Living in a "Tree House!"

...



Living life in the "sky" at the elephant camp! Two houses built high in the tree ... mine is the highest ... or course! (directly above my head)



The second out of three flights of stairs that took me to the top of my world!



Yup ... that's my house.... way up in the tree! River below .... sky above...



The staircase to heaven....




Not that big inside my tree house ... only enough room for a bed, with a very firm mattress (hard in other words!) and some shelves. Full bathroom, even with a hot and cold water shower.



All night long, the river has a lively, but muted, conversation with this rock. Their never ending chatting puts me to sleep every night!



Welcome to my house in the sky!

It wasn't easy getting up there on top of this huge bull elephant!



My very first ride on an elephant at the camp .... was on a giant bull elephant named Tong Soup .... I had to climb up onto his back, from his hind leg!



How to hold onto a huge elephant? Grab it by the ears!



Bath time .... fun for me and the elephant!



Stopping for a drink of water while at the river.

"Boon!" "Boon!" shouts the Mahout!

When in the river, the command "Boon" signals the elephant to draw in water and spray it out his nose at anyone nearby!

Jab the painter!

Jab ... my elephant is an artist ... and dedicated too, since he paints everyday.




Jab's got some real potential! A masterpiece in the making ....!

Hanging out with the elephants

Throughout my day at the Maetaman Elephant Camp.....



I would "hang out" with the elephants whenever I had free time...



Truly amazing to be with these massive, gentile creatures!

Elephant Country!

My summer 2009 travel adventure continues .... in Thailand...



This week it will be ... wake up at 5:30 a.m. and roll out of bed to first take my elephant down to the river for a bath, once clean... feed my elephant its breakfast ...before I get my cup of coffee!, then clean up after my elephant (I hear, I'll be doing a lot of that!) Later in the morning, help with the elephant show ...


Then off to class to teach the hill tribe children in the afternoon!



Back to my elephant for a bath by late afternoon .... and more clean up!

Greetings from Thailand!

The land of smiles!

I bought a towel from this infant's mother .... then was lucky enough to snap the child's smile!

Make a wish ....

Then rub the tummy of this jade Buddha .... and your wish will come true!

Land of Gold Temples and Nagas

Naga....land!



The huge golden pagoda ... just around the corner from my hotel ... typical of the temples in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.

New lodging in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The Pagoda Inn .... lost in the lush tropical vegetation of Northern Thailand!


Entrance to Pagoda Hotel...



Basic room .... very firm (hard) mattress ....



Hot and cold running water in the bathroom...



A duck faucet ... what could be cooler than that!