Thailand Travel Log, Part 2

January 23,

After three nights at the Rainforest, we moved this morning to the YMCA in the northwestern part of town. For some reason, I can’t shake thinking about the Village People. That’s weird! Honestly, it is hard to look at the next two weeks positively. Who likes the idea of doing school work in Thailand? At least it’s about a hundred degrees warmer here than Mongolia!


January 26,

Things haven’t been quite as busy as we were expecting. It has been a nice ease into the grad program this week. Our accommodations are not too bad. It is off the main road, but there is a large mall within ten minutes walk. In fact, if we look out our window we can see the mall. It has been a nice place for Jennifer to go walk while I have been in class. It has also been a good meal stop. There are a couple pizza joints, an Auntie Anna’s Pretzel place, Duncan Donuts, Dairy Queen, etc. We love Thailand!!

Class has been more enjoyable than expected. There are about fourteen of us. Three-fourths of the class came to Asia at the same time we did, so we already have a familiarity with most of them. We have also made several new friends including two married couples living in Vietnam. It has been fun to meet new people and share stories.

The other great part about being where we are at is the little convenient store just outside the YMCA door. It may not look like much, but they have the best fruit smoothies in the world. What is even better is that a large smoothie is only a buck! Besides smoothies they also have great milkshakes, coffees, and various snacks. It has already become a regular stop and will probably continue to be through our stay here. The couple that owns and works at the place are also very sweet. They speak pretty good English and love to interact with the grad students that frequent the Y every year at this time.


January 29,


Time really flies when you stay busy. The first week of class is over, and our time at the Y is half over. As an encouragement to get through the week, we decided to make a trip to a popular attraction today, Saturday. We went to Tiger Kingdom!! First, there is not much better than a tiger in the animal kingdom. Second, there is not much better than getting to actually be in the presence of a tiger without a fence separating us.

The attraction of Tiger Kingdom is that you get to go in a cage with tigers that are not drugged in any way.  There are handlers and rules to follow, but it is perhaps the most natural encounter that any person can really have with a tiger.

We got a group of friends (new and old) together and made arrangements for a saung tau (a popular red truck taxi) to take us to Tiger Kingdom which is about 45 minutes outside of Chiang Mai.  Having a group made the trip more affordable and more enjoyable!  There are three groups of tigers that one can choose to be with: biggest, medium, and smallest.  We all decided to do the biggest and the smallest.  After entering a door reminiscent (in a much smaller way) of Jurassic Park, we were conducted to the cage of the biggest tigers.  We had to leave our loose articles on a table outside the cage before climbing into the cage.  What an exhilarating feeling to look up and see two tigers just a few yards of open ground away.

We approached the tigers from behind as the regulations stated.  Several of our group were a little hesitant at first, but the handlers encouraged us to rub away.  The tiger’s fur was much softer than you would think.  How incredible to rub, pet, and scratch a creature of such great power and prestige!!





The tiger, of course, was loving the attention and did not really appreciate the handler constantly waking him up to get pictures.  Though a tiger is always a wild creature, these had obviously become very accustomed to people and had probably had people around since they were cubs.

Before we left the big tigers, one rolled over so that I could rub its tummy.  WOW!!!  Our incredible time with these two years olds came to an end much sooner than any of us would have liked, but that only meant that it was time to visit the two month olds.

 We had to take off our shoes and wash our hands before going into the infant area.  The young ones were so cute!  They were like big kittens.  

Jennifer was allowed to hold one in her arms like a baby, and one spread out on my lap for a little snooze.  As small as they were, it was evident that they would grow up to be big and strong.  At two months, their paws were already as large as Jennifer’s hand.

There are no words to adequately describe how awesome this experience was.  There were also a couple four month olds, but we spent most of our time with the youngest ones.  Again, our time with these wonderful creatures ended too soon, but none of us will ever forget that experience!!

 



A little scary, isn't it?

While at Tiger Kingdom, we had two more join our group.  As they played with the small tigers, the rest of us had some lunch at the restaurant.  Since we had a driver and a truck for whatever and however long we liked, we asked him to take us to the Orchid Farm that Jennifer and I went to during our elephant camp day.  We all had such a wonderful time strolling leisurely through the flowers.  It was nice to have more than thirty minutes to explore this wonder of creation.

By the time we were done there, we were all so tired that we were ready to head back to the Y.  What an adventure!!  PTL for the opportunities that He has given us!!  Our time in Thailand is much more than the work of the grad classes.  We are resting and enjoying just another aspect of this wonderful world we live in!!

