three months in - thoughts from the dad

Our trip has stopped feeling like an extended holiday. So how are we doing?

a day with the elephants

Being with elephants was something our whole family wanted to do on our trip this year, but we had some concerns about where to do that and how to reconcile the sadness we feel for caged animals. Thankfully our friends found us the perfect place to visit. The Elephant Nature Park was founded by a Thai woman with a passion and love for elephants named Sangduen Chailert (Lek). She has been named Asian Hero of the year and her work has been recognized by the Smithsonian and beyond. This beautiful property of over 300 acres was donated by a man from Texas who was so impressed by her work at her former rescue, Elephant Heaven. At ENP elephants are not chained up, are free to roam and no violence is used in their keeping. Most of the elephants are female and are leftover from the now illegal logging industry in Thailand. Some were blind, deformed or victims of beatings, broken bones or landmines. We learned so much on our day at the park - some of it sad and most of it absolutely breathtaking.

sweaty old friends

We have ended up in Chiang Mai at the same time as some of our great friends from home and have plans to explore a few places in northern Thailand together. It is so great to be with people who really love you when you are sweating like a beast. We must be drinking at least 10 litres of water/family/day. It is unbelievable the feeling of constantly being wet with sweat. As we talked today we came up with many terms for all of the areas that we were sweating from and maybe I'll just leave the rest to your imagination.

With our sweaty old friends we checked out the first day of the Thailand International Balloon Festival at a local golf course. The large green space meant the kids could run, and move. We participated in some crafts, watched balloons, used faulty trampolines, ate, danced and I even won a free night in a fancy hotel here, and we have babysitters!

Needless to say we are tired, so please enjoy a few photos from today. By the way if we look cool, we aren't, the sweat is always on.