At around 8 am this morning, our group piled into the back of a truck bed, dressed in long sleeves & long pants ready as ever to do the dreaded "cutting grass" project. We had been told this was the toughest day, a precedent that most certainly didn't bring the our spirits down. The adrenaline kicked in as the truck sped off down the bumpy road, each of us unprepared for an adventurous ride to our destination. Picture 17 gamecocks lined up against the walls of a truck bed, holding on to their hats as the warm wind whips through their hair, feeling the bruises forming as they bounce up and down on the metal floor. Add in some classic camp games (think Telephone & Big Booty), an attempt of French braiding hair (extreme version), and trying to stay balanced while surfing the truck bed. We picked up a fellow Thai worker along the way, passed through a government check-point, and laughed a little too hard at an inappropriate joke Prof. Julie told us. Upon arriving to the corn field about an hour away from the Elephant Nature Park, we filed out of the truck and were told to put down our stuff while they handed us machetes. It was time to get to work. For the next two hours or so, we discovered the best way to relieve stress. Swinging machetes at the roots of corn stalks that had been husked already for human food, we made large piles to be gathered and taken back to the camp for the elephants to eat. Occasionally we would run across a left cob of over corn, and after Aek encouraged us to eat it, we all enjoyed the sweetest snack of corn we could have ever imagined, sweating under the 95 degree Thai sun. The backdrop of our morning was casually steep peaks, rising sunshine and lush vegetation, blurred by the relentless smog. We had the chance to serve alongside Thai workers, enjoying their banter and skill with the machetes. During one of our water breaks, I began asking more questions to our group guide, Aek. I asked him what the most pressing environmental issues in Thailand were, and he described the issues of water and air pollution from the rising industrialization the in the cities. We talked about technology spreading throughout the country. "Some people think this new technology is good; the phones and computers. They think they need it. I think we have enough, though. People don't realize that you don't need more to be happy." I asked him if this saddened him, and if he saw the industrialization of Thailand changing the way Thais lived. He said yes, and that he is worried about the future. I feel extremely fortunate to have the chance to talk to these locals, and hear their stories. Aek comes from a village, and studied tourism at his University on Chiang Rai. He loves working with tourists (I couldn't believe this), but I can see his passion for this place in his eyes. He has already memorized all of our names (he somehow knew mine on the first day), and his English is impeccable. He loves saying American jokes and phrases, and his knowledge of the elephants, lands, and people is inspiring. Aek is my favorite person that I've met in Thailand. After we worked on cutting the grass, we then compiled the stalks into piles, had them tied, and then threw them all into massive truck beds (yes, the ones we rode to the field in). We filled three of these. Apparently, this feeds the elephants (all 68 of them), for only a day & a half. This place continues to blow my mind. We then all enjoyed a delicious lunch of vegetable rice, yellow noodles, egg frittata, bananas, and delicious cookies with pineapple jam filling. To get back, we all had to squeeze into one small van and the front of a pick-up truck. Hope, Lil, Whitney, Ryan & I all sat in the trunk. Once again, sorry Mom. We all passed out almost instantly, exhausted from exhaustion. We awoke to see we had stopped at a convenience store, where we all shuffled out and took turns using the (squat) toilet and got ice cream treats. Yum. On our way back to the park, they dropped our group off on the side of the road to chop down more grass as they took what we had already chopped back to the park. This task was a bit challenging, considering we were basically wandering up & down the road looking for the specific kind of grass that elephants eat. At one point, Hope & Brooke were bush-wacking in an overgrown vine pit with a machete. A friendly Thai man stopped by on his motorbike and pointed to a beautiful flower in the vines and told us the elephants love to eat it. He pulled it down, and it was SWARMING with ants. He looked at his, smirked, and said "You try?" I told him if he could manage to rid the flower of the ants, I would try it. Of course, he managed to, and I found myself slurping on a sweet honeysuckle flower given to me by a stranger. It was one for the books. At last, Aek returned with the truck and we gathered the grass into the bed and rode back. Aek pulled up to some elephants roaming in the field, and told us we could feed them with what we found. At the time of collection, we figured we could probably feed one elephant for 15 minutes with how few grass stalks we found. Turns out, we could feed 3 elephants for about 10 minutes. We got to satisfyingly witness them chomp on the grass we collected for them, scratching behind their muddy ears. I'm in love with this place. Namaste, ~~Caroline~~
tangentwithtanner
andulkaphoto
kianamaiart
izzy806
areudirty
jbbartram-illu