Cats love boxes!

I thought I was the lucky one when mom sends me care packages from home (thank you!), but it turns out I’m not the only one getting something. After I unload all my goodies, the kitties fight for sitting rights in the box. As it turns out, they only get a few minutes of peace before the other pounces on them and tries to kick them out. A few times, I’ve heard a loud thud, only to find a stunned Sonoko shuffle away after a ride in the box from the table to the floor.
Sumi is much bigger (and heavier) than Sonoko, so he defends the cardboard stronghold armed with huge claws and a fang. Since he is so big, he gets into some funny positions while squeezing himself into the box.
But usually, it is Sonoko doing all the swatting and biting. She is quite aggressive, and Sumi is gentler, at least most of the time. Sumi has been very accommodating, letting Sonoko finish his food for him, and letting her chase him all over the apartment. He has been very patient.
So it looks as though Sonoko is here to stay. They are making friends with each other and I think are happier to have someone to play with all day and night. Sonoko has taught Sumi to sleep on the bed next to me, and Sumi has taught Sonoko the fun of climbing the curtains. They both have their funny quirks, but don’t we all. Now, it looks like it will be the three of us heading to San Diego in summer!
And you all thought I’d come back with a boyfriend! Ha! Proved you all wrong! *sigh*

Wrap-up

For my last day in Thailand, I flew back to Bangkok, had lunch, and watched a movie. I did a little window shopping, but my bags were pretty stuffed already. That night, I flew back to Japan.
When I look back at the pictures, and recall all the things I got to do, I am still amazed. I feel like I didn’t appreciate it enough when I was there. I must go back to Cambodia someday. There are more temples to see, and I’d love to revisit some again. The people in Cambodia were some of the happiest I have ever met. To foreigners, it is hard to imagine living in a place with such poverty, and danger as part of everyday life. Cambodia is such a beautiful country with a striking culture but tumultuous past. I hope they continue to build up their communities, maybe not relying so much on tourism like in Thailand, but improving the lives of it’s people through education and hard work.
This is a trip that has shaped my outlook on the world and influenced me in very positive ways. I met some really amazing people on this journey, and I hope to keep in touch with them. I hope you enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures. If you are interested in taking a similar trip, the PEPY program is wonderful, and a very different type of vacation. But different in only the best, most positive way.
Here are some websites of key things I participated in on this trip.
http://www.pepyride.org/
http://cambodianchildrensfund.org/
http://rdic.org/
http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/

Elephants!

