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The mahouts village with Khao Chee Chan in the background
Not a bad place to go to work every day & if you get lost in the forest it's a useful landmark to have! Sunday 13th may
Last night I had hardly any sleep at all. I spent all night reading & watching films, then thought that might not be the best thing to do as the light might be keeping me awake, so I tried my ipod which had worked the other night, but tonight it didn’t have any success. The worst thing was that I tried my reiki music to induce me to sleep, but as each tune is 5 minutes long I kept working out what time it was that I was still awake at. When I was still awake at 7am I turned my alarm off and decided to give breakfast a miss. I was woken at 11.30 by the ghostly voice of Noi again! I was going to go to her house this afternoon but she came to tell me that she has to work, and also that she has changed me to the new camp, good news as I will be there with Mark and Alison. Went over to the camp next door to see if Mr Tong is back and took them with me to have their first experience of an elephant close up. It was great
to see their awed first reaction and funny to see their initial contact, standing at arms length. I remember being equally cautious. They didn’t get much chance at being cautious when Serweng got hold of them though, he practically pushed them onto Kammoon and forced them to take photographs! In the evening I took them to the night market where we sampled the local food - sausage on a stick with chilli and gorgeous fresh fruit smoothies. Then a much needed early night. I made myself not sleep this afternoon, so hopefully I will be so exhausted that I’ll get a good night s sleep.
Monday 14th may
I didn’t sleep again!!!!! I didn’t even get off to sleep when I first went to bed. A repeat of last night - even the ipod’s not working, that always works! I finally fell asleep at about 5am and was up again at 7. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I can usually sleep standing up! A pick up came to drive us to the camp, but it was very civilised with back seats so we travelled there with the luxury of air con. Yang the driver was extremely
careful and managed to manoeuvre between the holes and bumps along the beach road so that we didn’t get bounced around too much. I knew we were almost there when I saw the top of Khao Chee Chan the huge Golden Buddha engraved into the mountainside, and then we were at the Forever Elephant Camp, it will be good to see the changes that have been made since I saw it before it became part of the project. The first thing we are to do when we arrive is the Pa-Kam ceremony (my 2nd in 4 days - does this mean I’m going to be extra lucky?) and as there are only 2 bottles of Thai whisky of the 3 needed for the ceremony in the camp shop Ahnon (the project director) sends me to the market next to the camp to buy another. He told me how to say whisky in Thai (at least I think he did) but it drew blank looks, as does a lot of my Thai speaking. So maybe he told me how to say something different - elephant saddle?? Much more successful just saying whisky! When I go back one of the mahouts is
VERY impressed with me. Turns out I’ve bought a big bottle of whisky and not just the small one that’s needed. He makes me sit next to him for the ceremony (in case you’re thinking this sounds all very comfortable when I say sit I mean kneel on the floor, barefoot, on gravel and stones. NOT very comfortable) and is very cheeky and flirtatious. It turns out that he’s going to be my mahout (elephant trainer/handler/driver just as a reminder). He’s called Long and is very funny and very good looking. He’s definitely going to be trouble. I meet my elephant Chan Dee (spelling of this may change). She is HUGE. The biggest elephant at the camp. What’s going on here? I’m only 5’2” why do I have the biggest elephant? She’s about 90 years old, and a grandmother, blind in one eye and deaf in one ear (thankfully on opposite sides!) and as I walk her round the camp to get her used to my voice and scent I realise that she does have a tendency to walk into things. All the way walking round Long keeps cuddling me and holding my hand, then he goes off to help
look after his one month old baby! Spend the rest of the morning sitting around getting to know more about the camp and doing a bit of sweeping. This camp is very different to the old one where each of the elephants had their own area. Here they are all together under a shelter from the sun. This is great because everyone congregates here so it’s nice and social. The downside is that I don’t have my own area to sweep and keep tidy. That was going to be my step and body combat class replacement activity!
