Lek's Elephant Nature Camp! - Chiang Mai, Thailand

Happy Holidays!!! We are in full relaxation mode here in Auburn, AL, we got back to the states a few days ago, and we've been busy updating the blog. I can't believe this was only a week ago.

After Louang Prabang, we sold our bikes, and got back in the bus... all the way to Pai. A very relaxed place in N. Thailand... a very different feel from S. Thailand btw (and cheaper to boot). A small town, but a big destination for those following the banana pancake trail. We suffered the bus ride with Miriam, rented scooters (2$ a day!), went to a few yoga sessions, and took a cooking class. That's Kimbo, Tee, and Meee

But on this entry I want to bring awareness to a situation that most folks probably don't know about... we certainly didn't... and as the traveller I feel the obligation to spread awareness... that sorta off-sets our carbon footprint right? (at least in a karmic way, I trust)

And it has to do with the Asian Elephant... and who doesn't like Elephants... I mean they may not be not as cool as monkeys (debatable), but definitely more than kangaroos or koalas.

We visited Elephant Nature Park (another great recommendation by the Dirt Cricket...) just north of Chiang Mai. And we had no idea, but Asian Elephants are in need of some serious rehab.

Here's the basic problem... Elephants were domesticated for use in the farming and logging industry. There were an estimated 100,000 domesticated elephants in 1900. Today there are only 3,000 domestic elephants remaining with another 500-1,500 estimated in the wild!!! There are numerous issues, but a major one is that logging became illegal now (a good step as it created massive landslides... and also destroyed habitat for wild elephants... the domesticated elephants were destroying the wild elephant's habitat).

So many elephants were out of a job. And many Mahouts (the elephant keeper) had no choice but to abandon their elephant or to take them to the streets to go beg... (yeah, seriously... see the video from National Geo link below).

Many of the abandoned elephants foraged for food in the near by farm. Most folks in Thailand are still farmers... meaning they depend solely on their single crop yield for their annual income. And the abandoned domesticated elephants, who don't know how to survive in the wild ate their single source of income for the year. It's like placing all your eggs in one basket and a hungry elephant came and made a big 'ole omelet... you'd be angry too... but quite often these elephants were killed by farmers.

The Elephant Nature Park was started by Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. Quite an inspirational lady, she's devoted her whole life to saving elephants. She's received a lot of press the past few years and was one voted one of Asia's Heroes in 2005 by Time magazine. Read more about here here if you are interested.

I encourage y'all to check out this short (20 min?) National Geographic Video (if you have decent internet connection) it features Lek and explains some of the problems associated with Domesticated Elephants in present day Thailand. We saw the full video, but you get the jist of the problems.

On a one day visit to the Elephant Nature Park, you get to feed the elephant, bath them, and learn a lot about them from your guide and some documentaries they show during your visit. You can also spend multiple nights there (there are nice accommodations), as well as volunteer or intern for longer. There were many volunteers at the park, from kids just out of college to families. There's always work to be done, as elephants can eat to 150-170 kg a day.... and that's a LOT of bananas + foraging.

Check out their tooth!

Every elephant in the park has a story... from saving orphaned elephants or famished elephants who have been left by their mahout. There are two babies in the park currently, and another one on its way. The pregnant mother had a part of it's back leg blown off after stepping on a land mine.


This girl is blind after having her eyes stabbed by a mahout who got frustrated after she refused to work... 2 days after her newborn baby died. An older female elephant decided to take her under and now they're inseparable.

On top of her 34 rescued elephants, Lek has come to adopt many cows, over 50 dogs, 10+ cats so the place is a heaven for animal lovers.

Visiting the Elephant Nature Park was a highlight for us on the trip. I think it's a must visit for anyone headed to Chiang Mai.

"Scoot-ouring" Around Laos.... with Funk.

After doin' the LOOP. Jasper, Kimbo, and I were on the road making our way up to the capital, Vientiene where Funk decided to meet us for his first tour outside the US of A.

BTW... Scoo-touring around Laos is the way to go. The roads are nice, not much traffic, and for better or worse you don't need a licence. We saw tons of kids riding scooters around town.. how old could this kid be? And to all the folks disappointed in us for not getting a push bike... well here's some of the reasons we opted for the scooter:

• Scooters come in one size (easy to sell and buy)
• We had a lot of distance to cover
• We didn't have any bike gear... you only need Helmet (5$), and gloves (1$ for cheaper ones, 2$ for leather) to ride.
• You can throw 2 people on it or ride it solo.
  

We wanted to visit Lao Vegas, but alas... Funk was calling our name.


We did make a few stops on our way up to break up the 150+ km days.


That is a nest of red ants...


Lao is not only blessed with kids that love to say "Sabaidee" to every farang (foreigner)... but it's share of amazing waterfalls and caves. There are so many waterfalls in this country that we were the only ones at this one during our 3 hour break.


