The Best Two Days so Far

February 20th, 2011. Luang Prabang, Laos. Written by Adam.

The last two days were probably the best of the trip so far. Why? Because I went on the best tour of the trip so far. That tour was a two-day elephant trek!

The tour started in the morning when the mini-van picked us up at our hotel. After a half hour ride, we arrived at Elephant Village. There we waited to meet our guide. When everybody was together, we had fifteen minutes of training on how to control an elephant with the rest of the group. We learned how to make the elephant bend its leg so you could get on, kneel so you could get on and off (Kira and I had to get on while it was kneeling because it was too big standing up), make the elephant go, stop, turn left and turn right.

To get on the elephant while it was kneeling, you stood on its leg, grabbed its ear, and attempted to jump so you could get to the neck. That didn’t always work, so sometimes you were lying on your stomach on the side of the elephant and you had to pull yourself up and swing your leg over. I was pretty shaky at the

beginning but as I got further around the camp, I started to get used to riding. After the training, we got into a basket on the back of the elephant to take our first ride. Kira and I went in the same basket as we went up and down hills and into the Nam Kahn River. About halfway through the river, the mahout (the elephant controller) asked me if I wanted to ride on the neck. That’s what I had most wanted to do when we booked the tour, so of course I said yes.

While I rode, I had my hands on the elephant’s head for support. It was rough, and its hairs kind of felt like plastic. For more support, I put my legs behind its ears. After a few minutes on the neck it was Kira’s turn, so I got back in the

basket with the mahout. We rode back to the camp and got off. Then we got to feed the elephants bananas. They ate the peels and the branch the bananas were attached to. They grabbed the bananas with their trunks which were almost like hands, which I thought was really cool.It was time to check into our hotel so the group piled into the long, skinny boat that took us up the river to the Elephant Lodge. Kira and I shared a room with two single beds covered with mosquito nets, a tall wooden wardrobe, and a shelf with some drinking water, a flashlight, two candles, and a lighter. After checking in, we crossed the river in the boat to go on our first elephant ride without the basket. I got on my kneeling elephant in front of the mahout and followed the others that were going down the trail. Riding felt pretty unstable at the beginning. When the elephant took a step forward its shoulder blade went down so you had to lean the other way.

We went down the trail, sometimes going off on a little side trail through the trees. When the elephant sped up I felt like I would fall off, but I never did. We rode up and down hills and around curves through the jungle until we got to the place where we would stop.

After I dismounted I watched the mahouts take the elephants separate ways where they could sleep and eat. Then we hiked back to the river where the boat was waiting to take us to the dry Tad Sae waterfall. It’s not always dry, but it is the dry season.When we arrived after the boat trip, we walked up to the waterfall and saw a zip line company! I asked if I could go and since I had wanted to zip line since the trip started my parents said yes. Kira went also but my parents didn’t. We started the adventure by getting suited up in the zip line gear and taking a long hike to the top. Next came the firs zip line! One of the staff members went first and the other stayed with us. I went next. The staff member hooked me in, said, “One, two, three!”, and I was flying. I raced through the treetops listening to the sound of the zip above my head until I reached the next platform.

The person waiting for me quickly unhooked me from the line and hooked me onto a wire going around the tree that held up the platform. I watched Kira zip towards me and then she was done, too. We went on a few more zip lines until we came to the gigantic two-hundred meter one. Once again, I went first. I jumped off the platform and started flying again. I don’t know how long the ride took, but it was at least twice as long as the second longest one.After that zip line was the first vertical drop. To do a drop, the staff member will attach a rope to your harness and feed it through a contraption that slows it down. Then, you jump off the platform and get lowered down. After a series of zip 14 lines and 4 drops we were done. Kira and I walked back to our waiting group, got back on the boat, went to dinner, and then to sleep.

The next day, we got up at six thirty to bathe the elephants. We took the boat to t

he trail and hiked to where we would meet them. Everybody’s mahout had come except mine and my dad’s. We were waiting for a really long time before they walked up next to their elephants. My mahout made his elephant kneel and I got on. Then, he told the elephant to go behind my dad’s, but my mahout was walking next to me so I was on the elephant alone. To catch up to everybody else, we charged down the hills and through the jungle. If you can say an elephant galloped, that would be when to say it. After a very fun solo ride, we got to the river. My mahout gave me a scrub-brush and I started washing. When I was done the mahout made the elephant splash with its trunk. That eventually finished and we went to get breakfast.

