Canadian World Traveller Fallr 2016 issue American World Traveler Fall 2016 issue | Page 10

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Our first stop would be the Patara Elephant
Farm, an amazing animal refuge. After
meeting some of the new born elephants, we
chatted with the staff who offered us a little
background through Patara’s mission statement and the story behind the Farm’s creation. We were truly touched by the Farm’s
commitment to helping and rescuing elephants. Their motto is the 4 R’s: Rescue,
Rehabilitate, Recover and Reproduce. This is
their way of insuring a sustainable elephant
population in Thailand.
We were assigned an elephant friend for the
day, and learned how to identify a happy
elephant by its gestures, physical appearance and their features. We then got to feed
our companion sugar canes and bananas
and then pampered him with a brushing and
cleaning. After taking some pictures, we
hopped on our elephants and went on a
small trek into the jungle. An hour later, we
arrived at our destination and enjoyed a
lunch with three different types of rice along
with ripe Thai fruits and freshly grilled meats.
What a wonderful experience!
It would be hard to top the elephant park,
but the next day we drove out to the top of
the mountain in Chiang Mai to visit the
famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple.
Our guide Tong told us the history of this
temple built in 1383, and it is said that a
bone from the Buddha’s shoulder is kept
within the temple. Sacred to many, religious
Buddhists from all over Asia come to the
temple to pay their homage. The temple also
offers a spectacular view of the city.
To top off the day we visited the Tiger
Kingdom, where we had the privilege to take
pictures with the 4 year old giant tigers.
Day 3 started off with a long drive up the
mountain into the jungle to go experience a
once in a lifetime zip lining adventure. We
zipped our way through the 23 different stations, some of which offered a stunning
views of the jungle. Our guides during the
activity kept it entertaining, making us try different body positioning for gliding (all within
the safety guidelines). The activity was followed by a greatly satisfying lunch in the
mountain. We then made our way back to

the city where we would visit one of the
biggest jewelry factories in the world. To finish our journey in Chiang Mai, our guide
recommended we visit the hand-made
umbrella factory which was quite charming,
in its own way.
The following morning, our guides drove us
to the airport where we flew to the beautiful
island of Koh Samui. We met with a representative of Triyaka tours at our hotel, who
gave us our 3 day itinerary for our stay on
this island. First up, we took an early shuttle
bus to the pier, where a boat crew was waiting for us and other guests to begin another
adventure. After a few cold beverages and a
smooth ride we arrived at our first destination, a small bay area between two islands
where there was the perfect spot for some
snorkeling. The coral was as colourful as the
fish as we swam in the warm sea.
The next stop was Mae Koh Island where we
trekked up the mountain. We realised our
climb was worth the effort upon arriving at
the top where a breathtaking view awaited
us. After a quick boat ride took us to another island, lunch was served. After digesting
our scrumptious Thai lunch, we partnered up
and went kayaking. Our guide led the way
while describing the scenery. We paddled
over the crystal blue water, through amazing
cave formations and under wonderful blue
skies…another memorable experience.
After a good night’s rest, we made our way
to a private cooking class at the Samui
Institute of Thai Cooking SITCA. We were
given a cook book that our chef instructor
went through with us to make sure we understood the uniqueness of Thai ingredients.
This would help us comprehend the nature of
our flavorful concoctions. On the menu were
traditional deep fried spring rolls, massaman
curry chicken and spicy prawn salad. She
walked us through all the steps from preparing our ingredients and grinding our spices
to garnishing our creations to complete our
dishes. The final result was as pretty a