The surroundings here are stunning. Overlooked by the Buddha Mountain (which you seem to be able to see from everywhere) there are hills all around and when you go on the paths for the elephant rides it feels as though you are in the jungle. The mahouts also have a village here which is a little way down the hill from where the elephants are kept. There are about 12 (I forgot to count them) huts with pineapple leaf thatched roofs. On Friday night I was asking Claire, Beccy and Mike about staying at the village, which we get the opportunity to do.
Khao Chee Chan
AKA Buddha Mountain, 130km high engraved by laser and filled with gold in 1995 to commemorate the kings birthday. This is the beautiful site we have opposite the camp! The main questions were about the quantities and nearness of bugs. They all raved about the experience so I’m going to have to pack my courage and calmness in my overnight bag with my mossie repellent and insect killer as it would be a shame to miss the experience just because I’m a wuss (technical term for one scared of anything that flies/crawls/is generally creepy).
Lunch was at the market next to the camp. It’s not a massive market, but it does sell cold drinks, ice creams, snacks etc. and the “restaurant” seems to do a good trade for lunch.
In the afternoon I try and get onto Chan Dee. I manage to climb up onto her knee and get somewhere near the top of her shoulder, but I just cant push myself that extra bit with my ankle that’s still sore and swollen (ok for those that don’t know I badly sprained it falling off my step in step class - ashamed and embarrassed? Oh yes!) so I end up dangling about 6 feet in the air. After a couple of attempts I admit defeat (I can’t stand the laughing anymore) and get on at the tourist platform. See
This is Chang-Dee, my new elephant
From where I sit to ride her to the floor she measures 8 feet!! it’s easy getting on an 8 foot tall elephant. And she actually is that tall, I measured her with Kops tape measure. Ride around the camp with Long walking alongside being just as cheeky as this morning. He certainly makes it a fun trip.
Later in the afternoon we go to have a look at the Buddha Mountain which is just across the road. No matter how many times you see it, it’s still amazing. We spend a good while musing how they managed to carve such a huge Buddha into the mountainside and fill it with gold. And that back home the gold filling would have been chipped away, certainly at the lower levels that people could reach anyway! All the signs were in Thai so we couldn’t find out when/how it was done. I’ve looked on the internet and it was only done in 1995 to commemorate the King’s birthday, and it was carved by laser. And there were we thinking that someone had abseiled down, chipping away with a primitive tool!!!! Once back I went over to see if Mr Tong was back, still a no, but I did find out that his son Hor had failed
Chum-Long, my mahout
AKA elephant trainer, controller, handler his national service entry exam (or something) and is no longer a mahout. He may also be, or not, married. I think that’s what Serweng said but it may just be a lost in translation moment. If he is it was fast work, I only saw him 3 months ago and he was definitely single then!
Tuesday 15th may
The morning was spent much the same as yesterday. Breakfast at 8am then at 8.30 we set off for the camp, arriving at about 9am as it’s 15km south of Pattaya (thankfully, the further away from there the better) taking the less scenic route today along the highway rather than the beach road. When we arrive I ride around camp again on Chan Dee and Long keeps telling me that he loves me. I keep trying to say my commands to Chan Dee in a strong voice but end up laughing most of the time at Long, especially when to try and hurry her up (she walks soooo slowly) all that you can here are the alternate shouts from me of heeeugh (meaning go on) and from Long of Maa (meaning come on). So it was a heeugh maa heuugh
maa chorus, which we found very funny. Amazing how much fun you can have when you only speak a little of the other persons language! I feel really sorry for Long as he has a stinker of a cold (I always know when he’s around from the constant sneezing) and really must not feel like having to cope with a volunteer when he feels so bad.
