Alissa L P

After 2 amazing weeks at Elephant Nature Park, it was time to say goodbye, and round up my trip! I cannot believe how fast 5 months have gone by, it seems like just yesterday a small child was projectile vomiting near me at the LAX airport. The ENP shuttle dropped me off at my guesthouse in Chiang Mai, called CM Blue House, an absolutely lovely place run by 2 gay men from California. I had a king size bed all to myself, and even a TV!! That night I went out w/ friends from the park for a nice italian meal, and a glass of wine, and then crashed early. The next day I spent just wandering around Chiang Mai, and catching up my emails and blog. The plan was to take the 9pm overnight train ... read more

I don't even know where to begin! I spent the last two weeks volunteering at Elephant Nature Park, an elephant sanctuary located in the Mae Taeng Valley, a little over an hour outside of Chiang Mai. I'll try and break down the sections to give a little information before I go into my stint as a volunteer. About Elephant Nature Park The park was formed by a Thai woman named Sangduen "Lek" Chailert, "Lek" meaning small in Thai. Lek is this amazing woman who has devoted her entire life to helping elephants. About 20 years ago, Thailand had over 200,000 elephants. In the 1980's, there was massive logging all over the country, which decimated the elephant's habitat. On top of that, due to their massive size and strength, thousands of elephants were used as loggers, ... read more

After our crazy one day stint in Vang Vieng, we got up bright and early to catch our mini-bus up to Luang Prabang. 8 people + luggage were crammed into a large mini-van, and off we went. To get from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang you have to take the infamous Route 13, which is an insanely twisty turny road that zig zags along the edge of a mountain. Laos drivers are known for driving like maniacs, but I think the majority of the people on the bus were trying to hold it together as he zoomed around corners that had no guard rail to keep up from flying off the cliff! We arrived in Luang Prabang and immediately fell in love. LP was declared a UNESCO world heritage site about 10 years ago, which helps ... read more

So, when I last left you, we had completed a massive trek from Koh Phangan to Phang Nga. Phang Nga is a really small town, with not much to do, most people just use it as a jump-off point for Phang Nga Bay, which is a huge bay with islands and rock formations scattered throughout. We checked into our hotel, the Phang Nga Inn, which was lovely and the owner was a really sweet lady who was always checking in on us. Ashley had some cousins who were staying at a resort nearby, so she left the next morning to spend the day with them, while I left to do a boat tour of Ao Phang Nga Bay, which is kindof like Thailand's equivalent of Halong Bay, in Vietnam. The main feature of Ao Phang Nga ... read more

Ahh Bangkok. Home to 30 cent Pad Thai, 4$ hour massages, Golden Temples, and much much more! Our flight from NZ to Thailand was nice, thanks to Thai Airways....much nicer than my flight TO Australia! We got off the airplane, flew through customs, and hopped in a taxi to our hotel, New Siam II. Our hotel is really nice, a lot of families seem to frequent it, but it has a pool and our own bathroom, so we were pretty happy. We got in really late, but spent an hour or so walking around the neighborhood. Our hotel is on a small side street a few blocks from Khao San Rd (more on that later), which is a huge backpacker mecca, so its perfect because we are near the action, but not IN the action, so ... read more