Our last day in Northern Thailand was Tuesday, May 5th. Once again, Tthasanee and Jaroon did not disappoint. We visited a sunken temple ,the ruins of which have been discovered, fairly recently (1998?) right in the middle of Chiang Mai! Unfortunately, the excavation work has to stop for now, dues to land ownership issues. But to find ruins that date back to the 1700's in the heart of a busy city is rather amazing.



We next went to a place I personally had never heard of before: an elephant hospital! Here, they work with sick or injured elephants to help nurse them back to health, when they then release them into a protected neighboring jungle area! Here we saw one animal with a leg deformity that he had been born with that is now growing a tumor, and another elephant needing IV to bring down a high fever.








Then ,just a short walk down the path, we saw two mama elephants being nursed by their respective babies AND, incidentally, snatching any of the bananas we bought to feed them both, out of their babies' mouths to snarf down themselves! Hmmph!



And what a send-off at the airport. The Thai do not just drop their guests off at the curb and say farewell; no. EVERYONE of our seven AFS friends from Chiang Mai came to the airport with us in a two-car caravan to send us on our way, but not without inundating us with lovely parting gifts. We were imposing on THEIR time and homes, and they give US gifts! What a send-off, with everybody hugging etc! A truly unforgettable experience with new friends, who we hope will come to Maine sometime in their lives (and ours!) They would be most welcome!














And the scenario was repeated when we arrived late at night back in Bangkok where Oi, Sue-Porn and Mr X all appeared to take us from the airport to the apt-hotel for our last night in Bangkok. Before we could say good night, they too showered us with gifts, including AFS shirts from both the Northern Thai and Bangkok gangs!! Wow. The hospitality of these people is over the top!("It is the Thai way" they kept saying when they would refuse our repeated offers to let us buy the meal, treat someone to a trinket, do our own laundry (! )TThasanee's nieces hand washed and ironed our clothes each night! We were allowed, finally, to leave a gratuity for them at the end!!
A fond, fond farewell to one of the warmest, most gracious people ever!