Situated at the entrance of Costa Rica’s La Paz Waterfall Gardens is the world’s largest butterfly. This butterfly is gigantic – because it is stationary all day long, you can come at any time and get a real good photograph of the creature. See picture on the left. Actually if you haven’t guess it by now, this isn’t a real live butterfly but a very unique iron sculpture.

Walking into the enclosed butterfly observatory, you will be greeted by many colorful and exotic butterflies flitting about. According to their website, there are over 20 species of butterflies in cultivation here. Located in the central highlands of Costa Rica, I visited this relatively new eco-attraction a couple of years ago and I was quite impressed. I highly recommend La Paz as a must see for nature lovers and for butterfly enthusiasts who’d like to brush up on their tropical butterfly identification skills.

La Paz Waterfall Garden is one of the featured attractions on many of our tours to Costa Rica

I have chased many a butterfly in Costa Rica - as there are over 1200 species of butterflies in Costa Rica, it will take a lot of chasing to sight all of them. In my quest, I have trudged through many locales including humid rainforests and cloudforests in addition to visiting such butterfly friendly venues as La Paz Waterfall Garden and various butterfly gardens scattered around the country. Trying to photograph these beautiful insects is kind of tricky – the best time for a butterfly safari is in the early morning hours before the sun has risen to its peak. During these early hours, the butterflies are warming up and relatively sluggish, hence easier to photograph

Calypso Island Tours offers a special tour to Costa Rica for butterfly and nature enthusiasts – the tour features excursions to the most important butterfly gardens as well as taking you to four distinctly different locales – from the lowland rainforests and jungles of the Northern lowlands to the cloud forests of the rugged central highlands.

This is a story about an extraordinary dog, whose profession happens to be a tour guide in Chiang Dao, Northern Thailand. Her name is Son, a small gold hair dog who resides at Malee’s Nature lodge.

After an early breakfast at Malee’s, I decided to go on a leisurely nature hike with the amiable middle-aged German couple that I had met at the lodge. As we left, we noticed that we had an unexpected companion for our hike - it was Son, the cute gold hair mutt whose status as alpha dog at Malee’s had been usurped by a young Lhasa Apso by the name of Jennie. Son assertively took the lead, and led us up the narrow paved road for about 400 meters before she exited onto the nature trail just off the side of the highway. Smart dog! Khun Malee briefed the German couple about the trail – it was about 5KM long and ended up at the Chiang Dao Cave, a popular tourist attraction in the area. Son stayed in the lead, always wagging her tail, from time to time stopping and looking over her shoulder to make sure that we were following her. It was quite obvious that Son was intimately familiar with this trail; we surmised that she had escorted many visitors at Malee’s on such excursions. The trail wasn’t well marked and there were several secondary trails that forked from the main trail. About an hour into the hike, Son took a detour that meandered up a steep wooded slope and we followed. After about 10 minutes of hiking up this secondary trail, the German couple and I determined that Son had inadvertently chosen the wrong path and we decided to return to the main trail. We speculated that Son had taken birdwatchers on this side route before. Upon reaching the main trail, Son assumed the lead again and expertly guided us to the caves.

The German couple, having taken an excursion of the caves the day before, decided to return to Malee’s. Bidding adieu to them and Son, I continued on the tour of the Caves. After completing the tour about an hour later, I was greeted by a friendly face and a familiar wagging tail - sitting patiently near the entrance of the caves was Son, who unbeknownst to me, had waited for me to return. What a wonderful dog! To reward my tour guide for an excellent job, I bought her a skewer of meatballs, which she graciously accepted and devoured. After finishing her snack, Son and I walked back along the paved road to Malee’s about 2KM away. This has to rank as one of my most memorable travel experiences.

In Thailand, it seems that all the guesthouses and households that I have visited in the countryside have at least 2 or more dogs who live on the premises. The dogs are more than just pets - they are also provide a certain measure of security as they deter unwanted intruders from entering. Among the dogs, there usually is a social hierarchy or pecking order – invariably one dog establishes himself as the alpha dog and all the other dogs fall behind in rank. Sometimes there is a shuffling of the pecking order, when a new dog is put into the mix.

I observed this ‘shuffling phenomenon’ or changing of the guard on my last visit (Nov 07) to Malee’s Nature Lodge in Chiang Dao. Son, the small gold hair dog who impressed me so much with her leadership abilities and personality in November 2006, had been pushed aside by Jennie, a relative newcomer on the scene. A 2-year-old Lhasa Apso, Jennie parades around Malee’s like she owns the place. Jennie no doubt is a very smart little dog but she acts too much like a primadonna. Because of her attitude, I have nicknamed Jennie, the little tyrant. Displaced by the more forceful personality of ‘the little tyrant’, poor Son now spends most of the day moping around upstairs on the sundeck. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, Son relishes leaving the compound and escorting some guests on a nature hike or birdwatching
expedition.

Malee’s Nature Lodge in Chiang Dao continues to be one of the best places to stay in Northern Thailand. Khun Malee, along with brother Som are one of the most hospitable and friendliest hotel proprietors in Thailand. As evidence of Khun Malee’s congeniality, most of her guests return from year to year - she treats her guests more like friends or members of the family than as customers. No wonder, she is so popular! And as usual, Khun Malee’s little boy Peter, remains a bundle of energy - he is continually clowning around with the guests and getting himself in trouble. I guess he is following the lead of Ling Yai himself. Joining Malee’s family is a highly precocious little dog, a Lhasa Apso by the name of Jennie. More on her later!