After that, we got picked up to trek. We walked through the “jungle” for a few hours then came to a village full of

bamboo huts. We kept walking up and down hills, over bridge

s, and through villages. Sometimes our guide would stop us to tell us something. Oh! Did I mention that it was blazing hot the whole time? After five hours, we completed our eleven mile hike. It was definitely the most challenging, and most satisfying to finish, hike I had ever done. I loved those two days.

The Rose Garden

Posted by Kira.

If you’re going to Bangkok and you want to learn about the Thai culture, I would definitely recommend going to the Rose Garden. I went there and we did so many really awesome things.

When the taxi pulled up, we got out and walked to a booth to get tickets. Then we went over to a station where people were doing a dance with bamboo sticks. Here’s how it works: two people are across from each other holding two long bamboo sticks, one in each hand. Then they move the sticks in a pattern that is too complicated for me to remember, and another person jumps in and out of the sticks while they are being moved. My mom tried it and I have to say she did pretty well. That was a fun dance.

The next station was super cool too. When my family and I walked up we saw little fish being woven out of long, thin leaves green as treetops. I was amazed by all the little creatures that were made out of just some leaves! I would tell you how he did it, but to tell you the truth, I don’t think I could remember up to three minutes at the most!

Then we walked a couple steps to a station that told us all about rice and showed us the way it was grown. They also showed us how they used a machine that was handmade out of bamboo to take off its husk. Adam and I tried to use the machine, too. It was pretty fun.

The next station wasn’t my favorite, but Adam and my dad sure liked it. It was Thai martial arts. We saw two people fighting when we walked up. One was using a wood stick and the other had a block of wood tied to his arm so he could block the stick when it swung at him. After watching a couple rounds, Adam and Dad tried it. They got some help from the two people that knew how to do it, but other than that, they did really well.

Next was the flower skewering. People use them for offerings to Buddha. First, we sat down and watched the women do it for a little bit. Then they asked us if we wanted to try. We all said yes and they told us the way to skewer the flowers onto the thin wooden sticks with a point on the end. Then we tried it. When we started, my mom and I were doing one together and Adam and Dad had their own. The one I started out with was too hard, so Dad let me finish his. They looked very good when they were finished. I liked that station.

The next couple of stations all had something to do with Thai arts. We walked up and in front of us was a long, loud squirming line of children. Shouts rose from their mouths. As we stood there, I could tell they were all waiting to make clay pots. This was one of the art stations – pottery. Like I said, there was a LONG line of children so we had to wait a while. We decided, since it was taking so long, we could walk to the next station and look around while we waited. The station we walked to was umbrella painting. The station I was most excited about ever since I saw the picture of it on the brochure. Unfortunately, when we walked up we saw a sign that said you had to pay if you wanted to paint an umbrella. I was very disappointed.

We waited there, wondering what would happen next. At least I wondered what would happen next. Then, after about a minute, a lady asked me if I wanted to try. She said I didn’t have to pay because I was only painting a tiny bit and it wasn’t on an umbrella, it was on a piece of paper on top of the umbrella. I quickly nodded my head and in a flash I had a brush in my hand with royal blue paint on the tip of the golden bristles shimmering in the sunlight. It looked very easy to me and I started right away. As I painted, I kept making mistakes and my mind was telling me “Maybe this isn’t so easy,” but I kept trying. After making two messy flowers, I decided it was too hard. Then a lady came over to the umbrella station and said the pottery station was empty. “Yay!” I said to myself. We rushed over to the pottery station with the lady and told her we wanted to make pots.When we finally settled down at the pottery station, I told Adam he could go first even though I really wanted to. When he sat down, the lady took off her shoes and spun the wheel with her bare feet. Then she told Adam to gently put his hands around the clay. Then she told him totake his hands off and she finished the pot. Next it was my turn! She did the same thing to me, but she made it a different shape. When she was done with mine, she handed it to me and I put it in the sun for it to dry as I walked to the next station.

