I write this from Pai, a mellow colourful town in northern Thailand, where I am sipping on a Chang and waiting to meet up with a new local friend. I've been in this beautiful country for two weeks now and have seen/felt so much already.
When I landed in Bangkok I was utterly exhausted physically and emotionally. I found a park on the chao praya river, laid in the grass and soaked in my surroundings. I took a boat ride (just barely! kept missing it because when the boat comes to a stop, people jump on and off so quickly and the boat is gone again before you know it) to Wat Pho, meandered around Khaosan road and a few markets. I took a bus from Bangkok to pok choy and stayed in At Home Hostel, which I highly recommend to anyone passing through as the couple who runs it is so sweet and helpful. I met new friends to take a tour of Khao Yai national park and was blown away by the beauty and wildlife. We saw monkeys, gibbons, a water monitor (similar to Komodo dragon), a crocodile, snake, hornbills, etc. The next day we had a wine tasting at Gran monte vineyards and caught a bus to Korat, then a 12 hour VIP bus to Chiang Mai, where I departed from the girls and found my next hostel. I wandered around the city and went to the infamous Sunday night market with a girl from my room. Early the next morning I set out to begin the highlight of my trip this far- the Journey to freedom program organized through Elephant Nature Park. This is the most incredible organization that rescues elephants from the tourism and logging industries; they have also rescued horses, cows, water buffalo, and hundreds of dogs and cats. Though the park itself is heavenly with all the animals to love on, I am very grateful that I did the Journey to freedom program, which is an intimate group (there were 7 of us volunteers) near a small Karen village roughly 2 hours from Chiang Mai. Here we stayed in a bamboo hut and got to bond with the 4 elephants they support in the jungle there. Hearing the stories of abuse and hardship the elephants have endured was depressing, but seeing how much joy they had in a natural habitat was heartwarming. Mae Yui had given birth to Mae Bui but they had been separated for years before being reunited again through J2F and now are inseparable. The bonds that the herds form and watching them interact was uplifting. The elephants help each other, remain in close contact, and display affection and joy, much like human families but on a more cohesive scale. We were able to trek with the elephants through the jungle (no riding!!) at the pace they desired (very slow as the elephants eat constantly). Other activities during the week included cutting grass for them with machetes, visiting Mong children at a kindergarten and stopping into the Mae wang village many times to help the youth practice English. During the past couple decades, these nearby villages have gone through dramatic changes. There has been a decrease in forest, as the farmers who previously only farmed for their families, have increased crop production to sell, resulting in cutting down trees for more room to farm. This drive for more money has been influenced by the introduction of television, encouraging people to make more money to consume more goods, but unfortunately the wildlife suffers from it. We learned that the Karen people's values have shifted in thanks to missionaries that have imposed their beliefs on the community. For ages these people worshipped nature and found god in all living things- there was a deep respect and protection for all plant and animal life. However, missionaries arrived, built churches, and told the people that their beliefs were wrong and that there is only one god. Today, roughly half the community is Christian and the other half is Buddhist, and there is less respect for the environment. I feel such sorrow for stories such as these, and anger that people have the audacity to infiltrate foreign land to preach the "truth" of their personal beliefs. Obviously the communities that most missionaries go to are poorer, less educated. Local people encounter these people from wealthy nations and assume that they know/have something that they do not. Less educated people are easier to sway and abandon their traditions and culture for christianity, in hopes of becoming "better". It's tragic that rather than teaching HOW to think, the church teaches them WHAT to think. Now there is trash on ground that was once sacred, and a group of trees that were revered has been cut down. The people are growing crops that aren't native to the land and the animals are loosing their habitat. The journey to freedom program is working with the local people to encourage the growing of coffee beans, which need shade to grow and can be planted under trees so there is no need for deforestation. We spent an afternoon plotting soil for coffee beans and it was most therapeutic. I loved knowing that the money spent for the volunteer program was not only funding elephant care, but was also helping the environment and local people. It was worth every second and every bit of money; I highly recommend it to everyone who gets the opportunity to to go thailand. Elephant nature park also has started programs in Cambodia and Myanmar :) such a blessing that the education is spreading ad with the knowledge comes change!
I will probably spend the next week exploring towns in northern thailand before heading to Myanmar. I feel so blessed to have these experiences and for not wavering when i felt waves of doubt. I can't wait for all that's ahead!!