Thailand Travel Log, Part 1

January 20 (Bangkok),

Traveling the world is, at some times, highly overrated. Like right now. We left UB early this morning for a short (four and a half hours) flight to Seoul, South Korea. The Incheon airport is really nice. Aside from looking suspiciously like a western mall, it also has traditional Korean culture centers throughout. Our layover there was too short to do all the things that we would have liked to. We did get to see a traditional music presentation and make parchment/ink pictures all for free.

 

We had a great five hour flight to Bangkok and arrived there around 10 pm last night.  We are still here. (Insert glumness and extreme fatigue)  The Bangkok airport is okay but not for setting around all night… I think I just fell asleep for a second because there’s a small wet spot on my paper.  Thankfully the flight to Chiang Mai is just over an hour, and it is leaving shortly.

January 20 (Chiang Mai),

What a beautiful morning it was! It was also great to finally get here. We feel like we just traveled to the States, but we are still in Asia. The sunshine and feeling of completion gave us a short boost of energy. We took a cab to our hotel, the place we stayed last year during pre-conference, and got checked in quickly even though it was before 9 am. This is our vacation time. Once classes start next week, I (Joshua) at least will be busy practically till conference is over.  Our vacation time is about to begin with sleep.  After a valiant attempt to read our books (that didn’t work so well), we ordered room service and watched TV.  The bed feels great, so we are going to get some much needed rest.

January 22,

Since we are spending all of our time during vacation here in Chiang Mai, we have decided to do some of the more touristy things this year that we skipped out on last year. Yesterday, we stayed pretty close and just relaxed, that is, until mid afternoon. Then we took a Scorpion Tail riverboat cruise along the Mae Ping River.

 

It wasn’t long or fancy, but we practically had the boat to ourselves.  The hour and a half ride included us, a friendly couple from Nebraska, and the comedic tour guide.  The tour included a brief history of Chiang Mai (a city whose name means “New City” but is over 700 years old, older even than Bangkok), a description of certain riverside sites, and a brief stop ashore for some mango and sticky rice which is a local delicacy.  We laughed and talked and had a great time cruising through the city.

 

Today was our big event.  After eating our delicious Thai style breakfast, we were picked up by a tour van and taken to a local elephant camp.  Elephants are a big part of Thailand (no pun intended) and its history and something that we gravely missed out on last year.  We determined to not do so again this year.  The first leg of our day long excursion was a float through the jungle on a bamboo raft.  A bamboo raft is nothing more than two layers of bamboo tied together.

It was a little disheartening to see water coming up between the bamboo poles, but we also knew that if it sank we could just stand up (the water was only about knee deep).  Once we got to smooth water, I was asked to help pole the boat.  Though style was perhaps lacking, I at least did not overturn the boat.

 Perhaps the coolest part of this trip, besides the knowledge that Rambo 4 was filmed in those jungles, was the constant sight of elephants wandering along the river bank and up along the hills.

After we set back aground, we ate a delicious albeit hurried lunch in order to make it to our Ox Cart ride.  Exciting as it was, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t want to ride that thing for a long distance.  Again, I was asked to take the reign though quite literally this time.  The driver, after introducing his oxen Moe and How, asked me to cross over the railing and take his seat while he took my camera.  The oxen were well trained, so I didn’t really have to do anything.  But, it felt pretty cool.  I mean, how many other people can say they have “driven” an ox cart in Thailand?

The third leg of our journey was the much anticipated elephant ride.  Thankfully, there was a high platform from which we were able to mount our steed.

Again, the road was a bit “unstable” and certainly not for the faint of stomach, but all this we could overlook from the sheer AWESOMNESS of riding an elephant through the Thai jungle.  As our ride came to the river, the mahout dismounted taking with him my camera.  It was perhaps a bit more unnerving to sit atop an elephant with no “driver” than to “take the wheel” of the ox cart; however, we got some great pictures out of the deal!

After an awesome elephant show where elephants danced, played soccer, and even painted, we greeted a mother and her young calf.

 Our time at the camp now over, we stopped at a hill tribe village.  This was not part of our trip, so we sat and waited patiently for the rest of our group.  What a strange group it was!  We hit it off with a young couple from Munich, Germany who had also been at our hotel.  We also talked a bit with a young man from Australia.  Also in our group, but whom we didn’t speak with much, were a group from Chili, two men from Italy, and one man from Japan.  We were quite the “party” group, but the diversity also made it rather interesting.

Our last stop was at an Orchid farm.  The Orchid is Thailand’s national flower and symbol as well as Jennifer’s favorite flower.

 There were more varieties in one place than I even knew existed, so our thirty minute stay was anything but long enough.  However, our day was quite exhausting, so it is nice to be back in our room.

Now I have to face the fact that “vacation” time is nearly over.  We move tomorrow to the YMCA where I will be occupied with classes for the next two weeks.  Work in Thailand just doesn’t seem right!