Hike with Lan Na, Chee and Nome

Our dormitories at Bann Chang

Lanna, Nome (with the hat) and Chee

After the a cozy night in the well appointed dormitories of Bann Chang, we set off for a hike with Lan Na, a huge male elephant with rubber protection ( for the trees) wired onto his meter long tusks.  He was named for Lan Na or Lanna Kingdom, also down as Lannathai,  which was an Indianized state centered in present day Northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries.  

Lan Na has found a stand of elephant grass and goes at it.

Nome encourages the campfire

Nome prepares the banana leaf packet of egg to put into the coals

Dave and I start to eat on our banana leaf table cloth while the elephants graze

 After we stopped at a little sheltered cabin with Nome and Chee to show us how to have a jungle picnic with chicken legs already marinated and rice cooked in bamboo tubes.

Lan Na and his girlfriend

During lunch Lan Na's girlfriend showed up with her mahout and Lan Na came off the hill in an instant to be with her.  All she had to do was bang her trunk on the ground, and he was there. They went off foraging together within sight of us.   

It was a wondrous outing to be so close to the big beasts in a natural looking environment and to coax the elephants home all we needed was a bag of sugar cane pieces.

After that,  we ventured to another large pond in the compound where Nome would scrub down the big guy for his daily bath.  

 Then Dave and I went off to see the babies for a while.

It is a great thrill interacting with these large animals, so gentle and so well cared for in this place.   We were glad we had chosen this chance to be among them.

Would this happen here?

I may be romanticizing it but I found theThai people to be inordinately helpful, unselfish and kind.  One night in Chaing Mai I decided to go off to buy sunglasses at the night bazaar.  Tui gave me a map but I missed the instruction that first I was to turn right onto the road at the corner.  

I walked along a highway, dark and remote for 10 minutes before I realized my mistake.  So I cut over across and did find the Night Bazaar.  But my mistake was that I didn't relocate to the Burger King shown on the map... to find my way home. I thought I could find my own way by instinct.

I was wrong,  I walked down a dark, dark street and used my cell phone flashlight to avoid roots in the sidewalk, until I spied a posh hotel just across the street.  By then I needed to pee but doubted that they would let me use the restroom dressed in shorts and a tee shirt.  The night porter led me in, however. 

 Afterwards, I wandered to the desk to show my hand drawn map to the concierge, a beautiful Thai girl.  I said, " If I could get to the Burger King near the bazaar, I think I could find my way back."

I had no address of Tui's home, no phone number and only a few landmarks to go by.  I had always been so sure of my sense of direction so I went off too confidently.

  I told them that I lived near the Catholic church, and that I knew where the Kentucky fried Chicken was near me, and a coffee shop across from telephone wires where hundreds of Starlings perched every night.   These were all near my home stay.  

"Ah , the birds", said the porter.  I know the noisy birds, and I know a shortcut.  Can I take you on my motorbike?  

So that is how I got home that night before Tui and the family were ready to go to bed.  And the porter wouldn't take any payment for the favor.    These kinds of experiences followed me throughout the trip and probably that is partly why I will stay a fan of Thailand.

Bann Chang Elephant Park

The following day in Chiang Mai we were collected by Chee from the Bann Chang Elephant Park, a small Family run Eco Park with a private owner (not a chain).  

  The home is dedicated to educating the public about the Asian Elephant of Thailand and providing the best life quality to rescued animals.  There are no elephant tricks or rides to be found here....events that exploit the elephant by taking away the normal time that an elephant should be eating.   Elephants eat all day to sustain their bulk and normally only sleep 2-3 hours.  There is a huge acreage at the park for natural foraging for the animals as well as the treats given of sugar cane.

  With a small backpack to stay overnight and spend a few days getting down and dirty with the big beasts, we came in a 4x4 with our driver/ guide Chee.    He had once been a mahout himself but with a knack for languages, studied to become a guide.  A mahout is an elephant trainer or keeper and is a Hindi word.  In Thailand he is known as kwan-chang.

After an introduction about the park and the habits of elephants, we were given uniforms to wear so we didn't have to take back soiled clothes.

