Chiang Mai IV - ❤ elephants

"Elephant Nature Park, Baan Chang Elephant Park, Elephant Nature Park, Baan Chang Elephant Park, Elephant Nature Park, Baan Chang Elephant Park..."

It kept running through my head, then I decided to drop both an email about my visit before making a decision. I made up my mind on the later as they seemed patient enough and did not rush me to make a booking. From what I read, Baan Chang is a smaller conservation centre and houses about 17 elephants.

Due to my burn, I postponed the trip to the second last day in Chiang Mai. I didn't want to cancel it as deep down I really wanted to do this, so I rang and asked if I could take part in things that wouldn't aggravate my wound. The person communicating with me was nice enough to suggest what I could do. But in fact I didn't skip any of the activities ;)

I was the first one to be picked up, and soon the van filled up and we arrived at the park about an hour later. We got a short briefing by the park owner. I am now confused who is the park owner, as this guy Pom says he is, while the lady on the phone talking to me named Tinar is too. Each of us pay 2400 bahts for it, its about S$100. The money as the owner said goes towards keeping the elephants full and happy and improving the home for them.

I was thrilled when I first saw the elephants. Since we arrived, we could see from afar they were swaying their trunks happily side to side. When we got nearer with baskets of sugar canes and bananas, you could see them dying to get near to you. But they were chained to the trees for safety reasons. I got to feed 3 different elephants and also got pictures taken. I did seem really delighted on the pictures.

After feeding, two elephants were brought up to demonstrate the bareback riding. We were taught simple commands to instruct them to sit, walk, turn and stop. We then each took turns to get on the elephant. After that, we were asked to get on a second time to make them walk a short distance and command them at the same time.

Doesn't the elephant look pretty happy? I don't know but it does seem like they really are. It's infectious and I am really glad I was there to spend time with them! They are not smelly like most people think! Even with their dungs in the bath pool, I didn't smell a thing. Probably I'm intoxicated by them, still am. :D

We had lunch after the riding lesson. After food, we were going to go trekking with the elephants! Two to one elephant, I shared Jumbu (her Thai name isn't spelt like this though but Woody, our trainer, said its the name of the fruit) with a 65-year-old American auntie. I sat in front, commanding the elephant on the way up, but Jumbu was always hungry, she kept getting sidetracked (by food of course). It took a while before we finally got to the destination then they had a rest before we made our way down. I decided not to ride on the way down so I walked between the elephants, and trying to avoid getting my face smacked by their wagging tails. LOL.

We walked them to their bath pool where they happily soaked themselves. Some layed down and gosh... pooed at the same time!!! The baby elephant (about 2 years) was sitting in the middle, getting scrubbed by the caretaker. So so so adorable! Auntie and I began to wash Jumbu too. Some of the people in the tour decided to just watch, they were probably afraid of the "dirty water". After a while, I got distracted and started splashing at the passing elephants. Most of them are older and ignored my splashing, I think they quite enjoyed the cool water getting on them. But the baby elephant was the most cheeky, he went around spraying water... and when I splashed on him, he made sure he had his revenge too!

Thanks to Woody who caught this funny picture! The elephants sure made my day and a fantastic end to my holiday. I would recommend anyone doing this if you're an animal lover :)

小猫咪 Angel

The purring has stopped... Where is the little kitten? I hope he* is safe somewhere. *I don't know its gender so I will just use the default as a "he".

Last night, I was tossing in my bed amid my sleep when I heard his cries. Like a baby. His murmuring lulled me to sleep. This morning, I actually forgotten all about it until the whole afternoon I thought I was imagining sounds. And no, I wasn't. Just out of curiosity, I turned to Dad and asked,"Did you see a cat?" He said yes and he was trying to chase it away this morning. I was pretty sure he was still around, I heard him the whole time.

I went out to inspect the surrounding including my neighbours' but didn't catch any sight of him. Mum and sister came home. I finally convinced myself he was out somewhere very near to us when both my mum and sister heard his purring too. Mum and sister do not like cats much, but still they were with me, we got to save this kitten (if it got stuck somewhere). We were on a mission to rescue!

I don't know why my hearing can be so sensitive! I heard him in the master bedroom and Dad never heard a thing when he sat in the lounge and was so much closer. I walked out of the door, followed his cries. Sis imitated the purring and he actually responded... and I found where he was! At the extreme corner of the building - my neighbour's cabinet, I freaked out when I imagined him being locked inside. Out of desperation, I went back into the house and asked for help. Mum came along, knocked on neighbour's door... Fortunately, she was around. She said it has happened a couple of times the cats would hide under her cabinet. Phew! As long as they are not inside!

