Surin, Thailand: Interspersed Activities
It’s become quite a theme with this mini series – lengthy posts! Thus, breaking them up was absolutely necessary. I actually think I am getting myself confused with all the different posts. I can’t seem to keep track of all of them anymore. Since the schedule wasn’t ALWAYS the same, I wanted to introduce some of the extra activities we got to do while we were at the project. This is obviously outside the realm of elephant activities!
Visit to the Elephant Museum
The trip to the elephant museum left us with tons more information swimming in our heads! We learned the differences between Asian and African elephants; the history behind Surin and the big elephant party the village hosts; we saw the elephant skeleton; and saw many old pictures of the King’s daughter (I think) visiting the village. For not knowing too much about elephants, this was the right dose of information and knowledge! Ocho did all the teaching while we were in the museum, but after looking around, I found that there was English translations on the reverse sides of the information boards. I didn’t need the boards, since Ocho did a smash-up job on loading our brains with so much elephant knowledge!
Visit and Shopping at the Wednesday Market
The Wednesday market was a HUGE event for the villagers. It was the time to get anything and everything. There were clothes, produce, sweets, meats, household items, and so much more! JM did some shopping here to get stuff for our home stay family, like toilet paper and stuff. T and I also picked up some bananas for the mom elephant who just gave birth to the baby on the project – the baby was still nursing, so no bananas for the little guy yet!
This market was so big that it had police directing traffic and making sure everyone stayed off the road. I was glad they had this worked into the schedule – thing was something we definitely couldn’t miss. I think this was the most action and most people in one area I saw the entire time we were in Surin! Lots and lots of people … and their scooters!
Explore the Temple…which probably broke the rules!
Below are pictures of the temple that we climbed and explored. According to R, this temple has been under construction for yearssss! We did enter through what would be the front door and climbed rickety ladders to the top floor, and saw across the vast lands of the village. Beautiful greens spread as far as the eye could see. It was a breathtaking view! The sad thing about this temple STILL being under construction is that 1.) it doesn’t appear it will ever be finished and 2.) someone put in great effort into the artwork inside. I don’t have any pictures of the murals, but they were detailed depictions of important things in Surin living – one had elephants, another had kids playing with the dogs in the street. The murals alone aren’t getting the recognition that they should! Someone worked very hard on them, and they may never be put on display. Who knows, I could be wrong and go back in the future and see a finished temple. I can only hope!
Mahout BBQ
THE MAHOUT BBQ! Oh man! Delicious. Fun. Intimate. True culture! Every Friday night, the mahouts “host” the volunteers at HQ for Thai BBQ. Thai BBQ was very close to Korean BBQ, but the dinner was cooked over a concrete pot. We cooked pork, fish, mushrooms (yuck), bean sprouts, eggs, and noodles in a sauce. Oh and there were some greens in there, but couldn’t tell you what they were. JM and I ended up having Thai BBQ twice, one time with out family on Wednesday and then Friday with the mahouts. Both were fantastic!
The mahouts did all the cooking, while we just watched and waited for the food to be cooked. I will say it wasn’t like a “sit-down meal”, where you have your entire plate filled with food. Thai BBQ was more like “eat when things were ready”. Since things would cook at different rates and you’d replace more food where there was space left open, you’d eat when things were ready. Pick, eat, replace! They also provided you with some hot chili dipping sauce, which I was definitely a fan up, but could only take a little bit of the heat at a time. Man, what I would do to have more Thai BBQ…and I think JM would say that same thing. Yum, yum, yum!
Play with the Newborn Baby Elephant
Visiting the baby elephant was something that we didn’t get to do every day – probably couldn’t have anyway. The baby was only two weeks old when we visited, so the mom and baby needed their rest. But this was probably my most favorite part about taking care of the elephants and hanging with them.
The mom and baby were in a small enclosure, separate from the forest. The mom, unfortunately, was chained, but the baby had free range of the enclosure. You could tell the mother was stressed – she swayed, threw dirt, and would barely let the baby latch to milk. But in a short four months or so, the mother and baby will join the rest of the project. They will have the luxuries of getting fed “treats”, going on walks to the river, and eating sugar cane in the forest. In the meantime, they were confined to the enclosure.
The baby (a boy) was such a trip. He was full of energy and thrived on attention. When he wasn’t sleeping, he was walking around the enclosure exploring as much as he could. He found interests in almost anything new he found, like my feet, for example. He loved playing with my feet. Or head butting me, in a playful manner. Just like a human child, this little was so eager to play and explore!
Because the baby and mother needed rest and less distractions, we only visited them a few times throughout the week. When we did go, I never wanted to leave. I can’t wait to go back and see how big the little guy has grown!
As I mentioned in the Introduction, words can’t describe the experience, especially the interactions with the baby elephant. I hope you have enjoyed this mini series of posts about Surin, Thailand. Stay tuned for most post the remainder of the week, with Friday being the one you’ve all been waiting for…ELEPHANTS!
Kap Koon Kha (Thank you!)