Rotary District 5240 GSE Team

Monday, November 2, 2009

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Our Rotary Presentation Schedule

Good news. We'll be sharing more stories from our trip in the coming months at Rotary clubs all around District 5240.

To book one of us at your club, please email Liz at lizwerhane@yahoo.com.

Thursday, May 28
7 a.m. at Santa Maria Breakfast

Thursday, May 28
Noon at Arroyo Grande

Thursday, May 28

Noon at Ventura East

Friday, May 29
7 a.m. at Los Osos Breakfast

Friday, May 29
Noon at Cambria

Tuesday, June 9

Noon at Goleta Noontime

Friday, June 19

Noon at Santa Barbara Downtown

Tuesday, June 30

6 p.m. at Simi Sunrise

Tuesday, July 7

6:30 p.m. at Rotaract Club of Santa Barbara

Wednesday, July 29

7 a.m. at Santa Barbara Sunrise

Thursday, July 30
7:15 a.m. at Rotary Club of Oxnard

Tuesday, September 1
Noon at Rotary Club of Morro Bay

More clubs to be updated soon...

Clubs in the works:

-- Thousand Oaks

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Chiang Mai Zoo

Liz and Dana took the first flight out of Chiang Mai to Bangkok as they were off on their next adventure. Max and I had some time before our flight so we spent the afternoon at the Chiang Mai Zoo.

This was so exciting! We got to see the pandas and there is speculation that one might be pregnant. Pandas can only get pregnant one cycle out of the year during a 4-5 day window, so this was big news!

They were sleeping most of the time we were there, but we did catch one of them wake up for a yawn!

We also saw a lot of young monks visiting the zoo too.

Our Last Full Day Together

Our last full day together was very memorable. When we learned there was a Longneck Tribe we could visit, we decided to cancel our massages and visit this much talked about tribe.

There were a lot of other tourists visiting this tribe, but the beautiful scenery all around made it one of my favorite visits of the trip. There were mountains, green grass, water and beauty all around.

We stopped at an Orchid Farm before going to get pizza for lunch. Liz had the opportunity to have a one on one vocational visit with a local magazine, so after lunch, the group split up. Max, Dana and I went to an Umbrella Factory. I'll never look at a mini umbrella which decorates fruity drinks the same way again. The process is so intricate and it was amazing to see umbrellas of all sizes and colors being made right before our eyes. Dar, who was a GSE Member visiting California last October, bought us all an umbrella with our names written in Thai.

What a great souvenir!

Next we got to visit a Silk Factory. We saw each process of silk being made and now I understand why it is so expensive and such a precious fabric. I guess I didn't put two and two together that silk is made from "silk worms" which eat mulberry leaves to form a cocoon. It takes 12 cocoons to unravel and become one piece of silk thread. Then 4000 pieces of thread join together to make a piece of fabric. Very tedious process!

(Look closely...Dana is holding a silkworm)

I mentioned I wanted to buy a tea set, so next we got to go to a ceramic store. I bought the perfect tea set and teacups. What a busy and wonderful afternoon!

Our farewell dinner was next. We knew it was going to be a big surprise, but I don't think any of us thought it would be such a beautiful venue. Each of our hosts dressed us in Thai clothes for the occasion. When we arrived, everyone had to remove their shoes at the front (we were all happy to see our shoes were still there when it was time to leave). We all sat on the floor and had a family-style meal. After dinner, a variety of Thai dances were performed. A group of us even got pulled to the dance floor to dance in front of the crowd.

After dinner and entertainment came to an end, we all went outside and had said our thank yous, favorite memories and farewells. We even got to attach our group brochure to a plastic bag which got sent up in the air (very similar to a hot air balloon).