Happy Sunday everyone. I’m out of town at the moment and not able to do much emailing so I decided to do a quick blog post here thanking all of you who responded so quickly to my update about the Bai Xue adoption outreach!! Thanks to all our ‘den’ members we have reached the $500.00 for our adoption of this dear old girl via Pandas International.
As soon as I return home in a few days I will be emailing all the participants with details. Carrie at PI has been informed of our great success and will be pulling together the paperwork for us soon too!! THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!!
ABOVE: FOUNDER OF ENP “LEK” heading out to mingle with her herd….dogs in tow looking for a few treats to drop from her bag
As long as I’m here……I couldn’t resist posting a few of my hundreds of photos from Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai Thailand. Instead of focusing on the Ellies…..these images feature just a few the canine members of the ENP family which for the most part were rescues .
Another handsome dog who loved to play billie goat on the picnic tables.
Bill…..This was the dog I said you would like….isn’t he lovely????? Such expressive eyes
This was the SADDEST expression I had ever seen. It was siesta time in the hot afternoon when I took most of these shots and the dogs were saving their energy…..very still and easy to photograph!
This is Mookie!! The most distinguished dog at ENP with his dapper beard! Mookie just had a bubble bath in the river and was drying off in the shade and rubbing his face all over the wood floors. What a character he was. I really wanted to take him home with me
As was on our last visit to ENP….the rescued creatures, great and small…..all getting along so well….healthy and safe under the wings of their volunteer angels and staff
If you have been trying to email me the past couple of days, I will be replying to all my emails today.
Big hugs from on the road!!! Sandra
A SINGLE FLOWER FALLEN ON THE WALKWAY TO MY ROOM
This incredible hotel and spa called the BURASARI in Phuket Thailand, is considered a world class boutique hotel and was a hit when Ek brought Liz and I here as well as this recent trip. The first year we had rooms that walked out into the pool. This year I got a balcony room that was big enough for a large family and had it all to myself!! What a place this is. I hope my video and photos below can do it justice.
ABOVE IS THE HOTEL LOBBY
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO IN HIGHER RESOLUTION AND LARGE OR CLICK ARROW BELOW
ABOVE IS A VIEW FROM A RIVER BOAT DINNER CRUISE THROUGH BANGKOK AT NIGHT
THE CRUISE INCLUDED A WONDERFUL TRADITIONAL DANCE TROOP
EK ……LUV THIS SHOT OF YOU MY FRIEND! WE ALL GOT KIND OF WIND BLOWN ON THE CRUISE
BY POOLSIDE AT BURASARI
HOW UNREAL WAS THIS????A MOONBEAR CRESCENT MOON WAS VISIBLE THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE IN THAILAND
PER, JACKIE AND EK ON THE CRUISE
CAN’T ESCAPE THAT COCA COLA LOGO NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD WE TRAVEL
A LOVELY TERRACOTTA INCENSE JAR
BELOW YOU WILL SEE THE MARBLE TILES I PURCHASED FOR MY SON, MOM AND DAD WHICH WILL END UP BEING INSTALLED IN THE GIANT BUDDHA OF PHUKET (ABOVE)
ON THE LAST VISIT WITH MY DAUGHTER LIZ WE PURCHASED ONES FOR OURSELVES AND STEVE BUT WERE IN A RUSH AND I WAS KICKING MYSELF I DIDN’T GET ONE FOR THE REST OF MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY. NOW WE ALL ARE A PART OF THIS MAGNIFICENT BUDDHA!!!
A VIEW FROM THE GIANT BUDDHA
TEXT BELOW FROM BURASARI WEBSITE
Named after the rare Burasari flower that grows on the property, Burasari is a Phuket resort that is an unexpected treasure in the heart of exciting Patong. Burasari is a boutique hotel in Phuket unlike any other Patong Beach hotel, offering a full experience of sophisticated style, comfort, privacy, tranquility, and a first class international dining for discerning travellers.
Burasari’s Feel at Home philosophy gives our guests the experience of a warm home that embraces you with stylish design, great food, caring service and the calming elements of nature.
Style : Our Classic, Premier Collection, Elite Collection, and Mood Collection rooms range from elegant classic northern Thai Lanna style with antiques and wood carvings, to the more minimalist, airy contemporary Thai style, to the fabulous one-of-a-kind Mood Collection of rooms designed in a range of nine different themes, ranging from romantic to artistic.
