by Loti | Feb 19, 2013 | Animals, Sports, Thailand
Thailand. The Four Season’s Elephant Camp in Northern Thailand offers polo lessons on elephants as an activity. We didn’t have time to try it (I was too busy riding my elephant, Bounma and taking pictures from my perch on her head of the elephants in front of me), but I was fascinated with the concept. Turns out there is a World Elephant Polo Association. Last year 48 riders from over 15 countries participated in the King’s Cup Elephant Polo Tournament. Not knowing anything about polo with horses, let alone elephants, I set out to learn the rules. There are 4 elephants per side with 2 people riding each elephant and elephants are strictly forbidden from lying down in front of the goals posts to prevent a goal. My favorite rule is “elephants are to be given sugar cane or vitamin enriched rice balls at the end of each match and players get a cold beer, but not vice versa. That is the actual rule! Money is raised thru the tournaments for the future care of elephants and their mahouts and conservation efforts. Of course not everyone is happy including the animal activist folks who contend polo is cruel to the animals. Seeing how well the elephants are cared for at The Four Seasons, I look forward to my first polo lesson....
by Loti | Feb 18, 2013 | Singapore
Singapore. A full moon just before New Year’s Eve (taken from my hotel balcony). Is it safe to walk around at night by yourself? Considering the country/city is one of the safest in the world, probably. Not only is there a mandatory death penalty for many drug offenses (you definitely get a feel for this when you enter the country and your embarkation card has “death to drug traffickers” stamped on it), but over 30 offenses carry caning sentences. Caning as in flogging? Wow. The person sentenced to caning is laid, naked, over an apparatus that looks like an A frame and caned on the buttocks. Offenses include vandalism, rape, murder, and oh, overstaying your visa by more than 90 days. Only men under 50 can be caned so no women which I find very interesting. You might remember the young American, Michael Fay, who was sentenced to 4 canes after being convicted of theft and vandalism in 1994 (and trial is by judge, there are no juries for minor offenses). Even President Clinton tried to intervene on Michael’s behalf. But Singapore said sorry, he broke the law. So 4 canes were administered. Ouch. ...
by Loti | Feb 16, 2013 | Flowers, Singapore
Singapore. What to get for the person that has everything? Naming rights to your very own orchid. Pretty cool. However you just might have to wait 7 years. The time it takes an orchid to grow from seed to blossom. With over 30,000 varieties of orchid, it is hard not to love them. And I had no idea they are named after so many famous people. Nelson Mandela, Martha Stewart, Michele Obama ( and all of the other recent US First Ladies), Sir Elton John and many others. There is even a orchid called the Vanda William Kate, named after the royal couple and presented to them in Sept, 2012 at The Singapore Gardens. While at the gardens, home to the world’s largest tropical orchid display, William and Kate viewed the orchid named for Williams mother, Princess Diana. She was supposed to fly to Singapore 2 weeks after she died for a ceremony honoring her new flower. Sadly, she never got to see it. There are 2 established ways to get an orchid named after you, discover a new species or make a new hybrid, which is just what Chadwick & Son in Virginia does. For $1,500 you can get your own orchid with a plaque and 20 seedlings. I haven’t had a chance to see how long it takes to get on the naming list but……you just might see a Loti orchid turn up soon. ...
by Loti | Feb 15, 2013 | Religions, Thailand
Bangkok. Next to the Grand Palace, where the murder of the king took place, is Wat Po, a Buddhist temple which is home to the reclining Buddha. In addition to the 160 foot long reclining Buddha, the outer cloister of the temple houses over 400 sitting Buddha’s. What is fascinating to me, each Buddha is slightly different. Notice the placement of the hands and the width of the heads. Different. Each posture has a particular significance in the life of Buddha, many of which resemble yoga poses. Coincidence? And in Thailand, there is a unique pose for each day of the week. Some Buddha poses are standing, some sitting and even one is reclining. And Wednesday has 2, one before noon and one after noon. With only 3 seasons and yet 8 poses for a week, it seems Thailand beats to a completely different time clock. So, depending on the day of the week you were born, you have your own pose. Mine (I was born on a Friday) is a standing Buddha with arms crossed in contemplation. Hmmm. Not sure what that says about me. What is yours? ...
by Loti | Feb 14, 2013 | Food, Thailand
A typical fruit plate at The Four Seasons Elephant Camp in Thailand has papaya, watermelon, pineapple, grapefruit, rose apple and dragon fruit (the one with the black specs). Wait rose apple and dragon fruit? Am I on a different planet? Rather unassuming in taste (meaning it had very little in my opinion), the dragon fruit is beautiful to look at with a bright red skin and white flesh with black seeds. And unlike the durian fruit it has no smell. So why don’t we have them in the US? In an interesting twist of nature, the large flowers of the plant, which resemble a vine like cactus, only bloom at night during a full moon. In their native habitat, bats and moths pollinate the flowers. The US apparently doesn’t have the right species of bats and moths needed. So farmers in Southern CA trying to grow them have to pollinate by hand under the full moon (which is expensive and can be dangerous since we all know werewolves hang around during full moons). But, while you are out pollinating, maybe you can quench your thirst with some of the new products being flavored with dragon fruit. Skyy has a vodka, Celestial Seasonings has a green tea and there is a cream liqueur called Dragon Kiss available. So here’s to dragon fruit....