    Our first job was feeding stalks of young sugar cane ( less sugar) to the elephants.  It was fascinating to see how each one accepted the food differently .  My first elephant wanted to put three small stalks in her mouth as soon as it was offered.  Lanna, however, wanted at least 9-13 pieces before bringing the bite to his mouth.  He was expert at arranging the pieces with his "trunk fingers" in the crook of his trunk before the next bite.

Dave with his first elephant of the stay

We climb out of the pond after bathing the elephants.

The first elephant I fed and followed the first day was Mai-lee, a female blind from cataracts.  When she wanted some more stalks of sugar cane, she raised her trunk.  When she was happy she flapped her ears. No problem.  I had the goodies so she followed me anywhere.

There were at least 5 babies and moms present kept separate from the others. We were allowed to feed and interact with them.  The babies couldn't digest the banana skins but knew how to squish the end of the fruit to get at the pulp if a whole one landed mistakenly at their feet.

Babies were kept separately with their mothers in pens.

Dave with a tray of medicine balls

 
After a tasty lunch, we were introduced to the idea of "medicine balls". These were concocted by the guests each day to give extra nutrition to the elephants.  Some of the ingredients were bananas and banana peels, sticky rice and several kinds of herbs and leaves that were found on the acreage.    The elephants thought of these as candy and generally accepted them with great enthusiasm... placed directly into their mouths, as many as you could shove in.  There is a resident Vet at Bann Chang and any problems of health are quickly addressed.

Dave and mahout in the bathing pond

Near the end of our day we went along with our two elephants and their trainers for the daily bath.   The mahouts who knew these elephants could coax them to sit and then we all did the scrubbing.  The beasts seemed to enjoy it and we were getting rid of their parasites, it seems.

In the evening we were treated to the second meal at the park and ate under a lovely pavilion, the only guests that day.

  It was a tasty dinner: a curry soup, rice and two other main dishes with chicken and chilies and of course, the wonderful small pineapple from the region which was always served with the meals.  These small pineapples from the region, oh- so- sweet, can be eaten center stalk and flesh.

Chee wishes us "Bon Appetite"

Our evening chef for a lovely Thai meal

Siam Insect Zoo

  Photo from Chiangmaivoyage.com

 We asked Parr if he had ever visited the Insect Zoo  among other tourist business we saw on the way home and no, he hadn't.  The tiger cages yes, the snakes, affirmative but not one party on his tours in Chiang Mai had asked him to stop to see the insects.
It may sound uninspiring to visit a bunch of dead bugs and butterflies under glass cases but in fact that is only part of the display at Siam Insect Zoo.
This is an interactive world insect museum with live insect breeding , a butterfly garden and a few very keen budding biologists working there to anticipate all your questions.    There is a reptile section also.

Its called Siam Insect Zoo in Chiang Mai and here are a few pictures from our visit.
 www.facebook.com/siaminsectzoochiangmai

Dave holds a live walking stick insect.

These huge leaf insects were one of my favorites.  They look like fairies to me.  

Our home stay in Chiang Mai

Tui, from her instagram account, Windowofthailand.

Arriving at Chiang Mai, we were met by a new driver/guide, Parr and taken to the home of  Khun Pom where we met Pom and her adult children Tui, Ta, and Manoj who live tucked away from the city traffic of busy Chiang Mai ( Two million inhabitants).   It is an elegant house with an open kitchen ( open to the outdoors that is), and a courtyard where three busy kittens like to sun.   The neighborhood has Catholics, Muslims and Buddhists living happily together in close proximity.   Tui was our main hostess and we spent much of our time with her and with Parr, our driver over the next days.

  
  We were given lovely rooms in the family house and settled in.   We then set off with Tui for a walk around the neighborhood followed by a Thai dinner cooked by Ta ( pronounced Da....sticking your tongue for a second to the top of your mouth) who we found prepares excellent Thai cuisine.

When asked what we liked for breakfast, we agreed that we ate protein ( as opposed to rice, sweets, cereal etc).  Tui liked two special tea shops that served protein breakfasts so we started the next day with our favorite "roti" of the trip...an unassuming little place with an excellent chef at the hot-plate.   We each had the freshest fried eggs in coconut oil and a side dish of a kind of potato filled envelope of stretchy dough.   This was served with coffee or tea and garnishes of pickled cucumber, sauces and a dessert side dish of shredded dough sprinkled with sugar. 

