Thoughts of Umbrella Days. . . . . . .

While gazing out the window this morning I was thinking about the sopping wet
 weather we've had this week. Three straight days of rain falling, unusual for this
 area, a slow moving farewell from tropical storm Arthur.
I didn't need my umbrella though as I didn't go out of the house. . . . . except to
slosh around in the soggy garden now and then. All this thinking took me back
 to places in the world where umbrellas played

 a memorable part whilst sightseeing. 

Here are a few that come to mind as I enjoy a sunny morning again.

My photo from that special morning at Monet's garden in Giverny, France.

My art version of the gorgeous Claude Monet paintings reproduced on the umbrellas

 for sale at the gift shop in his gardens.

Handmade umbrellas waiting to dry before decorative painting - Chiang Mai, Thailand 2011

. . . . . . . and me among the painted umbrellas outside the shop.

First morning in Moscow, heavy rain whilst crossing waterlogged Red Square - 2013
Dreary and foreboding - thankfully the following day the sun came out.

The steady rain of 'the wet' season bringing to life the ancient colors of ancient
Hue, Vietnam. 

More of historic Hue, Vietnam in 2011

Rainy day - plenty of umbrellas and plastic rainwear available!
Beautiful colors of very old buildings - hang the red lantern!
Hoi An, Vietnam - 2011. A beautiful place.

Hope your Memorial Day weekend is dry, bright and sunny.
Not going far from home but will probably grill something or other........as that's
what we do, right?

Stay well - be safe.

Ride 'em buffalo girls...............

More riding lessons in lovely Thailand, and not on an elephant this time!  
Can you believe the crazy things best friend Paula gets me up to when we're traveling together!

Let me introduce you to Mr. TONG, a 5 year old (a teen in buffalo years) albino water buffalo. According to his 'valet' he has strong leadership skills and is always eager to learn new things.........hopefully transporting silly tourists is on his favorites list!

"Giddy up" Mr. Tong...............it was awesome, and much closer to the ground than way up on my sweet but huge elephant Mokasoup, view here and here.

This view, from our suite, is of the spectacular rice paddies of The Four Seasons Resort in Chiang Mai, where these water buffaloes work. Staggered planting allows visitors to see rice in all its growth phases. The rice is also planted further apart to enable appreciation of the stunning sunsets reflected in the watery fields.


The harvested rice is donated to local Hill Tribe villagers through the assistance of Prince Bhisadej Rajani. This Royal Project, initiated by the King of Thailand, is to motivate farmers to grow vegetables, fruit and flowers, or produce handicrafts, rather than continue in the now diminishing opium trade which has been largely eradicated since the inception of this project.

This is the usual coloring for a water buffalo - he is named Mr. Thae and is the baby of the group. Although young, we learned the lady buffaloes pay a lot of attention to him because of his good looks. Just something special about those younger guys!

Paula on Mr. Tong............she actually rode him on our very first morning at The Four Seasons. I admit I was a bit nervous about hopping on. Can you blame me, it was my first close encounter with these big 'ole guys.  Several days later, after conquering the heights of elephant riding, I was brave enough to try just about anything!

A buffalo talisman purchased at the Buddhist temple Wat Doi Suthep on the side of a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. This one I brought back for a special boy I know - he loves zebras but I think he may just like water buffaloes too!

Daily Job Description for The Four Seasons Water Buffaloes -

•   8:00 am        Start work
•   8:30 am        First bath by the buffalo butler
•   9:00 am        Tour around the Resort to greet/socialize with guests
• 11:00 am        Nibble grass near the rice barn
• 12:00 pm        Lunch (2 baskets of delicious grass)
•   1:00 pm        Work in the rice paddies
•   3:00 pm        Second bath by the buffalo butler
•   4:30 pm        Second tour around the Resort
•   5:00 pm        Finish work and go home to rest/relax

Sounds like a great life to me!

Riding lessons.............Part I

Hope you're ready for this post.  Caution: graphic images of crazy women riding bareback!  

I promised to share with you the rudiments of bareback elephant riding.  No sissy, comfy howdah chairs for Paula and me in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  No climbing aboard mile high pachyderms via platforms.  We opted for the real thing - a day at Patara, a working elephant farm where we 'owned' our elephant for the entire day and miraculously lived to tell about it! You will laugh........elephant riding is definitely less elegant than horseback riding, no butt-snug jodhpurs and polished to a shine riding boots, and whispering "giddy up" into one of those huge ears doesn't move one of these beauties.

