Back in Chiang Mai

Tuesday was a public holiday here in Hong Kong (Mid-Autumn Festival) so we took advantage of it and escaped the concrete jungle for a long weekend in Chiang Mai,Thailand with nothing planned except to relax,  get Thai massages and eat good Thai food. 

On a previous trip to Chiang Mai numerous people had recommended the Patara day tour with elephants. We were slightly skeptical as we have been on elephant tours before albeit in Bali, Phuket, and India - but this was by far our most authentic (and hands on!) elephant experience. Other tours were just for a quick ride on a saddle with a guide riding on the elephant's head. Patara is a great organization which rescues and rehabilitates elephants. They currently house over 50. The Patara trainers live onsite to provide plenty of attention to their animals and their love for these elephants really shows.

Our day started with a car ride deep into the mountains, then going up a dirt road where we passed numerous sugar cane fields. Once we reached the clearings, we caught our first glimpse of our huge hosts. There were a few very young elephants and their moms eating sugarcane. We were introduced to one of the moms and she greeted us with a big snout kiss on the cheek. After everyone arrived we then went down to the staging area,  signed a bunch of forms and then they assigned us each elephants based on our personalties...they gave me the largest male which was a bit concerning to say the least. 

Our briefing started with a few commands (in Thai!) on how to feed the elephants and how to perform a daily health check. As the demo was going on one of the elephants began rocking back and forth like he knew what was next.. feeding time.. check out the background in Melissa's video above. The health check was simple enough except for the checking of the poop. By checking the poop you can tell the health and age of the elephant, I was very lucky as mine didn't have to go. Next it was time to give them a quick brush and rinse off. 

With the elephants clean, we were then ready for our ride. We were shown a few ways to get on top, but without a platform, none were that easy but we both made it.

Needless to say that photo above was the only time I was not holding on for dear life as it was pretty far to fall. With no saddle and just a rope on the back to hold on to, it was a bit hairy once we started going down hill - it was so steep at some points you had to lean back to balance yourself. I could hear Melissa sweet talking her elephant the entire ride - "good girl Meikwan (her elephant's name), good girl." Every few minutes my elephant would go off the trail to get some food and the trainer who was walking alongside us would need to get him back on track but he would let out his displeasure with a loud noise...riding on top of him, I was a bit concerned every time this happened. The baby elephants came with us on our trek but made their own trail breaking small trees and sliding down hills, just like any juvenile child - getting into trouble everywhere!

After our 1.5 hour ride we finally arrived at the waterfall. We were given a a quick demo on how to clean the elephants and then we got to work.

After washing their sides in the shallow water, we took them to the deeper water and hopped on top to clean their backs. With all the chores done it was then time to play with the elephants. We jumped off their backs and wrestled with the baby elephants who were having at least as much fun - if not more than we were. It was a truly incredible experience and a day that we won't soon forget!

Our Day with the Devil

Our last full day in Tasmania we went on a tour to visit some Tasmanian devils and a stop in historic Richmond village on the way back to Hobart. 

Just a short 30 minutes drive out of the city we arrived at Bonorong Wildlife Reserve. Bonorong is a well respected animal rescue sanctuary for many of Australia's endangered animals including wombats and Tasmanian devils. They are also home to koalas, snakes, lizards and kangaroos. The grounds are absolutely breathtaking - beautiful and the surrounding scenery is equally as stunning. However, your attention quickly shifts from the scenery to Bonorong's little residents. 

When walking through the front gate each guest is handed a bag of kangaroo treats and man do the kangaroos know it! The brown paper bag makes a noise when you shake it and it is like ringing the dinner bell for the kangaroos. Watching them jump all the way across the field to you, it is impossible not to smile. 

First, the guide showed us a wallaby. Then, we were introduced to the tasmanian devil and got to see a feeding. As the devil's jaws are extremely strong and can easily chomp through bone, it was highly recommended that we keep our hands out of reach from these little devils.

Before we left Bonorong, we had some time to spend with the kangaroos. Melissa is generally not fond of critters and the kangaroo is no exception, but she did finally find an unintimidating juvenile to hand feed.

If you take a close look at the one I am feeding, you can see she had a joey in her pouch.

Before we headed back to Hobart we stopped at Richmond which is a small picturesque village outside of the city. The village's claim to fame is its bridge which is the oldest bridge in Australia which is still in use. This bridge like many things in Hobart was built with convict labor. It was kind of strange as they kept pointing that out - guess that is better than today where everything is made in China? Before we left Richmond, we stopped at a  nice cafe where I had an authentic Australian meat pie and sausage roll.

Hop On Hobart!

Our first evening in Hobart (Australia), we headed straight for Salamanca which is an area with a lot of small bars and restaurants. We had some Greek seafood our first night - the grilled octopus was amazing, I'm still talking about it!

