We have just finished watching The Deep End of the Ocean.

It’s on HBO, one of three channels in English here at our serviced apartment in Bangkok. We watched it fully engaged in the drama and at times with tears in our eyes. But I’m worried about us and here’s why: this is the fourth time we’ve seen this movie.

We’re positively stuck in the doldrums, counting the days until we can move on.

We arrived in Bangkok after a grueling bus trip over bumpy dusty back roads from Siem Reap. (I think the only roads in Cambodia are of the “back” variety.)

Thirty-eight travelers in a vehicle built for 35, plus the driver, plus at least one huge backpack for each person crammed into a retired school bus with no shocks and open windows pulling reluctantly at the thick dirty air whenever we lumbered over 10 mph.

One man sat in a child-sized red plastic chair placed in the aisle near the front door. He got the best breeze since the door stayed open for the entire ride.

All the way back, lumpy duffel bags and unwieldy suitcases took the walkways. In the final row, people sat five across under a tottering roof of stacked packs threatening an avalanche with each slam on the brakes.

Perhaps, after several squeaking hours you might doze: a small mental escape. But whining, invasive honking would pull you back in to the reality of the journey. Hand on the horn, foot on the gas careening toward and then away from bikes, tuk-tuks, oxen, schoolchildren, goats over the powdery red dirt roads.

Nothing could have been more pleasing to see than the “Welcome to Thailand” sign.

Another four hours from the border to Bangkok and we made it to the absolutely wonderful Sivalai Place. These serviced apartments rank with the best places we’ve stayed on our trip.

Our comfortable apartment has two bedrooms, a sitting room, internet, a couch, air-conditioning, and a big TV with three channels in English. On the grounds we have access to a beautiful pool, tennis courts, a karoke room and a restaurant.

And the staff at Sivalai Place is incredibly welcoming and helpful – letting us borrow DVDs, driving us to the nearby mall, offering to take the kids to the movies.

But we’ve been here 10 days now.

We had expected to rest here a few days, then head on to China. Instead, we are expressionless on the couch, bent over the keyboards, hypnotized by the HBO movie.

We are stuck here waiting for the visas we will need for India. As luck would have it, the week we applied had not one – but two – Indian holidays. That turned a five-day wait into ten days (counting weekends). It’s a long time to spend in a place where we’ve already seen the sites.

Even though we’re in air-conditioned comfort, we are losing our minds. We’ve done hours and hours of schoolwork, written in our journals, taken naps, surfed the internet, swum in the pool, eaten at the downstairs restaurant. It’s time to move on.

We are ready for China. We are ready to fill our minds with scenes from a train window, great walls, and (in)famous squares. Ready to feel bewildered in Tokyo, overwhelmed in Delhi, and amazed in Israel. We are ready to go.

Goodbye HBO, hello world.

Our country report on Thailand – along with our recommendations – is posted here.

Elephants are amazing creatures. They are the largest land animals, they eat for 16 hours a day, consuming as much as 495 pounds of food, and they can live up to 80 years. Many people don’t want to take on the challenge of nurturing these sweet, loving, and potentially dangerous animals.

During our stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand we visited The Elephant Nature Park. There are many elephant parks in Thailand but this one was different.

The Elephant Nature Park is run by a woman named Lek Chailert. Lek’s mission is to save as many elephants as possible. She works tirelessly to rescue Thailand’s Asian elephants from the awful treatment many receive.

In Thailand, it is not illegal to bring elephants into town to make money. The government of Thailand classifies elephants as livestock, which means the owner can use the elephant any way he pleases. By these rules, elephants have the same protection as a chicken.

Many people in Thailand take advantage of elephants to appeal to tourists. Street vendors take them into cities at night and get tourists to pay to feed them.

A city is an awful, dangerous place for an elephant. There have been many reports of elephants getting hit by a car or motorcycle as it crosses the street. Elephants are severely stressed by all the activity in a city, and it makes them very frightened.

Lek rescues elephants that have been abused or abandoned and brings them to The Elephant Nature Park in the jungle north of Chiang Mai. As you can imagine, it is a lot of work taking care of the 36 elephants that now live at the conservation center.

To help care for the elephants and educate tourists, Lek has established a week-long program and day trips that let people help feed and care for the elephants.

We went to visit for a day but I had so much fun and learned so much that I would definitely go back again to volunteer for a longer time. We got to help feed the elephants bananas (which they can eat 10 at a time) and pumpkins.

Then we bathed them in the river by splashing water on their backs and scrubbing them with brushes. Afterward we helped clean up around the camp and then bathed the elephants again.

All the elephants living at the conservation center have really sad and touching stories. One elephant, named Maximus, was hit by an 18-wheeler.

