Needless to say, my favorite part of our Thailand vacation, was our week long volunteering at  Elephant Nature Park ! The logging industry was banned in Thailand in 1989, leaving thousands of elephants unemployed. These elephants are now used for tourism. You may have heard of elephant shows featuring the animals playing soccer or painting pictures with their trunks. They are no doubt amazing to watch, but the sad truth is that these elephants have gone through a series of torture and abuse to "break their spirit" by their trainers. This short clip is very hard to watch, but it will give you an idea of what the elephants in captivity in the country of Thailand go through. The only elephants in Thailand who do  not  endure this, are the very few baby elephants who are first generation born in "safe captivity" at places like Elephant Nature Park. Every other elephant at this park has been brutally abused. Some have been blinded by their owners, le...

We stayed in the city of Chiang Mai for a few days at a hotel near the Tha Phae Gate, which is the remnants of the ancient city that dates back to the 1300s. On Sunday evenings, this gate is the beginning of an  enormous  walking market. This mostly caters to tourists and is a chance for them to see and purchase authentic souvenirs made by the local people. Eddie and I got the chance to go 2 different Sundays. It goes for  miles  and we never even got to all of it. (click to enlarge)   Here, we witnessed some pretty interesting things. At one point, a loud speaker announced something in Thai. Suddenly, the thousands of people that filled the streets stood to their feet in silence. We realized they were playing the Thailand National Anthem. We saw and heard so many interesting musicians in Thailand. I wished I could have recorded them all.   Left: This man stopped his traditional Thai song when he saw me with a camera and began ...

The Buddhist religion is an enormous part of Thailand's life and culture. We saw more temples than I could keep track of. They're beautiful and ornate. Most are open to tourists to visit. They ask visitors to cover their knees and shoulders and remove their shoes out of respect. (click to enlarge)       Another interesting aspect were the numerous Spirit Houses that were kept in businesses, homes, even open fields and roadsides. It was explained that these houses are more or less tributes to ancestors and those who have passed on. You will always see water bottles, meals, even beer or fried chicken sitting on these Spirit Houses as gifts to those gone. They may be to passed away loved ones, or to unknown spirits. If someone is building a business, they will also make a spirit house in tribute to whoever lived and died on that land before them, though they never knew them personally.  This was a large Spirit House by our hotel in Bangkok   The...

We got our first true taste of Thailand in Bangkok. We knew we only had a short amount of time here and wanted to make the most of it, so we went straight from the airport to Taling Chan where we visited a floating market. This cab ride was most interesting because our awful American pronunciation of "Taling Chan" did not register with this cab driver. He made several cell phone calls (while driving through the terrifyingly chaotic streets of Bangkok) to friends who had a better understanding of English, and finally we made a connection! We were mesmerized when we arrived and wandered around (suitcases and all) through the Taling Chan Floating Market. Here we met a Thai woman working at a stand who spoke impeccable English. She kindly offered to keep our bags safe with her while we explored unhindered. Of all the scary stories we'd heard of Bangkok, thefts, and scams, she certainly proved there were exceptions to that stereotype. Floating markets are nu...

I meant to take the summer off blogging...and ended up staying away for over a year! A complete accident and I can't believe it's been that long already! But I HAD to return to blogging now in order chronicle the amazing vacation that Eddie and I recently took to Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Eddie and I had been wanting to take an overseas vacation for years. It's always been my dream to visit Venice and when the time came to choose our destination, I was sure that would be our selection. Just in case though, we went through a few other suggestions and suddenly, the thought of interacting with wildlife seemed like a no-brainer. We're both animal lovers. We've seen whales, sea lions, dolphins, and a heap of other animals in the wild here in the US. So we wondered, what else could we see that would be a once in a lifetime opportunity? Elephants! We chose to spend 1 week as volunteers at the  Elephant Nature Park  in Chiang Mai Thailand. This is an elephant sanctua...