Whenever I stay at Malee’s, I always meet some of the most interesting and eclectic mix of travelers from around the world. My most recent trip was no exception as I met a professional jazz pianist from Belgium, some ardent birdwatchers from England, Canada and Germany and a middle-aged couple from Holland who were bicycling throughout Northern Thailand and Laos.

As a traveler, I am very fussy about restaurant food – it must be tasty, healthfully prepared and of course it must be completely vegetarian (no animal or animal byproducts and no seafood). If you haven’t guess it by now, I’m a full-fledged vegetarian. Thailand is a destination that I have traveled extensively, and there are many restaurants - even outside of Bangkok - that have excellent vegetarian options to choose from. Below is my “Best of Thailand” a partial list of some of my favorite restaurants (excludes Bangkok). My opinion is subjective of course, and my choices are influenced by virtue of being a strict vegetarian. Bon Apetit!

• PAI (Mae Hong Son Province) Na’s - Khun Na can cook up a storm
• KAMALA BEACH (Phuket) Baan Rim Klong - Thai, English and Indian food
• MAE SALONG Salema - A Halal Thai restaurant, runner up for best Pad Thai
• KANCHANABURI Sri Rung Reung - One of my all time faves
• MAE HONG SON Sang Tong Huts - Creative Thai cookery , the chef here is one of the best in Siam
• CHIANG DAO Malee’s Nature Lodge - Excellent family style dinners. Brown rice is the default here
• KOH CHANG Morgan - I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve eaten here!

I’m feeling somewhat nostalgic about My Secret Paradise - the small resort town of La Manzanilla on Mexico’s Costa Alegre - so I thought I would share with you my adventure from March 2007. Hope to see you down there - there’s enough beach and sun for all of us. Cocktails at El Quetzal!

For the best Thai food in Thailand from a vegetarian’s perspective, here are my personal nominations.

• Best Thai food overall

Plearn Ply, Khao Sok National Park

• Best Tofu Satay

Whole Earth, Chiang Mai - hmmm very tasty peanut sauce

• Best breakfast overall

Sanctuary - an upscale vegetarian & seafood Restaurant in Pai - I had a very delicious plate consisting of scrambled tofu and vegetarian sausages

• Best Pad Thai

Sri Rung Reung -excellent Thai restaurant in Kanchanaburi

BEST OF BANGKOK (Sukhumvit, between Nana BTS and Thong Lo BTS )

• Best Spicy Thai food

Raan Derm on Soi 22 - Very spicy, just how I like it….. Many choices of entrees including spicy vegetable dishes - Morning Glory, Broccoli, Asparagus, Mushroom and Spinach. Brown Rice available

• Best Pan Asian Fusion Food (Vegetarian)

Tamarind Café on Soi 20 -Creative vegetarian food, I have eaten there 10+ times

I admit to being a Thai food enthusiast. I love the aroma and the different combination of spices – lemongrass, turmeric, ginger and garlic – as well as the variety of vegetables used in Thai cuisine. No wonder I travel to Thailand at least once a year. During my travels to Thailand, I have been to many different Thai restaurants. Believe it or not, the most delicious Thai food that I have had in recent memory was at some very obscure restaurant located in the wilderness.

I know you’re probably wondering where? It was at Plearn Ply floating rafthouse. Situated on the shores of Chieow Laan Lake, Khao Sok National Park in Southern Thailand, this small lakeside hostel is very remote and is accessible only by longtail boat. The food at the Plearn Ply’s restaurant was excellent. For dinner, I was presented a choice of three entrees – a spicy vegetarian massaman curry with tofu, hot and sour vegetables and a spicy Papaya Salad. The curry sauce was very thick, delicately seasoned and especially flavorful. The food was so delicious, that I kiddingly told my waitress that I was considering a proposal of marriage to the chef if she was available. The waitress laughed as she replied - “the chef is a man, not a lady”, at which time I decided to abandon my proposal of marriage.

Khao Sok National Park is located in Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand, about a 2 ½ hour drive north of Krabi.

While strolling through the lobby of the River Resort & Spa, I came across an illustrated map of Sakaeo Province posted on the wall that highlighted the different attractions of the area. I already had plans to visit nearby Pangsida National Park, but was interested in going to at least one other place. There was a little blurb and illustrated depiction of Lalu Canyon - “a new tourist attraction” located somewhere out in the boonies (about 90 minutes north of Sakaeo city), with some very unusual earth pillars caused by soil erosion. After reading about Lalu, I knew I just had to go there and check it for myself.

My impressions of Lalu? I have never seen a more bizarre looking landscape in Thailand nor anywhere else in my travels. Surveying the small canyon with its compacted golden earth pillars and dunes, it looked like the type of scenery that one might expect to encounter in the southwestern United States. No wonder they call Lalu, the miniature Grand Canyon of Thailand. In the late afternoon, the contrast of the gold pillars against the pale blue sky and the green grassy bottom had a stark primitive beauty. And in the far distance, there were green rice paddies. As it was getting towards sunset, we had to return to Sakaeo but I would have liked to stay longer in this extraordinary place.So utterly peaceful and quiet…