Another named Jokia was pregnant while working on a logging project. Soon after she gave birth her baby fell down a hill and later died. Jokia was so sad she lay down and refused to work. Her owner shot rocks in her eyes to get her moving, but instead it only blinded her.

Finally there is an elephant named Hope. His mother was killed by poachers and he was left in the woods alone with out knowing how to take care of himself. Luckily, some villagers found Hope and called Lek to help. Hope now lives happily at the conservation center.

Lek is an amazing and inspiring woman and I think that the Elephant Nature Park is a great project. It shows that one person can really make a difference. I have a whole new appreciation for these big, hungry, amazing animals after our visit.

There are old ladies walking around the streets of Chiang Mai selling the freedom of small birds.  The ladies have round straw baskets, each containing three birds.  When I see this, I cannot resist setting them free.

They chirp excitedly when I open the basket, and they fly away.  I wish I could set all the birds free, but it costs too much.

(Note: Buddhists believe that showing kindness to small animals brings good karma.)

Other than Obama’s inauguration, there hasn’t been a lot of good news so far in 2009.

We’ve had the misfortune of staying in hotels with CNN, and the superficial analysis and relentless doomsaying of cable TV pundits is enough to send the even the most optimistic among us scrambling for the Zoloft.

Obviously, the world faces a daunting economic crisis.  Millions of Americans are out of work and facing very difficult times.

But the relentless, mindless coverage that passes for news these days does little to advance our understanding of the problem – or more importantly, the solution.

In Thailand, I’ve asked many people in the tourist industry how business is and every person I’ve spoken to has commented on how slow it is. The tourists, they say, are not coming this year.

Many blame the week long shutdown of Suvarnabhui Airport in November for scaring tourists away.  But clearly, there is more to it than that.

Street vendors in Chiang Mai know nothing about bank failures and toxic assets in the United States, but their lives and livelihoods will be affected by them.

As demand plunges in the United States and Europe, the people who make our shoes, electronics and housewares will be thrown out of work in Thailand, Vietnam, China and many other countries. A United Nations agency is predicting that as many as 50 million people will lose their jobs in 2009.

Dennis Blair, the new U.S. Director of National Intelligence, recently told Congress that instability caused by the global economic crisis had become the biggest security threat facing the United States, outpacing terrorism.

All of which had me very depressed one evening as we boarded a songtaew (red truck) to take us to the Tha Phae Gate.

In the weeks we had been in Chiang Mai, we had made this trip many times. The fare has always been the same: 80 baht for the four of us (a little over $2).

When we arrived at our destination, we jumped off the truck and I went to pay the driver.  I handed him four 20 baht bills and turned away.  In broken English, he called me back.

Here it comes, I thought, the shakedown.  He wants more money.

I leaned in the cab.  He handed me 20 baht back.

“No pay for him,” he said, pointing to Conor.  He smiled and drove away.

I stood on the sidewalk feeling both ashamed and humbled.

Surely this 20 baht (about 60 cents), which I had already given the driver, would have made more of a difference to him than me.

As I stood there, pondering the meaning of it all, I wondered if, in a year’s time, he would have the same spirit of generosity.

More importantly, will I?

The day before, the housekeeper at our hotel had button-holed Dani.  In limited English and extensive pantomime, the housekeeper had said she was not feeling well. The various symptoms she acted out led Dani to believe she had a bad cold.

Later, over lunch, Dani said: “She was trying to ask me something, but I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say.”

The next day, the housekeeper appeared at our door once again.  This time, Caroline tried to interpret.  She handed Caroline a foil package of capsules that looked like cold medicine.

The housekeeper said: “Farang leave this in room.  He throw away.  Me take.  What is?”

Caroline told the housekeeper to wait for a minute while she checked, then showed me the package of pills.

The foil contained about a dozen orange and white capsules.  Four of them were missing, presumably ingested by the farang. I found the name “Prelox” on the bottom of the package.

“I’ve never heard of Prelox,” I said. “But I’ll check online.”

A quick search revealed that Prelox was a “natural” form of Viagra.  It’s advertising slogan:  To Make Love Longer Better. (What did we do before Google?)

We realized the housekeeper was looking for cold medicine — not something to spice up her love life.  Now how to explain Prelox to her?

Dani stepped into the hall and whispered:  “It’s medicine for a man.”

The housekeeper looked confused.

“It’s to help a man…”

More confusion.

“…To help a man with love…”

This phrase and a small bit of pantomime seemed to communicate the point.

“Oh, farang here to buy love,” she said, suppressing a smile. “No good.”

We dug into our first aid kit and found some over the counter cold medicine, which we gave to the housekeeper.

She thanked us and tucked the cold tablets, along with the Prelox, in her pocket.

To get around Chiang Mai you stand on the edge of a street and hail a red truck.

