ELEPHANT CAMP

The elephant ride was the high point of our tour. We walked into the camp in awe of these intelligent, marvelous creatures who can weigh up to 4,000 Kilograms. The first thing that greets you is a stand where you can buy bananas and sugar cane sticks to feed them as you walk around and see all of the elephants. Notice the bananas hiding in my pocket as the elephant promptly put a hat on my head so I would give her a treat. Most elephants in Thailand are domesticated since there are approximately 3,000 elephants in camps and only habitat enough for 300 in the wild. (It is against the law to capture a wild elephant.)
Each elephant has a mahout and a keeper. When a mahout grows old, his son often takes his place so the elephant has a human family in which he/she places trust for life. If the elephant changes owners, the mahout typically goes with the elephant. They can work until they are 40. They live to be 50-60 years old.
We road out into the jungle and crossed the river a couple times. The elephant babies cavort and play along with the working adults as we rode along. At several stands on the trail, the elephants get a snack. They are gentle, well trained and well cared for just as we care for our working horses. The Thai government inspects the elephant camps and the Thais are proud of their elephant heritage which is long, enduring and colorful.

The elephant can easily carry 150 kilograms on his neck and 600 kilograms on his back. (100 Kilograms equals about 220 pounds.) Even so, I was worried about that when Mason and I were riding our beast. The trunk has 40,000 muscles with no bone. The trunk can perform quite delicate tasks but is powerful enough to lift 800 kilograms. Whew! Now, that is one powerful beast. They are amazingly good natured and take to domestication quite easily.
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From the camp, we loaded onto bamboo rafts for a trip down the Ping River. On the way, we saw many elephant camps. They hug the Ping because the elephants need much water and green food. Many camps are small with just a handful of elephants.
The ride was refreshing and our pilots allowed each of us to pole the raft. The Ping is shallow at this time of year, a gentle, pleasant float.
After lunch, we visited a farmer who grows tea and herbs. We tasted several interesting cold tea drinks with unusual flavors added. One tasted like peach, another, turmeric tea, was gritty and slightly bitter. His specialty is growing herbs and we walked through his garden where the cooking and medicinal herbs had name tags for our benefit. From the farmers pier we loaded into a long boat for our "dynamite" tour. The dynamite was an all you can drink rum and juice drink with sweet snacks. Salty snacks are rare here.
It was such a perfect day and then, we disembarked in the dark at this ancient temple. Panu asked us if we wanted to send away bad luck in a paper balloon like the Thais do?
We divided into groups and held what looked like a white paper lamp shade about the size of an oil drum in diameter, three feet high, with a top. The bottom struts held a "tuna" can full of wax. The wax is lit, the balloon fills with heated air until it is hard to hold. Then we let it fly and watched as it went up, and up and up and away with our bad luck. It was magical.

GOOD THINGS HAPPEN

"'Behind the cold, cold walls of a prison,
racked with pain and sorrow I lay,
without the love of my sweetheart,
no letter, nothing at all."
I can't remember the exact words of that song in any order, just snatches and bits of lines sung by Rex Allen. The small town of Wilcox, AZ has a Rex Allen museum. The museum curator had never heard of it. It was the only record a family I babysat for in 1949 owned. I played it over and over again. I hadn't seen but one or two movies at that point in my life, so I had no idea what a huge star Rex Allen was. In this town, he is still a star, their favorite son. Born and raised in Willcox, Dec. 31st, 1920, he never forgot his humble beginnings and did well by his hometown. He honored and respected his neighbors; built the town a hospital; inspired children and did many charitable things for a lot of people.

Fancy clothes were part of the business of being a singing cowboy and movie star. But, he was a real cowpuncher who knew how to ride and brand cattle. He didn't let fame affect him. He stayed married to his wife, and didn't have a dozen affairs.
He is buried on the main street of Wilcox with his favorite horse, Koko.
We pressed on to Demming, NM, spent a night and moved six miles south of Demming yesterday. Good things happen. I ran into a great gal I met last year on the road in Yuma. What are the odds, I asked myself, that I would meet Hilda Cerday, here in Demming. She and two friends hike a section of the Appalachian Trail every spring. She has completed Maine and Vermont and is working her way south. No moss grows on this ex-marine from Kansas in her late seventies. We enjoyed a pot luck with the LOWs (Loners On Wheels) and will move on to Palomas, Mexico.