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, ready to go and play with elephants! I never really wanted to ride on one, so this was perfect. Feed, bathe, and play with them. I was picked up at my hostel, and we went to the food market first. We loaded up a truck with food for the elephants: watermelon, bananas, corn, and pumpkins. The drive was about an hour. We arrived at the park and saw elephants walking around freely. A few came right up to the van because they knew food was coming soon too. At the Elephant Nature Park there are 32 Asian elephants. The oldest is 70 something, and the youngest is 2 years. There are many volunteer opportunities at the park, I was doing the day trip, but there were many other people there staying at the park from 1 week, to several months. The woman who runs the park, Lek, is quite passionate about saving elephants. When logging in Thailand was banned, it left many elephants without work. The only thing the owners could do with them was to use them as a tourist attraction. The taming of the elephants amounts to torture in many cases. Baby elephants walk the busy streets of Bangkok begging for money for their owners. They are very distressed and it is not the proper life for an elephant. So at the Elephant Nature Park, elephants roam freely through the many acres of the park. They do not give rides to tourists. Volunteers come to care for the elephants and get to interact with them in a positive way.
The first thing we did was feed the elephants. I started with the baby. She was bout 4 years old. I had to lean way over the balcony, and he stretched out his trunk to grab the food. They each have a basket of food catered to their personal tastes. She really loved the pumpkins. I gave her a watermelon that she took at first, but then gave it back. I held out my hands, and she gently dropped the unwanted watermelon in them. Adorable!! So I stuck with the bananas and pumpkins.
The second elephant I fed was about 40 years old. She happily took everything I handed her. I was surprised by the dexterity and gentleness of her trunk. And when I gave her a pumpkin with the stem still on, she popped the whole thing in her mouth, crushed the pumpkin, and spit out the stem. I got to pat her on the head. It was so much fun!
Then we took them to the river for a bath. It was still quite hot, and the elephants enjoyed cooling off in the river. The elephants lay down in the river, and we had buckets and brushes to wash their backs. I had my camera, and was so busy taking pictures, that I didn’t get a chance to wash them! Luckily, we did it all over again after lunch. The second time, I jumped right in and started scrubbing. The water was icy, and the relaxed elephants looked like small mountains in the river. Softball sized dung floated past (and hit) my legs, but I didn’t mind too much. It is all part of the experience. The funny thing was that as soon as we finished scrubbing their backs and getting them all squeaky clean, they went over to the dirt and coated themselves with dust again! Actually, it helps to keep them cool, so I understood. We had a nice vegetarian lunch with a nice view of the elephants. Then we watched a documentary about the torture of elephants in Thailand during their training, breaking them in order to have them entertain tourists with rides or painting pictures. I heard from some other people who rode on elephants in Thailand that the elephant seemed nervous, scared, and rocked back and forth on his feet. These are obvious signs that the elephant is distressed. There really shouldn’t be more than one rider on the back of each elephant. The seats they use can dig into their back. The mahouts, trainers, sometimes use a stick with a hook at the end to guide the elephant. This hook is dug in and poked behind the ear to get the elephant to do something. This is obviously painful to the animal. The park I went to has very happy elephants. Their big eyes showed no fear, they have a large valley to roam, and their mahouts do not use the hooked sticks. I did see one elephant get spanked, but he is a very naughty elephant named Hope, and many times throughout the day, I would see Hope take off running with his mahout trailing behind yelling at him. I found it hilarious. Hope wears a bell, so he is easy to spot. He is a baby of about 4 or 5 years and still is a little troublemaker. There is also a blind elephant who was rescued from a mahout who poked her eyes with a stick to discipline her and caused her blindness. Another elephant walked with a very severe limp because she had broken her leg and it never healed properly. This elephant was a logging elephant, and was forced to carry logs uphill even while she was pregnant. One day she fell, broke her leg and lost the baby. Many elephants are abandoned because they cost so much to feed and care for. They are much happier here at the Nature Park than being kept as a pet.
As you can see by this long post, I really enjoyed my time at the Elephant Nature Park. If you head to Thailand, it is a must see for animal lovers. You are able to interact with them in a positive way. If you’re lucky, you may even get a kiss!

Chiang Mai

On New Year’s Day, I flew by myself up to Chiang Mai. It is a famous city in the northern part of Thailand. The hostel I stayed in was not as nice as the one in Bangkok, but I met some really nice people there. The location was really good, quite close to the University, with some cute shops and restaurants. On my first full day in Chiang Mai, I went up to Wat Doi Suthep, a temple on top of a mountain. It is a temple dedicated to the white elephant. It has a nice view of the entire city, but it was a bit overcast that morning. Since it is located at the top of the mountain, I hopped in a “taxi” to the base of the temple, then walked up many, many steps. It was a very beautiful temple.
After looking at the temple, I went to the downtown area to try to reserve a spot to the Elephant Nature Park for the following day. On my trip to Cambodia, I met an American girl who was living in Chiang Mai. She told me about this elephant park where you get to spend the day taking care of elephants. I knew I had to do this. I tried to book online, but it was fully booked for the entire month of January. So I went to their office to ask if they could squeeze one more person in for tomorrow. They said yes, and I was quite happy.
That afternoon, I got another massage (#5!), then walked around the Night Market. The Night Market in Chiang Mai was really nice, lots of interesting things. I am just so bad at haggling. I was shooed away from one booth because I was squishing the merchandise. I had American food for dinner, which I enjoyed even though it made me a little sick.

