My Life in Two Phases, B.E., A.E.

So we are currently in the second phase of my life ... A.E. (after the elephant). I actually managed to ride the elephant for an entire hour, and it was great! Reminded me of one of those segments on The Biggest Loser when a contestant overcomes their biggest fear. I didn't actually overcome my fear of heights, but it was a great experience and I am really glad I did it, so there's definitely a lesson in there.

When I got to the elephant camp I fed a few elephants and saw them do a show ... the elephants are trained by a local tribe known for its elephant training prowess, the Karen Tribe. A young boy is typically paired with a baby elephant who he will train and care for his entire life. Now, because the lifespan of a Thai elephant is 80 years, and the average lifespan of a Karen man is 65 years, they rotate trainers every 15 years. Pretty incredible. To think most of us don't keep the same job for 5 years, and they could be with the same elephant their entire life!

Anyhow, the elephants were very well trained and showed us how they drag logs, stack logs and ended with a baby elephant making a painting. Then ... The Big Ride.

The mahout (elephant trainer) sat on the elephant's neck and I was in a wooden bench on top of the elephant. There were two other people in front of me on elephants. We went into the jungle ... really deep. It was scary as hell when the elephant went down a steep hill ... I would start slipping off my bench and grab on for dear life. We walked up and down hills, in a stream and then finally walked against the tide in a beautiful river back to the camp. Definitely a highlight of Thailand - I took some great pictures when I wasn't sliding off my bench.

I drove about 5 hours in total today up, down and around hills and mountains to get to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos come together at the Mekong River. On the way I stopped at a wat deep into a cave with stalactites and stalagmites (guess that is why we learned about that in 5th grade Earth Science) and then stopped at the Silver Palace (Wat) in Chiang Rai, which was quite something ... can't do it justice without the photos. I am now as far north as you can be in Thailand without swimming in the Mekong.

I checked in to my hotel about an hour ago ... the Anantara Golden Triangle, which I highly recommend. I tried to soldier through my hotel in Chiang Mai, which was trying hard to be an upscale boutique hotel, but I couldn't sleep there due to the mosquitoes and it just didn't feel that clean to me, although the architecture was authentic Lanna style and the service was very friendly, so it definitely could have been worse. As Duke said, I am now living in the "lap of luxury" at the Anantara, and I am really glad! It's really a special place ... you can check it out at www.goldentriangle.anantara.com

I keep hearing about the king, Lanna style, Siam style and it occurred to me today that Thailand is partly the old kingdom of Siam (I'm pretty quick) ... so I asked Duke today if he had ever seen The King and I ... he said he saw an illegal bootleg version because it is not permitted to be viewed in Thailand as it shows the king in a silly light. Guess there is no First Amendment here ... think of what it would be like if we couldn't make fun of Bush ...

I'm off now for a nice dinner in the hotel and then back to my exquisite room (which has a deck overlooking Burma) for what I hope will be a long good night's sleep.

Looking forward to getting up refreshed for tomorrow which is my last full day in Thailand.