Swinging in the hammock

The last 10 days I was very lazy - even too lazy to do some blogs. Anyway I arrived here in Ko Chang and it is really a good place to be. I am completely relaxed - passed my days on the beach in a hammock and the nights with very nice people having barbecues or full moon parties. I guess I read about 5 books :-). Indeed life on an island is just very different. Again some interesting situations I had. When I came here with Karla I met two Maltese. I lived in Malta and hearing their maltese English sounded nearly as being home. Well I hang out every day with them and I am sure I will see them again in Malta.

Then there is Simon a british navigation officer of big ships - that speaks fluently Thai and Lao and lives in Thailand when he is not on the ship. A very educated and interesting character. The way he speaks english and his sense of humour reminds me often of George. And the best is: he is from Lancing the biggest village in South England and I have been there to learn english (my first stay in England!). He couldnt believed it how I could have ended up in his village to learn english there :-).

High season over as well so it is really very easy going. But well after so many relaxing days - I had to get active again and now I am in the middle of doing my diving license and will continue to the advanced course as well so that I can dive 30m deep. Well I just love it - I should have known that - water is my element. It is a complete different world down there. So here is the plan: I am going to finish my two courses here in Ko Chang and then will travel south to all these islands with nice diving places. Ah yes and on Wednesday I am doing night diving :-). Who knows possibly I end up as an diving instructor.

Kanchanaburi

Cat and me went to Kanchanaburi - it is a provincial town in central thailand. The city is "famous" because of the film "the bridge over the river Kwai". Here the japanese build with Prisoners of war and forced labour the famous railways that connected Burma with Thailand in order to exploit the oil fields in Burma. Thousands of people died during the construction of this railway. So we went to the cemetries and museums. Apart from that rather sad part of history this region has the biggest natural parks in Thailand. I will have to come back because it takes far more days to discover this place - the nature here is very impressive. Will come back after Ko Chang - as I have to go back to Bangkok tomorrow and Cat is leaving for Australia to earn some money there.

Today we also have been to a small monastery that is known for the Tigers they have tamed. Was quite interesting but in the end a bit too touristic. Already planning my first steps into teaching English in small poor villages. That will be a great experience - after I have collected some experience in teaching - I will get a job in a school with richer Thai children just to earn some money and will continue to teach poor kids in my free time. In every hostel I am you can find brochures about schools seeking people that teach English. It is all so easy going... and I am happy that I can give something back to this nation!

Mounara

great people

As usual while staying with the elephants I met really great people. One of them Cat is now my travelpartner at least until Friday (then she is going to Australia to make some money). She is from the UK. A really cool woman. The most impressing ones of course were Michelle and Ewa - the two run the Elephant conservatory. Great examples for people that are free in their mind and just followed their dreams.

Also Ken from Hong Kong was really great to meet - he is a gay - but one of the nicest I have ever met. Currently in love with a guy in Chile that is still in a relationship - so he is a bit insecure. But I told him that I am sure that in a few months he will be living in Chile with him and learning Spanish :-). Ken will help me once I go to China with an university as I want to learn Chinese. I really enjoyed conversation with Ken a lot - talking about love, relationships, soulmates, dreams....

Beck the australian girl - spent already 20 days with the elephants - she is going to London pretty soon to work there for a while. It is amazing people coming and going - being adventurous and not afraid.

I am not a tourist anymore - I am seeing myself already spending some years in Asia - going where I fancy it. Living Freedom...

Mounara

babiiis

In my free time i used to play with these little bastards. The smallest is 2 months old. But they are already pretty strong. They constantly put my hand in their mouth to suck it :-). When they are bigger they go to school - as with humans there are very good elephant schools and bad ones. It was just so beautiful to watch them discovering the world with their little trunks.

Mounara

bulls

I cant disguise my huge interest in the elephant bulls :-). As I already said it is not possible to ride on them as they are more upredictable. Mahouts that have bulls even get a better salary as it is more difficult to deal with them. But they are really strong and watching them doing the work was very nice. Elephant bulls dont spent the time with the other female elephants or babiies even when they are free. They just come to mate with the females and then leave again. Furthermore they hate the smell of alcohol - it happened already several times that they killed their drunk mahout!

Mounara

Dong-Ma

As I wrote I spent 3 days in an elephant village. It was really a great experience - I had to take care about Dong-Ma (meaning Flower). She is an 78 year old lady - already retired but still very interested in bulls :-). It was just unique - you join them and you get your own elephant to take care about. Well, this is really hard work! You get up in the morning around 8pm and first you clean the shit and then bring your elephant from the sleeping place to the place for the day. Then of course Dong-Ma needed breakfast which is grass that cuts your arms. Elephants eat about 200kg a day.