Hobart happens to have a Hop on Hop off bus, yes A as in ONE bus. Oh well, we didn't get off as the city is small enough that you can walk pretty much anywhere you want to go. It was a nice and sunny day, but brrrrrr it was cold - never the less we sucked it up on the upper deck - go big or go home. 

We arranged a shuttle to Mt. Wellington after the bus's first round was complete. Luckily we arrived a bit early and had time to head over to the pier for some fresh calamari and chips for lunch. The ride up to the top of Mt. Wellington was on a long and windy road. Once we got to the top, we had some spectacular views of the entire city and the Southern Ocean. After taking a few photos, we headed to the indoor observation deck because with the wind it was bitterly cold up there!

For dinner we were looking for fresh local seafood and found a great place on Trip Advisor - the Drunken Admiral. We couldn't make up our minds on what to get so we ended up ordering a few different things off the appetizer menu.  The steamed mussels were our favorite! We also found a great local apple cider beer which Melissa even liked.

Our last morning we were very excited to head down to Australia's biggest outdoor market - Salamanca! The Salamanca market has hundreds of stalls and we headed down there with an empty stomach and boy was that a good move. Melissa quickly found the crepe stand and ordered a banana and Nutella crepe. The stalls had everything from Tasmanian wood  and wool products to vegetable stands. It was a great way to spend a morning.  

Before we headed off to the airport we went back to a really great pizza place we had found, also in Salamanca. We ordered the margarita pizza and then added octopus, shrimp, mussels, and anchovies (just for me), yum! 

4 Stops to New Caledonia

Last week we went to Noumea, New Caledonia for a few days, then stopped over in southern Australia on our way back to Hong Kong. Upon checking in for our flights in Hong Kong, Melissa got a rude awakening while checking out the baggage tags. She inquired as to why we had two baggage tags and was informed that they can only put three stops per tag, needless to say Melissa was not amused, but it wasn't all bad as we were in business class for most of the 4 segments. 

After four flights we finally arrived in Noumea! As soon as we stepped out of the airport terminal we were shocked with the beautiful scenery surrounding us with green mountains and pine trees - definitely not what we were expecting. On the hour drive from the airport to the hotel, with its towering mountain peaks, we thought we were in Kauai again. The hotel room was okay, but wow- the private balcony was bigger than our room - very cool!

It seemed like every sunset in Noumea was absolutely perfect! Our first day we walked along the various beaches, but were severely disappointed as all the stores and a few of the restaurants were closed.. it was....Sunday. New Caledonia has a strong French influence, and like those French, these people don't like to work either. We found a cafe open along the beach and I ordered the Parisian baguette sandwich, but when I got it, I was shocked.. I didn't think I ordered the entire baguette!

Certain beaches were protected from the wind, but the ones close to the hotel were on the windward side of the island and received a constant and strong wind. The conditions were perfect for the windsurfers and kite boarders and the beach was packed with them. 

 

Our last full day we went to the lobby to book Noumea's version of the hop on hop off bus, but were severely disappointed to find out it doesn't run on Mondays. Oh well, we went took the public bus to the town center for a walk about instead.

I am always on the look out for tikis to add to my collection and this particular tiki was everywhere! So naturally I had to have it. I took a photo of it and took it around to all the craft shops, but no luck. On our last day heading back to the hotel long after having given up on my tiki hunt we randomly stumbled across a store that had my tiki - victory!

After some shopping we picked up a panini (to share!) and found a ocean front park bench -  cheap meal with great view... perfect!

Our last evening we went to a restaurant we passed every day and were intrigued by its name Stone Grill. Yes, it is pretty self explanatory but it was a really unique cooking/eating experience which was perfect for our last night. Melissa went with the seafood which had tuna steak, salmon, shrimp and scallops.

One Morning in Manila

China/Burma/India Theater 1942-1945

We had an evening flight on Sunday which gave us enough time to take a Manila city tour that morning. Our first stop was the American Cemetery and Memorial. The memorial is a beautiful 152 acres in the center of downtown Manila. There are over 17,000 marble headstones of known and unknown soldiers and a memorial for over 36,000 missing American and Filipino soldiers who died during World War II from different campaigns. It has the largest number of graves of any cemetery for US personnel killed during World War II. Our guide told us that the Philippine Government gave the land to the US and that the grass was flown in from the US. The memorial has detailed murals of the Pacific campaign and large marble slabs with the names of the Americans that are buried there. 

Our next stop was the Walled City of Intramuros, Fort Santiago and the beautiful Spanish gardens that surround it. The fort was constructed in 1663 and gave us a feeling like we were in Spain. 

St. Augustine Church was our last stop of the day. This old church has been rebuilt 3 times due to fire and war, but the original building was complete in 1607. If you look closeley at the ceiling it looks like it is carved, but infact is just painted to look 3D.