Volunteering at Elephant Nature Park :)

We were so excited about finally going to start our week of volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park! In the morning we got picked up to go to the office, where we payed for our stay and got a T-shirt and a water bottle, before we headed for the park.

When we arrived the park it was already time for lunch. We were happy with the buffet style food, but unfortunately quite a few of the dishes were a bit spicy for Tachi. After lunch all the volunteers gathered to have a talk about safety and how to treat the elephants. Most of the elephants in the park are old and disabled females that have been abused and injured by their last owner. When they get older and do not serve good for the owner any more, and they want to sell them, the Elephant Nature Park buys them. Due to their past they may have a very unpredictable behavior. It is important not to stay in their blind spots as they may feel threatened and try to defend themselves. After hearing about some of their stories, and what to do and not, we got some time to check in to our rooms and relax before our welcome ceremony.

The welcome ceremony was a traditional Buddhist ceremony for good luck. They would sprinkle water over us and give us white bracelets.

After dinner we felt tired and wanted to get to sleep early to be ready for our first day of work. We had gotten our own room that obviously was meant for the couples. It was very hot, but we managed to get some sleep.

Waking up to the elephants blowing their trunks was an amazing experience, and made us ready to work to help them. We were divided into different groups that would circulate on the jobs for the week. Our group was scheduled to cut corn the first day, so we loaded up the truck and drove off for the corn fields.

Ready to go cut some corn

It was actually the remaining corn stalks we cut to feed the elephants. We managed to collect corn stalks from 3 fields to fill the truck. Our lunch was served out in the fields, so when we got back to the park we had the rest of the day off.

Cutting corn for the elephants

At 3pm every afternoon we could join the elephants down to the river and give them a shower. This is a daily activity that the elephants need to cool down. Actually the elephants have so thick skin they cannot sweat. Their ears have numerous blood vessels, so to cool off they flap their ears so that the warm blood can help release excess body heat. It was interesting learning all these facts about the elephants, and we also enjoyed cooling down a bit at the river. 

Cooling off  with the elephants

Every night we would have free time to get to know the other volunteers, play games, get massage from the local ladies, or just relax and observe the everyday life of the elephants. The second night, after dinner, we all gathered for a crash course in Thai culture and language by the Volunteer Coordinators. They were so funny, and really did their best for us to enjoy our days in the park. The next day our morning job was cleaning the park, meaning to fill up the truck with elephant poo and rotten leftover food and move it to a compost dump. While we were dumping off the last compost the truck was surrounded by a herd of elephants with their curious little baby. We had been told to keep our distance from the elephants, but some of the volunteers wanted their pictures with the baby. One of the volunteers got to close and the baby waved his trunk and pushed her over. The rest of the herd rushed over to protect the baby, and we had to back off, as the herd would not hesitate with anything to protect their youngest. After some time the herd moved on and we could finish off our job. We got some time to shower and clean up before lunch.

They have several other animals in the park, dogs, cats, water buffaloes and cows. After lunch we had to load the truck with very heavy bags of cow poo. It had been a long day of poo, so that night we just relaxed and played cards with other volunteers.

The next morning started once again with cleaning poo from the elephant shelters. By the size and texture of the poo you could you could tell about their diet and their age. We were happy that after lunch we didn't have to do work involving poo. Our VCs got us in the back of two trucks and we headed off to gather banana trees to feed the elephants. On the way it seemed like our front truck shifted gears wrong so it stopped and started rolling back into the second truck. Luckily there were no injuries in the crash, and we continued to the banana plantation. As the cars were filled up with the banana trees, we had to walk back to the park. It was a nice walk through the local village.

A really nice thing about staying at the ENP for on week was that David had the chance to play soccer almost every afternoon. He was really missing that :) Every afternoon the VCs and the mahouts meet up to play, but this week they got lots of new teammates from the volunteers. The mahouts are the ones who follow the elephants every day, and takes care of them. Most of them come from Myanmar to work with the elephants.

