Just Some Big Cats

I'll be honest, hubs is just a little bit of an adrenaline junky. Anything that is even a little bit dangerous, he is all for. On our honeymoon, there was a day that he went snorkeling while I stayed on the beach. He came running onto the beach yelling 'There's a shark in the coral! You've got to come check it out!' before running right back into the water. I remember thinking 'that is definitely not the way to get me in the water.' (I ended up going and seeing the harmless black tip reef sharks and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had, but that's beside the point) The point is, when we found out that there was a place in Chiang Mai where we could get up close and personal with baby and full grown tigers, we couldn't resist. 

When you arrive at Tiger Kingdom, you get to pick the age group you want to see. They have babies (2-3 months), small (4-8 months), medium (9-12 months) and large tigers (13-30 months). TIP: Go early! Tigers are most active when it first opens, the temperature hasn't skyrocketed yet, and they haven't been handled by a swarm of tourists. Also, when all of the tour groups come, the wait can take over an hour. We showed up just before nine and only waited a few minutes to get into each cage. 

He was just two months old and kept trying to climb into my lap and up my shoulder to be cuddled

The next age group we saw were the 4-6 month olds and they were also definitely the most active of them all. The ones that weren't napping were busy running around jumping and playing with each other. 

With each age group you are accompanied by a trainer that leads you from area to area and watches out for any tigers that want to 'play' with you. This came in handy when hubs made fast friends with a young 5 month old tiger by the name of Michael. He would follow hubs around the cage and try to 'play' with him. Aka, sneak up behind him and try to swat or bite his leg. Even after the trainer would lead us to the other side of the cage, it wouldn't be long until Michael was back. He managed to swat at him once but because he was wearing jeans, it only left a red mark, much to hubs disappointment (he's the weird type that wants a scar from a tough animal).

Hubs and his buddy Michael

I have to admit that when we went into the last cage and rounded the corner to see this:

I was a bit nervous. I've seen tigers through a cage and a long distance away before but when we saw it up close and personal, it was a little intimidating.  Good thing these kitties were pretty tired by the time we got there and slept majority of the time. 

The topic of drugging and punishment often comes up when talking about these animals. Before we went, I was extremely skeptical. I had heard stories of other tiger parks that taser their animals or give them drugs during open hours so the tigers will remain docile. My concerns disappeared when we arrived and they had numerous pieces of literature about what they believe and how they treat the animals. Not only that, but when we walked in, we could see into the full grown tigers cage as they ran after each other, tackling, playing and jumping in the water. The trainer was walking around in the cage working and the tigers took no notice to him. 

They explain that these tigers are born into captivity since the park is used for breeding and preservation of the endangered Indo-Chinese species of tiger. They are used to being around humans from a young age and therefore people coming and petting, hugging or patting them does not phase them. Another factor is the fact that tigers are mainly active during night time and less active during the mid-day heat. This is the reason that the older tigers are asleep in the majority of our photos. 

However, precautions must still be taken. For example, when the trainer is approaching a tiger, he takes a stick and bangs it against the ground to warn the tiger that he is approaching so as not to startle him. Also, we must approach the tiger from behind, if approached head on, they will think we want to play with them. Lastly, when we do pet or touch them, we must do so firmly. If we touch too lightly, they may think it's just a fly and react accordingly. 

My favorite part of Thailand, and specifically Chiang Mai, is the fact that you can get up close and personal with so many different animals. The city keeps you going with the endless possibilities of activities that it has to offer. Don't worry, there's lots of Redbull to help keep you awake so you don't miss a thing (and at just 35 cents a bottle, how can you resist?!)

Linking up with Molly, Meg, Leann, Brooke, Logan, Carissa, Rachel

Letters/47

Dear Work, 7.30 am classes? Is that really necessary? My body hates me and my 6 am wake up calls. Dear Readers, I am so incredibly excited to announce a new link up that I will be a part of! Rachel, from one of my favorite blogs, Postcards from Rachel, contacted me with the idea of a link up all about expat life, including advice, photos, questions and travel stories and asked if I would be interested. I immediately thought 'well...duh'. We will be going live with the link up on the first Thursday of every month starting on April 4th. We would love for you to link up your travel stories, expat experiences, questions or advice. Whether your a fellow expat, want-to-be expat or fellow travel lover, we'd love to hear from you! Come link up with us next Thursday! Read more about it here.

Dear Chingu, I'm so glad you decided to extend your birthday celebration to all week long. I love celebrating, even if it's someone's else's birthday.

Dear Closet, you're being put to good use now that I have to dress up for work. I can't lie, it's nice getting all fancy and wearing heels for the first time in two years. I bet when it's hot and humid this summer though, I'm going to miss my old uniform for school of shorts and sandals.

Dear Spring, you've officially arrived on the island! I absolutely love this time of year when the flowers, and especially the cherry blossoms are in full bloom and lining every street, and the sun is brightly shining over the ocean every day. Can this weather stick around all year?

