Category: Asia

So, I rode an elephant today…

On By 1girl1bkpkIn Asia, ThailandLeave a comment

It happened accidentally actually; some friends and I were cabbing it around the island and they wanted to stop in and see about the supposed 4-hour elephant ride. First of all, something about cabbies is that they take you to the places THEY know, even if it’s not the exact place you asked for. More often then not, they receive a kickback from the location to bring tourists there. Secondly, you wouldn’t want to spend 4-hours on an elephant–no way.

Kinnaree Elephant Trekking

See, when we got there, they had rides lasting 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Kent, who loves to bargain, set up immediately to bargain the three of us onto a couple elephants. I kinda smiled, pinched up, and said sure. Ah, peer pressure–not always about partying.

Recreation of the View while riding an elephant

Once I was on the elephant with my friend, I pretty much squeeked the whole time. The whole ride was ridiculously bumpy and uncomfortable. We kept having to shift our weight around so the chair didn’t slide off, we went down some pretty steep little hills (I was squeeking a bit then; my friend said he thought I was going to freakk out the elephant and buck us off). Plus the manook (elephant trainer) sat right on his neck, and along with controlling him using his feet on the base of its ears, he also used this– an elephant hook.

THIS is an elephant hook

To see these majestic, intelligent, long lived creatures carrying tourists about, some of them chained up, unable to move very far– I saw one repeatedly feeling the beams of her enclosure; I was pretty bummed about it, and I’m not even an animal person.

And yet…

When man colonizes an area that was previously wild, they domestic animals that were there. Elephants could cause a lot of destruction to human settlements if allowed to run free. So elephants have been domesticated, hauling logs and such, or, in the case of tourist regions, carting foreigners from point a to point a.

I think the injustice got to me at first because elephants are so smart and intelligent; also, in western culture, elephants are not creatures to be keep in cages, but to roam free. I liken it to the idea of domesticated cats, dogs, pigs, horses, etc, being inconceivable to many other nations around the world. It’s a cultural difference.

But it was still terrifying.

A cat, a rooster, and a cow walk into a restaurant…”

On By 1girl1bkpkIn Asia, ThailandLeave a comment

Okay, so the cows (plural) were around the corner, but there was a cat and a rooster in the open air restaurant that I ate at the other day. Everything here is open air, the restaurants, the muay thai camp — basically just a roof with as few walls as possible. The breeze that blows through all of Phuket is a lifesaver; the sun for most of the day, the sun can be unrelenting and unforgiving (and boy, do I have the sunburn to prove it)

The "boat beach" at Rawai

My first week here in Thailand has definitely been a learning and varied experience. I’ve seen about three of Phuket’s towns (Patong, Chalong, and Rawai) and the accompanying shorelines. This exploration would be facilitated if I rented a scooter, but alas, British Imperialism has reared it’s ugly head. Well, Thailand was never colonized, but I can’t think of any other reason why [most] people drive on the left side of the road here. I think once I settle in a bit more, I’ll be much more comfortable with scooter driving.

I’ve been here at the muay thai camp for only 3 days, and I’ve already trained for 9 hours, more time than I could have trained in a week back in the States (oh, pesky employment). I took this morning off, even though I woke up less sore this morning than the past couple days. I just needed a bit of a lie-in. I drank some instant coffee on my little porch, enjoying the shade. I’m currently in a double room, but I have it to myself, so keep your fingers crossed for me that it stays.

Nice little beachside sidewalk