Elephant Nature Park

10:04pm thai time

My plan of getting up at 5am definitely did not work out haha. I think I finally got out of bed around 5:45. I was moving so slowly. I showered and packed and went down for breakfast around 6:45am.
Breakfast was included with the price of the hotel again. It was a buffet and wow haha. It wasn't a massive buffet. There were a lot of things out though. I got more fresh fruit! Watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple. Yummy.
I also tried some glass noddles and vegetable noodles. And the pancakes here are green so that was strange. They still taste wonderful though. I'm so sick of bread I couldn't finish them though. I also ha an omelet which was weird too. I just got plain eggs and he made it like it was going to be scrambled eggs but then at the end it rolled into a log. It was a roll of eggs haha. The cool thing was that when you went to put the fork in it it unrolled into an omelet style thing which made it easy to put on toast. I don't know why I can eat toast but not bread. I also have to put something on the toast though. I found it strange there were noodles for breakfast. There were also pastries and a bunch of dishes like fish and soup which also seemed weird to me for breakfast. Pineapple juice here... And India and Nepal... Has been really good.
After I ate, I went again to ask reception where the elephant nature park office was. The lady there said it is a 15 minute walk and 5 minute drive. She gave me a map and had no problem figuring out where it was.
I went upstairs and grabbed my stuff and went back downstairs to check out. I got 2 free complimentary bottles of water from them and there was a mini bar. Before I left they had to make sure I hadn't taken anything. They used walkie talkies. And I was tempted to take the free water but it was in a glass bottle. The "take away" ones were plastic and cost 20 bhat.
I went to the taxi stand downstairs and stood there. Maybe for at least 5 minutes. No one came over and there were even 2 guys at the desk right inside. They were just watching me. They never came over but when I went over there they were quick to jump in and help. I'm not sure why they didn't come to the stand outside the door when I was there, especially since the stands sign said taxi cab and information.
I showed the men the same address as last night but all folded up so they couldn't see the elephant part. They were like oh yeah yeah yeah. But then he opened it again and got confused about an elephant tour. 10 to 8 I finally got a tuk tuk.
It was going to be 80 baht. The tuk tuks are so much more spacious here than in India. I don't remember riding on a tuk tuk in Nepal... But the Thai tuk tuks are basically like a 5 star hotel in tuk tuk land. Maybe 4.5 stars because the roof is pretty low and you can easily hit your head. They even look polished and nicer.
I arrived just at 8pm at the elephant nature park office. I walked in and filled out a release form because when you work with animals as large and somewhat wild as elephants things can be pretty unpredictable.
I was told to enter the next room. I walked in and was told to go to the next desk. There was a lady sitting there with her back turned to me. When she turned around I quickly realized she was not a she haha. It was my first day and I had already seen a she man. I don't think I reacted. At least I hope I didn't. I was prepared for that happening.
She had an Adam's apple and her skin was powdered white with a lot of make up. She was even wearing a wedge and tight skirt. No hips though. She gave me a tag with a number on it and told me to go get a free shirt and water bottle.
I might end up buying another shirt. Unfortunately, the sizes here are smaller so the L is pretty tight. It works. But I definitely wouldn't wear it here. Baggy clothing is definitely the way to go here. I just feel so much more comfortable in baggy clothes because a) it's not as hot; b) everyone stares at you so you already feel self conscious; and c) it's a respect or their culture thing, just like covering your knees and shoulder which I also always try to do. I also got a free water bottle and a water bottle carrier which is super nice to have, especially for the rest of my travels. I almost bought one but I didn't and now I got one for free and its cute with elephants on it. Winnnn!
There were a few volunteers already in the office so I introduced myself and we started talking.
Amelie is from Montreal and she is going on her second week at the elephant nature park. She loved the first week. We were all picking her brain about how things were. She just graduated law school but still has to take the BAR exam.
Ashley is from Toronto and she is also 23. I can't remember what she said she was going back to school for. She has a boyfriend. She was also in Cambodia and Vietnam for the past 2 months and said she loved them.
Popee and Georgina traveled together and they have been gone for 2 months and are going for 3 more months still. They are from London. Popee is studying chemistry and Georgina is studying English with a specialization in American and Canadian studies. She doesn't know if she wants to be a teacher.
We waited at the office for some more people for maybe an hour. Then we loaded our bags into a van and got into another van. We played a name gam to get to know everyone and you had to say the strangest food you have eaten. I couldn't really think of anything. I still can't off the top of my head.
On the ride we were shown a documentary about elephants and the camp and Lek, the founder. It's a pretty amazing thing and Lek is a pretty amazing person.
Lek means small in Thai (its her nickname) and she is very tiny, although we haven't met her yet. She has devoted her entire life to elephants and saving them.
