A Day with the Elephants

3.28.2015

We were picked up from our guesthouse at 8am and taken into the jungle about an hour and a half outside of the city of Chiang Mai. The elephant training center was high up in the mountains among hilltribe villages (longneck tribe), farmland and waterfalls. Mr. Sun, the owner and instructor of the training center is a wonderful man. He talked of a past doing big business in Bangkok, making a lot of money and having a lot of nice, expensive things; yet he said he never smiled and was never happy. He gave up the success driven life that is very easy to get wrapped up in and set out to be in nature with his elephants. He searched and searched and found the land he is on now and when we asked how he found it he simply says "God brought me here."

So now; the elephants, these animals are enormous, standing over 6 ft tall even when they are laying down it takes effort to climb up. We didn't get to choose our elephants but I knew which one I wanted, the monster, the biggest of the bunch, "Somkram," and lone behold we were matched up.

We learned a series of commands in Thai: left, right, stop, go back, go forward, foot up (to climb up) and laydown. We climbed on and rode bareback, which the elephants prefer over having a chair strapped to their back, and we were off to the jungle. We did a trek for just over an hour while we rode and Somkram did what he wanted, eating and rambling through the jungle. He was literally uprooting trees and stomping them and devouring them. Each elephant was accompanied by a mahout, which is essentially a traditional Thai elephant trainer. We loved the fact they let the elephants take their time and didn't use whips like some places we heard of.

I suppose I don't need to go into great detail as the photos will give you the essence of our experience, but here are the greatest hits and feel free to ask for any specifics in the comments and we will gladly tell you more.

- Mr. Sun has a genuine love & respect for his animals & treats them exeptionally well. We learned that elephants are happy when their ears are flapping, tails wagging, kisses, and makes a high pitch squeel. It was evident the elephants are very happy there.

- The day consisted of training, a jungle trek, a delicious lunch eaten in the jungle next to a waterfall, bathing the elephants & a lifelong memory of spiritual proportions.

- Man, nature & animal living in harmony.

- During our departure speech, with Bob Marley playing in the background, Mr. Sun told us he wants to always be a friend of ours and anything we need in Thailand & SE Asia he is there to help us. A truly awesome feller.

- Elephant poo is also enormous, as Aimee put it: "those are some big nuggets."

Enjoy:

 

We love Chiang Mai!

Tuk Tuk tour around the temples.

Local market.

Is this real?

Dusty's dream come true.

Here kitty kitty

Jungle hike. We saw about 9 different waterfalls.

Dinner & a show.

Roots, Rock, Reggae Bar

Boy Blue band near Night Bazaar

1. Chiang Mai is cooler in temp with sunshine & occasional rain which makes it pleasant walking around this beautiful city.

2. The size reminds us of SF. There's a square moat surrounding the city that used to protect from Burmese invadors. It's easy to walk around & stumble into cool shops, cafes, bars & live music.

3. Locals are smiley & more plump than south Thailand. The guesthouse owners we're staying at have been awesome & so helpful.

4. Northern cruisine is a lot sweeter & pickley. Dusty loves it, Aimee kinda likes it. 

5. Vibe here is chill. You feel the ancient history here from the temples on every block & less chaos compared to Bangkok.  We noticed a lot more Americans here. It's kinda like a little Oregon in Thailand hippy feel. 

6. This is where all the jewelry is made that we have seen for sale in other areas of Thailand, we see people handmaking jewelry, bags, clothing & more & are happy to support them & their craft, bling bling yall.

7. Tigers, dude....tigers.

8. There are a lot of activities to choose from inside & out (jungle) of the city like trekking, survival trek, elephant centers, Tiger Kingdom, cooking classes, ziplining with gibbons, massage school, meditation courses, yoga, monk chats, & temples. 

