Treasured Thailand

(Navyn) Sawasdeeka (hello), from the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam. Thailand is a monarchy headed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX and governed by a military junta  that took power after a coup in May 2014. The capitol of Thailand is Bangkok or its Thai name, which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest name in the world, (Krungthepmahanakhon Amornrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit which translates into English as: The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated God, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.)

And we thought we were smart if we could spell Mississippi.

As soon as we landed, I could feel and smell that we were on a new continent. For everyone but Paul, it is our first time in Asia. It’s always a little more mysterious when you arrive somewhere in the night and have to wait with anticipation for sunrise to survey your surroundings. We are lucky enough to stay at one of the most extraordinary hotels in Chiang Mai. It’s design draws from the architectural and cultural influences of the ancient Lanna Kingdom, which translates to “land of a million rice fields”. The girls had bicycles for exploring through the winding brick paths, hoping to find a new hidden treasure on every outing. Serpent-lined walls lead them past temples and gardens, brightly colored lanterns hung from the trees over a meandering stream, and rice fields lay terraced in the middle of our kingdom as a testament to the rich agriculture of the region.

In order to genuinely learn the Thai culture, one must role up the sleeves and get a little dirty. Today we had the chance to be rice farmers. We put on traditional clothing including a straw hat to keep us cool while we worked and long socks that protected our feet and legs as we sunk into the deep muddy waters of the rice field. As we planted, we learned the great effort that goes into producing a single cup of rice. To learn more, please check out Zara’s blog account.

For school today, while the northeast was digging their way out of 4 feet of snow, we decided to attend a cooking class with our teacher for the day, the energetic and entrepreneurial, Nid, at her family home in Lamphun. Our first stop was the local market, where we bought fish, fruits, vegetables, seasonings and curry pastes needed for the northern Thai cuisine dishes we were to prepare. Once at her house, we strolled through her mother’s garden picking the herbs needed to make catfish salad, a noodle chicken vegetable stir-fry, and a coconut banana desert. The girls sat on a sprawling straw mat on the floor of her open-air kitchen all armed with sharp knives and foods they weren’t quite certain what to do with or how they would taste. After slaving over cutting boards and charcoal clay pot fires, lunch was ready and we sat down with the entire family and had a delicious meal. For icing on the cake we visited a temple nearby, one of about 1,200 in Chiang Mai alone.

Now that we had successfully completed home economics, we move on to art, gym and well-deserved recess components of the home-schooling curriculum. We pulled into The Elephant Life Experience and were immediately greeted by three elephants, Natalie, Boon Me and the baby, Sugar Cane. We quickly learned how the baby was named when we were all handed a basket of sugar cane to feed to our new friends. The mahout, who care for the elephants, taught us how to tell an Asian elephant from and African one, how to take care of an elephant, (should one end up in my suitcase), how to ride properly on one, and finally how to teach an elephant to paint. What? Paint?

How do you bathe an elephant? (This is not an Uncle John joke)

~ Hop on his neck, steer him down the riverbank into the water.

~ Stand on his back and shout commands while elephant does a roll.

~ Tricky part here is to stay on the part of the elephant that is still out of the water to remain dry.

~ Walk back to riverbank and use scrub brushes to polish elephant.

~ Get sprayed many times when elephant sees your water basket, dips trunk in and douses you.

~ Elephant goes back to resting area where he promptly covers himself in dirt.

~ Rinse and repeat.

How do you get an elephant to paint? (Also not an Uncle John joke but I am sure he can come up with a wisecrack response.)

~ First decide if you prefer more of an abstract painting or if you fancy something more avant-garde.

~ Choose your colors and squirt onto palette. Collect brushes.

~ Choose elephant based on artistic style desired.

~ Insert brush into elephant’s trunk and use your finger to trace your idea on the paper. If you are telepathic this could also be useful here.

~ Then, if you are satisfied with outcome of masterpiece, feed elephant many sugar cane sticks to reward his/her efforts.

To follow art class, we took a few elephant rides up hills, down hills, across rivers, all hanging on for dear life, on the bumpy, lumpy back of an elephant. We had a picnic lunch followed by a bamboo raft ride down the gentle Mae Taeng River to see the rest of the area.

For recess, today we let the girls loose on the local zip lining course. Twenty varying zips led us over waterfalls and the Mae Ram River roared below us. The longest zip ran nearly 1200 feet long. All of us, now experts in high altitude aerial maneuvers, immediately took off on the highest zip, tucked our knees in tight and flipped upside down to get a good view of the river below while careening across the high wire at top speed. Lots of laughs and a great finish to our journey through magical Thailand.