Good things happen in threes. One of my traveling companions, Simcha Saul, answered my pleas and will send pictures of the last days of our Thailand trip. I'm so grateful for his assistance and generosity. Even more, he educated me about a program called Rescue 3 that may be able to retrieve pictres from my erased sandisk. Hopa, hopa, hopa.

FORT BOWIE AND THE APACHE WARS

The trail we hiked was quite rough in places and steep in others. High desert, inhospitable to all but those who called it home, the Chiricahua Apache. They adopted the horse from incursions of Spaniards and made their last stand here against the American Calvary for life as they had known it.
The Apache allowed the Butterfield Stage to trek across their lands. They didn't see them as a threat. It was a tense trip because the Butterfield drivers knew the Apache could be unpredictable. This pass was a direct link to the only southern route into California by way of the Yuma crossing which moved men and goods across the mighty Colorado river. Above is a trace of the stage road leading down into the valley and beyond.


This pass was chosen because it had the only dependable, year around source of water, Apache Springs. The Apache way of life was to ride into the valley and bag deer. The women kept the children, collected berries, prickly pear and other edibles to complete their way of life. When settlers began intruding, the Apache raided them. Everyone coveted the water.

The U.S. established Fort Bowie to protect the pass and its settlers from the Apache. They sent in soldiers and an uneasy co-existence was maintained for many years between the U.S. and the Apache by way of talks with their leader, Cochise. The U.S. established an Indian Agent to assist with peace-keeping promises. Skirmishes with indians and settlers were common with fear and mistrust ruling reason on both sides.
A shared cemetery.
Then the Bascom affair led to eleven years of all out war when the Apache were accused of kidnapping Mickey Free. Bascom was sent in to rectify things and during a meeting with Cochise he committed the unforgiveable sin of grabbing Chochise and imprisoning him during a peace talk. The new Apache leader was the renegade, Geronimo.
The U.S. sent in more and more troops. Expanded Fort Bowie and brought in Cannon to fight the Indians. They eventually succeeded in getting the Apache to surrender. They moved Cochise and Geronimo with their people to reservations.
It struck me how accurately some of the western movies I've seen over the years portrayed these events. Its also ironic that just 120 miles north, at Tuscon, are the studios that produced most of those movies on Arizona land.
The remains of the expanded, second Fort Bowie above. The hike takes you to both forts. The visitor center nearby has wonderful books on the Apache and a small, but good museum.

In this museum sits the tent shaped stove above. A soldier invented it and canvas covered tents, claiming he got the idea from examining indian tents. He signed a contract with the U.S Government to supply the tents for a royalty on each one sold. It is estimated he would have made 250,000 in royalties had they paid him. It was his misfortune to side with the Confederates.

CLIMBING THE MONUMENT

It dawned clear, crisp and cold, a perfect day for hiking. We left the valley floor and drove up a thousand feet to hike to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain with 360 degree views. Across the grassy "sea" to another set of mountain islands, 75 miles away. The hike was treacherous in many spots with plenty of snow and ice, but exhilarating.
Even so, the spectacular rock formations that form the monument were more interesting on the drive up and on the shorter trails we took.

Looking through this keyhole shows five dimensions.
At every turn is another set of interesting formations. This huge balanced has neon yellow lichens covering a good portion of it.
People constantly name various configurations. Using the imagination one can see a headless woman kneeling, a ships captain, various grinning faces and animals. For more photos visit my web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/ChiricahuaNatMon#
The mushroom, just one of many.
Organ Pipes

LAND OF STANDING UP ROCKS

Much to my dismay, I've inadvertently erased the rest of my pictures from Thailand. The visit to the elephant camp, poling down the river on a bamboo raft, an alms giving ceremony with monks, sending up a paper balloon in the moonlight to dismiss bad luck, our bus crash, the grand palace, a fish spa with fish nibbling at our feet, and so much more. I've contacted fellow travelers in hopes they can help me out with pictures. In the meantime, my partner Jim and I are now settled at Chiricahua National Monument in the motor home. I will proceed from here and when I get pictures, I'll continue the saga of Mason's and my trip to Thailand.

