Cycle rickshaw temple tour, Chiang Mai

Ok, so when I heard that we were hiring cycle rickshaw drivers to run us around Chiang Mai...I had my obvious concerns.

Concern number 1: The rickshaw drivers tend to be old men, in their late 60's (at least!), working hard in the heat of day.

Concern number 2: Running rickshaws in the middle of Chiang Mai city traffic means dodging trucks, cars, motorbikes...and well everything else that screams in a city.

Concern number 3: MOST IMPORTANT!!! Western tourists (myself included) tend to be a bit heavier than the Thai locals who may ride these rickshaws from time to time. There's no feeling in the world, quite like watching an 80 year old man struggle to pull your fat ass out of a tight turn.



And yet, here we were. I was aiming for the youngest in our crowd, but unfortunately the great grandfather of all drivers winked, smiled toothlessly and lured me into his hitch. How could I say no to that?!



We actually had a really nice time. We took a slower route through Chiang Mai that allowed me to notice shops and stalls for the first time (despite driving past them every other day for the past 3 years.)

We cruised through temples and created informative sightseeing maps for our future tour groups to enjoy.

At the end of the day, I came to peace with it. These guys struggle every day. They live off less than $3-4 US dollars a day, if they're lucky... If we can do our part to hire 35 rickshaw drivers every other week for 2 hours a day, well that's money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe other tourists in Chiang Mai will be inspired to seek out cycle rickshaws instead of their noisy younger brothers, the motorized tuk-tuk. Are you?

Jungle trekking made fun during Thailand's rainy season!

Our site inspection tour carries on, and for the past few days I've been trekking in the jungles of Northern Thailand (Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai Province). I've been doing this trek for years, with the same guides and the same company...and yet, every time I run it I feel like I'm 10 years old and it reminds me that I, for the moment, am one of the luckiest people in the world to call this land my backyard playground!


The rainy season came a lot earlier this year, so the trek was pretty interesting. 5 hours straight uphill: steep climbs; treacherous mud slicked footpaths; pouring rain; and a fog so thick we often lost sight of each other.

It turns out that the rain, fun as it was to trek through, meant dire circumstance for the villages we were passing through. For people whose livelihoods depend on seasonal planting and slash and burn agriculture, the rain meant they couldn't burn off their lands which in turn means they'll be missing out on this season's crop planting and much needed harvest. The Lahu people we visited (the most remote of all hill tribe people in Thailand) spent more time at home worrying if the rice kept in their storage would be enough to last them through the season.

We did what we could: we listened, we nodded, and we promised to bring responsible tourists to their villages. If they weren't making enough rice to eat, we'd do our best to make sure we could bring in revenue to get them through the next few months.

Despite the coming hardships, the Lahu kids were playing soccer in the villages and it was obvious the babies were happy to have their parents out of the fields and in the homes more these days. Villagers happily walked with us in the rain for bits of the trek, stopping to ask questions and chat.

There is nothing quite like the look and sound of the jungle in the middle of a rainstorm.

Surrounded by so much greenery, you can't help but physically soak the green into your pores. With the rain comes beautiful jungle mushrooms, which we picked, cooked and feasted on that night over our cozy bungalow's fire.

Pictured here are a mix of shots taken: mid-trek; posing in front of various ethnic hill tribe villages we pass through during the 3 day trip; meals provided by villagers; and bungalow accommodations we crash in at the end of a hard day's hike. (Read more about ethnic hill tribes on my Lisu Chinese New Year post, when I got the insider's peek into their mysterious culture.)

Hill Tribe trekking out of Chiang Mai, Thailand. Company guides: Lisu Lodge (and ask for Charlie!) Check them out if you're ever in town!

...Better yet...come to Thailand and be sure to put this on your itinerary!

If you would like to see more photos of trekking and my volunteer work overseas, check out my Picasa Web Albums here!

Chiang Mai Rock Climbing, Site Inspections

Hi! I know it's been ages since the last time I wrote here, but since my last post I've flown back to Thailand, rented an apartment and settled in again (for a whole 4 weeks!) Work's been getting me down and I've been struggling these past few weeks to...well, let's just say I've been struggling.

Things are looking up though! And lately I've been back to me-old self again, smiles n' all.

I'm currently on a Tour Familiarization and traveling through Thailand again with my homies Queen and P'May. I'll be on a few adventure tours this season (for the first time in Thailand in over a year!) and that means I get to: visit all the exotic destinations on tour; meet and greet all of our operators; and run through all the adventure activities we rock here in Thailand with our groups.

For now, it's just us: the girls, the guides, and staff. Since I've known some of these operators since 2007, it's like visiting family most of the time.