Looking across the street at our Roti with the pink chair. 

Our Roti chef adding a special mixture of cubed potatoes and chicken for the inside of the dough

The chef's husband gives us the thumbs up while Dave watches his wife cook our breakfast.

Roti stuffed with chicken and potato cubes , garnishes with cucumber in vinegar with red onion.

Notice the complementary herb tea and the tiny little forks used in Thailand.

Tui also bought us a couple of breakfast rice dishes from another shop for us to try.  One was made with a custard of condensed milk and I believe the second one had toasted coconut and palm sugar on it.

Condensed milk is a favorite addition of toast and breakfast rice

Thai breakfast options from another shop

Something that impressed me was this Tea Shop was opened at 5 am.  It seems a good solution for insomniacs and breakfast early for people who must be off to early morning jobs.    Indeed there was an elderly woman there who was there every day when the tea shop opened at five in the morning.  


After breakfast Parr arrived to take us to an orchid farm, and to bathe at the Mae Sa Waterfalls.  We had our swim suits on and our hiking sandals for climbing up to all 10 tiers of the cascade.

A most unusual orchid at the farm

All kinds of lunch options for sale at stands outside the waterfalls. 

One of ten cascades of the Mae Sa Waterfalls

  In the end we chose this setting where we had a flat rock to lie on and there were no other bathers... just a pretty duo of young Thai girls taking photos of each other.....a world wide phenomena now. 

Visiting schools in Thailand

Since Dee and the gang at Tell Tale know I love visiting schools,  we scheduled two visits.  Dave and I had brought some really nice art supplies and I had with me 2 interactive books for little children about 5 or 6 years old.  

On the day of the visit in Bangkok, however, I was completely knackered from two nights of not sleeping ( jet lag) and Dave agreed that he didn't mind if we skipped the school.  However, the next day our hosts suggested that I go next door to the nursery school to visit with 3 and 4 year old kids whose parents were wanting them to learn English.  

It was so interesting to see them sitting quietly on the floor and I quickly snapped a few pictures...But then, the teacher asked me to do some songs with the kids and I launched into at least one hour of singing games, word playing and dancing all in English ( except the Thai dancing the kids taught me).   We launched into "I'm a little Teapot and Twinkle , twinkle but then sped quickly into the Hokie Pokie,  "I'm just a little ole pile of tin", The puffin poem with hand clapping and one of their favorites...."DOE a Deer, a female deer".  They liked the part with "FA...a long, long way to run" as they took off running to to the opposite wall.  

 I was completely in my element.  It all came back to me from my 15 years of teaching,  7 years with that age children at The Buckley School in the mornings before I crossed the street to the middle school in the afternoons.  And it was a hoot.   As Dave says, you have a lot of "kid" in you.

My hosts were frankly astonished and the nursery teacher asked me to come back to Thailand and that I could live with her and we could teach together.  It sounded like a fun idea...I'm not counting it out. 

The second effort to visit a school was at Bamboo Nests in the hill country of Thailand.  Unfortunately the day we had planned was a national holiday and the schools were closed.   So instead I told our hostess to give the art supplies to the school and I would take the sticker books into the village nearby to see if I could drum up any interest before our second hike with Noi. 

I had about 7 kids around me on the porch of a bamboo hut and we had no common language. With a little introduction from our guide, however, they knew immediately what to do .  The idea was to dress a drawing of an animal with stickers: shirts, skirts, pants, shoes, guitars, necklaces , hats etc.  The little girl with the dress and hair ribbon on in the top photo, not surprisingly, chose very feminine clothes for her character.

 The game was a big success but I noticed an older girl about 13 who didn't want to participate but was thoroughly fascinated.   In the end I gave the unfinished books to her with the promise that she would work with the little ones.  She just had that look of a teacher about her.   So I got my wish, after all....about visiting schools.

The next day after visiting the little ones in Bangkok, we were off to fly to Chiang Mai for the next leg of our adventure.