Hello everyone, sorry that it has been so long since my last post but we haven't had a ton of internet my last entry. We finished up our stay in Thailand which was absolutely wonderful. I can't believe how much I loved Thailand. I would go back in a second and I would recommend to anyone looking for an adventure to go!! It's a bit expensive to fly there but once you are there it is very reasonable and the people are wonderful.
We are now in Africa and I must admit that both James and I are a bit culture shocked for the first time on our trip. Everything is just so different from what we expected...it's taking some time for us to adjust. It is beautiful here and we have a wonderful host family who are showing us the ropes. Felix, Amos and Winnie are wonderful and have been showing us around Nairobi. On Monday we will be heading to the village were Felix and Amos are from...it is part of the Luo tribe in case anyone wants to look them up.
I would ask for prayer for my stomach, it is having some trouble adjusting to the food. And our safety as it can be a little unsafe for "mzungu" (white people) to walk around without a guide. So far we have been with Felix and Amos so we are safe...so no need to worry Mom and Lana. Please also pray for our host family...Felix and Winnie...they are preparing their wedding ceremony celebration and moving into a house so their finances are very tight. Any finally for the Kenyan people, their is a great deal of poverty here, Nairobi is home to one of the larges slums in Africa.
We miss you so much, we are both a bit homesick so any emails you would like to send out way would greatly be appreciated!! Stories from your side would be lovely. Can't wait to see all soon. Our email is churchillswithoutborders@yahoo.ca
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Warning...ELEPHANT EDUCATION TO FOLLOW
How's it going? James and I are getting ready to head to Koi Samui this afternoon...can't wait to park it on the beach for a few days. We have had some amazing adventures since we came to Chiang Mai!! We spent 2 days at the Elephant nature park (www.elephantnaturepark.org) which was one of the most amazing and sad places I've ever been. It was started and is run by a Thai woman named Lek (means small in Thai). She rescues trekking elephants and mistreated elephants from all over Thailand and gives them a place to live that is free from mahouts (elephant trainers) that beat them with big metal hooks. These elephants are free to roam and do not have to give curious tourists rides. Because tourism is the only way for captive elephants to make money since logging was banned Lek gives tourists a better way to interact with the elephants. Instead of sitting on them in a basket that sits on the weakest part of their spine you get to help out with their morning feeding session and you get to walk with them down to the river where you can help wash them off. James and I had a great time and have tons of pictures to show you all soon. Check out the website it is such a cool place and they could definitely use financial support if someone is looking for a good cause to support. They don't charity status because of some PR damage that PETA did 5 years ago(way to go PETA). But it is a great establishment and Lek is really trying to change the way elephants are trained. Right now most elephants (around the age of 5) are forced into a cage that is too small for them to move in and are beaten until they submit to their trainer. Most people, including most Thais, don't realize that this is taking place so Lek is trying to make people aware. The problem with this practice, besides the obvious, is that because tourists like the baby elephants the mahouts are doing this process on younger and younger elephants and the process can lead to their death. Lek is trying to use a positive reinforcement system instead of beating the elephants. James and I got to meet some of the baby elephants that are being trained with a postive system and it seems to be working great. I got a big wet kiss to prove it. :) The training is not the only hardship that elephants are facing...we met an elephant that was a drug addict because her mahout worked her 24hours a day and gave her "uppers" so she could had the energy, we met a blind elephant that had her eyes sling-shotted out, one that had her back broken because she was chained to an aggressive male elephant and another that was missing part of her foot because she stepped on a landmine....very sad. Anyway, sorry for my big soap box speech but Asia elephants will be GONE by the year 2015 if methods aren't changed soon. We've done lots more in Chiang Mai but I think I've said enough for now :) We both loves Thailand and have TONS of pictures to share. Love you all!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Stories from Thailand
"HereWell we left the sdafety of Darlene's school after a fabulous week, headed into insane bangkok! here's a glimpse:
...zzzzzzzzzOOOOOOOOOOOOooommm...the light turns green and 80 morotcycles and a steady stream of cars scream down Silom. On the side of the "lawsuit-waiting-to-happen" sidewalks (as tracy calls them) there is a line of about 20 women waiting for motorcycle taxis that come one by one and deliver each woman, side-saddle, to other destinations. Walking the sidewalks, there is no room for error - if you are bumped you will either step into the whelming traffic, or walk on a man with 1 limb selling flowers. Street vendors (selling barely-noticeable things) and 7-11s every three steps. Beautiful thai people with "We love the King" shirts on, wearing filters to mask out air pollution or inhaling from pocket menthol inhalers to personalize their breathing experience...
