Saturday, April 25, 2009

Traveling on "the edge!" ..... of the knife?

What fascinating, unique adventures await me in Bali and Thailand this summer.....




Little did I know when I agreed to go on a secret weekend escapade with a group of Thai monks a couple years ago, that I'd literally go under the knife, in a sacred invisible scarring ceremony..... done to protect me "from the dangerous!"

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Pack wax or not pack wax?

Will the mustache wax work in Bali?



The school year is rapidly coming to a close and I'm getting ready for another action packed summer vacation filled with exciting new adventures in Asia! For a month I'll roam the "island of the gods"......






snorkeling in the cool blue green pristine waters of the Pacific....



sniffing the sulfur of the red hot molten lava erupting from the volcanos,




listening to the faint sound of bells, coming from a distant Hindu temple,




gorging on exotic, brightly colored delicious tropical fruit .......






I'm also looking forward to linking up with a very large orphanage in eastern Bali where I will teach conversational English to the children staying there.....





And then....

I'll leave Bali and fly off to northern Thailand where I'll live in a tree house and take care of baby elephants! I'm going to be staying in an elephant sanctuary. My first couple of days will be spent in "elephant safety" classes .... after which I'll get to feed the little elephants, go to the river and give them baths ..... and .... well I have a feeling there will be a good amount of elephant poop scooping!



My mornings will be spent on elephant care duty and my afternoons will be spent teaching English to the workers and their children who live at the elephant sanctuary where I'll be staying. The sanctuary is a family owned organization, started 20 years ago in a beautiful mountain valley. The park currently has about 70 elephants.



Baby elephants are so cute! Maybe I can adopt one and bring it back to Redlands!