why most people come here, for the elephants, and we will soon be joining that crowd of people!
Being a tourist city has its benefits and its downsides. Some benefits are how ready taxis and tuk-tuks are available, how fun the shopping is, how delicious the food is and how many people speak English. Some downsides, however have been that we are more surrounded by tourists rather than locals, people involved in the tourism industry here are more pushy than the kind Thais we've come in contact with elsewhere and there seem to be more tourist traps.
Our first night, we found a recommended restaurant that served traditional northern Thai foods. We both enjoyed the food, that though similar to some we had tried elsewhere, had its own flair and flavor. Then, we wandered down to the Night Bazaar, one of the most popular things to do here. It was a lot of fun, and like the market we visited in Bangkok, it seemed endless with booth after booth of trinkets, souvenirs, food, and yes, more elephant pants. We sat with a drink for a while, listening to a band in an outdoor market setting, with fairy lights and umbrellas to add to the atmosphere.
For breakfast the next morning, we wandered until we found a crepe cart. I saw banana and peanut butter in the cart, so I sort of pointed to those. She smiled at me and said, "no, mango and chocolate." Although I could have easily told her cheeky smile no, I accepted the suggestion and was very thankful I did. The mango here is fresh and readily available, and I've enjoyed eating it.
Our first stop of the day was a cultural museum. It was a very well-done museum about the culture of the Northern Thai people with a focus on religion and customs. There were signs in Thai, English and Mandarin that gave good explanations as we walked around the life-size dioramas and artifacts. Unfortunately, what I believe I learned most was how little I truly know and understand about Buddhism, and it is a way of thinking that I do want to know more about.
Our next destination was one of the many wats (temples) in Chiang Mai. Since we had seen some incredible ones in Bangkok and some ancient ones in Sukhothai, we had little desire to see each wat in the city, and instead chose to visit the largest one and then move on to other things. The wat, as they all have been, was golden, ornate and brightly colored. What we saw here that we had not seen before was Buddhist monks meditating. Their stoic, quiet, angelic figures astounded me. At first glance, I thought they were statues because of how still they were and how long they stayed in that position. But, there remained on their faces a slight smile, giving way to their kind nature. We've encountered a few monks on our travels so far and have been overwhelmed by their kind, jovial spirits.
For much of the afternoon, Jessica and I went to a place that could not have been more perfect for us. Art in Paradise is a sort of interactive art museum where scenes are painted to appear 3D, allowing you to join in on the fun. The place was not crowded at all, so Jessica and I spent several hours taking photos of one another in bizarre situations.
Our last stop for the afternoon was something I had said I wanted to do while in Asia: a fish pedicure. You've seen them before, people stick their feet into small, aquarium type vats of water and little fish come and eat the dead skin off your feet. Sometimes, when swimming in the lake at home, little fish come to nibble on my feet and ankles, typically going after freckles or anything with a shimmer to it. These guys looked quite like piranhas as they swarmed at the first sight of a foot entering, but their gentle nibbles felt more like bubbles or vibrations. There were certainly squeals as they nibbled away, but it was very fun, my feet did feel softer afterward, and I'd happily do it again.
For our evening, we signed up for a Street Food Tour and were very thankful we did. The street food looks and smells amazing, but we've been a bit intimidated by it, not knowing what to order or exactly how to. So, this tour was perfect for us. We had one local guide and one fellow traveler, a lady from Birmingham (England, of course)! Our guide would help us find spots to sit at small stools and tables behind food carts, then go pick out things for us to try. At the first place, we tried sticky rice with a meat "salad" concoction similar to the duck salad we made in our cooking class. The biggest difference was how we ate it: with our hands! We took the sticky rice, formed it into a ball and then dipped it into the meat salad, grabbing both and tossing back the flavorful mixture. A refreshing papaya salad was next followed by a soup, very similar to the one we made in our class. I did learn something important, though. The lemongrass is not to be eaten in large chunks like we put in our soup, but it is there just for flavor (thank heavens because it was very chewy).
We walked a few stalls down and tried a new round of flavors, ginger tea and Thai donuts. The ginger tea was strong, but would be wonderful when you're fighting off a cold. The donuts tasted more like funnel cake as we dipped them into a sauce made of condensed sweetened milk and something green that I'm not positive of. However, after doing some Googling, it may have been soybean leaf that gave it its color and extra flavor.
The tour continued at several more stops where we tried tender pork knuckle, a fresh noodle bowl with lots of greens, a new favorite fruit of a mangosteen, some durian, other fruits I cannot name, some gelatin-type desserts in a variety of flavors, a Thai pancake with banana, egg and chocolate, and coconut rice dumplings. My stomach nearly burst by the end of the evening and my mouth was on fire with a multitude of flavors, but it was all so delicious. I would gladly eat any of it again, minus the gelatins as they were not my favorite. I'm so glad that we did this tour, though as it helped us to try a wide variety of food.