When we walked up, we saw fabric being made out Thai silk. Oh, I forgot to tell you, this station is silk processing, as the people who work at The Rose Garden call it. It was very interesting how they made the fabric plaid with only black and white threads of silk. But that wasn’t the only interesting thing, definitely not. What I found most interesting was the way they get the silk. First they collect the silk worms’ cocoons and put them in a large silver pot of simmering water with a frame over it. The frame had two wooden bars across it, one at the top and one at the bottom. The bar at the top had a spool on it and the bar at the bottom had a small hole in the center. First, she spins the spool which draws the thin threads from the cocoons through the hole. When they go through the hole, and get twisted into one string of silk and she pulls it until the cocoon has no more silk and puts the string in a basket for someone to dye and make into fabric.

At the last station we didn’t do much. We walked to the Thai kitchen where they showed us the ingredients to make banana pudding. Then they gave us a sample to take with us and we walked off with the Thai creation wrapped in a banana leaf. When I took the first bite, it tasted so, so SO delicious! It was much chewier than I thought but I like chewy things. That was such good pudding!

If you ever went to the Rose Garden, you probably would of thought it was loads of fun, and I did. That’s why we decided to stay for the afternoon show that was all about the Thai culture. It didn’t start right then, so we had to wait for a few hours. First, we went to get lunch of course, but that wasn’t so interesting, just a regular old lunch. When we were done eating, we went back to where the show was. We were just staring at all the possible things we could do. There were little toy butterflies being sold, a baby elephant you could take your picture with, and much more. But what we ended up doing was taking our pictures with an animal. Not a baby elephant, an albino python!!

Adam and I were the only ones going. I once again told Adam he could go first even though I really wanted to, like at the pottery station. First, the guy took the snake and put it around Adam’s neck. I felt like just shouting out “Adam, what’s it like, Adam what’s it like?” but I didn’t. At least not out loud, I still really wanted to know. After about ten pictures and one or two videos, it was my turn. I was so excited I felt like I was going to burst with joy. I walked up and the snake coiled around my neck. Then the guy told me to kiss it and I did. It felt kind of strange to kiss a snake.Then my mom and dad took pictures and videos of me. The snake felt really soft because it had shed its skin the day before. I didn’t want to take my hands off of it! I was so sad when my turn was up. Luckily, the guy was telling us lots of facts about the python, so I got to feel its scaly skin a little longer. Sadly, it was time to leave the snake. I will never forget that python!

As we were walking towards a bench, something caught my eye. Elephants! “Maybe you can ride them”, I thought. I quickly told my parents and they said I was right. You could ride them! Adam and I were talking about if we should do it or not. It wasn’t even a question! After about five seconds, we decided we both wanted to. We asked Mom and Dad if it was okay and they said yes. We walked over to the ticket booth to get our tickets so we could ride the elephants. “This will be even better than the python!” I said. I was never so excited in my whole life! Well, maybe I was a little more excited once, but this was pretty close. Once we had our tickets, Adam and I rushed to the elephant. Unfortunately, we had to ride in a cart on top of it’s back, instead of riding on the neck. I didn’t really care. I just wanted to ride an elephant. To get on, you had to walk up stairs leading to the cart. When I got to the top stair, I didn’t want to step on the elephant’s back because I thought it might hurt the elephant. I tried to do it as fast as possible. I quickly sat down and smiled. I felt so happy. When the elephant took its first step it felt unstable, but after a while, I got used to it. We were only taking the elephant just around the garden, but it was still fun. When the ride stopped, I didn’t want to get off but I did anyway. What a fun ride!

Like I said, the real reason we stayed at the Rose Garden was to see the show, so we still had to do that. Before the Thai culture show, there was an elephant show. We rushed over to get our seats. The parts I liked the best were when the elephant danced to some music and after that when she sprayed some water out of her trunk. (I know the elephant was a girl because she didn’t have tusks.) I enjoyed that show. When the door opened, people swarmed the hole in the wall, pushing and shoving to get themselves to the best seats possible. Like you would imagine, my family members – me, Adam, Mom and Dad – were the patient ones. We managed to get four seats on the end of the fifth row, I think. Maybe the fourth row. The show started with several dances, a Thai wedding, and Thai martial arts. I didn’t have a favorite part. It was all great. When the show was done, we got our picture taken with some dancers, and then we walked out of the dark room. What a fun day! I’ll always remember the Rose Garden.

