Elephants

Two days ago we went to the Baan Chang Elephant Park, which is an organization that buys abused and overworked elephants and trains them to trust people again. They had 19 elephants (with 2 babies!) and a growing plot of land for them to call home. Our guide explained to us what kinds of work elephants are often used for in Thailand, such a heavy lifting and hauling (some of the elephants had scars across their foreheads from chains they'd had to pull for years) or entertainment (one little female elephant wouldn't stop dancing, and they were pretty sure that had been what she'd been trained to do when she saw crowds at a circus). It was pretty sad, but they had a lot of success stories which was nice. We helped feed the elephants, then learned how to be mahouts (elephant trainers) AKA we learned how to ride the elephants with real mahouts walking beside us doing all the hard work. We then went down to a lake and bathed the elephants. It was a seven hour day which cost a lot of money, but it was definitely worth it. Seeing the elephants play with the real mahouts was amazing, and they obviously all really loved each other.

Oh, but before that we had an amazing breakfast at a local fruit smoothie stand. YUM.

Elephants get fruit too.

Did I mention the full denim uniforms?

Some of the property.

Jungle ride. Our sassy, tight-clothed, paan-chewing, fabulous-haired mahout.

Bath time!

Because Computers in Thailand are kicking my ass, I'm going to keep this pretty brief. We landed in Bangkok a week ago today. It was hot and humid and very exciting. I've never seen so many people in one place at one time. Below are some photos of the city. We were in the Bangalampoo area. All food is delicious and cheap. Everyone wants to sell you things.

 

We took an overnight train to Chiang Mai two days ago, where we've been ever since. It is much quieter (though definitely not quiet!). Old Chiang Mai is surrounded by an old moat and a mostly gone brick wall from the warrin' days. And there are little white lizards everywhere.

  Looking suspicious outside our sweet little room at the Number Nice House.

Critters

We're down to our last 24 hours in New Zealand. We're back in Auckland now, once again spending time with the wonderful and kind Judy and Olivia. They will be missed by us for sure! Here are some pictures of old and new gold/silver mining stuff in Waihi.

Pump house.

Active mine.

Crater!

Strange cemetery under a bridge.

Auckland now. Vancouver is 11362 km inside that man's butt.

:B

A native New Zealand giraffe!

A native New Zealand ostrich!

Just kidding, we're at the Auckland zoo.

Our favourite buddy. Bigger than us!

Other favourite buddy, the world's saddest monkey.

I'm sophisticated.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

And then we walked past Mt. Doom.

Last weekend Simon and I did the Tongariro crossing. It was a seven hour trek through a small mountain range. The trek is well known for its fantastic view, but it was a pretty overcast when we went out so we ended up walking through fog and mist the whole time. This was pretty amazing anyway though, as things sort of loomed in and out of the mist. Very ethereal. Also it wasn't too hot. The hike ranged from steep stairs to flatland to jagged mountain paths to black sand dunes to jungle. AMAZING. Also one of the mountains was Mt. Doom. Seriously.

This is the big beautiful house we got to stay in before the trek.

Nice bath tub.

Blue.

Volcanic rock on the trek. The two mountains we were travelling between are active volcanoes.

Flat area in the middle.

Hard to get an idea of the scale here but way down there is REALLY FAR AWAY. I hardly got any photos because it was raining half the time and very foggy the rest of the time.

Down the mountain at your front door.

HI.

Young ruffians above the beach under the full moon.