In Thailand, elephants are a very respected animal for many reasons but they also are not treated with very much respect. They are used to street beg, tourism purposes, and they used to be used for logging work. The government banned logging in Thailand in 1989 and the only thing left for the domesticated elephants who were working is tourism.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of exploitation and mistreatment of elephants in this business. Leks goal is to make a sanctuary for elephants in which they can be free to roam about and have freedom. The goal is for none of the elephants to be chained but one of the males is right now.
He is chained because the park is full of old, crippled, handicapped women and this elephant hasn't been "broken in" yet, which is actually really good. But it also means he is more difficult to control and he doesn't listen to a mahout anymore so in order to keep the other elephants safe they have to chain him. He has a really long chain though and can still walk a good stretch of the park and even get down to a water source. The elephants are also all chained at night because it prevent them from walking across the river and bringing food back from the village. They put pesticides and other chemicals on their crops and it can really hurt the elephants, so it is for their safety.
We also stopped at a 7-11 so people could buy bug spray and other things they may need. I was set haha. Once we got to the park we ha a tour of the grounds. We got to see one of the babies with her mom. They are in a cage right now though because they are worried about the other 2 elephant babies of the mom getting jealous they aren't getting milk and the baby is. So again, they are taking a safety measure for the baby so she doesn't get hurt by one of her siblings.
There are 35 elephants in the park right now. I thought I heard 4 boys and 31 girls but I think it's 2 boys. Ill have to find out for sure.
Lek has enforced a program using positive reinforcement to train the elephants instead of the brutal methods used elsewhere in Thailand due to tradition.
After the tour of the grounds, which is very nice. There are real toilets and shower heads (only cold water comes out of them). The rooms are nice. I have a mosquito net! There are 2 fans and 2 beds. There is a huge hut area where we eat all our meals and we have wifi access.
The meals are amazing. It's actually ridiculous. The food is so good. And I get fresh fruit and vegetables that are safe to eat! It's amazing. Lychees are really good. Everything else... I don't even know what it is called. It's tasty though. We eat e breakfast at 7am, lunch at 11:30am, and dinner at 6:30pm. Tonight dinner was at 7pm though because we had a welcome ceremony.
For the ceremony we went to the second level of the dining hall and sat on square cushions. There was what I am assuming is traditional Thai music being played and a shaman from a nearby town to bless us. It was pretty cool I guess. There was a lot of chanting and throwing holy water on us with what looked like a bunch of pine needles. Then there was a colorful thing with flowers and 2 tall sticks he lit on fire. Then there was a large bouquet-ish thing of flowers that had 4 areas where it looked like there were wings or something. 4 people put their hand on them and the shaman tied sting around their wrists. Everyone got a bracelet. Then all of a sudden it was over and it was dinner time.
At 4 or 4:30 we had gotten to bathe the elephants. We took buckets and threw water on them. The second we washed them off they were just going to start showering themselves with mud again. It keeps them cool and is also a natural sun screen. You constantly see them throwing dirt or mud on their backs.
Being up close with the elephants is actually really cool. Like getting to stand with them and look them in the eye is crazy. I honestly know nothing about elephants but they are really fascinating. The way they act as a family and have interactions like humans is very interesting. Also I am so enameled by their trunks haha.
We have a schedule everyday with different tasks we need to do with which group is doing what when. There is a morning job and an afternoon job everyday. We start at 8am in the morning and 1:30pm in the afternoon. There are feeding times for elephants as well as bathing times that are optional. There are also fruit trucks that can come in at any time. We unloaded watermelons today.
It took probably half an hour and I think it was all 21 of us helping plus our 3 leaders. The truck pulls up to the elephant kitchen and a few people get in the truck bed with the fruit and pass it out of the truck an we form an assembly line down to where the fruit needs to be placed on the shelves.
During this time I met Chrissy. She works with marine animals like sea lions and dolphins and whales. So cool! She lives in Florida right now. Her degree was actually in theater which was good for her job because they don't require a degree but you so need to be able to entertain a crowd.
There are water bucket and ice boxes with clean water and ice. At first I was really skeptical about it but realized it had to be fine if everyone at the camp drinks it.
Just on cue. I entered a new country. Time for another cold! I don't think I talked about the second one I got in Nepal but it was pretty mild. I hope this one is too. Sucky!!!!
During the afternoon we all had to say our names, where were from, and a special skill. It's all girls in our group so I decide to go with my tongue vibrating. People got a kick out of that ha. I still love that reaction.
Everyone crashed and went to sleep pretty early. I wasn't super tired. This day had actually been pretty tame for me. We didn't do too much. I showered before I went to sleep and spent a good 10 minutes tucking my mosquito net under my mattress.
Tomorrow should be interesting! The real work starts.