After feeding my elephant I went for a ride to the river for a morning bath. It is so great to ride an elephant - I learnt about 10 commands and they actually do listen. Especially swimming in the river with them is a unique experience because they dive but as the river is not so deep you are half in the water - so they dive and come up again. Then after the first bath back to the camp putting Dong-Ma where she belongs for the day and again of course feeding her :-).

After that you get some rest - every second day I was scrubbing Dong-Ma so that her skin stays in good condition and in the afternoon we went for a long ride in the nature and then you just relax on your elephant while it is wandering around and eating all kind of grass. I was able already during the first day to manage here alone without needing a mahout with me. But believe me it is really hard work they are eating so much (I was constantly busy checking food for her!) but you get it back because these animals are so loving - first time when I was riding on Dong-Ma she was holding my legs with her ears so that I dont fall off her. Really caring.

So it is a lot of responsibility to take care about your own elephant :-). This programe is really unique and not so many people know about it - the best is that it is run by two australian women! They are breeding little elephants (one of the most successful ones in the world), rehabilitating killer bulls and taking also care about the old elephants that deserve to have a rest after a very hard life. We only were riding on female elephants because as everybody knows males are more unpredictable especially when the testosterone level is high.

These two amazing women - lesbians by the way - run an elephant village with over 100 elephants and more than 100 employees mostly mahouts. They do such a great job and they are really great human beings. I was really amazed! Michelle always wanted to work with elephants in the zoo in Melbourne but she never got it - she worked there with other animals - and whenever she applied for the elephants she got neglected. Well she said it was politics: "Who wants to have a fat, over 40 year old lesbian woman dealing with elephants?" So she said to her partner - we have to find other options and she came to Thailand and took over this big elephant conservatory. They have done a great job and they are such experts on elephants - the whole thing is a non-profit organisation.

If you plan to come to Thailand once you have to visit this place - you can find more information on the following website: elephantstay.com. I really spend such a happy time there, totally immersed in my elephant Dong-Ma and just caring about her. Well one would not believe it but you really develop a relationship to these animals and you start understanding them perfectly. I certainly will go there again - it was just wonderful!

In Thailand Elephants have a long history and have been always very important to the people. In fact they helped a lot to build the country as it is now and they are used to live with the people. But they have lost their jobs with civilisation - leaving them and their mahouts being forced to beg on the streets for food. It is sad - nowadays elephants dont have much options anymore they dont have space enough to live in Thailand in the forests as they need a lot of space that is not existing anymore - and also as life partners and big helpers of humans they have lost their purpose and have been replaced by machines. But these elephants - like humans need also their "jobs". The new career they have now is in tourism. It is not so bad as it is not such a hard work than it was years ago.

Mounara

buddhas & elephants

After we checked into our hostel we immediately rented some bikes to discover the city. So we were cycling hours through the crazy traffic to the ancient temples. On the way joanna had a breakdown (too much sun) - but thai people helped and brought her and her bike back to the hostel. So Catherine and me continued our journey alone. Back at the hotel we discovered that joanna already fine and went out for the night market.

Anyway we had a great time at the ancient temples above is one of my favorite pics - the buddha in the trees. Tomorrow as I already said I go to the elephant camp and will get my own elephant to take care of. Today we already met some of these amazing animals :-).

Mounara

Ayutthaya

Left Bangkok behind. It was already time for that! Had too much laokao the last days and suffered a bit but now back on the road. Ayutthaya was the ancient capital of Thailand. Had a very nice 1,5 hour trip by train and for the first time saw it raining on the rice fields.

I think I attract polish people :-) at the train station I met Joanna she is travelling alone as well and soon will go to Birma. She is already over 50! Today will cycle by bike through the ancient temples - in the evening some night markets and tomorrow I will stay for a few days with the elephants. There is a very nice elephant center run by Australians - there I can stay for free and will get my own elephant to take care about. I am looking very much forward to this.

Something else: when you have time the best is to go with the flow - doing any plans is withoug sense. That is what I have learnt. I got to know about the elephant center by Catherine a british girl that is going there for a second time because she liked it so much.

Well I could imagine to go with Joanna to Birma as well but I cant as I already have plans for Ko Chang from 11th April onwards.

Mounara