Autumn Changes

I love Autumn!  The changing of the color of the leaves is one of the things that I have always looked forward to each year.  The trees become so vibrate and rich in color, as if an artist took all of my favorite colors and mixed them on his palette and then just touched each leaf with a different hue.  Autumn is a wonderful season, one of change.  Change is always in the air, yet here in Thailand I feel the change but it is more internal then external.  The leaves stay green and lush, the SUN shines everyday and the wind is more like a welcome breeze then a mighty gust.

Change is inventible, the days come and go, the years pass by and all too soon I have found myself on the down ward slope of my life.  I am changing, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  I feel like I am in the Autumn of my life...where change happens gradually.  I try to make moments count, make friendships last, make family memories...but change has a way of creeping into our lives.  One of the things that I have realize is that I need to learn to embrace change rather then fear it.

I believe that is easier said then done, most often one fears what they don't understand and I admit that I do not always understand the reasons behind the changing of something.  How ever as I continue to study and grow the understanding comes and I start to embrace the changes that take place in my life.

As today is the first day of Autumn, I am making a conscious effort to embrace change.  I may not see the leaves change color here in Thailand but I can look to the profound ways my life has changed and will continue to change in my season of Autumn.  Miracles happen everyday, we just have to look for them and acknowledge the divine change they can make in our lives if we let them. 

A Foot print and Kiss Goodbye

After our swimming break it was LUNCH, Thai picnic style.  Then it was back on the elephants for more trekking.  Finally our day came to an end.  Laura got a "foot" print for her journal and a "trunk" kiss from her elephant.  ( I think the Mahout would have liked to give her a kiss too!)

One of the BEST adventures EVER.  Bye Mae Bua Tong, until I come visit you again.

Ye Olde Swimming HOLE

Now if bath time was fun, going to the swimming hole was the highlight of the entire adventure.  We actually were able to play and swim with our elephants.  They can weigh up to 4,500 KG which is 9,900 pounds of animal.  Mae Bua Tong loves the water and didn't want to get out!

Mae Bua Tong and I taking a little dip in the cool river falls of the Chiang Mai mountain valley.

If a picture is worth a 1,000 words this one is worth about 10,000 pounds!

"KODAK" Moments

Trekking on an elephant is a "KODAK" moment

So is being able to see a 5 week old elephant with his mom... defiantly a 'KODAK moment.

Up Up and Away

After bath time it was ready to get UP UP and on the trail.  John was the best at getting on his elephant, Mae Si Noi.  Mae Si Noi was the first elephant on the farm and she is about 20 years old.  John makes it look so easy.

Here we are on our elephants for our first trek of the day.  Laura has the "baby" here elephant was only 10 years old and playful at times so her Mahout had to stay close to Laura.  I don't think he minded much he was a young man about 18 and I am sure that I caught him checking out Laura as much as he was checking out her elephant.

"Over the river and through the woods..." wait I think it is, through the river and through the jungle...

Happy and Heathy

One of the first things that we had to learn and do was to make sure if our elephant was happy and healthy.  We first had to introduce our selves to our elephant and then hand feed it.  We need to wear the same type of clothing that the Mahouts (elephant caregivers and is usually attached to the elephant for life) so that the elephant would know that were were "safe".  We then had to check the skin, check the toenails for water, that is the only place an elephant sweats - no water means no sweat which means unhealthy elephant.  the last things we had to do was to inspect the elephant DUNG!  Yep we had to count the last of the droppings, tear it open, with our bare hands and check for fiber content and water.  We then had to smell it- NO SMELL.  Elephants dung is like composted fibrous grass - with no smell or stench whatsoever.  After making sure our elephant was happy and healthy - I had to tell Mae Bua Tong to lie down in Thai and bush off the dirt on her back (lots of dirt and a big back) then it was into the river for the daily washing. It was incredible how well Mae Bua Tong behaved.  She loves the water and at one point just wanted to lie down and let me run the scrub brush over her rough skin, I am sure it was like a massage for an elephant. 

Next cam a little bath time FUN!

Mae Bua Tong

The highlight of our trip was to the Patara Elephant Farm.  It is the only Elephant farm in Thailand, others types of places are called elephant camps.  Here is how they describe their farm...

• Patara Elephant Farm is a Thai own and manage farm focusing on health-care and breeding management for friendly, beautiful and special elephants to produce healthy elephants to live on Earth. 
•        The farm invites you to hands-on experience on participating, sharing responsibilities and taking care of an elephant. "Elephant Owner for a Day" is a special program created for everyone to learn and interact with elephants as what an owner would do daily, during which time you are trained to approach your elephant correctly, know the elephant's temperament, feed and check its health, learn about and take care of your own elephant, bathe and brush it in the river, learn how to ride on its neck, and communicate through different spoken commands. You will get a chance to bare-back riding to visit forests, waterfalls or local temples. The program is specialized and meaningful activity to create trust and relationship between you and your elephant. 
•        With conservation philosophy "Extinction is Forever",  Patara Elephant Farm honored to encourage people to try, at least once in their lives, to experience this very special and sacred animal that should be treasured. Give yourself an opportunity to share once-in-a-lifetime experience with the elephants; you will be touched by their beautiful hearts and will be brought closer to their special world.