Dear Parents, you come in one week! I can't believe how quickly your trip has come! I can't wait to see you and I'm so glad that scares from the North haven't scared you away! Pretty bad a if you ask me.  Dear Easter, I can't even begin to express how thankful I am for you and for Jesus to come and die for our sins so we can enjoy eternal life through Him. What a blessing. We're looking forward to a day of church, friends, Easter egg hunts and WESTERN FOOD! Can't wait.

  Linking up with Ashley, Jean, Lauren, Kerry, Chrissy

Perspective Series- To Tanzania

This week I'm happy to introduce Erica from the blog Way to the Sea for the next installment of the Perspective Series. This is a series about expats sharing their experience of living and traveling abroad and how it inevitably changed their outlook and perspective on life. I'm a new follower to Erica's blog and I can't speak highly of it enough. She posts about inspiring posts and gorgeous pictures about her life in Africa, her world travels and of course, her adorable little girl. 

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Aloha! My name is Erica and I blog over at To the Sea. I never thought I’d live on the African continent. When my husband told me we had the opportunity to move overseas for his military carreer, I quickly said yes. Yes. YES. I had dreams of returning to Central or South America, where I spent a summer studying Evolutionary Biology in the Galapagos Islands. I loved life abroad. I loved being able to work on the Spanish I grew up speaking in South Texas. I was convinced we’d luck out and get to live there again. Or at least I was willing to take my chances. You see, the catch was we didn’t get to choose where we’d be going. We knew it could have been anywhere. Still, when I received the text from my husband saying we were moving to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania within the month, my response was “You’re f***ing with me, right?” But he wasn’t; and a few weeks later my husband, my 8-month old baby, my two cats, and I made the 36-hour journey to East Africa.

As far as expectations go, I’ve been both pleasantly surprised and shocked since moving here. Before arriving, I was told it wouldn’t be safe for me to walk around alone. “Sure, whatever,” I said, recalling my solo journeys through the streets of Manila, Paris, and Guayaquil. I had always dismissed that advice as paranoia, for stupid people who walk around in dark alleyways with purses and expensive cameras. But when I got here I realized how real the threats are. I constantly hear about muggings, and even sexual assaults, of female expats walking alone in broad daylight, on main roads. I almost can’t blame people for stealing with the intense poverty that exists here. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but it makes poor people in America look pretty well off. It has been truly eye-opening for me, even more-so than I thought it'd be.

I don’t mean to paint Dar in a negative light. For the most part, the locals I’ve met here are awesome and extremely friendly. I’ve been taking Kiswahili classes and trying to practice with them as much as possible. Normally this ends up in laughter, which is never a bad thing.

The beaches here are gorgeous and there are even waves for my husband and I to surf. The surfing community is small, which is also pretty awesome. Unfortunately I can't go to the surfing beaches alone, but my husband and I are able to make it there couple of times a week.

I've been able to find a couple of volunteer opportunities, and I have more in the works. This is probably the coolest thing about living in East Africa.

We haven't had a chance to go on safari yet (because our vehicle still hasn't arrived from Hawaii), but there are a lot of cool animals I can't wait to see just a few hours away. I'm also looking forward to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, if we can find something to do with the baby in the meantime (come visit me, mom!).

I'm optimistic about the next year (or so) that I'll be living here. I know there will be hardships and days that homesickness creeps in and overwhelms me with melancholy. But there will also be moments when the light comes on and I realize THIS. This is why it is all worth it: to learn, to discover, to grow... to not only see what the world has to offer, but to live it.

Thanks so much for writing Erica! Be sure to stop by her blog and show her some love! 

If you have lived abroad and would like to be featured please email me at lostintravelsblog@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!
You can read more of the Perspective Series here.
Linking up with Rolled Up Pretty and Shanna, Rekita

Travel Tuesdays-Laos

Just a little something to cure your wanderlust for the week.

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“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

The Day My Dreams Came True

I apologize in advance for the ridiculous amount of pictures in this post. But who doesn't love adorable little elephants?

When planning our trip to Thailand, there was one thing that was consistently on the top of my list of activities I wanted to do. See elephants. How could we resist when we were in one of the few countries in the world that they are native to? It wasn't so much a question as to if we would do it, but where we would do it. There are elephant camps and parks in every brochure stand around Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai. I had researched several and admit that I was more than a little picky about where we went. I know everyone has different personal opinions but for me personally, I just couldn't bear the thought of going and seeing elephants in 'shows', seeing them paint, watching them play soccer or riding them with large harnesses on their backs. I wanted to experience them more naturally and give my money to a place that cared for the elephants and helped rescue them from harsh environments.

The one baby on the property loved to give kisses.

