As you may know, since we volunteered at Elephant Nature Park in May 2012, the foundation that runs it (Save Elephant Foundation), its people and especially the animals it cares for have become very dear to our hearts. In late 2010, two Australians similarly volunteered and their lives immediately changed as well. During their week […]
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It’s difficult to spend any time in Thailand without seeing pictures of and tributes to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-serving head of state and Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch. Having sat on the throne since 1946, he has been in power for 66 years. So what does all this have to do with Father’s Day? Thais […]
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Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Surin Elephant Roundup, a government-sanctioned festival celebrating Thailand’s revered Asian elephant. The multi-day event draws large crowds all eager to witness elephants showcasing their amazing abilities. Elephants dancing to Gangnam Style, throwing darts to pop balloons, playing an organized game of soccer and even walking upright to […]
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Loy Krathong, meaning “floating crown” or “floating decoration”, is celebrated all parts of Thailand on the full moon in November. People make or buy “krathongs” (lanterns), usually from banana leaves, bamboo (so it can float) and orchids. Each has a small candle and sticks of incense. Thais and tourists alike can be seen walking to […]
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This time of year, people come from all parts of Thailand and indeed all corners of the world to Chiang Mai to celebrate Yi Peng, a long-standing Lanna tradition. To Westerners, this event is known as the Lantern Festival because the most spectacular part of this festival is the release of tens of thousands of […]
Read More…There is no better way to diminish the excitement of a new place than to get sick. Suddenly, the desire to try new foods, learn bits of the new language and meet new people disappears and all the comforts of home you were willing to live without for the sake of adventure become blatantly lacking. […]
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One night at the Elephant Nature Park (saveelephant.org) there was quite the commotion with trumpeting and trunk slapping. It wasn’t until the morning though that they realized why: a little baby boy had been born during the night. He was given the name Navann, after a minister in the Cambodian government, who happened to be […]
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Luang Prabang, known as Laos’ romantic city, is a peninsula straddled by two rapidly moving rivers: the mighty Mekong and milder Nam Khan. Our experience in this much beloved town was a perfect example of East meets West, with both traditional Laos architecture and numerous Buddhist temples… …and the strong French influence with quaint accordion shutter doors […]
Read More…Ever wonder what yo might do if you ran out of gas in a small village in a foreign country, whose language you don’t speak? Oh, and by the way, the sun is beating down on you and you really need to go to the bathroom. We had rented a motorbike in Vang Vieng and […]
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The small of Vang Vieng, nestled in gorgeous karst peaks, is a popular topic of conversation among travelers. It is known for both its serene, natural beauty with trekking and caving practically at your doorstep, and a legendary party scene where you can bar hop via inner tube down the Nam Song river and where […]
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Laos is a country that has a tumultuous history. We hadn’t known much about it before we arrived, but reading our guidebook, we learned about a very painful past the peoples of this country have endured, and in some respects, continue to experience today. Not only was Laos ruled by the kingdom of Siam (Thailand), but […]
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We booked with Nok Air and were amused to see the plane painted like a chicken. If you look closely you can even see that she has eyelashes: After landing in Udon Thani and taking a one hour van ride to the Thai-Laos border, we quickly realized that it was easy to be a millionaire […]
Read More…Today at work Ligeia went to her usual vegetarian eatery on campus to find a very long line, longer than she had ever seen before. In contrast, the other food stalls were not busy at all. Did everyone suddenly go vegetarian? The short answer is “yes”….well, at least for 10 days that is. After doing […]
Read More…Since driers are either non-existent or scare in Chiang Mai, we hang dry our clothing using a combination of a drying rack and hangers on our balcony, which seems very common here as laundry can be seen drying on everyone else’s balconies too. This evening when we went to collect our dry clothing, we noticed […]
Read More…This evening we were walking through our neighborhood on the way to meet our friends for dinner, when we passed something we had never seen before. Part of the road was blocked off and a tent had been set up on the side of the narrow street with tables and many chairs. On the other […]
Read More…There are many stray dogs in Chiang Mai and this does not stop at the gates to the university. Dogs can be seen in virtually all areas of the campus: lounging on second floor hallways, barking and growling in parking garages, sleeping in the middle of the street and yes, even in the classrooms themselves. […]
Read More…Today, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Traditionally, this calls for gifts of iron in the US (or sugar in the UK). Although we’d love to have a cast-iron frying pan or a wrought-iron gate, those gifts aren’t too practical at the moment. So, instead, we celebrated by getting a high iron content in our […]
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Our day began with a taxi ride to the ferry dock. We went through the usual steps: buy boat ticket to Satun, Thailand, drug Mindy up with gravol and wait to board our ferry at the dock. The boat arrived late so we were about 45 minutes late leaving. Once on board Ligeia went to […]
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