Are there any Crazy Journeys left? (jealousy from a static elephant boy)
Despite being a determined and card carrying, in bed by eight, up with the night-jar type of old codger; despite bemoaning the loss of values one day and my neighbours' adherence to habituated traditions the next, you'll be surprised to learn that I still carry the dreams of my youth.
One of which was always to drive from here to my old house in Nepal and thence, armour plating and fuel shortages allowing, perhaps to the hovel from which I sprung - the original plan was to do this in an old Land Rover, that is, until I bought a car that didn't break down every 200km or so and I was lured from the proper path by Japanese engineering and efficient air-conditioning.
Married now, with elephant responsibilities and a reasonably proper job, I guess that dream has gone by the way; so when I read on the net of a mix of Aussie/Irish folks who are so desperate for a decent pint of stout they are attempting to drive from Sydney to Dublin, raising money along the way for anti-depression charities, I had to salute the effort - even that they're doing it in some new fangled monster newcomer on the 4WD scene, a Guinness-black V8 petrol Humvee (they planted 1,000,000 eucalypti in Sydney before they left) can be understood.
If you're going to do it in today's world why not do it in something that you an sit down, pop your latest World Cup DVD's (how did the Irish and the Aussies do, by the way, lads? - I think the France vs. All Blacks game a little overwatched) or Dubliners CD (I'm not making this up, there are really Dubliners CD's in the belly of the beast - I know, I got to drive it) and put your foot down; the Himalayas become a speed bump, the Pacific a puddle, the Craziness is in the conversation and the deeds between - to want to spend your trip tightening fan belts and laying in the dust in a pool of scalding oil would be, well, crazy too, but a different kind of crazy.
So when Dave, Rhys, Fintan & Charlie roared into hotel we determined to be a final outpost of comfortable disorganisation, wireless internet and ice cold beer and give them their first taste of eles and dirt track mountain climbing before heading off to my favourite escape, Laos, and thence through the back door to China (we even gave them a long stick and polo ball for practicing atop the Hummer during those long waits at customs queues and mountain passes - in case they manage to meet some more eles on the Nepali and Indian legs of the journey).
...the beast and the bathing...
...to follow the lads' adventures, keep an eye on www.crazyjourney.com and http://crazyjourneyhummer.blogspot.com/ - though since they left us they may not have seen a computer, let alone had time to fiddle with one.
One of which was always to drive from here to my old house in Nepal and thence, armour plating and fuel shortages allowing, perhaps to the hovel from which I sprung - the original plan was to do this in an old Land Rover, that is, until I bought a car that didn't break down every 200km or so and I was lured from the proper path by Japanese engineering and efficient air-conditioning.
Married now, with elephant responsibilities and a reasonably proper job, I guess that dream has gone by the way; so when I read on the net of a mix of Aussie/Irish folks who are so desperate for a decent pint of stout they are attempting to drive from Sydney to Dublin, raising money along the way for anti-depression charities, I had to salute the effort - even that they're doing it in some new fangled monster newcomer on the 4WD scene, a Guinness-black V8 petrol Humvee (they planted 1,000,000 eucalypti in Sydney before they left) can be understood.
If you're going to do it in today's world why not do it in something that you an sit down, pop your latest World Cup DVD's (how did the Irish and the Aussies do, by the way, lads? - I think the France vs. All Blacks game a little overwatched) or Dubliners CD (I'm not making this up, there are really Dubliners CD's in the belly of the beast - I know, I got to drive it) and put your foot down; the Himalayas become a speed bump, the Pacific a puddle, the Craziness is in the conversation and the deeds between - to want to spend your trip tightening fan belts and laying in the dust in a pool of scalding oil would be, well, crazy too, but a different kind of crazy.
So when Dave, Rhys, Fintan & Charlie roared into hotel we determined to be a final outpost of comfortable disorganisation, wireless internet and ice cold beer and give them their first taste of eles and dirt track mountain climbing before heading off to my favourite escape, Laos, and thence through the back door to China (we even gave them a long stick and polo ball for practicing atop the Hummer during those long waits at customs queues and mountain passes - in case they manage to meet some more eles on the Nepali and Indian legs of the journey).
...the beast and the bathing...
...to follow the lads' adventures, keep an eye on www.crazyjourney.com and http://crazyjourneyhummer.blogspot.com/ - though since they left us they may not have seen a computer, let alone had time to fiddle with one.
...it wasn't quite the first taste of elephants!
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Monday, January 21, 2008
DAY 49 - GOLDEN TRIANGLE DAY 3 WITH THE ELEPHANTS
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From the off, the Irish dominated with long spells camped down on the Aussie line. After some spectacular one-touch polo by the Irish, they began to run away with it and the game ended in a whitewash 5-0 victory to the boys in green. Needless to say, it will be a long time before the Aussies live this one down!
A massive thanks has to go out to John Roberts, the director of elephants and Mark, the manager of the resort for organising our time at Anantara. John is doing sterling work with the Asian Elephant Foundation by setting up a safe haven for abused elephants and those that cannot work. Altogether they look after 27 elephants at the resort. For more information on what they do, visit http://www.helpingelephants.org/ .
We literally took 300 photos of the day with the elephants, so we created a slideshow below so you can look at some of the rest!
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