Dee Mahk (Good Very!)

So obviously my whole Elephant Nature Park experience was quite amazing, informative, fun and inspirational. There's more to say than I would ever have time to put into this blog. So I thought I'd go with some lists. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm being a complete hypocrite with regards to the whole "backpacker complex" thing. Oh well.

Things I'm Really Going to Miss

• The elephants! - So I think I said this before, but the grounds of the park were like a summer camp but with 25 elephants all over, and I mean all over. In the morning I would wake up and there would be a family outside my window. And when I was sleeping outside (week 1 with coughy roommate Stacey), fields of elephants was the first thing I'd see when I opened my eyes. Walking down the dirt road to the main hut I would usually pass five or six. Then I'd get to the main hut where some of them like to hang out waiting for the food truck to come. Then feeding time, then walking down to the river for a bath then for a walk. Seriously, I feel like hanging out with elephants is like hanging out with gigantic baby humans. Slobber everywhere, always unbelievable cute and funny and there's never a dull moment.
• Sounds - I had no idea how many different kind of sounds elephants make. Then in addition there are the ones too low for humans to even hear! There's the trumpeting which is really cool, especially if a bunch of them get into it, there's there like a really loud rumbling that sounds way more like a motorbike starting than an animal noise. Then there's the squeaking which sounds like it should be coming from a seal and not an elephant. Then there are geckos which make some other squeaky noises. Then there's the sound of the wat (Buddhist temple) down the street. They play some really nice music I think around 6 every day. (UPDATE: found out it's the Thailand National Anthem, just being played on the town's PA's system) Then there's the sound of the mahout's karaoke bar which I think was also in town. So funny. Then there's the sounds of the 39 dogs, but I think that might go in the Things I'm Not Going to Miss list.
• The Other Volunteers - Either Elephant Nature Park is unbelievably cool or I just have awesome timing. I met the best people there. You'd think with two weeks of the same people you'd start to get sick of people but I really didn't. The age range was always at least 10 years but barely noticeable. And none of the large number of couples even acted annoyingly couple-y which was really cool. Maybe I'm totally off and everyone hated me or something but I'm completely amazed how well the whole group of us got along. And even some people who were only there a week, or even 3 days, I made awesome friends with.
• The Mahouts - First, it's really cool to observe the relationship between the mahout and their elephant. The role of the mahout in Thai society is really strange (they're the caretakers for Thailand's 'most precious' animal, but it's basically a crap job that gets handed down to you) and then the role of the mahout at the park is even stranger. Mahouts are basically taught from day one that torturing the animal as much as possible is the only way to get it to obey, so coming to the park and having to change their ways can be quite a shock. (Sometimes they can't change and are asked to leave.) Anyway, the mahouts at the park all seem really sweet with their elephants. Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of yelling and discipline, but no metal hooks or massive beatings. And the good times outweigh the bad times by a lot. Second, a couple of the mahouts were psyched to hang out with me and teach me Thai. I had been really frustrated not learning ANY Japanese in a month of being in Japan, so I took full advantage of this opportunity. Some of them also were trying to learn English so it worked out well. One night when the other volunteers were playing Mafia, I sat with Kopi (17 year old Burmese mahout) and helped him read a Lion King picture book he had bought in town. He could read most of the words but didn't always know what they mean. It was really fun to try to explain/mime out what the words dark, mouse, secret and trust meant. Mongkhun was an 18 Thai mahout with this huge smile who spoke very very little English but liked laughing and smiling. I learned most of my Thai with him. He didn't really speak English so we just bother used the Thai phrasebook to communicate. He would say something and then look it up so I would know what he said then I would look something up and point to it then he would say it, then I would say it. We could have full conversations like that. I couldn't believe how well it worked. The phrasebook is helpful but kind of pointless without someone to actually say the words because Thai is based so much on the tones. He also had this really silly "Learn English" book with really bad English sentences that Rachel (from Singapore, roommate for 2nd week, supercool) and I tried to correct and turn into sentences a person might actually want to say. I didn't realize how much Thai I learned until getting back to Chiang Mai last night. In the tuk tuk I kind of had a conversation with the driver! Very cool. Thank you Mongkhun! And thanks to Kopi, if I'm ever in Burma I can say 5 or 6 Burmese phrases too!
• Food - There were 2 full time chefs who made lunch and dinner each day. Soooooooooo good. I would have a full plate (or two or three) each meal. Lots of pineapple and cucumber!!! I don't think I can eat Thai food back in the States anymore. Just kidding. The dishes usually weren't spicy and if they were I was given a heads up. I was feeling so adventurous I even ate fish and curry dishes too. Go me!!
• The peace, quiet and beauty - So the website and the official volunteer pack made it look like we'd be doing hard labor from 7am to 5pm. We actually woke up whenever we wanted, before 10 if we wanted breakfast, helped with feeding and bathing, took pictures for the day trip people, then chilled, which usually meant playing sudoku on the deck. Not just for me, but for like 6 other people too. Sometimes there would be poo pick up or barbed wire fence wrapping to be done too. There was also a balcony (where I slept week 1) that overlooked the park that was really nice to sit out on and just write. Or play sudoku. I've never categorized myself as a "country" person, but wow, being in dirty, smelly, noisy Chiang Mai really makes me really miss the serenity of the park.