It seems many people who come to Chiang Mai escape the city (and don't worry, we'll do that, too!), but we made quite a fun day in the city, and certainly enjoyed eating our way through Chiang Mai!
After busy Bangkok, our plane touched down at the teeny tiny Sukhothai airport which hosts about three flights a day. A mini-train vehicle took us from the plane to the airport while our luggage went by pick-up truck. Zebras and a giraffe roamed next door to the airport. We quickly realized how thrilled we were to be out of the hustle and bustle of a big city. This is the airport:
Our driver, son of the hotel owner and husband of the woman who I had corresponded with was there waiting with a sign to carry us to the hotel. When we got in the car, he said, "I hope it's okay, but I like country music," and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" started playing.
We drove past rice fields, currently in inches of water, past fields of palm trees, corn, lily pads and greenery I can't name. Such a contrast from the city where we had come from.
Our hotel, although nothing fancy was run by incredibly friendly and generous hosts, and the location could not be beat. We believe we were the only two staying there for two nights, but it is the low season. Who knows what this little town, who makes its money off tourism looks like during the high season.
Sukhothai arose in the 13th century as the capital of much of modern day Thailand. Meaning "dawning of happiness," this golden age of Thailand was a time when the Thai alphabet was developed as well as distinctive architecture and artwork. The capital, however was moved about 150 years later. Now, the old city is full of impressive ruins. It's broken into three distinct parts, and our hotel was across the street from the entrance to the largest part.
Jessica and I wandered around the park on our first evening, amazed by the Buddha figures and the columns that remained. Although the sky did not light up as we hoped, we sat in awe watching the sun set behind the mountain peaks, the wise Buddha never changing his expression.
Our dinner that evening was at one of the few restaurants here inside the ancient city walls of Old Sukhothai where we had the local dish of Sukhothai noodles.
They were delicious! I added to mine with fresh coconut.
The next morning, we decided to see the old city as most tourists do, from the seat of a bicycle. Right next door to our hotel, we rented bikes for the day for 30 baht each. That's about 94 cents for the day. Throughout the parks, wide, flat paths invite cyclists, and although we had to travel on the main road at times to connect the parks, traffic here is nothing like Bangkok, and we felt perfectly safe. In fact, I believe as many cows, chickens and cats crossed our paths as cars.
Ancient ruins, giant Buddha statues, and fields of green filled much of the day. I was reminded of the poem, "Ozymandius," where a partial statue remains in the desert with a sign saying "look on my works ye mighty and despair," and yet nothing remains next to the statue. And yet, the Thai people do not seem that power hungry, instead, many of the structures that remain are wats (temples).
It was hot, our hands got sunburned while on the bikes, and we were certainly sore the next day, but touring the old city on bikes was a perfect, quiet, relaxing sort of way to spend our day.
Once again, we positioned ourselves in front of a Buddha hoping to see the skies light up as the air became more pleasant. We were approached by three Thai women who asked if they could practice their English with us. They sat for about ten minutes, laughing, smiling and asking us questions. They asked where we were from, where we were traveling, what foods we had enjoyed and gave us tips about teas to keep us healthy. One woman owned a coffee shop, one translated documents and the youngest worked at the hospital. When I asked here where she had learned English, she said from talking with foreigners in the park and watching YouTube videos with subtitles. And that was it. There were no gimmicks, no thievery, no trying to sell us something. The Thai people do truly amaze me.
Since we ate a late lunch, we decided to treat ourselves to desserts that had tempted us the night before and forgo a meal. The fried bananas were absolutely delicious!
The next morning, before catching the bus to Chiang Mai, I woke up early and wandered back into the park in search of some great morning light and was rewarded with bright sunshine and lillies that had opened over night. It's possible it was just coincididence, but I feel confident it was by design that many of the Buddhas faced the morning sun.
I also found the two dogs who had joined us for dinner at the restaurant the last two nights, sleeping by one of the grandest Buddha statues. Perhaps they feel protected there, perhaps they can look out over the whole park, or perhaps they simply have the freedom to do whatever they want.
Talking to other travelers on our journey, and even Tammie's family, few had been to Sukhothai nor really even knew about it. How did we end up here? Frankly, the guide book I read in preparing for this trip listed it as a top destination. I did love the majesty of it, and I loved the biking opportunities, but what I loved most was the lacking crowds. We truly enjoyed our time in this ancient city!