This is my elephant for the day, Mae Bua Tong, which means " Sunflower". She is 28 years old and a mother to many.  I felt a bond not only with this beautiful  animal but also with nature itself.  To look into the eyes of this majestic animal is see the that everything has SOUL and SPIRIT. 

Thank you Mae Bua Tong for being mine for a day, it was a day that I will never forget.  You taught me much...you gave me so much more. 

Chiang Mai Plethora

Our first day in Chiang Mai

 was a plethora of activities.

  

First stop a visit to the Doi Suthep Temple

And then a little "KIDDING" around

Shopping for furniture, holding babies, watching little kids, eating spicy Khao Soy soup and finally a $3.00 foot massage at the night market.  The day was great from sunrise to sunset!

Sukhothai Revisited

When I visited Sukhothai last spring it was just beginning to be the "HOT" season in Thailand.  This visit was during the "WET" season.  It is really a beautiful place for its age, ruins are about 700 years old.  When you look through the lens of a camera the city has a life of it's own...

1. John and I close to a Bodi tree, the tree that Buddha laid down next to as he received his "enlightenment".
2. John using my camera to take some pictures, I have to keep him busy somehow.
3. Laura and I listening to the headsets that tells the history of this once thriving capitol of Thailand.

Sukhothai revisited was even better the second time! 

Good Luck

As we started out on our visit of the Sukhothai ruins, Laura and John wanted to make sure that they would have some "good luck". So as to  follow Thai tradition of setting something free, they, and by "they" I mean I gave them the 100 Baht to purchased some live animals and set them free in the mote surrounding some of the old ruins.

Both of them released 1 fish, 1 turtle and 1 frog - I am sure the animals are happy and now bring on the good luck!

Driving in Thailand

We decided to go on a little driving adventure...okay little might not be the correct word.  Ten hours drive later, we did find ourselves in Chiang Mai...for an adventure of a life time, that for a later blog.  This blog is about how we drive in Thailand, which in reality we don't do any of the driving.  We leave the driving to our driver, Sayan!  So here is what we do...

Laura is either coloring or sleeping in a very fetal position.  Ron is always working - business for Coca Cola never STOPS.  John, I think now has a permanent ear apparatus know to some as teenage ear buds - they are in when he is awake and when he is asleep.  What do I do while driving...SCRABBLE, and I am pretty good at it!  

Biking with Boo..

Laura has forever been known as BOO.  I am not sure when I first started calling her that - but it stuck and I think she likes all the extra nicknames  that the family members call her...


Boo, Booey, Boo Bear, Booskins, BooBoo, Booalicious, and so on.  I love my BOO and she loves to do fun things with us.  Here is our recent bike riding adventure to Koh Kret..

First we have to ride the bikes to the pier...then we have to heave them on to a "ferry boat" (a term I use loosely) so we can cross the river to Koh Kret Island.

Biking with Boo on Koh Kret is always an adventure,

one we both really enjoy.

The Next FIFTY

My first fifty birthdays seemed to be all about me, and rightly so, after all it was MY BIRTHDAY.  Today was different, I woke up this morning I decided that I wanted my next fifty birthdays to be about someone or something else.  I decided that from now on each year on my birthday I would be involved in a service project, be a volunteer for something or do a random act of kindness for someone.  

"The value of a man resides in what he  GIVES and not in what he is capable of receiving." 
Albert Einstein 

Today I was able to help with a clean up project in downtown Bangkok.  We picked up litter on the sidewalks and scrubbed down bus stop waiting areas.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday, giving back is so much more rewarding then receiving. 

All that being said, I am not refusing the wonderful tripod for my camera that my husband gave me, I do have my priorities straight.

The Last Fifty

At midnight I will complete my 50th year of life!  It is strange how fast the time goes.  I remember when waiting for Christmas morning seemed like an eternity, now it feels like Christmas is always right around the corner.

Today I decided to celebrate by doing a personal triathlon.  Bright and early I headed to the pool to swim 1,000 meters.  Next came a quick 1.5 mile run around the lake, followed by a 10.5 mile bike ride.  When I jumped into the pool at 7:30 am rain was falling making lovely little ripples on top of the water.  By the time I was running at 8:00 am the rain had stopped but I was hopping through some large puddles - I love doing that it reminds me of being a kid again.  The SUN was shining brightly while I rode the 10.5 miles and I was feeling the warmth spread through out my body.  Being active makes me feel alive, and as a cancer survivor being alive is a GOOD thing!!  I am grateful for every breath of air I breathe and for a body that can move with relative ease - I know that as I grow older that will not always be the case.  So I am trying to enjoy all that life has to offer. 

This last year I have stood at many a fork in the road and I feel like I  have taken the one less traveled.  My experience this year have caused me to grow in ways that I would never imagine.  My heart has expanded at the same time feelings and impressions have been etched upon my soul.  Age does marvelous things to people, it helps them gain perspective of what is truly important...LOVE in all its many different forms. 

I acknowledge the accomplishments and the failures of the last fifty years.  For all experiences happy and sad, good or bad, easy or hard have been for my benefit and grow.  I see who I have become in 50 years and I look forward to the next fifty.