Playing soccer with the VCs and the mahouts

One of our favorite jobs this week was washing and preparing the food for the elephants. We had to wash loads of watermelon and cucumbers, but at the same time it was a quite refreshing job. Our VC set up a speaker so we got to listen to music as well.

The elephants have different diets depending on their age and condition. Some of them have difficulties chewing their food, so we had to cut away the watermelon peel. We also made some snack balls from tamarind, sticky rice and salt, they love them and it helps their digestion. 

Washing watermelons to feed the elephants

After preparing the food all of the volunteers were gathered to go to visit the local school. This school receives students from a few different villages, some nearby, but some from very far away. Every week the kids prepare local cookies, drinks, post cards, bracelets and other things that volunteers can buy to support the local school and the kids education. We got to visit their classrooms where they were practicing traditional dance and music, making handicrafts, and we could also play with them in the playground.

A little sweet girl came over and wanted Tachi to join her

The girls wanted to play

When we got back from the school visit our afternoon plan was a walk in the park, hearing about the elephants' stories. We got to hear some heartbreaking stories about how some of them were abused in the illegal logging industry, beaten in the most horrible ways to move the enormous trees. Some of the elephants have stepped on landmines and are still under treatment. Many of the elephants were stabbed in one or both eyes so they would not be a threat. It is believed that female elephants attack by swinging their trunk to their left, and the males to their right, hence the females would be blinded on their left eye and males on their right. In the park there are few males and they are separated from the females as they tend to be more aggressive. There were so many sad stories to hear, but walking in the park and seeing how happy they are now we could see how their lives have changed to the better. It was indescribable walking among them, in their own habitat. So many beautiful moments where we could see how they love and care for each other.

Jungle-boy flirting

Two elephants showing love for each other

The more elephants there are in the park, the more food trucks come in and need to be unloaded. As the park has now more than 40 elephants the food trucks arrive 3 times or more a week, as in comparison to earlier when it only arrived once a week. Saturday morning two food trucks arrived with watermelons and pumpkins, so we were two groups who had to change our jobs to unload them. It was a lot of fruits, but after the job we were lucky and got to bring some watermelons out to feed the elephants in the park.

Unloading watermelons

After lunch the only scheduled program was to take group pictures. When these were taken we chose to join the volunteers on their second week with their job. If you decide to do a second week as a volunteer you work more close to the elephants. We got to help make some challenges for the elephants, where we hid some fruits inside a tire that we hung up in their shelter.

Challenging the elephants to find a way to get their fruits

Unfortunately we didn't get to see how the elephant solved their challenges, but finally we would get to meet Lek, the founder of the park. She had been very busy this week preparing to receive 5 new elephants in the following weeks. Lek has an incredible passion to help the elephants, and that showed very much in her presentation. She has been doing a lot of research in how the elephants get abused, and showed us some of the facts and footage she has collected through years of traveling around and visiting the owners. It was a very emotional presentation where we saw things we never could have believed was happening.
Every domesticated elephant has had a long and horrible period of torture to break their spirits, with the goal that they would obey their owner. We saw that in any business using elephants they have to go through this cruel abuse. Even as ignorant tourists we are also a big part of supporting this torture as any elephant in a circus, in the streets as amusement for tourists and in trekking camps for tourists to ride on their backs, have all been through this kind of torture. It was unbelievable to learn how little we know about the treatment of animals used in human business and to amuse humans.

With Lek and her husband Darrick

We would like to thank ENP for a week we will never forget, and giving us the chance to learn so much about the elephants.
With this being said, we hope that anyone who reads this will give a second thought to anything they see or do that involves animals. You might not know just what lies behind!

To find out more you can visit elephantnaturepark.org and saveelephant.org.

