The school year is almost over, less than 3 months to go and to be honest the Wendling Family is pretty tired and are in need of a vacation. So after a little research, Rosanne and Kevin decided that Thailand would be the next Adventure for the family during GSIS' Spring Break.
Actually, Kevin had travelled to Bangkok back in the Fall of 2009 to do IB Training. However, if you ask Rosanne that doesn't count because he left the rest of the family back home. (Actually, it does not count since the early Fall is considered to be the rainy season and it was not really a vacation of any sort if you take into account the rain, the humidity and the IB training.)
A little background information for you, Thailand is well known in South East Asia, (and around the world), for many things:
- outstanding hospitality
- different types of tours
- warm/tropical weather
- elephant riding, (OK, not really, but this was a factor to motivate Mia to take the plane)
So the Saturday after school ended for the break the Wendling Family was off with a full day of travel before the ended up in Phuket, (pronounced Poohket).
Thanks to some advice from a friend of Rosanne's at another International School the Wendling family rented a 3 room Villa at Luanaga Outrigger Resort. It was truly one of the best places they have stayed at while vacationing in Asia. The villa had a full Kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms and their own personal pool. It was truly impressive.
So during their time in Thailand the Wendling family swam, sat on the beach, caught up on their sleep and relaxed. However, there was time for a few side trips to learn about the host country.
One day, the Wendling Family ventured out to sea where they took in Phi Phi Island, (pronounced Pee Pee). When one thinks of the tropics and white beaches they are truly thinking of Phi Phi Island - it was breathless and we were lucky to get a beautiful day to see it!!
Another day the Wendling clan was able to go riding on the Elephants. This was not the first time the Family had seen Elephants, but these Elephants were made for riding. They were big, hairy, ate alot of food and were able to move around the course with 3 - 4 people on their back.
The drivers informed us that they eat over 80 kg of food per day, (later we found that Asian elephants could eat up to 136 kg per day, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/asian-elephant/). That food consists of hay, grass, leaves, fruit.
At the end of our journey the girls were able to feed their elephants a treat of fruit, it is truly amazing to watch how an elephant uses their trunk to feed themselves. The movements are very precise and delicate - it was fascinating to watch.
Finally, the Wendling's were able to go to a Gibbon Rehabilitation Center, (http://www.gibbonproject.org/). Gibbons are a type of monkey indigenous to Thailand; however they are often caught, poached, mistreated, kept as pets and overall exploited by some people involved in the tourist industry. In fact, during their trip the Wendling Family did see an example of this -- a monkey chained to a tree so that tourists could get a picture of it. It was so subtle, and if we had not been to the Center before we would have not have picked up on it.
However, as is the case with every trip, it ended and the Wendling's having to return to Korea. It was difficult to go from temperatures in the 30C with humidity to the 10C range with the possibility of snow. This will probably be the last "big trip" that the Family will do before returning to Canada in June.
In fact, as many of readers already know the Wendling Family will be leaving GSIS and returning to Canada to resume their lives there. Hold on though, that is a Blog onto itself. So rather than giving details about our move back, just stay tuned to hear about our next Adventure.
