Nic Trips

I arrived in Banaue from the overnight bus at about 6:30. The morning fog was still resting over the mountains and the dawn light was dim, but it still provided for an great view of the valley from the restaurant that the bus dropped us at. There were two buses going from Manila to Banaue every night and each was filled with mostly locals and about 10-15 tourists. I was on the first to arrive at 6:30, and the other arrived about a half hour later. They dropped us at a hostel/restaurant where we got to get some breakfast and enjoy the view while we waited for the tours to begin. As soon as the 2nd bus arrived, all the tourists were swarmed with the local guides offering to take them to the scenic spots of the area. The 3 typical things to do included hotsprings at a fancy resort two hours away, going to the high viewpoint of Banaue, and visiting the rice terraces and waterfall in Batad. I had already planned to go to Batad, so I joined 11 other foreigners in a jeepney to be...

Our third and final full day in Chiang Mai we spent at the Happy Elephant Sanctuary. This is a sort of rescue center for elephants that have been mistreated or misused in the past. Unlike the other elephant programs in the area that advertise riding the elephants, this one emphasized us taking care of the animals. We got bananas, banana trees and sugar cane and fed it to them, and generally took care of them rather than them being there for our entertainment. The first thing the native volunteers did when we arrived was write our names on our hands in Thai so they could remember what to call us. First, they gave us special clothes to wear. These clothes have scents that the elephants are very used to and recognize so they don't have to take time introducing us as strangers and making sure the elephants will be okay with us. Next they gave us a bag full of bananas. We spent a good while meeting the elephants and feeding them the bananas to get to know them. They h...