Ayutthaya & Sukhothai - Ancient Ruins in Thailand

When we got back from Myanmar, we spent 2 nights in Bangkok, washing clothes, updating our blog, and we even went to the movies. We had about ten days free before starting our week of volunteering in Chiang Mai, so we decided to visit two old capitals of the Siam Kingdom. A two hours train ride took us to Ayutthaya, where we found a nice and cozy guesthouse to spend one night. Because of the extreme heat, we decided to rent a scooter to visit some of the ruins of the old city.

Ayutthaya was the second capital of the Siam Kingdom, after Sukkhotai. In 1767 it was destroyed by the Burmese army, and the ruins are now preserved in the Ayutthaya Historical Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the maintained Buddhas in Ayutthaya

The reclining Buddha used in a scene of the old game Street Fighters

The famous head of Buddha in a tree

When the sun set we didn't feel to comfortable about riding around in the dark, so we made our last stop to the local street market where we had some yummy chicken wings and refreshing fruit shakes. 

The next day we took a bus to Sukhothai, the capital of the first Kingdom of Siam about 800 years ago. One of its rulers, King Ramkhamhaeng the Great, created the Thai alphabet. The city is divided into Old Sukhothai and New Sukhothai. We stayed in New Sukhothai because there was supposed to be a street market there, but comparing to others cities the market didn't have so many culinary options. We had dinner there the first night and for the next 3 days Tachi didn't feel well, so we didn't do much those days. When she felt better, we took a local bus to visit the Sukhothai Historical Park, also an UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Old Sukhothai. We biked around the park, which was really beautiful and well mantained, surrounded by lotus flowers ponds. It was a cloudy day, and perfect to bike around. 

Lotus flowers in Sukhothai Historical Park

A great day for biking around, visiting the ruins

Buddhas placed at the roots of a tree

 The next day we took a bus to Chiang Mai, it was a 6 hours drive. We decided to stay at the same place we stayed the last time where we had good internet :) We also spent the weekend there so we could visit the regular night market and the Sunday night market, where we always had good food, including Tachi's so wanted fresh popcorn. 

Tachi enjoying her fresh popcorn

Trekking and Mandalay

After a tough bus ride up the mountain, with several of the passengers getting road sick, we finally arrived Kalaw. Kalaw is a very small town where we only stayed for one night. The next morning we started a 3 day trekking with Corinna, Lara, an American guy we met on the bus, David, and another German couple at our hotel, Justus and Lina. We started walking out of the city towards the jungle, with Johnnie Walker as our guide.

Team Johnnie Walker

We walked in some beautiful mountain landscapes, past by green tea plantations and saw the local people working in the fields. At the end of the first day's trekking we got to a monastery in a tiny village where we would be spending the night. While Johnnie was preparing dinner for us we got to spend some time with the very shy local kids. David also got to play some "bamboo ball foot-volley" with the teenagers. 

One of the local monk kids

Tachi showing off some photos to the curious kids

David in action playing foot-volley with a ball made out of bamboo

We experienced a new type of shower at the monastery. It was like a concrete reserve of water where we used a bucket to pour water over ourselves. The water was freezing cold! Girls had to use specified toilets and showers, while men could choose between all. Johnnie Walker cooked us some good food and we had dinner with candlelight and the company of a giant spider on the wall. We played cards until the praying time was finished so we could go into the main hall of the monastery where we would be sleeping. 

Spider joining us for dinner

Nice table of good Burmese food

The next day we had a 24 km route passing cabbage fields, rice paddies, young peanut plants and some fields with yellow flowers that we think were canola. In the evening we arrived to a little village where we would be sleeping in a bamboo hut. While dinner was getting prepared the guys went out for a walk around the village for some great views and playing with some kids.
We got a great meal, and afterwards we shared a bottle of Myanmar Rum (less than 2 dollars!) while playing cards. During the walk the guys had found a place that would be nice for sunrise, but unfortunately it was too cloudy so we decided to keep sleeping.

