Our last day at ENP- the week went CRAZY fast.  Rob and I were usually up by 5:30AM, but since we were sleeping by 8:30PM it was enough sleep.  Morning are quiet at ENP, usually one of the porch dogs would follow us down to the platform area, doing their business along the way, greeting the other dogs who came to say good morning.  Step Kitty was always gone in the morning-most likely still hunting in the early morning mists, the sun not quite up yet.

Same same breakfast- nice and filling.  We all have gotten used to having rice with every meal- slowly the park wakes up.  People start drifting in about 6:00.  Breakfast was not until 7, so time to drink some coffee and just sit.  The elephants would not be let out of their enclosures  until about 7- never tired watching their first steps out into the morning- their mahouts leading them towards a distant field or maybe down to the river to spend some time.

The mahouts were mostly hill people, impossible small men.  A true mutt and Jeff compared with their charges.  Each elephant had 3 mahouts assigned to them- so they all would get some time off.  We watched yesterday as one of the babies (the one with the boot on its foot- it has a club foot) knocked it’s mahout over- immediately another near by mahout came over and pushed the baby away- all 3 of the babies are spoiled by their moms and aunties as well as the mahouts.  But seriously, what is cuter then a baby elephant?

Our only job today was to unload another pick up truck of baby watermelons- the truck we had unloaded 3 days previously was all gone.  We formed 3 lines, as all 3 groups were working together, and quickly got the truck unloaded.  Next we had to wash watermelon and cucumbers for the days meal in this HUGE vat of water.  It was easy work and we all were enjoying each others company.

The 6 people staying for week 2 were out with their charge ZahZah and the week 2 people from our week were teaching them the ropes.  ZahZah was the 75+ year old elephant whose owner had chained her in the jungle and was underweight.   She gets fed 5X a day, so the week 2 people chase her around all day feeding her and preparing her food.  They also are in charge of the monkeys- feeding them daily.

We went back to our rooms to finish packing- after a week our things were kind of all over the room.  The kid’s rooms looked like clothing bombs had gone off- they are good at doing final sweeps of the rooms so we rarely leave things behind.  We brought our bags to the meeting area and went to the platform to wait for lunch and to watch the elephants for a bit.

Soon it was 1:00 and time to load into the vans and start heading to Chiang Mai.  It was a roller coaster of a ride- our personal injury lawyer friend Amy was about loosing her mind as the driver wove in and out of traffic.  Apparently he was racing some unseen demon-because he drove like a bat out of hell.  We made it to the airport in record time.

Our flight did not leave for 5+ hours so we jumped on an earlier flight with Amy and Caroline.  We had only minutes to spare and the agent closed the line after we checked our bags in.  Upstairs to gates.  Chiang Mai airport is small, but busy!  We were on a 777 that was almost full- the flight to Bangkok was an hour long- so barely up then time to come down.

Bangkok airport is HUGE.  By the time we wove our way to baggage claim we only had to wait about 5 minutes before the bags started rolling off the belt.   We said good bye to Caroline and Amy and headed to our hotel.  I’d booked a hotel that is literally in the airport- we all almost cried when we saw the nice big clean beds and felt the cool A/C on our skin.  But no rest for the wicked, when our bags were delivered headed out to a night market.

Literally a minute after we’d left the taxi Max realized he’d left his backpack/murse in the taxi.  Shocking since he is our least dingy child.  With no phones that worked we saw a Starbucks in the distance and walked to it.  Actually, I went across the street to the pharmacy to have them look at my jungle rash (same same as medic/snack bar hostess gave me: antihistamine and steroid cream- all over the counter at the lovely Boots pharmacy).   The boys had one of the baristas help them- she used her phone to call the hotel concierge whose card we’d grabbed and given to all the kids in case they got lost.  He said he would try and contact the taxi driver.  I prayed to St. Anthony.

The market was huge- kids were in heaven.  We all were in heaven when we had pizza for dinner.  The boys were both approached by men trying to get them to go to the sex shows that are the dark underbelly of Thailand’s sex industry.  They are well, live sex shows.  The bars that are frequented by foreigners are also full of prostitutes who you can buy by the hour, day or week.  It is not unusual to see older men walking around with a young girl, sometimes VERY young girl who clearly is not a wife or girlfriend.  It actually is very gross and I have been happy to see many signs about human trafficking and child trafficking.  There is a number victims can call and hopefully a rope on the other end of the phone that can pull these girls out of the dark place they have found themselves.

One of the reasons we did not want to spend a lot of time in Bangkok- it is tragic on so many levels.  These young girls often come from the hill tribes where work options and employment are limited and they are sold/tricked into coming to the big cites by pimps for a chance at a better life only to get trapped in the web of prostitution.

St Anthony, my buddy, came thru again.  Max’s murse was waiting for us at the hotel!