We had heard tales of the windy, curvy road that connects the picturesque village of Pai with Chiang Mai. Highway 1095 is described in travel guides as one that can induce motion-sickness on even the strongest of stomachs. So, needless to say, Mindy (who gets motion sick from the peaceful sways of a hammock!) was […]
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We arrived at Elephant Nature Park on Sunday morning and were shocked to hear the news the little baby elephant, Raja Gaja, had passed away the night before. Despite round-the-clock care, attention and love, he didn’t make it. The last several days included some major discomfort so this was seen as the end of his suffering. […]
Read More…It’s taken just about 3 months, but Mindy finally feels comfortable enough to ride a bike in Chiang Mai. For those who are unaware, traffic in Thailand is on the left side of the road. So, despite her confidence in riding a bike, riding one on the “wrong” side of the road is where things […]
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Mindy and Ligeia started their day with breakfast of masala dosa at their favorite Indian place again, after which they jumped on a train and went to Kepong station. From there we took a short taxi ride to FRIM, a large forest preserve area with many hiking opportunities, one of which leads to a canopy […]
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We began our day with what has become our usual breakfast: masala dosa at a small Indian cafeteria and we’re the only white faces in the crowd. After breakfast we bought train tickets to the Batu Caves, a very religious location for Hindus. We were delighted to find “women only cars”: And if you look […]
Read More…Sleeping in was the way we began our day. Without a window in our hotel room, it’s very dark making it an ideal place to sleep but it also means that we have no idea what type of weather to expect when leaving the hotel. This morning we were met by rain. Hungry and not […]
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After Ligeia finished teaching her last class, we boarded a flight to Kuala Lumpur (Ligeia calls it Koala Bear Land) which is about a 2 1/2 hour flight. Malaysia is one hour ahead of Thailand so we are now an even 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The Kuala Lumpur airport is a 40 […]
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We went to Elephant Nature Park again for the day as we do every second Saturday. This time was an extra special visit though as we learned on the ride up about a baby elephant that had just arrived the day before. He was only 2 days old. Immediately upon arriving at the park we rushed to the enclosure that […]
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Mindy and Ligeia decided to take a day trip to Mt. Inthanon National Park. We signed up with a tour (mostly for the transportation but also because they knew where to go). Our first stop was a Karen hill tribe village, where 30 families live: Some homes are raised so that their livestock (pigs, buffalo, […]
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We’ve heard that it has been extremely hot in in North America as well as Europe recently. Having survived the hottest month (April) in Thailand we thought we’d share what we’ve learned in hopes that it might help you to say cool while at the same time not causing expensive air conditioning bills. Tips for […]
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Northern Thai clothing is very beautiful. In general it seems warmer than its’ southern counterpart. Sarongs are a common component of the Thai style clothing as well as tops with 3/4 sleeves such as the pics below. Here is Ligeia modeling some of the clothing that she wears to work (you can tell she likes purple!): […]
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Ligeia went with the English department at Chiang Mai University on a field trip to a village about an hour away called Mae Kam Pong. This village is an eco-tourism village and it’s main sources of money are coffee (seen below), tea and tourism: There were several locations for meditation including Buddhist temples and lots […]
Read More…Considerably later than Ligeia, Mindy heads off on her walk to work at about 8:35am, and heads in the complete opposite direction. She stays in the small streets of their neighborhood, passing by homes, apartment buildings and restaurants (the blue and white tarp covers it up this early in the morning!)… …and small fruit stands […]
Read More…Ligeia begins her walk at 7am and it starts with walking out to the main road Klong Chon Pratan: She then crosses at this small bridge only for pedestrians…although often motorbikes try to make their way through too: Here is the view once on the bridge: Once across, Ligeia continues her walk down a side […]
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We’ve been here for almost 2 months now (Wow, can you believe it?) and we’ve seen many animals. First of all, animals can appear in the least likely places, like this chicken, who we found in the office of the Elephant Nature Park: And continuing with the bird theme, pigeons are here too. This one […]
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Since Ligeia was only 2 kilometers away from the Elephant Nature Park where she and Mindy did the week of volunteer service, Ligeia decided to spend Friday afternoon and evening visiting the elephants. Oh how great it was to be back! Her visit began with lunch which was yummy and full of vegetarian choices! And […]
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Ligeia was invited as part of the full-time English department staff to attend a work retreat at Waree Rawee Resort (trying saying that 10 times fast!). Since the seminar was all in Thai, except the part where Ligeia got up to introduce herself along with another new teacher, we were told we could “just relax […]
Read More…We have befriended several of our fellow volunteers at the Elephant Nature Park and have been fortunate enough to spend more time with them while they are still in Chiang Mai. The group started out with quite a large number but day by day, friends leave Chiang Mai and continue on their way and to […]
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