Back in Chaing Mai

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Back in the city, Melissa, Abby and I went to my hotel to Check in and she can't find my reservation. She can't find it cause I made it for a day later! All rooms are booked, ugh! They were great and sent us down the street to athru boutique hotel.(tragedy averted) and we all vegged out for a bit, planning a trip to the flower festival and Sunday market. Also, Abby really wanted pizza and had a place to have dinner with all of our left over elephant park friends wandering around Chain Mai. We wandered around and made our way to the Italian restaurant (what??) and we all(about 12 of us) had pizza and actually a pretty great meal. Then we hit the streets. The flower fest was apparently a big deal around here and there were tons of people and sculptures made from flowers and seeds, just amazing! I loved watching the Asian folk taking pictures of each other. There would be a grown woman standing in front of the flowers, holding up a little stuffed animal next to her head, and they would both smile,"click" what a great shot of you and your,... Ehh, friend. There were huge swans and hearts and Shivas and I saw some kind of Pegasus all made from flowers and seeds. There was a large stage with performers singing and dancing with big jumbo tron viewing screens, it was quite the scene!We walked the Sunday market buying tee shirts, scarves and bags, too full to try all the wonderful street food, not to mention a bit overwhelming with the crowds and the selection. I am still trying to figure out how I'm getting my treasures home. I should have brought a bigger bag!! I have to say, I feel like I am doing all this about 20 years too late. The people that I was with on the elephant volunteer ing were all about 23-30ish and they are all traveling with their backpacks, for months, years what ever, their worldly possessions locked away in some storage shed or parents basement. There were a few people my age and some even older, but it was interesting to watch these young adults taking a whole different spin on what a life looks like.Abby left for the airport and Melissa and I crashed at the lovely boutique hotel and slept soundly and warm but I kind of miss the trumpeting from the elephants at night. I dropped Melissa off at the elephant nature park office this morning, she has two more weeks working with the dogs there. I made my way to the post office to check on shipping my loot home (2 to 3 months, I think I am going to try to cram everything in my bags!) I am on my own again, trying to figure out how to spend the rest of my time here. I'm feeling really sad, missing the elephants, the tranquility and peace that I now associate with elephant nature park. There was not a "single" elephant that I bonded to, yet them as a whole, from the horribly abused to the babies that were born there and have only seen love and been with there moms and will never be taken away ( the way elephant are, males get kicked out around 11 to 14years old, but the females stay with the herd) in "training" elephants they are taken away at around 1 year old put through a "crush" where there are beaten and sleep and food deprived until the submit complete control, it is so horrid. Lek is working on retraining mahuts and Thai people in general that there is a better way, training with a reward system and teaching them that people are just as happy observing these animals, walking with them, helping care for them as they would be riding them, which really just makes them a vehicle, your not getting to know them)after all they have gone through there is still such a peace amongst them, I suppose we can learn a lot about resilience from these beautiful animals. Hanging out with them, alone, with Jodie and Melissa, with no food to lure them just watching them be elephants and moments when they would stop over to say hi and get a little scratch because they wanted to not cause you were waving a banana around was so cool! Now I'm hanging at the Bohdi serene hotel, rooftop pool,totally sweet, enjoying the sun and the warmer temps of the city. I made my way to the pool, found a lounge chair and stretched out... Only to look down and se my bikini bottoms were on inside out (I am so not a cool girl) I am awaiting my complementary afternoon tea... Very sweet, lemony and nice on an 88degree day, listening to eagles "you can't hide your lying eyes" huh? Oh well, you never know what your going to get in Thailand, so don't be attached to the outcome, it's usual something cool. Like the egg and tomato and onion sandwich they just brought me. Cool might be a strong word for that sandwich....I think that was quail egg

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