She put on her gloves and was ready to join our rescue mission. Everyone was crowding near the cabinet but I stood metres away. Just as she put her hands down under, everyone let out a scream, he jumped right out almost at the speed of light! I swore, very fast. He ran and ran. I still heard him purring, now more frightful than before. He was obviously in shock. Poor him!!! I could imagine everyone had been chasing him around, and the poor cat got to hide. Now we found his hiding place and he got to hide again. I saw him hiding behind the pipes at the stairway.

He's beautiful and tiny. Not very tiny but small enough. His tail is black at the tip, looks like he has it dipped in black paint. The rest of him is white, like an angel.

He was frightened, extremely frightened. I wished I could hold him, stroke him and tell him he's okay now! I went back home and filled up a small container of water. I guess he must be hungry or thirsty by now. Sis went up to put it near him, before we knew it, he escaped. He ran right past me. Very fast. He hid himself. Poor kitten! I don't know what else to do but to leave the water somewhere he could see, hopefully he would drink it.

Some minutes ago, I heard his purring again. But I also heard my neighbour chasing him away. He's a stray cat and I know nobody at home would let me keep him. Just as I am finishing this entry, I heard him again... Poor kitten, please don't be fearful because you have nothing to be afraid of!

Knut, Knut, Knut

Spiegel says:

"Knut Steadily Getting Less Cute

It's a tragic fact of life. Celebrity polar bear cub Knut, now almost five months old, is gradually mutating from a fluffy porridge-lapping cub into a heavy bruiser with a penchant for meat off the bone. But the visitors are still flocking to see him."

Now, at least someone (some animal) is also gaining weight like me! Little Knut gains about 200g every day and now he weighs a chubby 17kg!

"Knut's faithful handler Thomas Dörflein has taken to wearing long-sleeved shirts or pullovers and gloves to protect himself when he handles Knut. But the polar bear cub immediately obeys when Dörflein has had enough and tells him to stop biting him with the stern command "Aus!""

Little Knut will soon become a big polar bear and be no longer the once-so-cute-baby. He might chomp and no longer bite harmlessly and innocently. How scary when that day arrives... Right now, looking at him playing with Thomas (his keeper), kissing his nose, cuddling together and pulling his pants; Knut appears to be such a perfect and fun-loving companion. I do feel something about his small but affectionate gestures...

Picture copyright belongs to Getty Images

O Knut, ich mag dich sehr!

My baby bear

Following the news some weeks ago, or was it months - that the Berlin Zoo wanted to kill the little polar bear because the mum has abandoned/rejected him. The situation landed poor baby in an abnormal growing lifestyle and there was huge discussion of whether it should live. Poor bear, I can adopt you!! Ship me to me, you can live with Tommy.

Quoted from Spiegel.de:
"Well, not quite. Animal rights activists, as SPIEGEL reported Monday, aren't so enthralled with the polar bear baby. They are concerned that Knut, who is being raised by human hand after his mother rejected him, is in danger of losing touch with the bear necessities. Some would like to see him dead.

"Raising him by hand is not appropriate to the species but rather a blatant violation of animal welfare laws," animal rights activist Frank Albrecht told the mass circulation newspaper Bild, whose front page headline Monday read "Will Sweet Knut Be Killed by Injection?"

Berlin Zoo is allowing Knut to be raised in such a way that the bear will have a behavioral disorder for the rest of his life, Albrecht believes. "In actual fact, the zoo needs to kill the bear cub," he adds."

Here's a BBC's video of Knut (which has translated the interview which was done in German to English). A better resolution one of CNN's one on youtube (this is a combination of both English & German), you can't help but feel so touched when you see him kiss his keeper. This famous little bear is also on Wikipedia now!

It has since caused a stir... and look how many blogs are being set up for this little baby, named Knut. Unfortunately, most of them are in German. Here's one of them.

But my personal preference is this one with pictures and videos of baby Knut. Look, he's so playful... I saw him briefly on the news the other night on TV, and he's soooooooooooooooooo cute! Now I wish I live in the Zoo. I shall bookmark it so I can read about his life very often :))))

Now they are even selling it on eBay, oh my, when can I get one!!