First stop, Chiang Mai:
Rock Climbing at Crazy Buttress, with CMRCA (Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures.)

Meet the CMRCA crew: P'Muad, Add, Ouan, Pum, Josh, and Phi. Group Picture, is at the CMRCA shop and in the background the climbing wall/mats they let us use, anytime we're looking to practice our badass free climbing technique, experiment with some new twists in our movement, and most importantly blow off steam when rolling through Chiang Mai!

Caving and Climbing adventures. The cave is nearly a 50 meter abseil into pitch blackness, and we spend a fair bit of time caving and teaching groups about cave formations and this mysterious underground world. Once you pop out of the cave, you're blinded by dizzying heights and some impressive limestone cliffs...or crags.

Meet the crag: Crazy Horse Buttress. We brushed up on our free climbing skills, revisited our equipment safety, 'Figure-8s' and rope tying techniques, self belayed and let loose on the crag.

It's been a while since my last climb, and despite the mosquitoes and torrential downpour of rain that left me stranded mid-air for a little while, I really pushed myself hard today and it felt great. I needed it: undivided concentration on the sport; the pure strain of physical exertion; and the release of sweat pouring down my face and body washing my stresses away.

Now, I'm sore, sleepy and craving a hot shower...so I'll be off. Tomorrow morning we start early with a city tour of historic temples (dating back 700+ years) here in Chiang Mai. We've hired rickshaw drivers for the day, and since they tend to be old men in their late 70's, I'm fully planning on hopping out, running on foot and pushing my own rickshaw while my driver sits in the seat and relaxes his weary hard-working bones. :)

Just another day, and another reason I love my life.

Interested in finding out more about our friends at CMRCA? Check our their Facebook page for the best updated info.

2010, A Northern Christmas in Thailand

Well, another Thai Christmas come and gone!

Last year's Xmas Ladyboy Cabaret Show was pretty memorable, but this year I was really looking forward to some quiet time with my best friends and family P'Dee and P'May.

I've been traveling so much these past couple months, I decided to spend my one weekend off this season staying close to home in Chiang Mai. I'm crashing at May's apartment for now and enjoying access to a private bathroom and a warm shower while I can!

Saturday, Christmas Day, we went on a short drive to the nearby mountains of Mae Rim and picked strawberries for the better part of the morning.

We took our picnic to a scenic viewpoint called Mon Cham, and enjoyed the perfect weather, the cool mountain top breeze, and good conversation (talking about everything BUT work for the first time in a long time.) This was a much needed, stress-free Saturday all 3 of us were in desperate need of!

After the fresh mountain air, we drove back to the city and booked ourselves a 2 hour full body massage each. Abused and bruised from the massage lady trying to dig out every knot and strain in my back and shoulders, I crawled into bed at 10 pm and had a solid night's rest for the first time in weeks.

Maybe I'm starting to get old, but this has been the best holiday I've had in a long time! Usually this time of year is the hardest for me, since I have come to appreciate that holidays don't mean anything without family to share them...but here, with my friends, well things are looking up. Thailand is feeling more like home every day, and maybe this time next year I'll have an apartment of my own, with a Christmas tree and a roast in the oven somewhere!

Happy Holidays!

...just because the scenery was too beautiful, I had to catch it on video!

Loi Kratong Day 2: Festival of FIREWORKS!

Well, Loi Kratong festival seems to be the festival that never ends! 3 days straight now of partying, fireworks and floating boats down the canals and Ping River here in Chiang Mai.

Enjoy this video, and appreciate the MADNESS that is Chiang Mai city during this special time. Driving my motorbike I got hit in the thigh about 3 times from explosive fireworks, and my friend May almost had her hair lit on fire from a sparkler dripping lantern in the sky!

Music, bombs, and fires everywhere...it's like a festive D-Day invasion!

So this video has been appropriately named 'Loi Kratong Day 2: Festival of FIREWORKS!'

If you missed the last post, click here for an explanation about the festival, the lanterns and why we float the boats down the river...

Zipline Adventure Chiang Mai

Jungle Flight Zipline company is based in Chiang Mai and offers an amazing adventure package nearby Doi Saket mountains. It's a couple hours' drive out of the city to get to the forest, but once you're there the jungle takes over. Up close enounter with nature and a low impact adventure activity makes the heart sing!

This company was fun, professional, with great safety standards and highly recommended for a 'get away' day from the city of Chiang Mai. (One recommendation: bring your own water bottle with a carabiner clip, this will cut down on the plastic bottles wasted on tour.)

May and I inspected the company together and had 5 hours of perfect weather, dizzying heights, and laughs all around...especially when May got stuck on the 300 meter zip and had to get rescued!