After another delicious lunch at the market it’s time for Alison and Mark to ride their elephants for the first time. Mark goes first and hurts his knee getting on (so I’ll have a partner at the tourist platform) and Alison has it much easier as her elephant is only 7 years old and not very big. Her feet are virtually dragging on the floor when she gets on! After a bit more combined effort sweeping we head off in the pick-up to a nearby lake with Kop and Ahnon. When we get there they bring out fishing nets and we spend ½ an hour untangling them before they wade out into the lake then swim out to attach them to reeds. Apparently we’ll come back tomorrow to check if there are any fish
Long showering Chang-Dee
He did trust me enough after a few days to let me do it alone. Thankfully I usually just used a hosepipe. When it came to the big bath I either ride her and take a shower at the same time, much to his amusement, or I supervise! in them. Maybe that’s what we’ll eat tomorrow night at the camp!
After we left the camp I went over to the old camp, Mr Tong was finally back. I gave him his presents, including a small selection of English foods (Kendal Mint Cake, seaside rock, Horlicks - I had to leave the Marmite and Bovril at home). I think he liked the mug with a picture of him on it the best. AND….he was wearing the Man Utd shirt I bought him when I left last time. Ha ha I knew I’d convert him from Liverpool!
Then it was back to the room to pack for tomorrow. Pride of place in my packing goes to Raid insect killer and a bottle of Absolut to make sure I sleep! Later we (Alison and Mark the other 2 volunteers, Arnon and me) were sat outside chatting and Arnon asked me how log my visa was for. When I told him that it’s 12 months he asked me if I would stay here to help out, he would provide me with free accommodation and food if I would help out with the volunteers, emails and anything in English. Funny how things work
out hey? I’d been trying to think of the best time/way to suggest that to him. I think he’s taking it a bit far though. As we continued to chat we were talking about ways to promote the camp and generate more money so that we can build an education centre and try and get more elephants at the camp. Every time Alison or Mark suggested something and asked who they should contact or how they should go about doing it, Arnons answer was always the same: speak to Sam. I think he’s so relieved that he’ll be getting some help. It will be really good to feel that I am doing something to help the project and it means that I get to go to the camp and ride the elephants too.
Wednesday 16th may
So today we stay at the camp!! I scare Ahnon by struggling down the stairs with my (empty) big suitcase on wheels. I’ve actually decided to just wear the same clothes for 2 days running and my back is packed with alcohol and insect repellent, there was no room for something tedious like clothes. We head off to camp and have our usual
routine in the morning. Poor Long seems even worse today, coughing and sneezing all the time. As he walks beside Chan Dee while I ride her he keeps drawing a heart over his heart and blowing it to me telling me that he loves me. I’m so glad I have him as my mahout, the others seem nice enough but don’t seem to have much involvement with their volunteers. I’m lucky to have one that’s friendly and funny. He also keeps calling me good girl whenever I get anything right! Later I tried speaking Thai to the mahouts (getting lots of blank looks) and tried asking Long how old he is. His reply? That he loves me - obviously much to the hilarity of the other mahouts. I think they might be the only English words he knows! I do manage to find out that he’s 39. Unbelievable, I thought he was 25!
After lunch and riding again we go to the lake and go swimming. Fully clothed. And I only have 1 pair of trousers with me. Actually that’s not my main problem. That is that my trousers start to fall down as I swim and they get heavy
Here are 3 shots of Kop fishing at the lake where we also went swimming
The 1st one obviously is of him wading in, fishing net in hand - which had just taken about 1/2 hour to untangle! from the water. Then my flip-flops came off. Alison had to rescue my modesty on the way out of the water as my trousers were just about to land around my ankles. Trousergate aside it was an amazing experience swimming in a lake of water warmed by the sun surrounded by hills and the golden Buddha carving looking down on us. Unfortunately we only managed to catch 1 fish. In 3 nets. We took it in turns on the way back in the pick-up to stand up and try to dry off our clothes.