The road out from Tad (Waterfall in Lao) Xae


Near the waterfalls, we stopped to eat some noodle soup... and the locals invited us over for a few drinks of the Lo Lao (Homemade whiskey)... it was past noon... so we figured we weren't braking any rules.


Farm animals run amok everywhere in the Laos countryside.


You can tell buy Jasper's enthusiastic face that he's stoked to be peer pressured into eating a lettuce wrapped.... rat tail (as best as I could tell)... they kept calling it "squirrel"... but regardless it was pretty gross... so I encouraged Jasper to try it too, and our Laotian hosts helped me pressure him into it....


Unlike Central America, the dogs here are friendly (for the most part) and the puppies are much cuter.


And Finally! After a flight from LA, an overnight train from Bangkok, and a tuk tuk across the border... here's the one and only... Funkster...


Here Jasper is showing him all the problems of "Nice." We actually had a shop in Vientiane put a new seal around the engine and add a new clutch. A 4 hour, 2 person job... for 1o$. Another reason scoot-ouring in Lao is fun. Scooters will break down, but there is always someone that can fix the problem near by... for very cheap... and you can practice your Lao.


In Vientiene we had an amazing pork, noodle, lettuce dish... don't know what it's called, but probably the best thing we ate in Lao... then we went bowling for the first time in 2009.


The broom seller?


Funk's Helmet Cam...


A quick break dancing break on our way up to Vang Vieng...


Vang Vieng!!!

Lao - Doin' "The Loop"

We entered Laos on Nov 24th with a mission of purchasing used scooters for our duration here. Without really knowing how to go about doing such things in a Communist country, we found a tuk-tuk driver who understood no English and somehow asked him to take us around all day to look at used scooters.


The first place we went to...


And from the last place we went to... shop # 5 maybe...


And so 4 hours later... our mission was complete... 2 - 100cc scooters with Chinese engines, 3 helmets, some repairs and all for under 550 USD... we'll tell you how hard or easy it is to sell these back... and see if it was worth it later.


We hit the road the minute we got the bikes... and got a taste of rural life in Lao soon enough.


???


Now we're on the "Loop". From Tha Khek... a popular scooter side trip has been done for the last few years that visits some spectacular scenery, caves, local life, and lots of adventure. At 475 km, most folks take 4 days to do (we took 4 too) ... some have done it in under 24 hours (to get the one day rental rate)... and we saw that a Tuk Tuk did it in 12 days. Here is Jasper at one of the first caves on the tour.


Me at the second one. We skipped a few caves here to make up some time...


Lots of farm animals on and off the road in this area.
i

... goats...


The first guesthouse on the Loop.


Before we got dinner, we decided to walk around town for a bit... followed the music and found some locals.


Who fed us a bit, but gave us lots of Lo Lao... the homemade rice whiskey prevalent in all of Laos... we escaped after learning a bit of Lao, and before we lost the ability to walk back to our guesthouse.


Sunrise the next day... went on a quick run around the area to "freshen" my brain.


Here's our neighbor... with a litter of 10.


This next section was the roughest... with logging trucks rolling by... and going 20 km max speed...


That's why I dressed up like this.


Group shot.


The old sickle and hammer is the second most common flag you see after the Laos flag.


Laotians love their umbrellas too...


A typical bridge.


... on the way to this swimming hole.


Bomb Boats... made from the empty fuel canisters from old US B-52s after their bombing raids...




Typical scene on the Loop... this one was take out by the Kong Lo cave. Limestone Karst, like Rai Leh jutting out of the rice fields.


Very serene..


Kids headed to school


Some more village life...


On the way to Konglo... we encountered our first problem... a flat tire... which led to an oil change, a new drive train, and brakes...


So we didn't get to the cave in time this day...


But stayed in the area and went back in the morning. This was definitely the highlight of the short trip. Kong Lo cave is a 7 km tunnel with a river running through it. You take a long boat over to the other side and back and takes 2 hours for the trip. Some of the rooms open up to more than 100 ft high and wide.




Jasper thought this was slightly better than the Oregon Caves...


The area surrounding Kong Lo had many reminders of the "American War." From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance over Laos during 580,000 bombing missions - equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years (according to this article). And there were bomb holes everywhere.


We stayed at Kong Lo two nights... mainly for this.... as this piglet took a day to prepare... this was in the mornin'


When we got back...


So the Aussies we just met the night before and I made the executive decision to stay another day for the piglet. Plus... it was Thanxgiving... and one of our scooters has a Pooh emblem on it.


Both mornings in Kong Lo, I went on an early run in the area and came across 1000s of bomb holes. The devastation to such remote areas were still fresh, 45 years later.