Elephant Adventure

(Ry) Today I went to an elephant village. First we bought some sugarcane and bananas and someone asked me to sit on one of the elephants and feed it. The elephant was really prickly. The elephant grabbed the food with its trunk. Next, an elephant sneaked up behind Barrett and stole her Bananas and Sugarcane. It was funny. Later the elephants did a show. They played soccer, basketball, logging tasks and painted. They also did a weird show where they danced, walked on two legs, stood on one leg and even gave massages to people.

Then we rode the elephants around the villages. At fist, I didn't think the elephant was sturdy enough, because there was about 360lbs on its back. But by the time the ride was over I thought the elephant could carry even more. Our diver was from Myanmar, he had escaped from the government there. They shot at him when he fled.

Next we went bamboo rafting. We got traditional Asian hats for the ride. Overall, I had a lot of fun.



(Bar)

Today we went to an elephant camp. The elephants performed a show where they moved big logs and played soccer. One of the elephants even painted a picture, it was of an elephant.

Then we went on a elephant ride. Its was fun because I went with only my Mom and one "driver." Along the way the elephants got feed with bananas and sugar cane. They also stopped and ate the grasses.



Afterwords, we went bamboo rafting. We put our feet in the water. It was the Mae Ping River. Ry and I got friendship bracelets and bags from a girl that walked into the river to sell them to us. It was different?!



I miss you all very much. Barrett

Thai Money

(Ry)

The Money in Thailand is called Baht (Bht). So I want to explain to you how Baht converts into US Dollars. For example the 100 Baht bill converts to just $3.17. The 20 baht bill coverts to only $0.63!

Some of the foods here are really cheap. Yesterday we got some soup, for lunch that was just 35 baht each. Thats $1.11 per bowl. For the four of us it was $4.44 for lunch! Compare that to lunch at a restaurant in the US!

One US gallon equals 3.8 liters. A liter of gas here costs about 30 baht. So if we multiply 30 by 3.8 we get 114 baht per gallon. In Us dollars that means a gallon costs about $3.45. That's more expensive then in the US.

The smallest brass coin that you see in the picture is just 1/4 baht. That means its .75 of one cent. You couldn't spend it on anything.

If you want to convert some more currencies you can at this site:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

The Chiang Mai Zoo

(Rylan and Barrett) Today we went to the Chiang Mai Zoo.

(Ry) I liked the giraffes and the leopards. I got to feed the leopards meat with a metal rod. They all wanted the meat so they attacked each other. They were really powerful.
Other then that I don’t really like zoos. I like to see the animals in the wild.

(Bar) We saw two panda bears. We got to see them eat their lunch, bamboo leaves. They also got a dessert, which was a cookie. One cookie fell down into the mote, which was empty. We were really close to them. They are really cute. I got a little stuffed Panda bear with magnets in its feet.
We also saw alligators and crocodiles. One crocodile had coins on its back, that people had dropped onto it. It was really funny. We also went to see turtles, lots of different types. Some were really cute. We also saw some pretty big snakes.
After walking all day, we had a foot massage. It was a good day.

The Puppet Show

(Rylan)

Yesterday we went to a really cool puppet show that was about the Lunar Eclipse. The characters were Ancient Thai Gods and Demons. One of the characters put a spell on the Gods to make them weak, so they couldn't win battles. The Gods lost everything. My favorite part was when one of the Demons (Rahoo) was cut in half by the Crystal Chakra!!!!

If you want to learn more you can go to this website: http://www.tour.savehotels.com/sightseeing/bangkok/joe_louis_puppet_theatre.html

The Snake Farm

(Barrett)

I really miss my class.

Today I went to a snake farm. We took lots of pictures, I'm posting some of them here so you can see them. One snake almost went up the wall where we were sitting. We were in the front row. They also "milked" a snake for the venom. The use it for medicine.

I hope you like the pictures and email me back.. Good-bye

(Rylan)

The Start of Our Trip

(Rylan) We left White Salmon on Sunday the 28th of Oct. A little bummed to miss Haloween, but excited to start our trip. The flight was really long, my Mom and I got to sit in Business Class so that was nice. My Dad and Barrett got stuck in the back, at first, but then they got to move up and sit with us. That was Great!! We stopped in Japan for 3 hours, the total flights were about 18 hours, but the total travel time was about 28 hours. I was tired!

Time Change:

We are now 14 hours ahead of the time in White Salmon. This means we are also a day ahead of you. For example, when you go to school at 8:15 am we are going to bed at 10:15pm THE NEXT DAY!!! When you get out of school at 2:15pm its 4:15am here.

Got it?

Hope to hear from you.

Rylan