The second day we walk out to the forest at 6.30 with the sun climbing the mountains behind the jungle. The couple mahouts that set out with us are jaunty, easy, and of course, tiny. Tiem, who is responsible forRead more…
a 10-foot golden fire
Immensity of Thai Buddha, coated in gold, crown of fire lit by spot, jeweled coat burning 2 men high. All I see is the platform, its velvet space in the shape of a meditating man, bordered in soft color, twoRead more…
Dogs in the Elephant Village
Every one of us, a dog in the elephant village. Eager to go, to be of use, to be part of the mysterious indigo and grey movements of the day. We scrabble with each other. We lie in the brightRead more…
Thailand Fat Camp
A head 9 feet off the ground, weighing in between 3500 and 4000 kg (which for the English Imperial Measurement victims in the audience, that’s approximately 4.4 tons), your instructor only speaks Thai, has a neck wider than your waist,Read more…
Wat Phra That Lampang Luang
Say that 10 times fast! A long, quiet morning at The Riverside guest house in Lampang. It’s actually beside the river Ping (which also runs through Chiang Mai). The brown expanse of the river, bounded by concrete in a weirdlyRead more…
Si Satchalanai
Off to the ruins at Si Satchalanai. Slightly less ancient and rickety fixed-gear bicycles. Thai guards on a quiet day deeply amused by a gaggle of brightly-colored white people careening through the checkpoint, waving colored tickets. On one side ofRead more…
Sukothai – old and new
New Sukothai is a throbbing, lively place, crushed up against the Yom (?) river. Our guest house compound is Lotus Village. Teak outhouses, a pond with a fountain, ancient-seeming buildings of dark, dark wood, shining in the evening light, carvedRead more…
BLES (Boone Lott Elephant Sanctuary)
I’m not sure what makes the mountains of Thailand. The way they press suddenly up out of the plains, covered in jungle, mounded, broken but unassailably beautiful. The rice paddies are a kind of green to make Ireland sit upRead more…
FAE – Asian Elephant Hospital
Bumping and jostling on roads as wild and bumpy as an elephant’s hide, we arrived in the heat of morning at the Asian Elephant hospital, captained by the redoubtable Dr. Soraida. Sickly her whole life, she had a sympathy withRead more…
Doi Southep – Chiang Mai Mountain Splendor
A singular long avenue in a city that rambles as maybe inner Los Angeles rambles – in dizzying profusion and seemingly without order. Long lovely zigzag road through the sudden jungle and up, up, up with the van swinging andRead more…