Xmas Lady Boy Cabaret Show at ENP, Thailand 2009

Posted: Aug.2010, Written Dec.2009

Right now...it's the morning of the 25th for you, so Merry Christmas!!! I've got 97.3 Coast FM tuned in on my lap top right now, and sappy Christmas songs are making me sentimental...time for a mass email then! I hope the family's together somewhere, and having an awesome holiday season now.

My Christmas celebration was last night...and even though I was far away from friends and family in America, I was surrounded by new friends and family here in Thailand. (Much improved from last year's lonely beach getaway!) Lek (the founder) invited me to celebrate X-Mas with her at Elephant Nature Park. They were planning a huge feast and a jungle party with the elephants...they offered to put me up and promised me I didn't have to work or do any manual labor to earn my keep--I was very happy with this arrangement.

I decided to rent a car, and brought Chad and his wife along too. They're fellow Americans and recently moved here to Chiang Mai, so they don't have any friends of their own yet. They're great people and also from South Florida- so they bring a little piece of home with their company. We rented a truck and made our way to the park yesterday afternoon.

Before pulling off into the jungle, we stopped at a Tesco-Lotus supermarket to stock up on goods. We were just planning to buy one or two bottles of wine, but of course it was 4 pm. Between the hours of 7am-11am, and 3.30pm-5pm you're not allowed to buy alcohol in stores and supermarkets (something about keeping kids from buying booze.) We were sad and putting the bottles back when one of the store clerks added with a wink and a smile "if you buy 12 liters, OK."

12 liters of alcohol....that would come out to 14 massive bottles of beer, and 3 or 4 bottles of wine....We knew this was going to be a good night! We loaded up our stash and were off to the park again. (Kicking ourselves later, for not remembering to buy painkillers for the hangover this morning....) I was fully expecting Lek to stash us somewhere in the park, out of sight out of mind and more importantly out of the way! However, she saved the VIP bungalows for us; bungalows in the park I never knew existed! Big plushy king sized beds, fluffy pillows, and private showers....definitely an improvement from the usual hut I live in when I'm leading projects at the park.

Dinner at the park was a feast, as usual...but my highlight was dim sum! OOOOOOOOOooooooohhhh dim sum with shrimp and pork, and BBQ (Thai style, with grilled chilies), and of course cheap French wine to keep our throats from getting dry. After dinner people from the local village swarmed the park and Santa came on stage to give out presents sponsored by ENP to all the kiddies and their families. Christmas music and carolers started the evening off alright, and it was just starting to feel like home...until the mahouts (elephant handlers) came out.

The mahouts are all minority peoples, from remote Burmese villages. So imagine my shock and surprise when they swarmed the stage in short skirts and costumes that were glittery, feathery and sparkling, and enough make up to actually look pretty as girls! They did a series of traditional dances set to flutes and drums which was normal enough...but they pranced around on stage in drag! These men are little, but incredibly strong! I mean they spend their days bossing massive elephants around and living off the jungle, so they have to be tough! I think I was more shocked at how good some of them looked as girls...how did they manage to make their make up look so nice??? And their short skirts... *shudder*..., they definitely were not aware of having to keep your legs together when you're in a skirt!

Then the lady boy cabaret show began. They hired professional dancers and DJs from the city for this event. These girls (or men?) were HOT! Beautiful bodies and costumes made it soooooo easy to forget they were men. (Which I think caused some physical confusion for some very drunk mahouts later on that night...) Anyways the dancers were incredible! The music was everything you expect- Gloria Estefan and Aretha Franklin and a nice mix of Korean pop. I'm embarrassed to admit that when "I will survive" came on, I pushed myself onto the stage for a bit....I blame the cheap Filipino beer for that move. And I WILL NEVER LIVE THAT DOWN AT THE PARK FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE.

One of the ladyboys spent the entire night performing with her right boob coming out of her sparkly bikini top...of course she couldn't feel her boobs, so she had no idea! For nearly one hour we were all glued to her boob, thinking one of two things: men, thinking 'why does this feel so wrong?'; girls, thinking 'damn they're nicer than mine!' I wonder what the small children thought....they definitely got more than an eyeful! Then...Patty came out. Patty is the lady boy who runs the ENP office in Chiang Mai city. She's one of the sweetest people in the world, always giggling and smiling. (She came out to the hospital when I was sick to check on me now and again, always keeping me company.) She was definitely the star of the show, doing a solo number as a Chinese pop/folk star in full traditional wardrobe....no words can describe how bizarre this was.

