Siam: The Pachyderm and I

Hmmm, markets. No matter where I am , what type of (perishables) market I visit - the smells usually make me gag! I went on an organised tour (6 tourists herded into a minivan with psychotic driver and "English" speaking guide) to the Khao Yai National Park. Included was a stop at a local fruit and vegetables market... wonder which one the turtles and toads in the blue buckets are classified as? Crowded, authentic Thai, with a wide variety of fruits I'd never seen before like Jack fruit (smells worse than it tastes), Dragon Fruit, Lychees, Rambutans,Mangosteen - got ripped off buying different types of exotic fruits as pricing changes depending on hair colour...naturally. But hey, when you get ripped off to the tune of 4 pence, is it worth losing your hard-earned 5 month "Zen" ? Nope!

I added yet ANOTHER first to my list - I rode in an Ox-cart accross Thai farmland... completely set up for tourists, obviously, but still a fun experience! I jumped in a cart with a couple from Panama - we all commisserated with each other about melting and the bumpy ride. I christened the 2 oxen (? what's the plural ?) Ping and Pong and tried not to grunt every time we hit a particularly bad rutt in the path. Now I know suspension is definitely not a wasted invention... and I have the bruises to prove that I went "local"!

Then we ventured further inland to Khao Yai National Park - it's main attraction is a 60 metre high waterfall. I'm sure its normally very impressive - but in the rainy season after a morning shower... it was thundering down. there were about 400 very steep steps down to the viewing platform, with only a rickety handrail on one side (claimed by the people walking up). So anyone who knows about my phobia of steep stairs will know just how much I trembled and shook as I made my way down (luckily I had raced ahead of the group in the "hike" to the stairs down, so I had a good head start and no one in the group witnesses the debacle! One group of Thais cominmg up the stairs asked to take a picture with/of me! Presumably to add to the slideshow with a commentary such as: "This was the foreign blond girl who nearly fell down the stairs where Grandma had no problem."

Below are some of the beasties I met along the way...

BUT without a doubt the best part of the day and my trip to Thailand so far was the ride on an elephant. I was a bit uncomfortable with the idea - after all, they're consigned to a life of inprisonment, ferrying tourists about day after day after day... should I be part of te reason this is propagated. But I'm weak, and when I saw PomPam running about (he was the youngest elephant in the group, only 15 years old), I decided to go for it anyway. Just getting onto the seat was an adventure, but then we plodded off toward the forest and all seemed nice and relaxed and fun...

Until the guide just sort of slid off the elephant (on purpose it turns out) and told me to sit in her spot and she would take a picture! So I clambered down form the safe tourist seat with seatbelt (why do they have a seat belt? Presumably, if the elephant trips and falls over, the LAST thing you want is to be tied to it while it falls on top of you?!?!)...anyway, I digress... I clambered down from the seat, with my bum on its shoulders and knees by the ears - no harness and way too far above the ground to just fall off and roll away laughing - thinking that the guide was going to take the photo and then clamber back up. Nope, that was not part of the plan!



The elephant continued on his merry way through the forest, through a stream/river, back into the forest and at last over a paved path back to the starting point. Obviously every trip happens this way, but since I didn't know that to start with it was thrilling and AWESOME! So was the build-in Airconditioning... which consisted of the elephant occasionally blowing air through its trunk at me... unfortunately mine appeared to have a mild flu and air was mixed with spit! ewwwwwwwwwwwwww Yet another first - "spat on by the Pachyderm". But hey, once you've been peed on by Pinkelboy, all else seems tame!

At the end, I bought some packs of sugarcane and treated PomPam. Unfortunately, one of the larger elephants became jealous and I had to buy a "diversionary" pack to keep it busy while I gave PomPam more TLC! Suffice it to say that I loved every wobbly, scary, freaky minute and it was the highlight of the tour!