After much research and a high recommendation from friends, we chose to sign up with Baan Chang, translated as Elephant Home. They are an organization that rescues elephants from abusive industries such as elephant begging and the logging industry (the logging industry is prevalent in the northern part of Thailand and abuses the fact that elephants only need about four hours of sleep a night. They will make them work hard labor for the other 20 hours of the day). Their goal is to teach others about the importance of elephant conservation through proper eating, sleeping, bathing and exercising methods and also to preserve a natural habitat for these rescued and abused animals.

We arrived to the park at an excruciatingly early hour of 6am. We were told that with most animal visits, to go early in the morning when they were first waking up and had not been around people all day yet. After driving for about an hour through the country side, we rounded the corner into the property and were immediately greeted with the site of about a dozen elephants.

Our first order of business was feeding the elephants. We were provided a large bucket filled to the brim with bananas and large sticks of sugar cane. We walked through the clusters of elephants with their trunks grabbing at us along the way, eager to get their treats.

You may be wondering about the chain around their feet; that was my first thought too. Every elephant sanctuary has to chain up their elephants for people's protection and their own. This particular company takes in any abused elephant that they find. Meaning, some are very aggressive from being abused and living in extreme conditions. They need time to become docile once again, and for the company to work with them in hopes of a full recovery before people can be near them. This is also to protect the elephants. If they go unchained, they can leave the sanctuary which raises the risk of someone taking them back into harsh conditions or worse, the elephants can plumage local gardens and farms. If this happens, the farmers will often shoot the elephants.

After the feeding was finished and all the buckets lay bare, it was time to train. Since there were no harnesses on their backs, we would ride them through the jungle bareback. We were taught in Thai, how to tell the elephants, to go, stop, turn and lay down in order for us to mount their backs.

Turn: kuay

Stop: how

Go: non long

Lay down: pai

Feeding him some sugar cane

After we felt confident of the commands, we set off for an hour trek through the jungle. Not only is this for our benefit but also the elephants. The mahout (an elephant trainer that lives with the elephants. Each one has only one elephant to care and look after) determines how much exercise their elephant needs and will continue to take them on this route until the elephant is satisfied and well exercised. Therefore, all the elephants are used in cycles and some more than others depending on their individual needs.

We were paired up with an older elephant by the name of Don Coon. You could tell he knew the trail well since his mahout wasn't even guiding him. But instead of sticking strictly to the trail, he would slowly veer off every once in awhile in search of a snack. Who could blame him?

The back is not as comfortable as it looks! I was sore for days after this!

The last part of the day was probably my favorite. After the hike, we led our elephants to a large pool of water and were given a scrub brush and bucket. We proceeded to wash all of our elephants while they relaxed and played in the water. 

If you're ever in Thailand, I would highly recommend spending a day with the elephants at one of the many Elephant Sanctuaries.
Some other great places to spend time are Patara Elephant Farm and the Elephant Nature Park. When we go back to Thailand (because let's face it, we will go back) we want to check out the Elephant Nature Park which is more intensive on their care and conservation of the animals.

If you want more information about elephant conservation and preservation you can look into the Asian Elephant Aid Foundation and also the Elephant Parade Company.

Linking up with Molly, Meg, Leann, Brooke, Logan, Carissa

Letters/46

Dear Readers, I promise Thailand posts will be coming back soon. We've been preoccupied with moving, starting a new job, and well...being lazy (along with 19 hours of interviews that we did this week to test employees speaking proficiency levels. As enjoyable as it actually was for 'working' I never want to hear anything about the procurement of valves for cargo ships again). But I have some exciting posts planned with rock climbing, city reviews, tigers, and elephants! Dear Spinach, I love that you're so cheap right now. I've been having green smoothies for lunch every day the past few weeks and trying to stock up and freeze as much of you as I can while you're still cheap! I think I have enough?

Dear Student, I realize that I teased you on the first day of class that you should bring in tiramisu for the class since you said it was your specialty. But I never thought that I would walk into class with a large container of it and spoons for everyone. If this is what 'sucking up to the teacher' means, I may start encouraging it more. Dear Zeke, I know you like to pretend you're still a kitten and can fit in tight spots but I think it may be time to give that up.

Dear Bed, I miss you. Let's have a date. Right after I finish a large pizza. A well deserved end to a hectic week. (PS I don't know how all of you out in the 'real world' do it. Real work week hours are the death of me.) Dear Chingus (friends in Korean), I can't wait to try to make this next weekend. Who wouldn't want this for their 20-something birthday party?!

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PS I guest posted over on Meg, Jade, and Harley & Jane's blogs this week. Go check them out and show them some love!

Linking up with Ashley, Jean, Lauren, Kerry, Chrissy

Kate Mack Paris is Haute

If you love travel, fashion and fun... check out these amazing pieces from French Fashion Designer Kate Mack! She's an extraordinary talent with an eye for detail and all things fierce! 

Fashion is not only about looking good or different... it's about showing one's personality, one's identity, your ID! It should never only be a narcissistic reflection. ~Kate Mack