Feb 20, 2007
I love elephants so, naturally, it’s been my lifelong dream to do a Guinness record on the back of an elephant. However, I never thought it would actually happen until I visited Thailand this January.
The Thai people are really into elephants! Elephants are adored and revered here. These largest of land mammals used to work in the forests hauling timber, but since that activity was banned, hundreds of elephants have ended up in elephant camps where their upkeep is paid for by giving tourists rides on their backs. The elephants are very well cared for and quite accessible. In one out of the way camp, I was allowed to play a game with a baby elephant where I pushed her and she pushed me back. The only problem was that nobody told me how to end the game and she ended up pushing me down a hill!
A couple of weeks ago, I went to one of the largest of these elephant preserves, the Maetaman Elephant Camp in Changmai, and proposed the idea of attempting to break the record for the most squat thrusts in a minute on the back of an elephant. A squat thrust is an exercise in which you start off in a push up position, legs fully extended, pull your feet under you into a squat, and then push your feet out again into the push up position. The owner of the park, Anchalee, didn’t bat an eyelash. She thought my plan was superb and, in fact, she arranged for me to come back to the camp the next day to do a practice. And that is the difference in a nutshell between the U.S. and Thailand. At home I’m considered a lunatic, here I’m looked upon as a visionary!
Feb 16, 2007
It amazes me how an inanimate object can sometimes take on a life of its own. As you are probably aware of by now, I have been touring Europe and Thailand for the last two months along with a contingent of students of Sri Chinmoy. In the evenings we often get together and perform skits about inspiring topics. While we were in Bulgaria, in order to add a little humor to one of the performances, someone purchased a large, bright yellow, stuffed toy duck and included it in a skit. The duck got a big laugh, and afterwards, the fuzzy aquatic bird ended up on the table at the back of the function hall where the audio guys monitor the microphones and speakers. Over the next few weeks the duck became more and more a part of the sound crew! Day by day it just got funnier and funnier. One day some headphones appeared on the duck, a couple of days later he was sporting a scarf, and several days later he was showing off a cool new hat!
Feb 11, 2007
I now realize that trying to include a full-grown tiger in a Guinness record attempt was a pretty crazy idea. But I have to say, in my defense, that I was lulled into a false sense of security. A couple of weeks ago, when I went to the Tiger Temple here in Thailand, I met the Abbot who first started the practice of adopting orphaned tigers about a decade ago. The monastery now is home to more than 15 tigers and the Abbot let me walk with a 4 year-old male tiger named Hernfa. Although he wasn’t exactly tame, Hernfa seemed to be quite well behaved under the Abbot’s supervision. That is why when I went to the Temple last Sunday to make an attempt on the record for skipping the fastest 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) and planned to skip the last 100 meters with Hernfa, I had no fear or hesitation.
Unfortunately, as soon as I got to the Temple, my feelings of confidence were instantly shattered! For one thing, the Abbot was called out of town that day. Even though he had appointed 4 extremely capable handlers to assist me, still I missed the aura of peace that surrounded the kind head monk. To make matters worse, the handlers themselves weren’t sure that skipping with a tiger was such a good idea! They were worried that the tiger might attribute the skipping movement to that of an injured animal and be inspired to attack me! At this point, I should have probably just done the record without the tiger, but I couldn’t bear to miss the opportunity of a lifetime. I optimistically assured the assistants that everything would be fine.
Feb 6, 2007
I don’t know what it is about fruits and vegetables with me lately. First, it was bananas in Turkey, then lemons in Bulgaria, and just recently I recalled this story about carrots in Iceland!
At the beginning of December, Bipin and I flew to Iceland to attempt the record for the piggyback mile. Everything had been arranged at the last minute so although our friend, Snatak, was happy to have us stay at his place, he hadn’t had any time to prepare for us. The morning after we arrived, he had to run off to work, but kindly told us that we were welcome to anything in the frig. There wasn’t much. I found some yogurt, some cheese and, no exaggeration, about 20 pounds of carrots!
Wintertime in Iceland is pretty rough. Being so far north, the island only gets a few hours of sunlight a day and the darkness can become oppressive. Knowing that eating carrots helps to improve eyesight, my hypothesis was that Icelandic people must eat tons of carrots to improve their night vision. When I asked Snatak about it, he laughed and explained that the carrots were actually for a juice fast he was planning to embark on. However, before he could get started, a friend of a friend got ill and he lent them his juicer and now he was stuck with oodles of carrots.
Feb 2, 2007
My spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy, once called animals “our ancient friends”. I really do feel that way and, in fact, I love spending time with animals. They are so sincere and real and always live in the moment. There is not much of a story to this blog, but because it involves friends from the animal kingdom, I decided to publish it anyway!
A few days ago, my human friends and I continued our tour of Thailand by moving to a new city. I took advantage of the 3-hour bus ride to take a nap and I woke up just as we were pulling into the very long driveway of our new hotel. Groggily coming out of my jet-lagged snooze, I looked over to my right and noticed a deer and a little fawn in a fenced-in pen across the road. With great excitement I blurted out, “Hey, deer!” My friend sitting next to me, unaccustomed to me being so affectionate, gave me a puzzled look! “No”, I shouted, “there are deer over there, look! A mom and her baby!” Unfortunately, we had already passed the mini-zoo and my friend thought I had really lost it.
As soon as I got to the reception desk of the hotel, I was intent on proving that I hadn’t been hallucinating. It is common to see cows and water buffalo in the countryside in Thailand, but I have never seen a deer, so I could appreciate my friend’s skepticism. I asked the lady at the counter, “You have deer at the hotel, right?” And to my great disbelief she replied, “No, we don’t have any deer here. But we have a miniature golf course with lots of statues of elephants, tigers, and snakes.” I was in shock and my friend couldn’t contain his glee at my discomfort.
