Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

Hi a lot of jealous people,
Four days ago we went to pat tigers at a place called The Tiger Kingdom. My sister and I could only pat the smallest size (3 or 4 months) because otherwise we would get eaten alive by tigers (interesting experience it would be).When Mima and I patted the small size we realised the fur is like a cheetahs and the black fur is softer than the orange fur.

"Can I get one of these?"

Mom and Dad patted the biggest type as well as the smallest one. When they patted the biggest size tiger, we sat outside and watched a tiger that was in a napping cage. Her name was Summer flower. She was a year and a half old and she kept jumping at the fence trying to eat us. Even a 3 month old was eyeing Mima. Summer Flower was watching a chubby guy in a blue shirt who was crouching down and watching her. When he got up to leave, Summer Flower was jumping at the fence with her claws out.

"Always watching"

The Tigers have a trick that they do when they hunt. They walk back and forth (pacing) as after a while as you watch them you feel queasy. Summer Flower was doing this to Mima and I and then it walked up to a different napping cage behind us and started to stalk us. CREEPY! When the tigers get to the age of two they get too aggressive and strong so they put them in a different cage and will sell them to zoos. They had one ten year old male tiger which we think they use for mating.

Just yawning - phew!

The tigers were one of my Chiang Mai highlights.

Bye, Mattias

photos coming.....

Two T's (one for Trek and one for Tigers)

Hello everyone!
We are in Chiang Mai Thailand (pronounced Chang My.) Yesterday we came back from a three day trek. The activities we did are visiting a longneck tribe, elephant riding, white water rafting, hiking in the mountains and alongside a river, and bamboo rafting!!! My favorite part was white water rafting because you get splashed a lot and it's really fun when you go down gigantic rapids!!!!!! Me and Tias didn't paddle though, we just HELD ON for our lives!!!!!!!!!! We couldn't bring our camera white water rafting or bamboo rafting so we have no photos of that.

About 14 years of 'stretching' to go

Time for a swim

Tiger part now.
Before we left for our trek we went to the Tiger Kingdom. It is where visitors/tourists can pat tigers. Me and Mattias, since we are kids, were only allowed to pat the smallest tigers. Not the small ones, not the medium ones, not the largest but only the smallest. It was very cool. We figured out that the tigers' black fur, like cheetas, is softer than the tawny fur around the stripes.

On the prowl

Being in Chiang Mai has been really awesomely cool.

From,
 Emilia

Chiang Mai

Today we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand, it is our 2nd full day here and I love it. Tomorrow we will go to pat tigers, I am very excited! 2 days ago we flew in from Luang Prabang, Laos and got a Tuk Tuk to the M.D. House which is where we are staying. The M.D.House is very fun it has a swimming pool, wifi, a gym and a computer room! We met another family from Canada staying here. They have two boys and one girl. The youngest boy is 6 and his name is Alex. The older boy is 8 and his name is Mathias (cool name!). Alex seems 8 and Mathias seems 10.  The girl is 9 and her name is Mayelle. They are from Quebec and are also traveling around the world for a year. Last night we all went to McDonalds for ice cream and I realised it was my first time ever in a McDonalds and it was on the other side of the world. We got to go to get some calcium! It is really fun to have some kids that are our age to throw balls at and to have balls thrown at by. We'll have two more days of ball throwing and fun with them.

In two days we will go on a three day trek to the jungle and the hill tribes. I am looking forward to it and can't wait to see the longneck hill tribes. My favourite part that I am most looking forward to is the bamboo rafting.

See I told you I'd write another blog soon.  Bye,

Mattias

Elee-phants!

Hi,

Three days ago it was my birthday. I'm 8.  For my birthday we went elephant riding at an elephant rehabilitation centre. First, we helped bathe the elephants. We were on top of the elephant bareback scrubbing it down with brushes.  I love the feel of their thick leathery, rubbery, bumpy skin. But I don't like their thin wirey hair.

Then we rode the elephant.  My elephant was named Sri Nuan. Most of the ride we had to ride on the benches on our two elephants, but for a bit near the end Tias and I got to ride on the neck. Then we fed the elephants. We fed them bananas and I patted their trunks many times. Then we went back to the hotel and to my surprise, there was chocolate cake and flowers waiting for me, Mom, Dad and Tias. It was an awesome birthday.

