Happy Elephants in Thailand

Happy Elephants in Thailand

When I heard you could hang out with elephants in Thailand, I admit I was hesitant. I’d heard stories of animal abuse – drugged tigers you could pet, and overworked elephants carrying tourists around and around on their backs. But then someone told me about Happy Elephant Home, a rescue refuge that takes elephants out of hard labor and gives them a life of supposed relative ease, And I have to admit, they look pretty happy! A young...

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Living Like the Locals in Thailand

Living Like the Locals in Thailand

Udonthani, like most of Thailand, is a blend of old and new, low tech and high tech… …local market and super market. What’s it like to live like a local in Thailand? I was lucky enough to find out, thanks to a connection made by another Travel Angel, my friend Lee in California, who introduced me via email to what turned out to be two more Travel Angels, Paul and Joi. They live in Udonthani, which is a fairly big city in the...

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Thailand Island Paradise – Bottle Beach

Thailand Island Paradise – Bottle Beach

Paradise can be had for a song in Thailand, just head south… After 10 days at a bare-bones silent meditation retreat, I needed to recover, meaning a beach, a cold beer and a hammock! Sabine, a woman from Germany that I met at the retreat, had reserved a little island bungalow on Koh Phangan for $16 a night and invited me to share for a few nights. $8 a night for paradise, how could I turn that down?! Having heard about the wild full and...

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10 Days of Silence in Thailand, Part 1

10 Days of Silence in Thailand, Part 1

Suan Mokkh Monastery Retreat, Day 1 Imagine waking up to the sound of a bell at 4am, not a jarring bell, but a beautiful melodic one, gentle but insistent. You wonder where you are. Your wooden pillow & straw mat in a cement room are good reminders that you are at Suan Mokkh Monastery in southern Thailand. You shine your flashlight out of your white veil of mosquito netting, scanning the floor for spiders before you set foot on the cool...

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Welcome to Thailand – Hua Hin

Welcome to Thailand – Hua Hin

Heading to Hua Hin, in Southern Thailand… After traveling in English speaking countries, it can be a bit of culture shock to find yourself in a huge airport in Bangkok, where you don’t understand most of the conversations around you! But never fear, Thailand is exotic but also very tourist friendly, and many people speak at least some English, especially those in tourist-related jobs. The kind young clerk at the money exchange wrote...

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