 |
| Me, Laura and Molly. Despite the radiance of both my smiles and my lime green bike and helmet, I was 100 percent shaking to my core as this photo was being taken. |
The hardest thing about traveling is relaying every moment to everyone you know back home. So much of what happens is a fleeting emotion or thought or realization of, “Holy crap, I’m in Thailand”, because it is such a peronal experience. I don’t really know how to describe it.
One of the things they all wanted to do at some point in our trip, though I was hesitant to do, was driving scooters in Thailand.
We rented our mopeds on Monday, drove around the city and about 20 kilometers outside of it to this enormous temple at the top of the hill, which was stunningly beautiful. But, for me, one of the best points of the day was when I was weaving in and out of traffic, slowly coming around bends in mountain roads and looking beside me at the family of 3 speeding past me on one motorbike, or the school girl sitting sideways on the back of the moped, her posture so at ease. It is just so strange how differently people grow up. I remember seeing that little boy in Malayasia on his way to school one morning, sitting in traditional Islamic dress on the back of his dad’s moped. It really just makes you stop and think.
But yesterday was probably one of the most mind blowing days of all time. Riding an elephant is something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember. They’re my favorite animals, and the closest I ever came to an elephant was the made up story I used to tell growing up that I rode an elephant on my kindgarten class trip to the zoo. (We went to the aquarium, by the way.)
So, to say I was excited was an understatement. I didn’t really know what to expect, but in my mind I do tend to blow things out of proportion and, even though we were in Northern Thailand, when I closed my eyes I pictured the three of us in the middle of a jungle in Africa with the elephant running wild and free. Totally not possible, but my imagination gets the best of me.
Laura, Molly, our new UK friend Emma , 2 girls from Amsterdam and I headed about an hour outside of the city with Wood, our Muay Thai boxer/elephant raiser/trek guide who would bring us to his family’s home, where they raise 8 elephants. Lots of commas in that sentence.
The morning started off with learning different Thai commands, because we’d be riding these elephants bareback with a guide walking alongside of us, not with us on the elephant. It felt a bit nerve racking, because Thai is similar to Chinese in that it is very tonal. We thought we were saying the words correctly, until we’d hear Wood or the two other guides (his brother and long time friend) say the same word totally different. We got the words down as best as we could, and when he felt we were prepared, we went outside to meet the elephants.
It was such an intimidating thrill, if that makes any sense. You’re standing before these enormous, gigantic creatures (no person is ever allowed to compared herself to being as fat as an elephant ever again p.s.) that were incredibly gentle and calming at the same time.
Let me start with a few things, because this is probably going to be one of the most difficult blogs to write without making it as long as a book. First, elephants never stop eating. They sleep only for 3 hours a day, and the other 21 hours are spent endless eating. I kid you not. They DID NOT stop for a second. Their trunks are just always feeling around for something edible. One of the elephants grabbed a sandwich wrapped in plastic and shoved it into her mouth, which I found to be pretty funny.
But, what was even funnier, as gross as this sounds, is when the elephants go to the bathroom. It’s sounds like a waterfall when an elephant pees, and it look like one, too. All the while, the elephant is just standing there, staring straight ahead and looking for food. When an elephant goes to the bathroom bathroom, it isn’t nearly as funny other than the fact that it just stands there and lets loose, goes as its walking – so completely like, non chalant (can an elephant be non-chalant?) about the whole process.
Anyway, we took it slow in the morning. We met the elephants, pet their trunks, fed them and they gave us a kiss with their trunks, which actually wasn’t in the least bit slimey or gross. It was so incredible to see our guide, Wood, have such an affectionate relationship with the elephants. The baby elephant, Baifun (sounds like Typhoon), would reach out for him with his trunk, sort of like when a dog kind of sits at your feet, its head tilted to the side and looking up at you with those puppy eyes because it wants to play. It’s a crazy dynamic and relationship to see from the outside – another one of those things that make you stop and think, “I definitely wasn’t rolling around with pet elephants in Brooklyn when i was growing up.”
It was a bit difficult to climb up the elephant’s back and get onto its back, and most of the time it took me one or two or three jumps before I was able to pull myself up. Laura and Molly had equally as difficult of times, and one of the Dutch girls had a little cry before feeling comfortable getting onto the elephant.
