Hot Hot Hot!

I was very lucky to travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand's biggest city in the north, with another English teacher from Surat Thani. Chiang Mai's night market was filled with tables of gorgeous textiles and handicrafts made by artisans of the northern hill tribes. There was a food market as well with fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish. Training how to care for an elephant at the Elephant Conservation Centre was a highlight of the trip!

The mahouts have a special relationship with the elephants. They fetch their elephant every morning from the jungle, feed it, ride it, and bathe it. The people at the Elephant Conservation Centre also rescue sick elephants at the hospital and make paper out of elephant dung!

As mahouts in training, we bathed our elephants and learned how to command our elephants in Thai. Our guides showed us how to get on our elephants from the side (stepping on the elephant's front leg), the front (leaping onto its trunk), or the back (stepping on the elephant's hind leg and crawling over its back while it is sitting). We tried all three! The elephant is tough and its skin is thick and leathery.

We also went to an umbrella factory, where workers carved, assembled, and painted paper and silk umbrellas.

We flew to Bangkok from Chiang Mai and took a bus to Kanchanaburi, where we climbed seven waterfalls in a national park. The hike was filled with many breathtaking views of plantlife, monkeys, and incredible waterfalls.

(see more on Next page)