When we got back we were shown to our huts. They were pretty basic, just a mattress on the floor with a mosquito net over it, a lamp and a fan (though Alison and Mark had an air con unit!!) and a thin blanket to cover ourselves with. We set to work with the DEET spray on the bedding and mosquito net and whilst it works it’s magic we crash out on our respective verandas and hang our clothes out to dry, watching Kop making additions to the bar in front of the hut opposite. As my clothes are wet and I’m trying to get them
The 2nd is of him swimming out to the reeds to tie up the net
He swam out much further but it wouldn't have been much of a picture with just the top of his head showing dry to wear to take Chan Dee to the forest I have to wear my bright pink pyjamas! At 5.45 I go to get changed to go with Long to take Chan Dee to the forest where she will stay the night. My trousers were still wet when I put them on. Nice! Luckily we didn’t take her too far so it only took us about 20 minutes. Back at the camp Kop is cooking and we eventually sit down on a big mat on the floor with some of the mahouts to a selection of Thai dishes. There is so much food and it’s all delicious, especially the chillies in chilli sauce that they don’t think I’ll eat. I don’t own up that my lips feel as though they’re going to explode afterwards!! After eating we have a couple of drinks and introduce the mahouts to their first taste of vodka. Marks mahout in particular, Link, likes it and keeps sneaking back for more. I don’t see Long but I can’t say I’m surprised, he seemed so ill earlier, and there's no light coming from his hut. In the hut next to the bar another mahout Pi Jon has
put a Thai concert on DVD (anyone that read my last blog will know that whilst the mahouts live in modest accommodation they like to have their gadgets) and so I spend a large part of the night being taught Thai dancing by Pi Jon and Alison’s mahouts wife. A couple of the mahouts asked if they could borrow my pack of cards (I’d been teaching Alison and Mark to play s*hed) and Kop and I watch them for a while trying to work out the rules of their game. When we can’t manage that we retire to the only table in the bar and work our way through what’s left of the vodka. Then to finish the night off, as we’d been straining our necks sitting in our chairs to look at the stars Kop put some sheets down on the ground and we laid and looked at the stars. I’ve never really been able to work out constellations but the sky was so clear that I could easily make out the plough. After being worried about staying there it was a brilliant night and I had a really good nights sleep. We did get woken up by the
cockerels’ cock- a-doodle-dooing at 5am though - before it was even light!
Thursday 17th may
So today started very early. I laid on my (very hard) mattress for a while, then when I heard Longs continuous sneezing I thought it must be almost time to go to the forest so I went outside. Alison came out too so at 5.45am we were sat chatting outside our huts. I then suddenly realised that it was 6.15 and Long hadn’t come to get me to go and bring Chan Dee back. I later found out that he hadn’t wanted to disturb me and thought I might be tired and need to sleep. Whilst I was riding Chan Dee later I found out that that may have been because the mahouts found it amusing/interesting (?) that I’d been drinking vodka with Kop. Apparently they’ve been laughing about it because he was teaching me different ways to say cheers before each drink. I went up even further in Longs esteem when he heard about this - I buy big bottles of whisky, I drink vodka!!! It started raining after lunch so Lek one of the work placements took us to a nearby Chinese
One of the mahout huts in the village
My 2nd home! Very basic with a mattress, mossie net, fan and lamo but you get a surprisingly good nights sleep with the elephants noises in the background temple to while away an hour before going back.
Friday 18th may
Very hot today, but the humidity is better. I suddenly became very suntanned, my face, arms and lower legs anyway, everything else is covered up all the time! In the afternoon I went to sleep in the char on top of Chan Dee, not even noticing that Alison and Mark had gone off swimming again until I realised that a random mahout was driving Chan Dee to the platform for me to get off and go back home.
Tonight we went to Walking Street in Pattaya. It’s where all the go-go bars and ladyboys are and we had said the other night that it would be fun to go and have a look. It is definitely not somewhere you would want to go regularly. We went into a few bars, me and Alison had a dance with a man in a wheelchair - he had one of us on each arm - and there were many references to Little Britain’s Tingtong Macadangdang and Mr Dudley. Alison was very good at that. And very loud.
Saturday 19th may
So we finally tumbled back at 3am - I’m
An elephant in the back garden!