9. Tigers! 🐅

10.  Very organic city; organic food, juices, cafes, handrolled cigars, market stands, farms & cooking classes.

Tomorrow we'll be playing with elephants in the jungle & also hope to find a cooking course before we leave Thailand. We can't believe we've been here for almost a month! Our visas are expiring soon (April 1) & now we need to find a way to get to Laos. On to the next country...---> 

3.21.2015

We awoke at 5:30 am & walked outside to meet our captain. He was a young Thai man wearing a MINOR THREAT shirt, which i knew meant good things as they are one of my old school favorite bands. We had rented a private longtail boat to take us to watch the sunrise and then to Maya Bay, Koh Phi Phi Thailand where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.
 
The boat ride was fantastic, we were the only boat on the water and we were truly in the presence of some of God's finest work. As the sun came up over the sea the sky was filled with the most vibrant pink sphere you could imagine and the sun felt closer than ever before.

I signaled for our captain to stop the boat and as he did I reached into my bag, I pulled out something very dear to me, a symbol of love and commitment, an item of representation I had thought of and imagined for so many years. I then turned towards the woman I love, and with one hand behind my back (so as to not expose what i was holding) I said to her the words that only her, I and God's sea heard that day.

I went down on one knee in a private boat, with a private ocean and the most beautiful sunrise i had seen and looked into my lover's eyes and asked:

"WILL YOU MARRY ME?"

Aimee said "Yes!"  & we are happy to announce we are now engaged to be married! 

This has been a long time coming, as you all know, but the timing of this miraculous moment was appropriately timed for our love and our relationship.

I love Aimee-Lea Fernandez Acorda & I am blessed to make her my wife.

     
                Stay tuned,
                   Dusty Sandaine

Traveling With Time

What's so awesome about this adventure is that we have TIME. We can actually take our time & go with the whim of our feelings that day & moment. We are not on a "vacation" with our itinerary filled. It is a liberating feeling & we are ever so grateful for this time in our lives. We don't regret it, this is living! 

As the great Abraham Lincoln once said:  "Hey, what time is it?" 

We are getting used to waking up, and asking each other "what shall we do today?", book an adventure, pack our bags, get picked up by a bus & head to our next destination/activity. Usually after a day of travel we make time the next day to gather ourselves & do an activity the next day. Or when we are bored & feel like we have seen enough we hop to another island. 

We learned to just go with the flow & trust they are taking us to the correct place. Most of time we don't understand them & they point to a bus, or they make you come out of the bus & go on another one. Sometimes we are driving in circles thinking they forgot to drop us off, but in the end, everything works out & we laugh & shrug our shoulders & carry on. 

Our perspective on life continues to grow every day with the experiences we have encountered, people we have met, culture we are immersed in, & scenery that inspires, we see the good, the bad & ugly, and all of it progresses our minds. 

**fyi: made it safely to Krabi town & will head to Koh Phi Phi in a couple of days. We are staying at a hip hostel called Pak-up a popular one amongst travellers. Their wifi password is freetheblackcock! 

Koh Tao

Tonight is our last night in Koh Tao. We will catch a ferry to another island, Koh Samui.

Koh Tao is only 21km. You can pretty much walk around the entire island. We see familiar faces every day & found a restaurant we find ourselves going back to every night called Sairee Cottage Restaurant . It's always busy, killer views, fresh beef/seafood bbq, stone pizza, beers & daiquiris. 

The main highlight on this trip to Koh Tao is getting scuba certified. We took classes to be certified scuba divers (Koh Tao is known for it's scuba schools & said to be internationally the least expensive). We pulled the trigger & did it (why not? Huh?! WHY NOT?!). We got a package deal from Phoenix Divers which included 4 night accomodations, breakfast, & 4 days of class with 4 dives. Everyone has been super friendly. We had 8 people in our group & we would drink some beers together after classes:) Our instructor, Claus, is a swedish pirate and a seriously fun madman that is an expert diver whom has been teaching scuba for 24 years.  Other instructors say "you're learning from a legend."  

Koh Tao holds precious moments for us...we will never forget this island:)