Emilia

GALOOMP GALOOMP SPLISH SPLASH

Hi everybody,
On my sister's b-day we went elephant ridding! My elephant's name was Kalamae, she was 14 and very naughty.  Dad and I rode on Kalamae. I got to ride on the bench and on her neck! When we were walking with the elephants, my elephant kept stopping and wandering away to find all the food she could.

After we did the walk we fed the elephants bananas as a treat. They were so greedy that when you gave them the banana, they would rip it right out of your hands. Did you know that the elephant has two nostrils like you and I do? Also when were feeding them, Kalamae sneezed on my leg (That's a once in a lifetime experience!). When we were feeding them you could get really close and hug their trunk and look in their mouth.  The two things that I did that were really fun when we were feeding them were touching their smooth ivory tusk and kissing the elephant.

Before we rode and fed the elephants, we helped bath them. You took a brush, went in the water with the elephant, and scratched them all over. Since the elephant is so big, they would make the elephant sit in the water and every now and then they would make the elephant lie right down under the water.  They would say, "Elephant diving elephant diving".

Bye for now
Mattias

ps. the place we went was an elephant rehabilitation centre.

Memories of days / years gone by

I really wasn't sure what to expect coming to Thailand. I had my 20 year old memories of hating the heat, smog and hustle of Bangkok and the fond memories of quiet southern Thailand beaches and rural life of the north. Thailand has changed, but what it has to offer hasn't.

Bangkok has been pleasantly surprising. The hostels offer air con and heated showers(not that you need hot water here), the air is clearer, the people friendly, the sites still amazing and a general safe feeling (knowing of course that scamers are everywhere-but that seems true of everywhere anyone travels these days). Major changes in Bangkok- Khoa San Rd, the alternative and ultimate hippie hang out and hostel area has grown up/gentrified - For better or worse....it has a Starbucks. I think that says it all! Not quite so alternative anymore. Taxis are metered (good if you can get the driver to turn it on). There is a sky train. Road signs are in English and Thai (making finding your way around a lot easier). Travellers Cheques are passé. Travelers and tourists of all types are everywhere. Getting around is easy. Long distance buses are on time, comfy(relatively speaking) and easy to figure out.

In the south, the beaches are still amazing. The difference, they are far more built up. In fact the bungalows of days gone by were mostly wiped out by the tsunami and replaced with cottages out of our budget range. We, however, were able to find one beach not quite resort only and with a five minute walk one is able to leave the crowds behind. Tomorrow we head for a new area, the latest upcoming area, Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand, and we hope to get to it before it has really exploded. Fingers crossed.

The North will have to wait a few weeks, until we have been through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Well, we hope Cambodia....we will wait to see what happens on the borders there. A bit volatile to say the least, but seems to be pretty local.

B Power

Hello!
We are in Bangkok, Thailand at the moment. We flew in yesterday on an eleven hour flight, repeat, eleven hour flight. It was an overnight plane on Thai Airways. Thai Airways is a really nice airway.

First B part - Bangkok
Today since I was so tired from our flight, I slept until 11:30am. Then we had breakfast and headed out. We took a tuk tuk to the river pier to take the ferry across. Across the river, we went to see the Temple of Dawn. At the Temple of Dawn we went up the outside of the tower. We went up the biggest one. The Temple of Dawn is a series of temples. The steps were really really steep so I had to climb them like a ladder. Each step was about one foot high. After that we took the ferry back to the other side and walked to see the Reclining Buddah. The reclining buddah is very, very, very, very big. It's huge, Ginourmous! The pupil was about the size of my head and the nose was as big as my body stretched out with my arms above my head and on tip toes. It was pretty beautiful. Then we explored a bit and took a tuk tuk back.

Photo by Emilia

Photo by Emilia

Tuk tuks are little taxi things that have three wheels. They're crazy. They are crazy because they take so sharp corners they almost tip right over. They are meant to take three people, driver and two passengers that are in the back but we managed to fit 5. The four of us squished in the back and the driver in the front.

The proof is in the side mirrors

Second B part - Birthday
My birthday is coming up in 2 weeks! I'll be turning 8 while we are still in Thailand. We will be on an island in Thailand called Koh Chang and will probably go elephant riding NEAR the beach. I am very excited.

Bye,
From Emilia