Elephant Nature Park - Chiang Mai

We are writing to you today from a very hot, blue sky Chiang Mai after possible what was the best day of our adventure so far yesterday.

We had decided before we even left the UK that we really wanted to visit the Elephant Nature Park, which is set in the valley of two mountains about an hours drive north of Chiang Mai.
It was an early start, but after a spot of breakfast we were soon being picked up from our hostel (which we will write about in another blog) and we were on our way to the reserve. The first thing we noticed as we approached the reserve is the mist rolling of the mountain tops, the jungle creeping up the side of mountains and the river running straight down they middle of the valley. Lush green flood plains ran along both sides of the river and there we see 36 elephants happily grazing.

Now its probably appropriate to tell you why we wanted to visit this place and a little of the history about the reserve. The park was set up in 1995 by a local Thai lady called Lec. The reserve was set up to help and re-home domestic elephants that have been treated cruelly in both the industrial (logging) industries as well as the tourism industry. Some of the acts of brutality towards these amazing creatures is just beyond absolute belief. She wants to help rehabilitate these unfortunate animals and put them back into the semi wild at her park, which she calls Elephant Heaven.

In Thailand alone the elephant population has declined from 100,000 to just 5,000 since the 1980's. The lucky elephants that Lec has managed to rescue are now able to roam free around the 210 acres that the park now consists of. Each elephant has what is called a 'Mahoot' who is dedicated to his elephant to make sure that they never come to any harm. The bond that the elephant and Mahoot have is truly unbreakable.

On arrival at the park we were given a brief health and safety lesson and then we went to feed the 36 elephants some of their 14 tons (yes that right 14 tons) of fruit and veg that they demolish each day. This was an absolutely incredible experience and being so close to a giant was daunting to say the least. A particular highlight was being able to feed the two youngsters that they have at the park. One, 2 years 2 months and the other being 2 years 6 months, both of which their mothers had been fathers had been rescued by Lec.




Other highlights were being able to meet elephants that had been treated so badly in the past, but are now both happy and healthy.

One such elephant was a lovely lady called Jokia. She had been used to pull logs around, but when logging was banned in Thailand in the 1980's she found her self unemployed and was sold by her owner to a Burmese logging company (where logging is not illegal). Jokia was forced to work when heavily pregnant. One day she gave birth while working and saw her baby fall to its death down the side of a mountain. Naturally devastated she refused to work. On her refusal she was stabbed in the eyes with arrows and darts by her new owners until she worked. She is now 100% blind. You can clearly see now that her past is behind her and the park have give her a new reason to live. She has absolutely every right to never trust a human again, but the reserve have managed to build a bond and get her to trust humans once more.

Elephants seem to be able to build incredible bonds with each other, which is similar to that of humans. Even though every elephant was from a different background there was not one that had been refused from any of the newly formed herds at the park. A fantastic example of this friendship is one elephant who has such bad sores from having ropes and chains tied around her legs that she is unable to lie down to sleep. She has had to teach herself to sleep standing up. When arriving at the park she made best friends with another elephant and now the two of them sleep together standing up leaning on each other for support. This is absolutely incredible because her friend is able to lay down and sleep but insists on standing to keep her best friend company.

After feeding had taken place we were off to bath the elephants at the river. Seeing these beasts spraying them selfs and rolling around in the river is a sight to be seen. They clearly were having so much fun. What made the experience one not to forget was being invited into the river to give them a scrub and wash them. Once clean, the elephants came out from the river and very quickly covered themselves in mud to protect their skin from sun, before going on for their second feed of the day.

After a spot of lunch the whole process was completed again. Later in the afternoon we watched an emotional documentary that reinforced the whole point of the park. I cant begin to put into words some of the sights of the documentary so you will just need to take my word for it.

The day seemed to end all to quickly and before we knew it we were on the minibus home. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at the reserve. It was a day full of emotions, 100% moving, but absolutely unforgettable. Standing so close to a living giant that weighs near on 4.5 tonnes, but yet seems to be one of the most gentle creatures on the earth.

We both want to wish the park all the best for the future and i think we have found a charity that we would both like to help raise some of the minimum £250,000 just to be able to keep running. The money goes towards feeding and caring for the elephants, maintaining the park and most importantly being able to buy the elephants of the locals who otherwise would not hand them over to the park.

A truly unforgettable day.

Thailand Flooding - Logistical Nightmare

Last time we spoke we were in the town of Kanchanaburi in the west country. The plan was to catch a train and head back to Bangkok before catching the 15 hour over night train up to Chiang Mai in the mountains of Northern Thailand.

Well we made it finally to Chiang Mai but not the way we planned......

