Day 16 White Temple & Elephant Valley Sanctuary

0500 comes WAAAAY too early for me but I'm ready to hit breakfast, leave my luggage outside my room for the porter and checkout. Breakfast is usually at 0700-1030 but Road Scholar's guide, Dome, arranged for an 0600 breakfast buffet for us. How thoughtful! Packed my bags the night before so it's a leisurely morning with no rush or worry. The checkout process takes some time since they send someone to check your room (for theft and/or forgetfulness) before completing the checkout process.

Paid my 40 THB for a mini can of Pringles when I got the munchies and we're off!

This day will be a 4 hour drive to Chiang Rai and Mae Chan, the location of our Katiliya Mountain Resort, my only 5 star hotel ever! But first we stop at C&C for a bathroom break.  C&C stands for Cabbages and Condoms. Founded by Mr. Mechai(aka- Mr. Con dom), he said that you can go to any shop around Thailand and you will always find cabbages. Condoms should be like cabbages  “ubiquitous".  And so the name Cabbages and Condoms (C&C) was conceived.

C&C is PDAs public-benefit restaurant used to promote family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention in Thailand.

Since the people didn't know about condoms, the C&C personnel traveled the countryside telling the people about them and giving them a demonstration of how to use a condom. Dome explains it best in this 6 minute video:

Snacks abound and shared by all! Our guides are so good at keeping us hydrated and fed!

On to Elephant Valley. They don't accept donations and currently have 2 males and 2 females in their rehabilitation program. Their goal is to return these previously captive elephants back to the wild and so human contact is limited to their Mahout or caregiver.

Clean your feet to enter the elephant area to keep contaminates out of the sanctuary.

And, of course, we're fed very well!  I love Thai food!

Ken found the sign.

And this "stall" is the size of my living and dining room combined! The manager, Jack from Australia, says using the bum gun (spray gun attached to the toilet) to shoot mosquitoes as you sit is always fun!  The urinal for the fellows is on the far right wall. The REAL communing with nature as nature does it job on us!  LOL

Dung scale!

Teak tree leaf

Mahout and friend.

Resting her heavy trunk

Mud for sunscreen. Their skin is only 3mm thick and they can burn just like us.

This young female figured out that the hose in the mouth is much faster and easier than filling up her trunk and transferring a drink to her mouth.

And she also snagged a snack of a banana tree afterwards much to the dismay of her trainers.

Previously inhabited wasp nest. Quite the condo!

After baths, which they get morning and night, we try our hand at feeding them banana leaves and stalk.

And our next stop...Wat Rong Khun, perhaps better known to foreigners as the White Temple, is a privately owned art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. It is owned by Chalermchai Kositpipat, who designed, constructed, and opened it to visitors in 1997.

The damned are trying to escape, but if you won't help them out of their misery, they have a message for you.

Sometimes you must walk through hell to achieve heaven.

Staying on the right path has its rewards.

Can you find the many faces in the sculpture?

What kid can resist ringing a well-placed bell?

And now we continue our journey to our mountain resort. Although I had signed up to have a roommate, it seems every other singleton elected to pay the extra money to have a room to themselves. So I am getting mine for free!

Rung explained that these "little houses" are erected when a family moves into their home. They believe the spirits inhabit their home and so they must give them a proper home in which to live so they don't share the human home with them. The monk blesses the humans' environment and the humans provide food and drink to the spirits in their mini home from time to time.

Katiliya Mountain Resort

First time I can stretch out in a tub and really get a body soak! Luxury!

The birds sing you awake but finding them can be difficult since they have so many hiding places!

View from shower through tub area and into the toilet stall. These are open windows on either end of the tub.

Rainforest shower behind tub and glass enclosed. Our entire tour group could have showered together in this space!

Through shower stall for entry into the rainforest shower.

Sink at either end. This one is next to the shower.

This one is next to the toilet stall.

View of bedroom from porch

All lights are controlled with this device. With one button you can turn on all the lights or shut them off.

Individual room wifi. And since this resort is a mountain resort, all paths are like climbing paved trails in the mountains. To save my knee, I always dialed '0' for a golf cart transport to the hotel lobby and breakfast. Built on the side of a mountain, there are two rooms on each level. The levels are staggered with lower levels jutting out farther from the side of the mountain. I'm 3rd level down=30 stairs.

More adventures await!