Our last day in Thailand! Got up at 5:30 (actually 3:45 when the rooster outside our window began crowing)! We headed back into jungle to pick up our elephants. It was about a 30 minute walk - very beautiful early sunrise. The elephants were happy and excited when we got them. We all got back on ( very sore thighs) and rode them back down to the arena after we stopped and bathed them in river. This time I didn't get in because it was cold! We took them back and h...

What can I say? We checked out of hotel on Lampang and rode 45 minutes in back of Yoyo's open air taxi to the elephant conservatory. As soon as we got here and checked into our grass hut we put on our official mahout suits and headed to the elephants. Within minutes of our orientation we were on the elephants. The first time was literally terrifying but I got the hang of it quickly. My elephant is still a baby only 6 years old and his name is AI which stands for ...

Mark and I started the day by going to the Coffee Seed for our Americano coffee. We have been every day this trip & love the girl that works there. Then we left with Boots to the local tennis center to donate all the racquets that our friends in Tyler, Texas donated. The coach was so appreciative he actually cried. Next year we want to get him a stringer so they can string their own racquets. It's amazing what a difference things we normally throw away can do...

The last two days we have covered so much territory I don't even know where to begin. We started out Saturday morning at 6 am in a nice van to head to northern Thailand province of Chiang Rai. We stopped along the way at several temples -one was Wat Rong Khun which is all all white temple covered in millions of pieces of glass which makes its look like ice. I will post some photos soon because I really cannot describe it. We made a couple of other stops before re...

Today we officially finished the habitat house! We mortared the last brick in place around noon. All that is left to do is finish digging the septic tank hole and some clean up. After lunch today we drove to the local elementary school where they welcomed us with a program of traditional dance and music. We then entertained them with things we had brought. Mark threw balls and played catch with them and then we did the Hokey Pokey which they loved! Then we spli...