It all started on check out of our Hostel in Kanchanaburi where we were explaining our plans to the owner, who promptly informed us that all the trains heading north from Bangkok had been suspended due to all the flooding in the middle of the country.

This left us with two options if we still wanted to get to Chiang Mai. Either a 10 hour bus journey on one of the worlds most dangerous roads or to catch a flight.

We opted for the flight and half an hour later we were booked on a flight courtesy of Mr Fernandes at Air Asia.

Flights booked we headed to Kanchanaburi station to catch our train to Bangkok. In the sweltering heat, carrying two very large bags, we looked like we had just stepped out of the shower. All of this to find out our train to Bangkok had been delayed four hours. Its nice to see its not only England that has an awful train service. Tickets booked we sat at the station and waited....well for 15 minutes before i made an executive decision that we weren't going to wait for four hours and instead would catch the first class coach to Bangkok.

Being brave we managed to speak decent enough Thai to be able to get a refund, get a taxi to the bus station and book our first class ticket on the coach. Which may we say at the same price as the train is significantly more comfortable and only two hours in length with a free bottle of water.

Arriving in Bangkok we had to negotiate our way round their massive bus terminal before catching two busses that would finally get us to our hostel for the night.

The following day we headed to Bangkok International Airport to catch our flight up here to Chiang Mai. We were both very impressed with Air Asia and believe that Stellios could learn a lot form Mr Fernandes on how to run a decent budget airline. The only thing that hurt was knowing that our money was probably now going to help QPR FC.

So finally, 1 Coach, 3 Taxis, 2 Busses, and a Flight later we have arrived to see what this beautiful part of the country has to offer. I think one thing is for certain, if its like the rest of Thailand, we arnt going to be disapointed.

Kanchanaburi

Good evening,

Well good evening from us anyway and good afternoon to you. We are writing this part of our blog from the small town of Kanchanaburi in western Thailand, while sipping on a fruit smoothie overlooking yet another thunderstorm happening in the distance over the River Kwai. This a much more relaxed setting compared to the non stop hustle and bustle of Bangkok.

So since we last spoke we have moved on from Bangkok for 3 nights in the lovely VN Guesthouse. We have rented a floating river raft room which literally means we are sleeping on the river. The accommodation is basic compared to our last hostel as there is no flushing toilet (The bucket supplied has been useful), you can also see the river flowing through a hole under our sink while you sit on the toilet........but the view from the balcony that we now have more than makes up for it. As im sure you will agree when you see the pictures.

Kanchanaburi has its place set firmly in the history books, well know for the Death Railway during the WW2 and is home to the famous bridge over the river kwai. Over the last few days we have learnt so much about this piece of history that we could write a book.

Firstly we visited the Thailand - Burma Railway Centre which was a fascinating place where we learnt all about the Death Railway and how the Prisoners of War were treated during there capture under the Japanese. This is located just opposite the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery. This is a touching gift from the Thai people to remember the POW's mainly from Britain and Holland that died on their soil. Having learnt so much it made the visit to the bridge so much more meaningful.

Today we choose to visit some of the further out attractions including another war cemetery and a temple that has been built within limestone caves. Now we have finished our day out and are back safely, (not wanting to scare parents) we feel it appropriate to mention that we had to rent a scooter which was most fun and we enjoyed seeing some of the Thai countryside.

 

Having visited all the major sights in Kanchanaburi we are heading back to Bangkok for the night before we will be catching a 15 hour sleeper train to Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand, which is something that we are both very much looking forward to.

To truly understand the importance that Kanchanaburi has in British history, we feel that a visit is 100% necessary. A visit to Thailand would just not be complete without visiting this very special little town.

Bangkok attractions - The Grand Palace, The Emerald Buddha and Wat Arun

Today we decided to do some of the necessary tourist things in Bangkok which meant a rather early start to avoid the crowds. We walked the 40 mins from our hotel to The Grand Palace and The Temple of Emerald Buddha We arrived at The Grand Palace to find that the price had gone up again, it was now costing 400 BAHT (£8) which does not seem a lot but it is about 3 times the price of most other entrances fees in Thailand. Because of this maybe our expectations were too high? The Emerald Buddha was gorgeous as it sparkled in beautiful gold colours and observing so many people bowing, worshiping and praying was quite touching. The palace was a lovely building but we both felt disappointed we were not allowed to enter due to no tours taking place.

As we left the palace as we headed to the river in search of Wat Arun. This is a temple that i had read offers fantastic views of downtown Bangkok. We arrived at the water pier to cross the river by boat, a little old thai lady was sat collecting the 3 bhatt (6p) per person to cross. As we stepped on the rocking boat it seemed fitting that we were sat next to two monks, we could see the anciient temple in the distance and we knew we were in for a treat. Getting closer to the temple we noticed all the stairs we had to climb to get to the viewing point. . . . .

