Christmas etc.

Thanks to all of you concerned about us during the recent disaster here in Thailand. In particular thanks to Christine, Meghan and Barbara who sent comments via the blog. David talked to Marion and Stan earlier today, so they are reassured. We are watching the BBC news while we write this posting. It sounds bad - about 25,000 dead in all countries concerned. We feel as separate from it as you probably do in that we aren't affected in any direct way by it and we cannot talk to people about it and the one English language newspaper is always a day late here in Chiang Khong.

So, what have we been up to and where have we been lately?

Well as you know we left Chiang Mai and traveled southeast to Lampang, east to Phrae, northeast to Nan, continuing northeast to the mountains close to the Thai/Laos border, then northwest to just beyond Chiang Khan for the night. Now we are in the north in a small town called Chiang Khong next to the Mekong River.

We traveled with Nancy Peters and a male driver named Pee (sp?). We couldn't talk with him but he seemed nice and we smiled and spoke our own languages to each other and felt that there was some communication going on even if we didn't understand the words. Nancy is fluent in Thai so we were in excellent hands otherwise.

In Lampang we visited the Elephant Conservation Centre. We saw a half dozen or so elephants having a morning bath with their mahouts. These mahouts sit on their backs while the elephants dip and spray water around. One elephant in particular was on its own and really went right under the water and rolled around. It was a hoot to see. From there the elephants and their mahouts demonstrated the kinds of skills elephants had to be useful in harvesting teak trees in the Thai forests. These are Asian elephants as opposed to the larger African elephant. Courtney and I fed bananas to the elephants after the show. We also saw several baby elephants with their moms and a elephant hospital - interesting to see how a sick elephant is so different from a healthy one. One of the hill tribes from this area has a small business making paper products from elephant dung. They are located at this conservation centre.

We went from there to a very old wat (probably 12th century). One of the interesting things there was a camera obscura. This was a small hole in the side of one of the buildings that allowed a view of the stupa (large structure housing a relic of the Buddha) to be reflected onto a piece of cloth located in that same building.

On to Phrae where we spent the night in a Chinese run hotel - very basic. The beds were extremely hard. There was no hot water so we didn't brave a shower. The toilets were the Asian squat toilet. This was David and Courtney's first experience with these. There is no flushing mechanism so you have to get practice in being able to flush the toilet by pouring a container of water down the hole. We're getting better at it. There is no toilet paper provided so so far we are bringing our own and disposing of it. We haven't all mastered cleaning with just a spray of water and/or using the same container that's used for flushing to clean yourself. All very complicated to get used to a new system for these basics of life.

Had a great supper at the night market in Phrae. All of these Thailand towns/cities have night markets where you can buy a variety of ready made food and/or sit at a little outdoor table and have small dishes of any number of types of food. Produce and non food items are also available. Beer and liquor are available everywhere but beer is a luxury for many Thais. It's actually cheaper to drink a local whiskey called Mekong - about $2.15 for 375ml. Beer is $2/quart bottle for the cheapest which is called Chang.

Lots of old teak houses in Phrae. It's hard to find anything anywhere made of wood in Thailand so far that isn't made of teak.

We spent Christmas in a very special place. We climbed very high through windy (sp?) steep roads in the dark to find ourselves in a small village on the side of a mountain. We stayed in small huts completely made of bamboo on stilts and with thatched roofs - very basic but wonderful. This place was run by a Lu family - members of a hilltribe group. The little boys were very cute and Mom and Dad were lovely people. We stayed there for two nights with the beautiful misty mountains in constant view. Took a great walk down the side of one mountain into the valley where there was a river. The moon was big and bright.

Anyway, it's getting late and I think the proprietor wants to go to bed, so we will sign off for now and update you again soon.

Safe in Thailand

We are just getting the news from the Globe and Mail website about the disaster in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. It has been hard for us to know the news exactly because the TV stations are in Thai where we are now in Chiang Khong. This is in the north which is a long way away from Phuket and other areas in the south of Thailand where the tsumani hit. It seems that about 400 people died and there is much damage.

Anyway, we will send another post in the next day or two and tell you how we spent Christmas. We were with Nancy Peters and she is fine as well, although she just left us to return to Chiang Mai to deal with contacting parents of the Trent students who are travelling in Thailand over the holidays.

