Elephant Camp

In Chiang Mai, Shawn and I got to ride Asian elephants. It was great! We explored the jungles on our elephant then ended in the water where the elephant sucked up water in his trunk and sprayed it all over himself as well as us. There was also a little 2 week old baby that trekked along with us. He was so cute. One thing I did learn while riding elephants was that elephants sounds like dogs when they make noise! When we got back we got to feed bananas to the elephants (I didn't even try to eat one in case the elephant wanted to attack me to get it!)

Getting to Chiang Mai

This is not the Orient Express! To get to Chiang Mai from the beach, we had to take an overnight train. Shawn's dad told us before we got on that the only similarities with this train and the Orient Express was that they both went on tracks. He was not far off! It was a different experience for sure, but when I walked from my nice first class cabin down to the ecomony cabins I felt very happy to be where I was. We got to have our own cabin (well, we shared with the roaches)and small sink. We also had a bathroom (squatty potty) that was only shared with a few other cabins. Others were packed into one small space with no sink many many people to a bathroom. I was also happy that we brought pizza on board and had a pizza/Uno party! We affectionatley named our train "The Roach Coach!" and now we are happy to be in Chiang Mai!

Kassie and I learn how to drive a scooter

Ok, it may sounds easy, but driving a scooter is hard. After riding on one in Nepal with Summer then riding with Shawn in Thailand I thought, "Sure I can drive a scooter!" But it is not as easy as it looks. Take turning for example...what keeps you from falling over when you turn? And how are you supposed to drive when you have a passanger wiggling behind you? And what if your flip flop falls off while your feet are on the ground to balance you before you get started? These are all things that I had to learn how to do while at the beach. Kassie (Shawn's 14 year old sister) learned as well. We decided to get matching bandanas to be in the "cool people who drive scooters club." Next time I want a helmet. You get to going fast on those roads. I had tears coming out of my eyes from going so fast as well as bugs flying into my mouth! It was super fun but I think I'll stick to Thailand and not bring my new skill to the States just yet!

The Beach in Thailand

We got to go to the beach in Southern Thailand with Shawn's family! The beach was outside of Hua Hin and we got to swim in the Gulf of Thailand. It was so much fun but also SO hot! The gulf was full of all kinds of sea life: crabs, sand dollars, and star fish. We had a great time finding them in the water and collecting shells from the sand. Also, each day the girls went to get massages while the boys rode around town on their scooters. It was a very small fishing town and the whole area smelled like fish! The first night that we got to the beach, there was a giant gecko on the wall in our cottage. It jumped on Shawn's mom's back and she screamed. We all tried and tried to shoo the gecko out but it was afraid of us! Finally we got the thing out and had a lovely gecko-free rest of our trip!

Getting out of Nepal...

To get from India to Thailand, we had to go back through Nepal. Unfortunately it was the exact day that the Maoist demonstrations were beginning. The government of Nepal is in transition after the last king was forced to step down (he only became king because he killed his brother and nephew who were the rightful heirs to the throne.) A constitution was supposed to be written by the end of April but since it was not, hundreds of thousands of Maoists were bused in from all over Nepal to protest. Buildings were shut down and no vehicles were allowed on the road. People were scared to open their shops since if they did, they risked having their building burned down. Cabs were afraid to drive through the streets since they risked having their windows smashed with bricks. We were not sure that we would be able to get the airport. We had a security guard stand out front of our hotel all night to ensure our safety. On the day of our flight, we were able to get a van marked TOURIST that was able to travel on the roads. The streets were dead until we neared the center of town. Then masses and masses of people walked by carrying knives and sticks. These were just ordinary people supporting the Maoist party but were trained for the past 2 weeks in knife and stick fighting. We had to stop the van and the people walked around us on both sides. Once they cleared up, we were able to pass through to the airport. When we got there, there was an ambulance that pulled up and lots of Nepali people got out. They were being smuggled to the airport by ambulance so they could catch their flights!
P.S. Audrey- notice the maoist with the Avril Lavigne shirt on!

Kurtas

Kassie, Mrs. Pat, and I all got kurtas (traditional Indian clothes) in Darjeeling. I can't wait to wear mine when we learn about India in kindergarten!

Darjeeling

India's population is estimated to be 1,129,866,154 (yep folks, thats over a billion) and is the second largest country in the world. There is only 1 other contry in the world that has past the billion mark...do you know what the it is? There are 28 states and 7 territories that make up India. Once we crossed over into India, we spent our time in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal (the capital of India is New Delhi...we didn't go there.) There is a group of people in the city of Darjeeling and its surronding areas called the Gorkhas that are protesting to be removed from West Bengal and would like to be the state of Gorkhaland. While we were there, there were green, yellow, and white flags flying above the roads. These are the colors of Gorkhaland. Also while we were there we were able to see (for a quick second) the third highest mountain in the world...Kanjenjounga. We had a really nice time exploring Darjeeling and seeing where Shawn's family lived for 4 years. We got to see the Toy Train...it is a train that people ride on that is SO tiny! We also were able to eat very yummy Indian food! Where we were is also famous for its tea...Darleeling Tea. We got to tour a tea factory and we drank tea everywhere we went!