We are finding that for basic things we are generally ok with our level of english, but in many places we have been, it has been an awkward and sometimes impossible experience communicating with a 10 word vocabulary. The major problem is that the Thai language is built on 5 tones (which all sound identical to us) but apparently "mai mai mai mai mai" spoken using all five tones can communicate a whole sentence! For example, an english teacher, Jim, at Sammuk was received by uproarious laughter on his first day, because his name, spoken with the tone he chose is slang for female anatomy. He's currently working on a name change.
After bangkok (more about that later when we go back there for 4 more days) we took a back-up bus (the first one broke down on the way) to a small town called Pak Chong, northeast of BKK. From there we took a songtow (sp?) to our 200 Baht (about $6) pre-arranged accommodation (which in Thailand means "can we stay there tonight?" replied in turn by "yes!"). It turned out to be about as grimy, dingy, hot and infested as you can get (complete with bugs on the wall), but had a bed and a lock on the door. James said "perfect!!!!"...
[Tracy's addition to James narrative....I was ready to cry because it was the grossest room I'd ever seen...end Tracy's addition]
...but we held off on the utterly bohoemian experience until hill tribe trekking (Chiang Mai - coming to your local station in a few days). We pushed on to Jungle house up the road with a zoo in the backyard, and a rat in the air conditioner.
In the morning we joined a tour group with 2 hollandaise, and 2 brits and had the best wildlife tour of our lives!!! The tour took us to Khao Yai National Park and was led by two supremely knowledgeable guides. I think there names were Nine and Lek. We were continually amazed at their ability to spot white-handed gibbons and Oriental Hornbills sitting in the canopy far off on the horizon (it became a joke actually...we thought they must have had inside information). They had two spotting scopes with them which made watching birds etc. like tv. Other incredible things we saw were a water monitor lizard, one of the last remaining wild Asian elephant herds in thailand (from 250 left in the park - many other elephants, like those we saw in Chonburi, are kept alive as work elephants (for agriculture, forestry, entertainment, jungle treks) since this is the only way to pay for the the enormous cost of feeding them each day) tons of incredible birds (we got some awesome pictures by putting the dgital camera up to the spotting scope) and lots of other things i cant remember at the moment
From Khao Yai we took local transportation to the town and then a local train to Ayutthaya. Although we both de-trained exhausted and with massive headaches it was a great taste of small village travel. To travel about 100km took 3 hours, with stops at every village along the way. When the train was up to speed it felt rickety like acarnival ride where you know the cart could pop off at any time. Air conditioning was acheived through the open windows when the train was up to speed, and even better when you stuck your head out (but you had to dodge garbage being thrown out the windows). At each town a new cast of locals would board, walk up and down the aisles and sell you whatever they grew or made, from lychee to a dead chciken on a stick to beer. We are now in Chiang Mai after a 12 more tomorrow In Chiang mai we are hoping to do hill-tribe treks and maybe an elephant trek. Hill-tribe trekking involves hiking through the wilderness to visit small tribes that still practice the traditional way of life. is a quick update from James and a few pictures from me. " End James' story.
...zzzzzzzzzOOOOOOOOOOOOooommm...the light turns green and 80 morotcycles and a steady stream of cars scream down Silom. On the side of the "lawsuit-waiting-to-happen" sidewalks (as tracy calls them) there is a line of about 20 women waiting for motorcycle taxis that come one by one and deliver each woman, side-saddle, to other destinations. Walking the sidewalks, there is no room for error - if you are bumped you will either step into the whelming traffic, or walk on a man with 1 limb selling flowers. Street vendors (selling barely-noticeable things) and 7-11s every three steps. Beautiful thai people with "We love the King" shirts on, wearing filters to mask out air pollution or inhaling from pocket menthol inhalers to personalize their breathing experience...