Smart Dining: Burasari is home to Floyd’s Brasserie, the one and only restaurant in the world owned by world famous TV chef Keith Floyd. Floyd’s personally selected menu offers Fresh Phuket Lobster, Imported Oysters, Australian steak, and much more, plus exclusive fine wines specially selected for Floyd’s Brasserie.
Nature : Small and intimate, the resort’s stylish rooms are set around two swimming pools fringed with lusciously fragrant frangipani trees, towering palms, glorious bougainvillea, curling ferns, and trickling waterfalls that create a romantic, self-contained oasis removed from the bustling outside world.
Care : Our friendly staff embody the best of Thai hospitality, giving you caring service and a readiness to serve that gives you the easy feeling of being in a home, not a hotel. Your comfort is our heartfelt concern – after one visit, you’ll begin to think of Burasari boutique hotel Phuket as your home away from home!
ABOVE: EK AND I SITTING AT SUNSET ON ONE OF HIGHEST PEAKS ON PHUKET….WOW WHAT A VIEW!!!
Wow…looking back at these photos is like going on my adventure all over again!!! I am fast forwarding to the last week in Phuket Thailand just because I happened to be working on these food photos and wanted you all to see what an incredible place Phuket and introduce you to my dear friend Ekarat who spoiled me rotten while I was there!!! Ek , for some reason I can’t convince my dogs to squeeze fresh limeade for me every day or catch fresh fish for dinner! Dang I miss that outrageously fresh and spicy Thai food!!!
This seafood restaurant we went to twice and was the same one I raved about last trip. I can honestly say I have never had such perfect homestyle food anywhere in the world!!!! It’s THAT good!!
One of the prawn dishes we had
The BEFORE version of the prawns……….incredibly fresh
Waiting for the sun to set on Phuket!
I ate my share and more of this fresh squid dish. Spicy and full of lime and Thai goodness
The mussels were also very well seasoned and mouthwatering….I’m drooling as I write
MY BOYS…our group on Phuket included Eks cousin, nephew and a visitor from Korea …all of them about the age of my son. They called me “mom” and I loved every minute of it!! I’m so disappointed I didn’t get a good photo of Eks cousin Pai this day….he does a good job of avoiding the camera but I have a few good ones I’ll post later. Pai was behind the camera in this shot
Yummers!! Dip these babies in the hot sauce and pop them in your mouth…Crunchy from head to tail like a Fish potato chip. I took the tail…Ek got the part that looks at you
BELOW..RUBBING IT IN LIZ…..WISH YOU WERE HERE!!
The view from our table on the beach during our lunch visit
Yadda Yadda Yadda………did I ever quit talking Ek????? I had a captive audience and I took advantage of it….LOL! I have a lot of photos of me talking with my hands since we had Korean, Thai and English trying to communicate. It was the most fun EVER !!
Are these beautiful or what?????
And tasted even better!!!!
Ek as we got ready to climb the long staircase to the Big Buddha which is still under construction on Phuket. I’ll be posting more photos of this soon
Check out what the sign says…….The construction has come a long way since last year when I visited
Another huge statue at the top of the hill by the Buddha
Here is my very favorite dish of the entire trip and I had it at least 4 different ways. The fish was filleted and the meat cut into large chunks. The dredged in some kind of seasoned flour and flash deepfried with herbs, basil, and delicioius bits I couldn’t identify. Then reassambled back onto the fish to make a beautiful presentation. No bones……..just perfect sweet and very spicy fish chunks to devour!!!!!
Here I am at the BURASARI HOTEL with my favorite drink…..fresh squeezed lime juice. This swing was in the restaurant. This lime juice went well with the spicy dishes and seemed to rehydrate much better than just water.
I would love a glass of this right now!!!
Another view from the seafood restaurant
Have to fit in a panda somewhere in Phuket!!
The seafood is THIS fresh
View from the hilltop where the Giant Buddha resides
I love the red accents in this image
A local temple . I got some wonderful video here as well which I’ll be posting soon
I have hundreds of photos yet to share of my time visiting Ek in Bangkok and Phuket. Next post you will get to see his puppies and some fun at the food market too!!! Oh and a visit to a dog show judge friend of Ek’s on Phuket . OMG her home was one of the most beautiful properties I had ever seen!!!!
Hope you are enjoying the “tour” after the trip. I am counting the days until I return to Thailand………the warm smiles, the exotic foods and the genuine hospitality that the Thai people extend is what makes this such a popular destination, yet comparatively few Americans venture that direction, I’m sure because it is so far and also quite mysterious at first glance…..which is all part of the allure for me personally. Thailand is so diverse and “user” friendly!!!!
