Preserve a patchyderm, spew on a dog

By the third time I had spewed over the railing and onto one of the homestay family's dogs, I knew something was gastronomically wrong. Well into my third month in SE Asia and in the middle of a weeklong volunteer project with The Elephant Nature Park out of Chiang Mai, Thailand, I finally came down with the fabled traveler's tummy.

A half day's drive on serpentine roads from acceptable medical facilities and hundreds and hundreds of kilometers from where I started, I was immensely grateful for the insta-friends of The Journey to Freedom and Cheryl's familiar face - even if I barely saw her between visits to the squat toilets to purge my other end.




(At the Park on night one)


(Walking a family)


(Three-month-old twins! Only the third known pair in Thailand)


(Buffs and scenery on second walk)


(Just down the road from our homestay)


(Cheryl on The Creek Crawl)


(Our translator, pseudo guide, sous chef, entertainment)


(The village came out to see us off)


(Clearly keen for a fella, Cheryl made me a man)