There’s a real ethical dilemma when it comes to visiting elephants parks, and participating in the activities there. But first, the history of the Asian elephant, once highly revered and domesticated for work and warfare. Far from the estimated population of hundreds of thousands of elephants centuries ago, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, it’s estimated that between only…
Category: An Epic Adventure
February 6: Chiang Mai Cooking School
I took a break from visiting temples and relaxed this morning. I had booked a Thai cooking class for the afternoon/evening, and was picked up at the hotel at 3:45 for this culinary adventure. The van travelled around Chiang Mai and picked up my fellow chefs, and from there we visited a local market to pick up the fresh vegetables,…
February 5: Chiang Mai
I made up for yesterday’s sloth by walking all over Chiang Mai today, and my feet are feeling the 7 miles! First it was off to the 41st Annual Flower Festival; I missed the parade yesterday (sort of northern Thailand’s answer to the Rose Parade), but the park was still overflowing with blooms and the floats were on display. Being…
February 4: Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Another travel day. Picked up early from the hotel to get to the very busy Bangkok airport for a short flight north to Chiang Mai. My hotel is charming, and replicates a village of the Tai Lue people, one of the tribes in the Lanna Kingdom, who migrated here from southern China. This is the largest and most culturally significant…
Feb 3: Bangkok continued
After essentially covering two days of activities in one, I decided to take a break today. Feeling a bit sight-see’d out, and the mass of humanity/tourists is really pretty exhausting. This may sound judgmental or generalizing, but many of the Asian people, usually in tour groups (from China, Japan, Korea I think), use their arms and elbows to create and…
Feb 2: Bangkok
A completely different atmosphere and vibe just 90 minutes away from central Vietnam, Bangkok is filled with huge skyscrapers and modern amenities and clean streets and efficient public transport. Traffic is very busy at all times it seems, but there are many fewer motor scooters, and many more cars and tuk tuks. And in between the big office towers and…
February 1: Goodbye Vietnam, Hello Thailand
We had been incredibly lucky with the weather — definitely suffered from the heat and humidity, but rain did not interfere with any of our cycling or sightseeing in the 3 1/2 weeks we had in Vietnam and Cambodia. So on our last day it rained. Which was fine because all we did was take a taxi to the airport.…
January 31: Hoi An Continued
Another day, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This one is about an hour outside of Hoi An and is the site of Vietnam’s most extensive Cham remains. My Son was once the most important intellectual and religious center of the Kingdom of Champa and may also have served as a burial place for Cham monarchs. (The Champa Kingdom was located…
January 30: Hoi An Day 2
Our hotel is just outside of Hoi An on the Thu Bon River, and breakfast was served in a lovely thatched roof building right on the river. Wonderful view. We took a couple of hotel beach cruiser bikes for a ride out to Cua Dai Beach, and traveled along peaceful paths flanked by canals and rice paddies and farm land.…
January 29: Hoi An
Another adventure awaited us this morning as we set out for the train station in Hue to catch a train to Da Nang. We had found the station and purchased tickets yesterday, but weren’t prepared for the crowds of travelers. The train was an older model and the tracks were at the same level as the waiting platform, so it…