I didn’t realize the elephants would have so much hair on them, apparently to keep of mosquitos, so it’s definitely quite prickley. The skin is thick but not rough and tough like that of an alligator. The only thing that made me sad was the elephants; eyes; they looked heavy, like there was a lot weighing on them. I felt like if they could talk, they could tell story after story after story. I guess that’s kind of with all animals – a lot of their life is written in their eyes.
We took a break, ate lunch and relaxed on this veranda at the back of his house in the middle of the jungle. The house was so worn and torn, filled with cob webs and bugs and animals and creatures and the sounds of a river and the breeze from the trees and endless things that spoke volumes of our different backgrounds.
Riding the elephant bareback through the jungle was H O T as hell, because not only was the sun out and shining strong, but we had to wear these long sleeve shirts and these pants made of the world’s thickest material. I swear I don’t think I have ever smelled so bad in my entire life, including the time when Christiana and I made a bet about who could go longest without showering when we were in like 8th grade.
It wasn’t absolutely lifechanging, but it was filled with laughs from start to finish. The elephants constantly eat everything along the way, and the guide that walked alongside Laura and I was pretty funny, even though he spoke no English. He played a trick or two on us and sang different Thai songs the entire time without any bit of shame. Our elephant was Christina, a 24-year-old female who was nine months pregnant (elephants are with child with 22 months), so we think she stopped to eat more than the other two elephants. Her endless pit of a stomach held us up a bit, as we were in the front and our Thai commands really didn’t get her moving once she stopped to munch on some green.
After doing the trek through the jungle, we led the elephants down to a river to give them a bath, which resulted more in a large-scale water fight between our guide, the younger brother, Laura, Molly and I - oh, and the elephants, too. I can officially say I’ve used an elephants’ trunk as a water gun.
But the elephants just layed down and rolled over onto his side, and we climbed right on top and scrubbed it down with a brush. I was a bit nervous to hurt Christina’s baby, but I don’t think that I made too much of a dent in her side.
Giving them a bath in the river was tons of fun, but giving them a bath in the river was also filled with tons of something else. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the elephants just go to the bathroom in the water, which the guides scooped up and underhanded them off to the grass like human catapults. So, as we played around, splashed one another with water, dumped bucket of water on one another, pushed one another off the elephants and into the water, I’d stop for a second and think, “Shit – literally”. We all said that if we ended up waking up with pink eye or some other illness, we’d know why.
After riding elephants bareback, swimming with them in the water, swinging on their trunks and spending a long day in the jungle in Northern Thailand, we headed back to our hostel to shower and get nice and clean. On the drive back, Wood stopped at a little road side fruit stand and bought about 10 melons from this waspy, skinny, old lady without any teeth. We watched from inside the car as he took out his little pocket knife – a change from the machete he carried through the jungle – and watched as he cut through this huge melon, cut it up and handed it out to us. I dunno – it was just nuts to me to see him doing that. Again, it’s like, we could not be any more different.
I can officially cross elephant trekking off my bucket list. I want to do it again in Nepal and any other country where they do it. It isn’t the fastest adrenaline rush, but it is like a reality check with every dip of the elephants’ shoulders.
Anyway, we’re heading off to a night market tonight, where we are hoping to not spend too much money because of doing too much shopping. We are backpackers, you know. Gotta be on a budget.
By the way – a monk at the temple tied a bracelet to my wrist, which isn’t coming off ever.
The Zaftig
August 31, 2011 at 10:59 am
Amazing alex. Must have been so thrilling riding an elephant. You mustt have about a million bracelets but the osne from the monk is amazing. Keep writig!
jeanneg65
August 31, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Sounds like fun – don’t know about swimming in the $hit though!!!! Only you!!!! Have fun be safe and don’t get any diseases in those waters!!!
Alison
September 1, 2011 at 11:27 pm
What an experience! I cannot believe thT you were swimming in shit and the most severe thing you were worried about was a little pink eye lmao… That certainly is an experience you will vividly remember forever!! Love you so much and love reading all of these fab stories! Xoxo
Doreen
September 2, 2011 at 12:35 am
Alex
How wonderful. I feel as if I am there with you. But please, when you get some time, explain the significance of these bracelets.