Nathan Sticky Waterfall story
The Sticky Waterfalls sounds awesome so did the Umbrella-Making Center. We only had one day left and we had to make a decision. We decided to go to the Sticky Waterfalls because they had better reviews and it sounded really fun. We asked the receptionist at our hotel to call us a red truck (a red truck is like a taxi but you sit in the back). It took one hour to get to the Sticky Waterfalls but it was worth it.
There were three stories we went down to the first story. When we got to the bottom, it was 300 m of waterfall to climb to the top.
When we started to climb the waterfall, Jaxon and Quinn went far ahead but we forgot the shoes at the bottom. So we stopped on the second floor and had to go back down to get the shoes. Climbing was much harder carrying the shoes.
The reason they call them Sticky Waterfalls is because they are sticky. Our bare feet could grip in the stones but the closer we got to the top they started to get slippery. When we were getting closer to the top, some bugs started to swarm, so my dad said, "Go by quickly." Therefore, I went super fast so the bugs would not get me. At the very top, it was super slippery. I almost slipped and fell down to the bottom.
After that we saw some catfish, there was 35. The space for the fish was 5 by 10 meters and 3 feet deep. Some of the catfish were about two feet long. We fed them some Pringles and Quinn got some pictures with his GoPro.
This was an experience that I’ll never forget. It was worth the hour ride there and the hour ride back.
Jaxon’s Cooking Class Story
Stomp, I got into the back of the truck. I was so excited. We finally got to the cooking class. The food smelled delightful. We met our tour guide, Apple. The first thing we did was pick out our food.
We started to cook our food. It smelled really good. I cooked chicken coconut curry, fried big noodles, yellow curry, and sticky coconut mango rice. I first cooked chicken coconut curry.
When I was cooking my food I said, “mm that smells good”. After I cooked my food, I would eat it. My dad said, “That looks good Jaxon”.
Now it is time to cook yellow curry. Smash, smash, I was pounding the curry paste. It was really hard and took a long time. My instructor told me not to touch my eyes and to wash my hands because it was spicy.
On our cooking class, this lady picked a really spicy curry. When she was cooking her dish, Quinn couldn’t breath it was soo spicy. And when I was cooking I was so hot I was boiling. (Standing in front of the fire). Here is a video of me cooking.
My curry looked really good but we couldn’t eat it because we had to cook dessert first. Cooking dessert was easy. Now I could eat. It was really good and dessert was even better.
I said, “I hope tomorrow is as good as today”.
Don’t Ride the Elephant
Just imagine how incredible it would be to touch massive 9 foot tall, 4 ton beautiful creatures. Some people come to Thailand to ride the elephants, which seems cool and fun. However there’s a dark side to elephant touristic activities that many people just don’t seem to know of.
Wild elephants won’t let humans ride on top of them. So in order to tame a wild elephant, it is tortured as a baby to completely break its spirit. The process is called Phajaan, or “the crush”.
It involves ripping baby elephants away from their mothers and tying them up so that they’re unable to move. Some baby elephants are born into the circus by forced breeding.
The baby elephants are beaten with clubs, sharp hooks and have no food and little sleep for many days.
A small group is trying to stop them. Elephant Nature Park (ENP) is a natural sanctuary about a one-hour away from Chiang Mai. Their mission is to protect & care for mistreated elephants rescued from tourism activities like riding and street begging, they also rescue elephants from logging and circus industries. They usually buy the elephants and take care of them.
There are 63 elephants right now that call Elephant Nature Park their friendly home. They all have stories.
Not all elephants came to ENP because they are mistreated. In 2011, ENP was called to Pornsawan’s rescue. An elephant had been terribly injured by a land mine explosive. The poor elephant was only 18 and elephants can live to 80. She was walking in the deep jungle while doing her work. (She was trained with treats not torture.) The land mine blew her foot apart.
This poor elephant was in the hospital for more then two years but it paid off. Pornsawn today has mostly healed from her injury. She is now a super nanny for another elephant’s baby. She did this all her own.
If you want to come and volunteer at this lovely place, you can for only $400 US for 7 days.
By Quinn