Young boy working alone in the fields

The third day would be the day we arrived to Inle Lake, our final destination. We made an early stop passing by an old, wooden monastery. When we saw the lake from the mountains we had to pay 11 dollars to enter the Inle Lake area, and the last few hours of the trekking our guide was really in a hurry to get down the mountain. The track was tricky and not so easy to walk. We had lunch in a village close to the lake before we took a boat with no seats or roof to cross the lake to Nyaung Shwe. In the middle of the trip our boat broke down and we had to wait until someone came to fix it. The heat was extreme, but they gave us some umbrellas to make some shade.

Waiting for help in the middle of the lake

We even started to paddle with our flip-flops

The locals of the Inle Lake are famous for their way of paddling with their legs

When we finally arrived Nyaung Shwe it started to rain. Johnnie Walker brought us to a very cute guesthouse where our big backpacks were waiting for us. We decided to stay there for some days to relax and wash some clothes.

Our 3 day trek to Inle Lake

Nyaung Shwe is a small town where the electricity is off every day for some time, but at least we had a power generator at our guesthouse, so we could use the fan in our room. We didn't do too much there, just reading, writing postcards, playing cards and going out to eat. 

The view from our guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe

Sunset behind a beer poster

One evening we had dinner David ordered a mango lassi, and a few hours later he started to feel sick. That night he couldn't sleep due to his visits to the toilet. The next day he had fever and started shaking, so the nice guesthouse owner brought us to a doctor. He prescribed antibiotics and said we had to cancel our bus to Mandalay that evening.

The next day David was feeling a bit better and started to eat again, but the only thing the guesthouse could offer us was the Shan noodle soup that wasn't good for David's stomach quite yet, so they said Tachi could use the kitchen if she wanted. She boiled some vegetables and they had new steamed rice for David's lunch. Tachi was tired of having Shan noodle soup and decided to go out for lunch. In the evening David was feeling stronger and we could take the bus to Mandalay. We arrived there at 3:40am and, as always, there were many taxi drivers waiting for the people to get off. We decided to walk but it took us a while to find the hotel as Tachi had the wrong address :(

After 1 hour of walking and sweating like hell, we checked in and got some sleep. We woke up for lunch and walked to a restaurant just one block from our place. In the afternoon we went for a walk to find the night market with Corinna, Lara and David 2. The market was nothing more than some stands with fake western clothes. We were looking for somewhere clean to eat and found a restaurant that seemed nice. It was on the second floor and there was a creepy elevator to get up. When we found the restaurant we were welcomed by 4 or 5 waiters, but the place was too fancy and expensive for what we were looking for. They even offered us a private dinner room. We apologized and left the place.

View from the fancy restaurant

We decided to go to the same place where we had lunch before. The place was crowded with people drinking beer and watching television. It seems like in Myanmar is not normal having a TV at home, so it's very common that at some times the restaurants with TV get crowded. 

The next morning Guillermo, an Argentinian we had met in Koh Tao, joined us for breakfast and we headed to the AirAsia shuttle bus to go to the airport. The airport was pretty basic, with no air-con, and the check-in was practically manual. 

Myanmar was a very interesting place, people are so nice and welcoming, especially in little villages. Here are some interesting facts we saw and learned during our stay:

* It's very difficult to find a good wi-fi connection. In some places you could only access the wi-fi between 7 to 10am. In our guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe they shared their mobile data for the guests, and only for 1h.
* The men wear longyi, a wraparound skirt.

* Men and women use a yellow paste called Thanaka. It is made by grinding the bark, wood or roots of a thanaka tree with a small amount of water. Apart from cosmetic beauty, it also gives a cooling sensation and protects the skin from sunburn.

* When you want the waiter's attention, you have to make a kissing sound, almost like calling a cat. :P
* You might see many people with red teeth. Everywhere you find street stalls selling betel nut and green leaves. The betel nut, spices and a pinch of tobacco are folded into the leaves and popped into the mouth and chewed. 
*  People who chew the betel nut spit out all the time. So it's common to find red stains on the ground.

KYEIZU TIN BA DE, MYANMAR!