Hanging Out In the Balance

Submitted by Michael, 2/7/11 - from Siem Reap (where we watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat instead of the Super Bowl)

Pretty much all we’ve been doing is visiting spectacular, memorable sites; taking in the sunsets; relaxing w/either a banana pineapple shake or local brew; making new friends; taking naps, and living the life of the Riley family. Oh, did I mention sleeping late and being waited on?

NOT!

If any of you hold images of our travels being revolving around the grand trio of gracious service, comforting surroundings, and do what you want when you want -- it just ain’t so, at least not for the MAJK FAM so far. Not only are we traveling lesser developed countries (which don’t exactly work like clockwork), but traveling as a family adds a whole other level of… well, shall I say “color”?... into the equation. Like everything else in this world, our travel experience is already full of duality – the easy and difficult, the exciting and unexciting, the energized and drained. You can think of it as the yin-yan of the road.

On one hand there have been numerous incredible moments: highs of first experiences, magical synchronicities, shifts of comprehension, new tastes, meeting people – the most wonderful of which engage and illuminate all 4 of us simultaneously. But we are different people with varying temperaments, interests and motivations. This creates occasional challenges which we may or more often may not expect, bringing us to the “other hand” such as when I’m practically jumping out of my skin – my mind spinning with all the possible experiences that await just outside our guest house door, yet one or more of AJK are not game to trail blaze yet another new cultural path for any number of reasons. The reality is A&K have less stamina, resilience and appetite to “see it all” than do J & I. Understandable. Absolutely! I for sure envisioned this way back when conceptualizing the trip. But that isn’t always the easiest to manage in real time, although I think we’re all doing a great job of it all things considered. Talk about experiencing the give and take – on so many levels - which to me is an extremely valuable growth experience. And in an odd way, a unifying one for us all too – testing each other’s tolerances, and then coming to the other’s rescue when it’s needed most. We’re not yet 1 month in – but I can already imagine how incredibly bonded we will be when we’re spit out from the other end of this traveler roller coaster we're riding.

We’ve been holed up in a modest yet comfortable guesthouse in Bangkok for over 1 week, waiting 6 business days to get visas for India. (Side note – India was not in our original travel plans, but it is now - enticed by $150 airfares from Bangkok to Delhi & inspired by the overall experience it offers. I’m the one who was seduced by the possibility [aka – the “responsible party”] – and having traveled India 20 years back, I’m feeling the tightrope walk between the incredible insights and perspective transformation I believe it will bring and the concerns of the challenges that likely come with the package.) Since we were biding our time in Bangkok, and huge cities aren’t our most desired prolonged locations, we decided to use the time to get a jump on schoolwork (trying to get ahead, and bank time for our next leg, Angkor Wat, where we’ll want to tour more and study less – another yin-yan of the road example.) So we held “class” most of our days here (that topic is a whole other set of blog posts, lemme tell ya…), from approx 9-10am till 1-2:30pm. One might assume that means we can tour in the afternoon, yes? Well… sometimes. Let’s just say that our guesthouse’s little swimming pool is at least as big a draw as another huge golden Buddha, exotic market scene or new wide eyed experience for a couple of MAJK FAM during these last few days. And I, the experience junkie, am gradually finding peace with this. (Jeanne may expound on “just how gradual this progress is – hopefully away from my earshot.) Question: What Dad wouldn’t want to play tennis ball catch w/his kids in the pool? Possible Answer: One who never got a chance to use any of Bangkok’s free “Smile bikes” given to tourists to explore the city another unique way. But truth be told, the gift of 7-months of travel togetherness has already begun grinding away the urgency edge off my experience appetite. It’s comforting to take the long view of balancing family time and the growth it brings with my desire for adventure and immersing ourselves in new experiences. In the end it’s all good – particularly if we balance the yin-yan.