After the lady boys left back to Chiang Mai, the dance party began...and this is about the time my memory starts to fade. I remember Chad grabbing another bottle of wine, and then...everything goes black from that point on. I remember dancing, on stage and off, and taking a ton of photos with the staff. And then I remember Burm (one of the staff and a good friend) walked me back to my bungalow and actually tucked me into my bed. Ohhhh, soooooo bad.

This morning was brutal. I stayed in bed until I thought I wasn't going to die anymore and faced the music. Literally, when I came out everyone started making fun of me singing and dancing "I will survive." Ugh, I'm pretty sure I was filmed during that too. Lek gave me a beautiful present, a silver pendant with the personalized ENP logo to add to my charm necklace and I left the park feeling like I had spent one of the best holidays I could have asked for away and alone from the family.

Volunteer with Elephant Nature Park, Thailand, 2009

posted: Aug.2010, written: June.2009

I've been leading a volunteer project at an Elephant Rehab center, called Elephant Nature Park. My daily tasks have been cutting grass and corn for the eles to feed (i am now a machete savante!), planting native trees for a reforestation project, shoveling shit (elephant shit, buffalo shit, dog shit, cow shit, pig shit, you name the animal---we've shoveled it!), stripping bark from Eucalyptus trees for construction use (sounds easy...but try using the machetes to strip bark in the blaring sun!), and digging trenches (1 meter wide, 100 meters long, 1 meter deep) to install an underwater pipeline to get water from one side of the park to the other.

I have cuts and scrapes all along my forearms from the grass, sunburnt arms (from the shoulder down), dirt so engrained in my nails and hair it repels soap, and am eating 4 meals of rice and noodles a day to keep my energy up! I'm a reformed Thai farm girl now !! :)

Working alongside these elephants is such an incredible and unique experience...I get to go to sleep to the sounds of elephants snoring every night. I also get to bathe with them daily and scratch their hides every time they want :) We have a couple elephants who like to hang around our bungalows. Our bugalows are built into a fig tree, so every morning around 5:30 am I wake up to an elephant face peeking through my window. Tong Su (Jungle Boy) has tuskers too, so on more than one occasion he's poked his tuskers thru my window searching my room for goodies to play with. His mahout, or elephant handler, is a new friend so he likes to let Jungle Boy give me my morning scare every day--he says it's good for me.

In a few hours, I'll be piling back into a truck with my students heading back to the park. We came into Chiang Mai for one night off of shopping, partying and eating! My group is amazing, so energetic and happy all the time! Shoveling shit is actually one of their favorite times of day, since they like to chase me around the park shooting poop bullets at me!

Tomorrow we head to the mountain top, and stay in the jungle with the Lahu hill-tribe. We'll be doing a community development project there for one week, helping the villagers build a bridge---details of how, where, and why unknown. As everything else in Thailand, the pieces of this puzzle need to fall into place at the last possible second!

July 2009: New Baby Born at the Park!

2 nights ago, Mae Dok Ngern gave birth to a brand new baby boy elephant. I woke up around 4 am to the screams and moans of the mother (loud enough to sound like a t-rex!!!) and rushed out of my bed just in time to see the baby roll out with the sac. The baby rolled out (quite ungracefully!) and was standing and walking immediately, it was amazing!

I woke up my group, and the whole morning we spent with the mother and her new born baby. Lek came rushing from Chiang Mai, and named him Chang Yim "Smiling Elephant", fitting since he's already an incredibly cheeky and naughty bugger. He's huge too! He's nearly just as big as Fah Mai, the baby girl who's nearly 1 1/2 months old now, who's his roommate...(the same baby, Steph, Maddy and I crawled into the pen with to scrub and kiss.)

Here' s the best part, nearly an hour after the baby birth the placenta came rolling out of the mother...the "afterbirth" just like a human. The mahouts grabbed the placenta, cleaned out the blood, and cooked it up. After a special animist ceremony (asking for blessings from the spirits) they drank and danced all night alongside the baby and the new mother and ate the placenta for its 'power of healing' and goodluck.

...I politely refused my piece...saying that "I simply had too much rice today".

Even more exciting is the fact that this new baby boy is the property of Lek and ENP. This baby, like Hope, will never ever ever have to go to the Pajan (the violent training process involved in domesticating elephants) and will NEVER be used for the entertainment of tourists. He will live his life as a happy, healthy, beautiful elephant.

And...MORE! Mae Malaetong (the ele whose foot was blown off by stepping on a land mine) she's PREGNANT! The vet just confirmed, she will be giving birth in nearly one month's time (hopefully with my next group too!) And again...a baby owned by Lek and ENP.

Lek seems to be successfully repopulating the Asian ele population in the North of Thailand...now we just need to get the new property up and running so the eles can be free in the jungle in a safe environment, away from the people.

Things are great!