• The Karen Hill Tribe trip- I'll try to explain this better. Lek (superwoman) has a project Jumbo Express which was initially set up to visit, educate and give care to elephants and people in small, poor villages in the mountains. Unfortunately, a lot of the villagers were taking the medication she gave them for their elephants, selling it for money and continuing to be mean to their elephants. Kind of discouraging. So she's stopped doing that as much but still likes to help out when she knows the help will be appreciated. Soooooo, she got word from this guy who used to work for her named Yo that a family in one of the villages he oversees was in dire need of a new house and invited us to help build it. We were psyched, but none of us knew the first thing about building houses especially out of bamboo in the jungle of Northern Thailand. Fortunately, like the case with Elephant Nature Park itself, the most important thing we as Westerners could bring was the money (in the form of medication and roofing materials) and not our manpower or housebuilding knowledge. They had that covered. We also brought our dancing skills. So the first night, I already mentioned the funeral. They wanted us to get involved because for the younger generation it's not cool to be involved with traditional stuff and we, being Western, are apparently automatically cool. So when they got us involved it was a way to get the younger generation psyched about their own tradition. The most impressive thing about them wanting us to be their was their patience with us. They speak Karenii, we spoke English. We're walking around a coffin, you would think it would have been awkward. Well it kind of was for us, but definitely not for them once we got past the staring-at-each-other phase. They were lighting candles at one end of the coffin and wanted us to light candles too. The walking stopped for about 10 minutes because we couldn't get the candle to stand. Eveyone's still smiling. Then after 30 seconds of standing, the candle fell again. We moved to the other end of the coffin and lit incense instead. Then there was a piece of cloth or toilet paper or something soaked in maybe water, maybe whiskey that they were swinging over the gifts (seeds, cookies, candles) that were scattered on the top of the coffin. They held our hands and got us to do it too! And then all the younger girls were walking with this shawl on their shoulders and they stopped the procession to get us under the shawl too. It was really nice. And then the whiskey offering. See, funerals are kind of like week long parties for the village and I think I was told that the idea is the teenagers get drunk and then run off and, um, repopulate. "With death comes life" kind of thing? Anyway, everyone there was really inviting, really patient and really excited for us to be there. So surprising. I felt really bad thinking about the response if they showed up for a Western funeral. So the next day was filled with "oh-mu-chew-puh"(hello)s and "tab-leuh"(thank you)s. Rachel and I played frisbee and tried to get the kids to play with us. It didn't work but they all liked sitting around and watching us look like fools running to catch it and falling. Then the chicken dance thing. See Pom, she kind of led the trip (Lek was in the hospital for stomach problems, but she's better now), is this tiny tiny nature/outdoorsy woman who only wears board shorts and oversized t shirts and LOVES techno music. At a painfully loud volume. So in the car with her we listened to BEST DANCE MIX and there was this techno chicken dance song! I loved it. Rachel did too. So we were chicken dancing a lot. When we drove into town for lunch we made Pom play it 3 or 4 times and danced non-stop. So then when we got back to the village we kept it playing in the truck and got out and danced in front of their huts. Pom videotaped it. That may have been the first time I was filmed all day. Not for any of the house building but for the chicken dance after lunch. Thanks Pom. Then for the rest of the day Pom was yelling, "CHICKEN DANCE!!!! CHICKEN DANCE!!!!" So after the whisky out of the plastic bag offering Rachel and I thought it was only fair to teach them the chicken dance. You know, like a cultural exchange. They got into it! Kind of. I have pictures. We were told we may have been the first Westerners they have ever met so I have this vision of them meeting their second group of Westerners and thinking, "Let's show them that lovely traditional Western dance that other group taught us!" And then getting picked up to go on tour across Thailand. I did help build the house too. I carried and untied bundles of straw roofing, I carried bamboo all over for the floor, the walls, the everything. Bamboo is quite impressive. Ok, Beau just called and is going to call back so I have 5 minutes. The last thing about the whole experience was the ceremony at the end. We all sat in a circle in the newly built house, lit by candlight and the mother and the old man (113) of the village gave us these little string bracelets which mean a lot. I wish I knew more, but they were all giving blessings and it was just crazy that they would share this with us! Then they brought out this tray of rice with some super spicy dishes in the middle and I ate it! Super spicy! When we left I was crying. The kids were so fun, the people were so nice, the whole experience was just unreal. Ok, last thing, I only got to do this cause Lek is such an awesome woman and really just wants to help whenever possible (did I tell you I know get how cults happen now?) There are "hill tribe treks" offered every 5 feet in Chaing Mai but they go to villages that are visited like 20 times a day and it's all so lame. They visit like 5 villages in one day. Show up, take pictures, give candy to begging kids (rot their teeth), and then leave. The long neck tribes (you know, the women who make their necks long with the brass rings?) actually stopped doing it (because they realized it wasn't good for them) but now the younger generation is starting to do it again because they don't want to lose the tourist money. AAARRRRGGGHHH. There is a better way to do all this!!!

I should go now, I got through 1/2 of my first list I have like 2 more. I'll write more later.

Thank you Lek and Elephant Nature Park for everything.