Our Kid’s Highlights from Thailand

Rachael Age 13- Exploited for tourism, logging and show business, elephants from all over Thailand are not free like they were destined to be. The Elephant Nature Park gives these previously exploited creatures a fresh start and a great home. The 400 acre nature park is home to over 80 elephants, 600 rescued dogs, 500 cats, 300 water buffalo, and one very playful goat! The park is staffed by volunteers (many who come from western countries to work for 3-6 months), paid guides, and ‘mahouts’ (the elephant’s personal trainer).

We learned the tragic stories of some of the elephant’s former lives, (even met some who had parts of their feet blown off by landmines in Myanmar) and were able to interact with them. We were able to feed them, feel their tree-bark like skin, and even observe them playing in the river. The day was over too soon; there were around 20 dogs and 10 cats we wanted to adopt, but Mom and Dad were not as keen on the idea. The experience was so much fun and very educational.

Sarah Age 11- My favourite experience in Thailand was our trip to the Elephant Nature Park. Our trip began with us feeding the elephants bananas. You would hold a couple bananas in your hand and the elephant would wrap their trunk around the bananas then throw them into their mouths.

We got to pet the elephants, and their skin felt rough like sandpaper. I loved being up close to them and looking into their big eyes. We got to watch the elephants in their family units play in the water. They really came alive and would dive under and spray themselves playfully. After their bath time they would play in the mud and throw dirt on their backs with their trunks! This wasn’t to ruin a perfectly good bath, rather the dirt and mud acts like sunscreen for their skin- they can get sunburns too!

I like how educational the sanctuary was. We learned how so many elephants in Thailand are used in logging, street begging, and in the tourist trade giving rides. All of these actions are generally abusive to the animals. The sanctuary rescues, and buys elephants from these places where they are being mistreated and gives them a home where they are well cared for and have lots of room to roam free.

Lily Age 8- One of my favourite things we did in Thailand was visiting the famous Chatuchak Market. The market is huge and packed with people. There were 8,000 different stalls selling all kinds of stuff like jewelry, clothes, food, even baby squirrels! My mom’s watch told us we walked 14 kms, and we saw less than 20% of the market. I bought some stuff for my friends, and a few things for myself: a shirt, a scarf, and a pencil case with the money I saved for the trip.

I got to have a smoothie with the water melon being the cup! There were lots of gross food like snakes, scorpions, octopus and even fried pig’s heads! Yuck!

Thailand Impressions

After 14 hours on the plane we arrived in Bangkok, blurry eyed, jet lagged, hungry, yet excited to begin our journey. Now we had four full days in Bangkok to acclimatize to the time change and see some of the sights.

Bangkok is certainly busy and crowded, yet oddly orderly and efficient. The buildings are a weird mashup of dilapidated shacks mixed with uber- modern buildings like something out of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. The city smells a flowing mix of exhaust fumes, sewer gas, fish sauce (the worst of all smells, in my opinion) and some delicious aroma wafting out from the near ubiquitous street vendors cooking all manner of foods. Every winding street has houses fronting small restaurants selling cheap but honest food. In fact we had some of our best meals at the most unassuming little hole in the wall. Good food is everywhere in Bangkok.

We checked out some impressive temples with beautiful pagodas, but I (Shawn) found myself feeling increasingly “meh” with each consecutive one. There are only so many golden Buddhas you can see before it feels like you are stuck in some loop on endless repeat. We actually found some of the smaller and more unassuming temples in Northern Thailand to be more poignant with their impressive craftsmanship not covered in gold and glitz.

We caught a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. I use the word “sleep” very loosely. The A/C in the train was so powerful and so cold that we all put on every layer we had (ie. two layers of socks and shoes), raided the blanket closet for any extras we could find, and still we shivered through the night. Odd that one of the coldest night sleeps I’ve ever had occurred as we rumbling through the steaming jungle.

Chiang Mai, appealed to us more than Bangkok. It is so small in comparison and moves at a much slower pace. It is clearly a thriving tourist hub as European looking bohemian backpackers seem to dominate the old city. And there are temples everywhere. Seriously. My kids started saying “not another temple!”

Waiting for the bus to take us into Laos

Further north is Chiang Rai, more a giant truck stop than a city – definitely on the seedy side. “Massage” pallors are everywhere, with ladies soliciting quietly. The seedy underbelly of sex tourism is on full display in Northern Thailand. It is a tragic reality that men, women and even children are exploited for the gratification of tourists. It is a dark spot on this beautiful country.

In the next post, I’ll let my kids share some of their favourite experiences they have had so far in Thailand. Thanks for reading along!
sb

Setting Off!

Three kids, four months, through four countries, sounds like a daunting adventure, but it is one we have dreamed of for years now. Several years back we began putting money away each month, and started dreaming together as to where we might go. Traveling has always been a passion for us, ever since we visited Africa together while Shawn was on sabbatical six years ago. There is something about stepping off a plane and having all your senses bombarded with the new and the different; you feel instantly alive. Whether is was wandering through a maze of stalls in a spice market, or trying a new dish at a back-ally restaurant, we loved being immersed in a new culture. So we were eager to try it again.

After lots of conversations (all of us), and research (Kimberley), we settled on South East Asia for a few reasons: it is relatively affordable to travel here, the weather is warm during our trip time (Jan – April), and the scenery is jaw droppingly beautiful. So we decided to trek our way through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We talked to previous travellers, read travel blogs, and Kimberley highlighted up the Lonely Planet book to help us set out an itinerary which would take us off the beaten path. We wanted to avoid as many of the tourists traps as possible and experience life in some more remote locations.

Carrying only what we can pack on our backs we are looking forward to trekking, exploring, tasting, and hopefully blogging our way through South East Asia.

Cheers,
The Bardens