First, I was thrilled to meet my elephant's 4 month old grandson................the most adorable little guy who loved being around people. There were several babies, and many females were pregnant. Patara's breeding program has been very successful and they have not lost an elephant in 10 years. It was easy to see this farm is dedicated to saving and raising healthy elephants - there are NO circus acts or performing of any kind.

It was an amazing feeling to be able to cuddle up on a baby elephant.

 My elephant was named Mokasuop and her mahout was Theo who had worked with elephants at the farm for 4 years.

Preparing Mokasuop's snack of bananas and sugarcane treats.

Before sharing all that elephant love, we were shown how to feed our elephant.......they are eating machines and keep going all day long until they've consumed about 300 lbs of vegetarian deliciousness.  This made me feel exceptionally close to Mokasuop, my lovely gal being vegetarian like me, and even helped when it came time to do her daily 'health check' which included squeezing her fresh poop to make sure she wasn't dehydrated.  I could not have done that part if she was a carnivore!

Brushing vigorously to remove grit, accumulated during the night sleeping on the ground, from an elephant's hairy skin, is necessary before bathing - however balancing on rocks to reach her back was not easy.

Mokasuop's daily bath I left to my mahout......I did not have a swimsuit or change of clothes.....and to be honest I was more afraid of leeches, and other nasties possibly lurking in the muddy waters, than getting wet.

Getting ready to ride a squeaky clean elephant.

Traditional 'mahout' garb

To prevent chafed legs - elephants are wiry creatures - we added the loose 'fisherman's pant' to our traditional woven cotton tops, over our regular clothes, kicked off our footwear, and whoopee, it was time to get on our elephant. 

Now these are not pretty pictures coming up. Remember no steps, no stirrups, no cranes!  There are three ways to mount an elephant -

• Have it pick you up with its trunk and deposit you gently on its back.......only thing is you end up facing backward and then have to turn around which is quite difficult. 
• Give the command for your elephant to lift its front leg, climb onto its raised foot and clamber up the leg.  I may have chosen that way, but for some reason I never could determine, mine wouldn't do this one.
• What sounded best to us was have our elephant lay down and climb aboard.  Sounds simple but isn't.  An elephant on the ground is still huge - tall and wide - and as soon as you're halfway on they start to get up before you can even get your leg over! 

The rope was not much help, in fact I found it a hindrance because..............

.............the rather large knot got caught between my legs making it really difficult to pull myself up to sweet Mokasuop's bristly, knobby head!  Altogether I was a sight to behold and can only caption this photo with the words, "Hail Mary, full of grace"........and, because I refuse to be the only foolish looking first time elephant rider, here's Paula, my cohort in crime, looking just as silly.  How we laugh at ourselves now watching the video version on the DVD we were given at the end of the day!!!

 So here I am at last, up on squeaky clean Mokasoup's very wide neck, knees bent to grip, bare feet behind her ears to steer, ready to ride.  

What was it like, how did I do?  

TO BE CONTINUED:  Come back for the rest of the story.......a rocky ride to the waterfall, and a delicious picnic.

*************

Meanwhile, here's to the New Year......may 2012 be one of good health, great happiness, and many blessings for each one of you, my dear readers.

The view from an elephant..........

.................is amazing, and your thighs and shoulders will remind you of the exhilarating ride for several days!

Getting to know Mokasuop, my elephant for the the day at Patara Elephant Farm near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.....

.......and her four month old grandson, the sweetest little guy.

There will be plenty more elephant pics later........

.....until then, rest assured, it's one heck of a big animal to get on, it's a long way down...........and only a short distance before your thighs are screaming. I warn you, upcoming elephant riding pics of Paula and I will be graphic!!!!!


I'm in Saigon right now...........another amazing place.

Colors of Chiang Mai..................

..............lots of stories later!

View from our suite across the rice paddies at the Four Seasons Resort & Spa.

Tomorrow the King of Thailand celebrates his 84th Birthday..........a huge celebration throughout the kingdom.

It's all just breathtaking.........I'm so looking forward to sharing my trip once home again.


Today, the thrill of riding elephants.....tomorrow we may be unable to walk!!!