elephant festival

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What to say about BANGKOK...well, it's a ratrace really.
Especially when you decide to stay on kao san road.
Apparently, there was a chinese festival of some kind, so a procession of dragons and the likes went through kao san.
They had a metal frame with a pole, in wich 10 or so people climbed who hooked themselves up. Then the dragon came circling around the pole wich was hooked up on the watersupply and out the water came. In the meantime somebody was lighting fireworks, one of those 1000 BANGERS or something, wich they had hung on a balcony right behind me. So when it started to go off, i almost shit my pans.

Then they went on to make a human pyramid, the further up they went, the younger the people. So it ended with this tiny girl sitting on the shoulders of a 6 year old, who in turn sat on the shoulders of a 10 year old etc. Amazing, and they all came down safely.
That really was some performance.

We booked a very expensive night sleeper train to Surin, wich was good to experience but definitely not worthwhile the money, because you don't really sleep.
On arrival we took a sangthaew to pirom's gueasthouse, a lovely quiet spot next to an old flooded ricefield. Only without the rice but with morning glory, a herb/plant that they use in their food. Have not gotten the opportunity to try.
The elephant festival started with a big show at the stadium.
Lots of music, smoke and, yeah, elephants.

The next morning was feeding time, according to the guiness book of records, the largest elephant feeding in the world. I am not sure, but i estimate a number of at least a 100, but it could easily have been 150 or more elephants wandering the streets.
Alongside the street they had put up tables covered in sugarcane, pineapples, watermelons and so on. When standing in the middle of the street, you really were surrounded by them, and it was easy to see nothing but elephant around you, also very easy to be trampled by them, so be carefull.

We were approached by schoolchildren, who wanted to ask us questions, wich in turn they had to translate back in thai again for a grade i think. They all wanted to have our photgraph taken aswell. After about 7 of those groups we decided we had enough so took to the streets again.

The next destination is chiang mai in the north, where we will head by nightbus. Hopefully do some jungle trekking there.
sawadee krap

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