This is kind of like a group taxi, continually scooping up passengers and dropping them off.  When one pulls over, you need to have a destination name ready for the driver.

So far, we have always been waved in when we say, “Tha Phae Gate,” the name of a famous opening in the wall around the Old City.

Giddy from the success of our first red truck transaction (20 baht per person for the ride—35 baht currently equals one U.S. dollar), we clambered out of the back to look around at our first view of downtown.

The first sign that caught our eye (probably because it was one of the few in English) said Gecko Books.

We are all fond of a good book store and used books are even better: we can spend hours perusing titles and enjoying the smell of the musty pages.

When we were in South America we were disappointed by the quality of the used book stores.  The one or two shelves labelled “English” seemed stocked only with overpriced romance novels and science fiction titles.

We found this to be true every place we visited in South America – in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

It’s a different experience all together in Chiang Mai, largely because of Gecko Books.

Their collection is huge, with every conceivable category represented and helpfully alphabetized.  The books are sold at very reasonable prices, and they also buy the books we’ve read for a fair price.

We have become regular customers, finishing books as fast as we can so we can go back for more.

So my question is this:  Are English-reading Asian travelers that different from South American travelers?  Why is there such a difference in the quality, quantity and price of used books?

I don’t know the answer, but I do know we are grateful to have found Gecko Books.  In our time here we’ve spent many enjoyable hours exploring their stacks, and we can recommend them to any traveler wandering through Chiang Mai.

You never know what you’ll find.

Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia never to have been ruled by a European power.

The Thai kings (and by extension the people) were able to maintain their independence largely through a healthy skepticism of foreigners.  One example:

During the late 1600s, a Greek named Constantine Phaulkon, became a key advisor in the royal court of King Karai.

Phaulkon helped the King fend off attempted colonization by the Dutch and English, but allowed 600 French troops into the kingdom. Bad decision.

The Thais, fearing a takeover, expelled the French and executed Phaulkon.  The country sealed itself off from the West for the next 150 years.

Though Thailand has built a strong tourist industry, a healthy distrust of the farang, or foreigner, exists to this day.

The Thai people are gracious hosts, and we have found them to be friendly, warm, honest and helpful. But long-time expats have told us that it is best to avoid confrontation in Thailand – than any disagreement between a Thai and a farang will not end well for the farang.

We have been struck by the local interest in our kids, especially Conor.  Part of the attention they receive comes from a cultural affinity for family and children.

But part certainly is their “farang-ness” – Caroline and Conor just look completely different from Thai children.

We have been amused by locals desire to be photographed with our kids.  Other traveling families have shared similar experiences with us (including one story about nearly a hundred people in a queue for pictures with western children at The Forbidden City in Beijing).

Caroline and Conor have been patient and gracious, taking it all in stride.  Though truth be told, Caroline has been a bit incredulous at the rock-star treatment accorded her brother.

Thailand has proven to be the perfect introduction to Asia for us – very different, yet very safe.

Farang or not, the Thai people couldn’t be kinder to us.

At our house, nothing is more popular than Thai food when dining out.  Everyone in the family loves something on the menu.

I have imagined myself learning to cook Thai food since we began planning the trip.   Our new Scottish friends who are traveling the world (but in the opposite direction) had been in Chiang Mai before us.  We took their advice and signed up for a day-long class with the Thai Farm Cooking School.

The trip began at the market where our instructor “Tommy” showed us how to tell ginseng root from tamarind and what to look for in a fish sauce.  Loaded with supplies to prepare our dishes, we headed for the farm.

In aprons and hats, we toured the gardens learning about banana flowers and dragon fruit, long beans, coriander, and kaffir limes.

Our tables, lined with stone mortars and pestles, were under a bamboo roof on a pier jutting over the pond.  Each student (even Conor) had a great, sharp knife for chopping and a board scattered with roots, seeds, garlic, chilis, and lime peel.

Depending on our individual choices, we filled our mortars and, with great gusto, pounded our chopped flavorings into a gorgeous curry paste: red, yellow, or green.

In the kitchen we each had a small gas stove to cook five separate dishes: a curry, a soup, a salad, a noodle dish, and a dessert.

Here was my personal menu:

• Chicken with Red Curry
• Thai Vegetable Soup
• Papaya Salad
• Pad Thai Noodles
• Bananas in Coconut Milk

Even Craig got into the act.  Caroline is convinced that chili, hamburgers and hot dogs represent the full range of his cooking abilities – but Craig reminds her he did survive a decade as a bachelor.  I must say, both his yellow curry and chicken with basil was quite tasty.

The most important thing I learned in school, though, was that cooking Thai is easy, fun and delicious.  More than one person in the class said the meal they cooked was the best Thai food they ever had.

You can bet I will be a regular customer at our local Thai grocery store when I get home.