Amidst the handful of traveler families we interviewed prior to our departure, we distilled some of their invaluable info into 2 very wise words of council (and when we make the MAJK movie it will be delivered by a wise, monk-like sage): “Animals. Water.” What this means is it’s pretty much guaranteed that our children will be engaged and delighted when our activities revolve around either of these elements. Yesterday’s dip in the pool energized us sufficiently to venture to Chinatown for dinner on Chinese New Years. It was absolutely jam packed: shoulder to shoulder, red shirted crowds shuffling along and vending or eating in absolutely every sidewalk parcel, nook & cranny. Quite a spectacle, but disappointing none the less for AK given the absence of firecrackers, which was the original inspiration and catalyst for our pilgrimage. But alas, about 8:55pm when we had enough and fatigue was setting in, crowds started lining the main street and an electric buzz of anticipation began ti build. So we waited too – maybe a parade? Fireworks? Performances? Some unimagined spectacle not to be missed? All of the above? About 10 minutes later we saw several vehicles pull up 100 yards from us – and another minute passed, and then the crowd “ooo’ed”, and that was it! Apparently we, amongst 100’s of others, were in proximity for the Princess of Thailand’s annual entrance to a particular Chinese temple where she commemorates the holiday, and then others rush in to get the good ju-ju of being on her coat tails to do the same. So – we have now (nearly) been in the presence of royalty. I wondered, did her appearance explain the seemingly incongruous vendor I had seen prior who was selling a couple dozen relatively large Disneyesque princess dolls on the sidewalk? (“What’s that about?” I thought, yet at this point that’s a private thought-form I repeat at least 10-20 times/day.) Whoops – just saw a toad sang a fly off the floor in this restaurant – no matter…

Or the day before – A&K got to ride an elephant, and also hold an apparently benign, 4-foot long albino python. Yes, both experiences were slightly cheesy and staged tourist affectations but they sure were further confirmation of our “animals strategy.” They did this at the “Rose Garden”, a Thai cultural center located 45 minutes outside the capital. That was a fantastic day for all, even if this Thai cultural center was synthesized for tourists and not the “authentic, real thing.”. (Hopefully you will hear more about it from another MAJK member.) We walked through over a dozen cultural stations, being taught hands on in martial arts, bamboo dancing, palm leaf origami, and more. We all loved the experience of husking rice, flower decoration, and making a clay pot in the old style, but Jeanne and I found the demonstration converting silkworm cocoons into silk cloth particularly fascinating. About 1-2 dozen cocoons were simmering, each with a single, unraveling, fine strand that in combination are hand cranked around a spool to form silk thread – and as each cocoon become spent (denoted by yielding a dead pupa) others were added. Very fine, very special, very timeless, very Zen. Is that what people did before email and Game Boy, I wondered?

So – there you have it. This trip has lots of ebb and flow – some high tides are higher than others, and same for low tides too. Talk about low – how about arriving in Bangkok at 5am, after a 12-hour overnight bus ride, without a hotel in this big city where we were immediately on guard of our possessions, children and self? On first glance it felt like the hostile, unintelligible, huge city, having been dropped at a remote bus stop in morning's pitch darkness. In our haze we taxied to the Khao San Rd travelers ghetto where we figured it would be easiest to land, found a café w/WiFi (checking email is always a boost – particularly for the kids so please email kiralipson9@gmail.com and AdamL98@gmail.com and holed up there. Which reminds me – add a third word to our family travel mantra: “Treats.” When in pain, buy a treat. This time it was large chocolate frappes – not my ideal 5am libation, but it sure did wonders for A&K at that hour, as you can just imagine. Adam & I went out to “hunt, kill and provide” (Aka - “find us a decent hotel room – ASAP!”) Fortunately the travel gods were smiling upon us, which translates to after 5-10 “no vacancies” or “too grimy and depressing's”, we found us the holy grail - an elusive “Family Room” (most places are set up for couples and singles – it’s a lot tougher to find a room that will accommodate all 4 of us) at a nice, practically spotless, yet affordable riverside hotel with a pool. Not only that - the rook was vacant already. This is almost unheard of! So we didn’t have to wait until 2 pm to check in. When Jeanne arrived in her sleep deprived state she called me “her hero” and there was joy in Mudville yet again.

We’re now off to Siem Reap, Cambodia – location of the famed Angkor Wat temple. Where you can be rest assured that we’ve already reserved a guesthouse w/a swimming pool, and will find ample ice cream and other sweets to buoy our sprits through the private guided touring that we have already arranged. The ruins await!