Chiricahua National Monument is a mountain Island in the middle of a grassland plain. It sits next to two deserts, the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan. This was notorious Apache Country where Cochise and Geronimo made their last stands against the armed battalions of U.S. Soldiers after a long fought war on settlers and all intruders onto their lands.
Jim and I visited the visitor center and hiked for several hours on the valley floor in the crisp, cold air. He saw two coatimundi and a ring tailed cat. Another escaped the camera while we ate breakfast. The picture below is a picture of a picture, on of the balancing rocks we hope to see as we hike the pinacles today.

Once Cochise and Geronimo were moved to reservations, settlers moved in. In this territory, notably, was Neil and Emma Erikson who first built a fort to fend off indians, then added a cabin, expanding and expanding until a modern looking house called Faraway Ranch remains, now part of the National Park.
President James Madison made it a National Monument. Roosevelt sent in CCC troup 858 to build trails and roads to the best sites.
The last descendant, Lillian Erikson Riggs, lived here until 1970. It was she and her husband who pushed to have the place made into a National Park.
This Erikson cabin was similar to one I lived in as a child.
The Erikson's daughter Lillian Riggs turned the ranch into a retreat for visitors who came to ride horseback, honeymoon, get married, and always, visit the rocks.
We hiked through dry washes and woods, rocky paths and grassland. The trail led us to site of the old CCC Camp where huge fireplaces still stand against time and weather.
Here are desert plants mixed with conifers, junipers, maples and oaks, seemingly and odd combination.

The distinctive bark of an alligator juniper.


This photo of H.O.Flipper, the first black cadet to graduate from West Point, was stationed here with a regiment of Buffalo Soldiers to provide the settlers protection from the Indians. Many of them carved their names in the rhyolite rocks on Madison's monument, built by the CCC. The monument fell into disrepair and the Erikson's used it as the mantel in their house. Flipper's story is a worthy read at: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia

THE RUBBER TRIANGLE, CONDOMS AND CABBAGES

We travel this morning from Chiang Rai To Chiang Mai, the major city of the north. Its the cultural, religious and crafts center of the Northern Provinces and a favorite place for visitors. Our first stop is what we nicknamed the Candy Palace above. It is a temple built by a rich artist who decided on white rather than gold for his temple, though there is a lot of gold bling about the place as well.
The multiple rooves show the add ons as the place got bigger and more elaborate.
Macabre sculpture lines the walkway to the entrance bridge.

A beautiful setting for a drinking fountain.
This was the only restroom in which we had to remove our shoes. They provided little cloth slippers for us to wear. Not exactly sanitary.
The women's above, the cleanest most beautiful in all Thailand, so beautiful in fact, the artist/owner closed it and built alternative restrooms.

The gents had to have that gold carved ceiling decoration. It is a choice in how you spend your money, and beauty is always appreciated if not practical.

Our next stop was the restaurant, Condoms and Cabbages. Its a bit tricky to understand, but this man known as the Condom King believed so strongly in safe sex and promoting and educating Thais about safe sex, he opened a restaurant with a shop that sells condoms. He uses humor to help people over embarrassment. In front of his place is a shaded kiosk that has diagrammed the human life cycle and how a condom prevents unwanted births and protects against disease.
In his gift shop you can find t-shirts with safe sex messages, flower bouquets made with condoms, figures, a swan, a life-sized female figure and Santa Claus. Hey, whatever works.

On the road we saw this farmer resting and attending his water buffalo.
We stopped for lunch at this beautiful complex for their specialty, phad tai. The cook below is beginning a new batch.
You can rent a flowered bicycle powered rickshaw to visit the area.

Flat Stanley enjoyed a ride on a dragon.
After lunch we learned how silk was made.

It is hard to see that the tray above is full of silk worms munching on mulberry leaves. When they finally roll up into a cocoon, they have covered themselves in the precious fiber known as silk.
The cocoons are heated, which kills the moth and allows the worker to remove the fibers and gather it into a bundle.
The bundles of silk thread is dyed beautiful colors and wound onto a spindle for weaving.
This woman is working on a tapestry that will take 9 months to finish. Intense work. Notice her feet pump the weft to allow the shuttle to pass through.
We visited a gem merchant who sells exquisite jewelry. We learned about the process of recognizing gems from the outside, before they are polished. They specialize in sapphires but have rubies, diamonds, jade, garnets and other stones. Lovely stuff.
We check into the hotel and some of our party went to the night bazaar after dinner where everything in Thailand is available for sale.