Floating Market and Tiger Temple

For our second day in Bangkok, we decided to take a guided tour to the floating market and Tiger Temple. The drive was about 2-3 hours each way, so we hired a guide and a van with a driver. We left bright and early with not much time for breakfast. We learned quickly that our guide, Katie, was not the most patient person in the world. Our first stop was the floating market. We got into small speed-canoes and wound through some canals with houses right on the edge of the water. The market itself was quite chaotic. There was a traffic jam of boats at the entrance/exit, so we opted to just walk alongside the canal and look at the goods. Plus, in the traffic jam I saw someone trying to maneuver their boat around by swinging the propeller up and over the back of another boat, and smacked some lady right in the head. Luckily it was off. So, I was happy to walk. It was about this time that Stacy got yelled at for the second time by our tour guide. The first time was for asking to stop for coffee when Katie had already asked us earlier and we said no. Now, she needed a bathroom, and in classic Katie style, she barked, “Why you no tell me before! I already ask you if you need toilet, and you say no! Why you do this!” We all kinda laughed it off. It’s always funnier when someone else is getting in trouble.
After the market, we headed out to the Tiger Temple. This is a tiger sanctuary that is run by monks. One of my friends, Sachiko, told me about it before I left, and when I looked it up on the internet, I knew I had to go. There are 18 tigers here, and for a few hours each afternoon, the tigers are out for tourists to pet and hold. Now, I know what you are thinking: “Gee Leilani, isn’t touching a wild tiger dangerous?” Well, yes. But as I saw, the tigers are drugged out of their minds (you can see one drooling into a water bowl), so the danger is dramatically less then you would think. Plus, I have ALWAYS wanted to touch a lion’s paw, and this is close enough. I love to squish kitty paws!! As we waited in line, I saw that for an extra “donation” I could have my picture taken holding the tigers. So of course that’s exactly what I did. All the tigers here are alive, but very, very sleepy. I had a young man lead me around by the hand and tell me exactly where I could sit and place my hands. It was all very mechanical: walk, sit, click, walk, sit, click, but it was so surreal being surrounded by all those tigers. All in all, it was a good experience, and I have pictures with me and tigers!
On the ride home, we were all sleepy. This was New Year’s Eve by the way. We looked forward to going back to the hostel and resting for a little bit before heading out to celebrate the new year. So we were quite surprised when Katie had other plans for us. We all needed to use the restroom quite badly, and she decided to take us to a wholesale gem shop to use the bathroom. We had to take a tour and look at the all the gems. Then we hopped back in the van, and our next stop was to a tailor. Now, earlier in the day, Katie mentioned that she knew a tailor who could make cheap suits, I said that I thought that was interesting. She took that as, “Please take us to your tailor friend!” We were exhausted and just wanted to go back to the hostel. I told her that we did not want to shop here. That’s when Katie exploded. “Why you tell me you want to shop then! I no understand your culture! I ask you one thing, then you change your mind! Now, my friend thinks I made you come here. I look bad. You break my face!” Well, I’m sure you all who know me, know that this was not an acceptable reaction towards me. I told her that I didn’t appreciate being yelled at. I did not tell her that I wanted to shop there. Yes, we definitely are having communication trouble. Her yelling is making me uncomfortable, and that we want to go back to the hostel now. The rest of the ride home was in silence. Apparently this happens to many people who go on tours in Thailand. The guides take you on small side trips to places where they get some type of commission if you buy something. We all knew this going in, but of course didn’t expect it to happen to us. Of course I have heard of worse experiences, and 5 min after we left her, we were joking about it. Stacy does a great Katie impression.
New Year’s Eve wasn’t a big deal. We had a nice dinner, then watched a concert and the countdown. We tried to find a nearby bar, but they were a bit sketchy, and we were tired, so we called it an early night.