The first flight of stairs we had to climb were steep. It felt like we could actually crawl up them using our hands and knees. Then we saw the next set of stairs, not only very steep but shallow as well. It was probably no more than 15 to 20 steps but they seemed to keep going all the way into the skies. Jonny's vertigo had kicked in just looking at the stairs so i reassured him that the trek would be worth it when we reached the top. I read that the journey up could give you butterflies; this was very true. Sweaty palms, butterflies, holding the railing so tight and all I could think is DON'T LOOK DOWN. I don't suffer from heights but i still felt shaky as i pulled myself up so i was extra proud of Jonny!!! The view from the top made it all worth while, as we walked round the top level of the temple. It was here that Bangkok can be summed up. On one side there was the very urban skyline in the far ground, with fascinating old boats weaving their way through the busy river bellow. The other side you can see the chaotic markets in front of The Grand Palace and temples, it was such a mix of cultures and classes making the city seem so unique.

We can safely say no trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to Wat Arun.

Next up were going to see a whole different side to Bangkok, were going for our first thai message then were going for a few drinks on the famous Koah San Road. . . .

Sàwàddee x

We Haave Arrived - Bangkok

So less than 24 hours into our world tour and it seems we really have just set out on one big amazing adventure.

Since we last spoke hours of packing and re packing have taken place as we decided that we had far to much in the bags, last minute shopping grabbing the odds and sods that we needed to make the journey a good one and quite a few teary goodbyes to family.

Tuesday evening came all to quick and before we new it we were off to Terminal 3 to catch the first of 2 flights that would get us here to Bangkok. At check in we were promptly told that we would be flying Business Class and this we owe a massive thank you to Dad who managed to pull a few strings.

We have decided that this really is the only way to travel and i think we will be in for quite a culture shock when we go back into economy (where we belong) for our flight to Brisbane. You should have seen Amber face light up when she was given a cocktail menu and wine list before we had even taken off. An hour into the flight and we had the first meal of many. A nice three course meal consisting of soup, fillet of beef and tart for desert. Having stuffed ourselves full it was time to recline the chair into a fully flat bed and catch some sleep. What seemed like only 10 minutes has passed before we were being woken up and presented with a three course breakfast before landing in Dubai.

Upon disembarking the plane at Dubai we were met with temperatures of 34 degrees. Isn't that regular for Dubai i hear you say?!? Well yes i guess it is, but not at 7 o'clock in the morning.

After a short stop over at Dubai we were on our way again to Bangkok. Yet again we were met with several courses of food before watching a few movies on a 22 inch screen and getting some more sleep. Five and a half hours flew round and before we knew it we were all being prepared for landing.

Anyone that has ever flown on Emirates will know, they have cameras on the place which are viewable to the passengers. One of these is called Pilot cam which does exactly what it says on the tin and is a camera that gives the view that the pilot has. It was while watching this we noticed there were a few flashes of lightening in the sky. Ten minutes went buy and the sky was almost constantly lit up with lightening bolts. Sure enough it was a large enough storm that we had to circle for roughly 30 minutes before being allowed to land. As we were landing we could still see the lightneing, this time very close to the plane. Now i know that while were in Bangkok we were hoping that we might experience an Asia thunderstorm, but i think i can speak for the both of us to say that was not how we wished to experience one and were both very glad to be on land again. We will be up loading the video of our lightening landing onto facebook shortly.

With our bags first off the plane we were soon in a taxi and heading towards our hotel. It was here we first experienced just how cheap this leg our journey is going to be. A one hour taxi ride including all tolls (which the customer has to pay for) and tip cam to a massive 500bht or £10 for those of you that aren't following the currency rates.

Our hotel is basic, but very clean and has plenty of hot water for a shower. Not bad at all for only £7 a night. Once we arrived we decided to go and walk around the local area. Sure enough the storm had not finished and our first experience of monsoon weather totally soaked us through. We have also visited the roof top terrace of the hotel we are staying in and i think you will agree the view is not half bad. (See photo below).

Today we have walked all around Bangkok, visited a traditional thai house and of course the mandatory shopping mall. Seen wealth like you cant believe in gold shops and seen adverse poverty in shanty towns that have been built under the highways. We have had a scary ride on a tuk tuk which almost ended in disaster but at risk of boring you all to death we will tell you more about this in a few days time when we have experienced more of the culture and have more to write back on.

So to conclude on our first twenty four hours we have experienced luxury at its finest and experienced the basic living accommodation that we need to get use to. We have experienced fresh food being cooked in the streets with sweet odours and also the general stink of the city. The hustle and bustle of yet another major city that never seems to sleep.

My god Thailand and Bangkok I think you have us hooked.