There are new loves in our lives

*originally posted 30 November 2007

And their names are Sri Siam and Prachuab. But I’ll get to that.

Our time in Thailand has been wonderful! The Thai–”such a playful people”–just kidding, I’m only repeating a joke I heard an Aussie say yesterday at how some travelers/guidebooks manage to sum up an entire population. Nah–some are crooked (Bangkok tuk-tuk drivers), some are kind and kinder–like in any country. Besides, what kind of guidebook would describe a country as having jerks for citizens? Of course they’re gonna say it’s lovely & beautiful and yadda yadda yadda.

(but really, Thailand rocks the casbah!)

Happy belated Loi Krathong…it’s a Thai holiday which we were damn lucky to find ourselves in Bangkok for, held every year on a full moon in November. This year it was on November 24th. On this day walking down any street you’ll see makeshift sidewalk stands set up with these little…boats, the krathongs. They’re made of banana leaves in the shape of a lotus flower, are filled with flowers (marigolds, orchids), and perched upright in it is a candle and several sticks of incense. And variations of such–some get truly elaborate with teeny white flowertips on each banana leaf, some have meringue cookies in them (good luck?); I saw one in the shape of a turtle (again, good luck??) made of bread.

You buy your krathong. Then come nightfall you’ll head down to the river with everyone else, light your candle and incense–mentally put all the negativity and sadness you’ve been holding in your heart the last year (since last loi krathong) into your powerful little boat and set it afloat (we set ours in the Chao Praya River and some of its quieter canals) with a prayer and new hope for the coming one. We went a little overboard (I know, as always marmousch) and bought 6 krathongs–setting some off in honor of our families, our cats (what, you didn’t see that coming?), us, and other sappy stuff. I think I got a little carried away from all the candlelight and reverence. Another new tradition started.

Back to Sri Siam and Prachuab. For the last three days we’ve been in Lampang, northern Thailand, at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center enrolled in a mahout training course with 7 other people– Aussies, Americans and one Japanese feller. Mahout = elephant caretaker. Our days went something like this: wake up at 6 am–hike into the jungle with the real mahouts, your mahout guru, if you will, to retrieve your elephant where it’s spent the night–ride your elephant out of the jungle–bathe your elephant. And by bathing I mean you’re on the elephant’s back the entire time, up by the neck with your knees straddling their floppy adorable ears, and are therefore getting in the water with them, sometimes submerged to your chest. Bathing time for the elephants means lots of water fights for us using their trunks as our own personal & very powerful watergun, and since Steve has that wonderful way of taking everything to a whole different level, dung fights initiated by–guess who. Then breakfast–more bathing, this time for an audience–then a “parade” to the showgrounds. This was led by Steve’s elephant, Prachuab, holding a flag, then a trio of which my elephant, Sri Siam, stood on the left holding one end of a long pole on which hung a drum. Another elephant’s job was to bang the drum holding the stick in her trunk. Then a slew of other elephants–maybe 12 or 13 holding up the rear. It was cute at first but by this morning it felt half funeral procession, half royalty event (as in, here comes the queen!) since the whole time we’re still perched atop our elephants, the proud mahouts. After the parade we’d jump right into a show where we demonstrated to the audience (trust me, we’re not talking sold-out crowds here) our good–in some cases–or shitty (in my case) mahout skills. Jumping on the elephant (always needed a good shove on me bum to get up that last little bit), sliding down their trunk, having them pick up a stick, having them kneel, lie down, etc. etc. Two elephants would always do a painting during each show, paintbrush in trunk (their trunks are amazing! like wormy alien limbs with a mind of their own). After the show–lunch–then another training session to work on my crappy inability to master the Thai commands–another bath, another show–hike ‘em back into the jungle and hike back out without the poor little (big) dears. Tough life, two parades and shows a day…

My elephant, Sri Siam, was the tiniest of the bunch. The center will accept mahout trainees as young as 4 years old–he’s the one they put the 4 year-olds on. Or the 28 year-olds, I guess. He was just 6 years old himself, had the most heartbreakingly big light-brown eyes, was the only one of the elephants who needed a Hansel-&-Gretel trail of sugarcane as incentives during the jungle treks (so not a hiker), would give off a long, throaty squeal every so often just to remind you that someday he’d be much, much bigger. I love this little (big) guy.

I’ll let Steve love up on Prachuab in his own words:
She’s 27 years old, one of the oldest elephants there; is one of the sweetest and happiest elephants around…always happy…ears always flopping…with a great big smile. She’s not the most talented of the elephants, but what she lacks in talent she makes up for in her great big heart. She loves to eat and is quite a large lady as a result–first in line, last to leave, and she knows where the food is: she smells it, feels it if someone places sugarcane in the groove above her head and will furiously shake her head from side to side until it falls down within reach of her trunk. She’s a very independent lady and does what she likes but occasionally she’d let me feel like I was in control. Imposing at first, but we warmed to each other and I knew she wouldn’t hurt me. We love each other.

Wooooooooooooo, so Steve’s gone off the deep end a little bit. Hopefully soon he’ll recover from his heartache at having to say goodbye to her this morning. But seriously, it was just a joy, one of those times that I’ll have to draw upon when I’m having an especially shitty day at work in order to remind myself why it is that I work. To do amazing stuff like this.

The lead mahout at the center has put some photos he’s taken of us and our group having the time of our lives on the center’s website, http://www.changthai.com/ – look under 28-30 November and as usual my name is misspelled Tanya. But I’d gladly be Tanya if I could do this all day!