A cute dog at sunset on Phuket
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH EK FOR THE INCREDIBLE MEMORIES OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!!
I’m going to let most of these photos speak for themselves with short captions inbetween. This was on February 9, 2010 at Chengdu Panda Base. The day was stunning with more pandas than we had time to see ……but we made the very best of our full day there with Lichunlin and one of nutritionists escorting us around the base . The second half of the day we were on our own and poking around every corner of this stunning , fully landscaped paradise in the middle of the city of Chengdu.
The Chinese New Year decorations were just going up, vs. Dianas and my trip where they were just coming down. All the red made for some incredible photo!
A new expansion was added since our visit in 2008 on top of the hill where few tourists go. This was our favorite place to just take our time photographing and observing the cubs and older pandas as well as some getting ready to breed
Do you all remember Siyuan…..she was my first panda I ever had my photo taken with in 2006. We found her on top of the hill munching boo and taking in the cool sunshine and fresh breezes that day. Siyuan is easy to recognize by her white paw
Here I am with Siyuan in 2006
Siyuan “bleeting” at us like a goat. I think we woke her up and surprised her as we came around the corner
The youngsters were BEARY tired…..sleeping off their bamboo and panda bread meals in the lazy afternoon
Ohhhhhh to be a panda!
Gayle and I on one of the new concrete benches made to look like a tree trunk. Thanks Lichunlin for taking this photo!
More of the hill dwelling pandas
Kind of like a bobsledding team!
What a sweet expression
We both had the opportunity to have our photo taken with one of the teenagers. I need to find out who this was. There was a BBC reporter having her photo taken too and it was kind of crazy during the “shoot”. The idiot lady was hugging and kissing the panda so hard I was just waiting to take photos of a mauling……hey…shes a reporter…she would understand the need to get a story right!! LOL!
Seriously though……that was the most unbelievable and irresponsible thing I had seen in a long time. The staff looked pretty shocked too. Good thing it was over fast!
All you see are the top of our heads because all we want to do is look at the panda practically sitting in our laps!! Our photographer keeps saying LOOK UP. Well the panda is certainly well trained because she looked up on command. We were content to gaze in disbelief at our panda friend and count our blessings that we had this opportunity to “hang out” with a giant panda TWICE on this journey
Another lovely beast
Ms. Mei Lan who was shipped to Chengdu from Atlanta was given the royal welcome with little touches like this in the office
Bamboo overload
Reclining Panda
MANY MORE PANDA PHOTOS TO COME THIS WEEK INCLUDING THE RED PANDAS WE GOT TO HOLD!!!
Below are a couple of iphone images from this weekend in Portland too on our Saturday Walk. Don’t miss the new videos below of the magnolias, doxies, etc etc. I loaded quite a few and did an Ipadio update
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I WAS NOTIFIED IN THIS MORNING’S EMAIL THAT THIS IMAGE I TOOK AT ELEPHANT NATURE PARK A FEW WEEKS AGO IS #332 IN FLICKR’S EXPLORE WHICH IS AMONG THE 500 PHOTOS CHOSEN BY FLICKR STAFF AS THE MOST INTERESTING PHOTOS OUT OF THE GABILLION LOADED BY MEMBERS THAT DAY!!!
The photo I call “LEKS SONG” is of Sangduen “Lek” Chailert who is the founder of Elephant Nature Foundation in Chiang Mai Thailand. This series of images were taken shortly after our orientation learning about how to navigate around the silent tippie toeing elephants as we enjoyed the rescue park for a full day of bathing , feeding, smooching and learning about these endangered beauties.
As a few others in our group of 10 were feeding some of the elephants (many more photos on the way) Gayle and I stood by the fencing to watch this scene in amazement. Lek slipped into the enclosure in silent elephant style, then sat under one of the two new babies and started to sing a sweet song in Thai to him. The song I chose for the video was not Lek but is a beautiful Hilltribe love song to highlight the mood of the day
I was mesmerized by this incredible human/elephant bond, and was lucky to have both my SLR and video camera on hand. This video below tells the very short story in photos and film how touching this priceless moment in time was. Lek and the baby were not 2 individual beings for those few minutes of bonding……..rather they were syncronized as ONE…moving in tandem…slowly to her sweet , soft song.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS VIDEO MUCH LARGER AND IN HIGH DEFINITION
or stay at the blog and click arrow below. There is audio with this video..ENJOY