David, Elaine and Courtney

Chiang Mai

We have been in Chiang Mai for 3 nights now after coming by train from Bangkok. We are staying in a guesthouse called Baan Jongcome on Tae Phae Rd., Soi 2, which means that we are in a little lane called lane #2 off the Tae Phae Rd. It's quite noisy by times so we are all using our earplugs. Noises include motorcycles/tuks tuks, dogs (and more dogs), roosters, chanting, singing, musical instruments including pianos and drums. The number of dogs here is just incredible - they are everywhere and very well cared for- lots of them sporting coats for warmth?

We hung out with Nancy on the weekend but were on our own today. So far we have eaten lots of new things in many different environments including little tables on the size of the street - kind of like our cafes but much crazier and a whole lot cheaper. Everybody eats on the street. Tonight our meal of two types of meat (chicken & pork) and three types of salads/vegetables (green salad of beans/cabbage/cucumber and basil/grated papaya) and a soup (bamboo shoots/lemongrass/pork) for four of us cost 155 Bahts which is a little over $5 CDN. In other places we paid three times this much for food that wasn't as good but they were more "tourist" places - for the farong as we are called here.

Today we went to the Chaing Mai zoo. Saw lots of amazing animals in a very nice environment but the most amazing were the two Giant Pandas. They came to Chaing Mai with great fanfare last year from China. There is a male and a female and they think that the female is pregnant. We saw both of them moving around and "fighting" with each other, scratching, running, etc. Pretty amazing.

Yesterday we went on a boat ride on the River Ping. Nice to see the city from that side of things - a bit like seeing Halifax from the Northwest Arm but not as good. Stopped at a little fruit tree demonstration farm. Very low key - definitely not worth the price we paid but you never know.

Have seen lots of wonderful temples and observed the Thai people following their traditions in the temple including making offerings and speaking to monks.

The weather is warm in the day but cool at night. It's very pleasant - lots of sun and a breeze when you are close to the river or on the hills. Much like a nice July day at home. We haven't seen rain since we arrived in Thailand.

We are planning a 4 day trip out of Chiang Mai over Christmas. Nancy has arranged a car and a driver for us and we will be heading east of Chiang Mai to two provinces called Nan and Phrae. Will try to post again before that but if we don't get a chance to do that, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Bangcover & Vankok

Oops, that should be Vancouver & Bangkok. We're not confused!

Well we've made it halfway 'round the world. The flight over the rockies and the prairies was wonderful particularly for David and Courtney since this was their first time seeing this part of Canada. We also had a good look at the north mountains from Stanley Park as we spent most of the day walking around the park (8km) seeing totems, hollow tree, Prospect Point, etc. Also took the seabus to Granville Island and had supper at the Old Spagetti Factory in Gastown after hearing the hourly blow on the steam clock. It was a quick trip but we made the most of our time in Vancouver.

After flying over the Pacific and as we were leaving Tokyo, we saw the sunset over pink clouds and noted a large pointed mass rising above the clouds. Guessed it might be Fiji Mountain and sure enough the flight attendant confirmed it.

Now in Bangkok at Wendy House near to Siam Square. Arrived late last night negotiating the taxi trip from the airport. Today we walked to the train station to get tickets for our 12hr trip to Chiang Mai tomorrow. We also took a trip on the Chao Phraya River Express which is part of the regular transit system - fascinating way to see Bangkok. The canal is twice as wide as "our" lake in James River. From the river we managed the trip back to the guesthouse using the Skytrain. So, that's three modes of travel so far in Bangkok. Only got lost once and disorientated three times. Solicited by the tuk tuk drivers at least 25 times on our walkabout today. They don't like to see people walking. :-)

Ate supper tonight at Sorn's Restaurant at Jan's suggestion - the proprieter remembers you and Hilda.

We have internet access here at the guesthouse plus English newspapers and lots of books - pretty good ones I must say - we could stay a long time - but tomorrow we are off early in the morning to take the train to Chiang Mai where Nancy has arranged another guesthouse for us. We are looking forward to being in the north with Nancy over the holidays.

It's one year since Dad/Bob/Grandad died. We are remembering him and thank Michael for the message although we haven't figured out how to open it on this machine. Will try again the next time we have internet access.

Bye for now,
Elaine, David & Courtney

One Week to Go

We are getting closer to take off time. Yesterday we took a trip to Halifax to buy knapsacks and second hand books and clothes. David also splurged on a "high-tech" long sleeve shirt - it's skin tight and light but suppose to keep you warm while "wicking away" the moisture. Liam helped us pick out backpacks at MEC. It's strange to think that this little compartment on our back will hold everything we need to get by on a day to day basis for several months.

E.