Khao Kheow

Although we love our work here in Thailand and many days are adventurous by virtue of being in such a different place, Fridays are perhaps best of all. Because Saturdays, and to some extent Sundays, are workdays, Fridays are our special days off, Family Day. A day we try to reserve for no work, just spending time as a family at home or away. We went by thiaw last Friday to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, about an hour away. This is a place we've wanted to visit for a while, but you really have to have a car to get there. It was incredible, really. When you enter the park, there are stands selling large bags of cucumbers, bananas, beans and sweet potatoes, and you buy this food to feed the animals. There were many amazing animals; here are a few...


The giraffes were the highlight for me. Imagine getting to feed a giraffe, its long gray tongue coming out and curling around the bean you're offering it, and getting in a pat when it's close...amazing!

This grassy area was full of deer. They seemed to be overfed, because several of them declined our offer of food...

Have you ever been really close to a hippopotamus? These animals are so interesting. They are used to being fed, so they would come right up to the fence and open their mouths wide, awaiting the deposit of vegetables. Hungry, hungry hippos! They have these huge fat deposits on either side of their mouths that swish when they chew, and their jaws are quite powerful.

Tim caught us both smiling in this picture.

And here are the requisite elephant pictures...Their trunks are really incredible, like long powerful arms searching out food. Tim left a bag of food on the ground too close to the fence, and before we knew it, this long gray trunk came snaking across the ground and whisked it away! Another elephant got his trunk into the bag of food I was holding!

Emmy sharing beans with the mommy elephant...

And this was perhaps the most amazing moment of the day for me...this baby elephant is nursing! I felt an immediate affinity for the sweet mommy!