We are finding that for basic things we are generally ok with our level of english, but in many places we have been, it has been an awkward and sometimes impossible experience communicating with a 10 word vocabulary. The major problem is that the Thai language is built on 5 tones (which all sound identical to us) but apparently "mai mai mai mai mai" spoken using all five tones can communicate a whole sentence! For example, an english teacher, Jim, at Sammuk was received by uproarious laughter on his first day, because his name, spoken with the tone he chose is slang for female anatomy. He's currently working on a name change.
After bangkok (more about that later when we go back there for 4 more days) we took a back-up bus (the first one broke down on the way) to a small town called Pak Chong, northeast of BKK. From there we took a songtow (sp?) to our 200 Baht (about $6) pre-arranged accommodation (which in Thailand means "can we stay there tonight?" replied in turn by "yes!"). It turned out to be about as grimy, dingy, hot and infested as you can get (complete with bugs on the wall), but had a bed and a lock on the door. James said "perfect!!!!"...
[Tracy's addition to James narrative....I was ready to cry because it was the grossest room I'd ever seen...end Tracy's addition]
...but we held off on the utterly bohoemian experience until hill tribe trekking (Chiang Mai - coming to your local station in a few days). We pushed on to Jungle house up the road with a zoo in the backyard, and a rat in the air conditioner.
In the morning we joined a tour group with 2 hollandaise, and 2 brits and had the best wildlife tour of our lives!!! The tour took us to Khao Yai National Park and was led by two supremely knowledgeable guides. I think there names were Nine and Lek. We were continually amazed at their ability to spot white-handed gibbons and Oriental Hornbills sitting in the canopy far off on the horizon (it became a joke actually...we thought they must have had inside information). They had two spotting scopes with them which made watching birds etc. like tv. Other incredible things we saw were a water monitor lizard, one of the last remaining wild Asian elephant herds in thailand (from 250 left in the park - many other elephants, like those we saw in Chonburi, are kept alive as work elephants (for agriculture, forestry, entertainment, jungle treks) since this is the only way to pay for the the enormous cost of feeding them each day) tons of incredible birds (we got some awesome pictures by putting the dgital camera up to the spotting scope) and lots of other things i cant remember at the moment
From Khao Yai we took local transportation to the town and then a local train to Ayutthaya. Although we both de-trained exhausted and with massive headaches it was a great taste of small village travel. To travel about 100km took 3 hours, with stops at every village along the way. When the train was up to speed it felt rickety like acarnival ride where you know the cart could pop off at any time. Air conditioning was acheived through the open windows when the train was up to speed, and even better when you stuck your head out (but you had to dodge garbage being thrown out the windows). At each town a new cast of locals would board, walk up and down the aisles and sell you whatever they grew or made, from lychee to a dead chciken on a stick to beer. We are now in Chiang Mai after a 12 more tomorrow In Chiang mai we are hoping to do hill-tribe treks and maybe an elephant trek. Hill-tribe trekking involves hiking through the wilderness to visit small tribes that still practice the traditional way of life. is a quick update from James and a few pictures from me. " End James' story.
#1- we had a lovely few days with Melody...she and I had manicures and pedicure ($3 each) and ate at some great restaurants. Thanks again Mel.
#2 James and are bothe the proud owners of cell phones now...they really do make travelling easier.
#3 and #4 some wildlife that we saw on our tour...see Kerrie there are turkeys in Thailand too.
#5 James had a bit of a problem with the land leeches on our trek...yes Shannon you read it right...land leeches!!! They are everywhere in the woods around here....
Sunday, July 01, 2007
A few more
The first picture is from a class at Sammuk Chrisitan Academy.Then a long line of tuk tuk drivers. then James was brave enough to ride the cart down the hill at the Chinese temple. We all held our breath as he made a speed decent. And finally could thid centipede get any bigger...wowzer.
Some Thailand pictures
Hey y'all, here are a few pictures of dear sweet Thailand. The first one shows a job that I would not want...this guy caught the elephant poo in a bag then had to carry it around for the evening (there aren't very many public garbage cans around). After the elephant did his business I got to feed him some sugar cane. The third is picture is Darlene and I doing a funny Thai pose in Chonburi. Then James and I drinking Thai iced tea out of bags. When you buy a drink at a market they put it in a plastic bag for you :) I love Thailand!! Another cool thing is that the electircity in hotel rooms is connected to your room key...such a cool idea. Keeps people from wasting electricity. Awesome.
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