This is Saancome (new international name, Natalie!?), Arnons elephant, who spends most of her time now living in the forest in elephant retirement. She's around 85 years old sure it was supposed to be just a quick visit to see the (in)famous Walking Street?! We felt great going to camp. I did my ride round on Chan Dee then slept away the morning in her basket. I completely missed Alison and marks closing Pa-Kam ceremony, I was out cold. You just get rocked to sleep in a chair on top of an elephant! Alison and mark left for Koh Samet at 2pm, with Arnon going with them to the pier, so I just had a chilled out afternoon checking and replying to emails. Then after a shower I wanted to find somewhere to eat and watch the FA Cup final. I couldn’t find anywhere that was showing it so I ended up buying bread and cheese for dinner and listening to the radio on the computer. Don’t think I actually missed much.
Sunday 20th may
Spent the morning writing out ideas for the camp and doing yoga. A new volunteer was due to arrive in the evening and it turned into a bit of a nightmare as the bus driver had told her to get off at the wrong place. We had a stressful few hours with
Another elephant in the back garden!
This one is Sang-Dao, she's only 7 and gets frightened and cries if she's left alone in the forest so she spends the night at the back of her mahouts hut. I'm not sure what elephant years are equivalent to human years but I'd ssay she's going through her stroppy teens at the moment! She often has a bit of a shout and a stomp out the back here if she's not getting enough attention! Arnon going out looking for her in North Pattaya where she was supposed to be and me fielding calls from him and the volunteer trying to find out where she was and direct him to her. When she eventually turned up we were all so wound up that we sat drinking until very late. As usual she was completely charmed by Arnon and his efforts for the elephants. I also had a baffling conversation with Mr Tong who passed on his way back from taking Surichok to the forest. I thought he’d just say a quick hello then wander off, but no he hung around for ages. I did manage to find out that Hor, his son who is no longer a mahout, is now working somewhere with monkeys. I didn’t attempt to try and clarify the marriage thing!
Monday 21st may
Errrrmmm…..I didn’t wake up until 10.20 this morning! My phones battery had died that I had set the alarm on. I looked at my watch and didn’t believe it. Then looked at my clock and realisation set in. When I got downstairs to a greeting of “good afternoon” from Lek I knew it to be true. So
Riding through the forest
I took this picture riding in the chair on Chang-Dees back. In front is Alison with her heels dragging on the ground as she's riding 7yr old Sang-Dao who isn't very big! didn’t go to the camp today as there was no transport to take us now. I took Aline the new volunteer on her inaugural trip to Tesco Lotus then we went and had a burger at an American restaurant. In Tesco I bought some pineapples to take to the elephants at the old camp. I took them over and gave one to Surichok. Mrs Tong was hanging around and was up to her usual tricks, trying to take the rest of the pineapples for herself. I took them back off her and told her they were for the elephants (I feel really bad writing that now!) and took some to feed to Rungreung, Boonlung, Lungtip and Soitong. When I went back to get the 2 left - one for Docoon at this camp and the other to take for Chan Dee tomorrow they were gone! I went over to Mr Tongs house to see if I could catch Mrs T in the act but she didn’t have them. So Docoon didn’t get her pineapple (sorry Tessa)! As I was heading back I was called over by Mr Tong and Serweng. We chatted for a while (we actually managed quite well)
staying at camp
This is one of the mahouts Pi-Jon singing and dancing to Thai music (he gave us lessons too!Definitely no pictures!)I love watching him ride his elephant as he's usually singing away to himself, especially when we go to the forest! with Serweng hassling me to go and buy us all a beer, and while I was there to get him some smokes!
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Tess
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SOOOOOOO JEALOUS!!!!
OK, I miss it. Didn't think I would but being back in normality I am absolutely parrotly sickened that you are doing fab stuff again and I am back in the office amusing myself with paperclips. It's just not FAIR!! Funny seeing the new camp again - I seem to remember you originally commenting on the better ride and made constructive suggestions whereas I just said "ooooooooooh, I do like the hut roofs". Sheesh!! Enjoy and keep us posted!!!!!