When one day is beautiful, vibrant, colourful Buddhas, the next is hand feeding elephants, and cocktails every evening, it’s got to be Thailand. This is an eight day break; between a difficult period of redundancies at work then reallocating the tasks of liked & valued colleagues who departed unexpectedly, and starting the final two units of my university course which run back to back.
These days will be a break, to reset and rest, before a change of pace and thinking style. My current role is a known set of responsibilities, people, and tasks and is very familiar; two study modules will kick me out of that comfort zone and re-engage a more rigorous, academic learning style of thinking. Also I have never completed two units back to back with only a week break, so the extended learning will be challenging.
Back to elephants.
There are a couple of elephant sanctuaries in Thailand, who take old elephants and give them their retirement in peace without endless work. We visited, and learned a lot, prepared food then fed the elephants by hand. They’re not shy when they smell watermelon ! Elephants are often badly treated here, as in many countries, so I am happy to support an organisation that looks after even a few of these gentle beasts.
So far both days have ended with cocktails and glorious colour.
My Longest Journey 