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Published: September 30th 2007
We have now completed our second week at the forever elephant project in Jomtien, Pattaya. We've decided to leave the project a week early, and head to Ko Samui for a few days before heading on to Phuket/PiPi to try and meet up with my good friend Benji.
This week has been much quieter as it has only been Helena and myself at the camp. We've been keeping busy... lazing around in hammocks and drinking Thai Whiskey and beers with the young mahoots, in between riding and taking care of our elephants. To my suprise, Nin and Dik, as well as my elephant Noi were still at the camp monday morning, which was great news as i got to spend another day with my beautiful elephant. It turns out they are still building their home at the new camp, so they are jumping between the two.
On Monday morning we collected an Aussie family who were coming to the camp for the day to ride the elephants and learn a bit about the project. It was our responsibility to show them how to get up and down from the elephants and help teach them a few of the commands. It really showed how far we had come since our first day seeing them trying to clamber up and getting the commands mixed up! They had two sons and, although a little aprehensive at first, we got them out of their shells and up onto the elephants and washing them down in the elephant bath.
Later in the week we paid a visit to the Chinese temple, which is just around the corner from the camp. It was built and donated to the Thais by China, and is filled with statues and artwork. As is the rule with all temples you cannot wear shoes inside, not a problem.... until you reach the top balcony and step outside onto the tiles which have been baking in the midday heat, so this was my second experience of what it's like to walk on hot coals since arriving in Thailand!
Wednesday night we stayed in the camp for our second night. It was a good laugh, once we had taken the elephants out for the evening and had a few beers i convinced a few of the locals to sit down and watch the new Jackass movie on DVD. It doesn't matter what language you speak, or what culture you come from, people falling over and getting kicked in the balls is always funny! Helena's mahoot Ulee wandered over to see what all the laughter and commotion was about and was captivated for hours, he ended up doubled over and the "Old man balls" skit became a running joke for the rest of the week! (See the photo of Hels winding him up about it the next day) Ulee informed all the other mahoots and due to popular demand we've left them the DVD behind and have promised to send more if we can find any.
The girls managed to convince my mahoot Dik to have his great afro style hair straightened. He seemed very pleased and the next morning the salon was open and the other mahoots were having it done as well!
For the remainder of the week i was given a new elephant as Noi had moved on to the other camp. Her name was Baloo and would not listen to a word Nin (who was taking care of her for another mahoot) or I said. It really showed me how the elephants have very different characters and how much they come to learn and associate with their mahoot and don't really have much time for anyone else bossing them about!
Thursday morning we awoke to see a man holding his cock.... there was a cock fight about to begin and the camps "Chicken Boxing Champion - Pattaya" was going to fight another from the local market. All the men gathered round and all the women didn't. It was interesting to see and the mahoots and locals were suprised to see me watching and not complaining as i'm sure many a farang would. The fight was won by knockout by the camps champion, so everyone went away pleased and no cocks died in the process! They then proceeded to clean up the birds with great care in preperation for their next fight in the near future.
On our last day at camp we said our goodbyes and went to pay a visit to the other camp where Nin, Dik and Noi had now moved to. It was great to see her and she recognised me instantly. We also got to see the crocodile farm and a baby elephant who was only a few months old! We left the team at Green Jomtien the following morning with the promise of returning towards the end of our time in Thailand to do our third week at the project, sometime in November. It was sad to say farewell to everyone, it's been great fun and it's been a great team. All the best to Sam, Anon, Ao and Mrs Noi (my surrogate mum!) and we looking forward to seeing you all again in the not so distant future.
So after a couple of weeks of early mornings and hard work (yeah right!) we've now moved on to Ko Samui for a few days at a nice little place on Bophut beach (cheers for the recommendation TC!) run by an English family, we're here for a couple of days, maybe more, we'll see how things go. We're just relaxing and enjoying the views of Ko Pha Ngan from our poolside loungers... it's a hard life, but someones got to do it!
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nina
non-member comment
hola!
wow, sounds like you guys are having the time of your lives! im not jealous,,, much! glad to see your both doing well and enjoying yourselves. the old man balls are hillarious! love you both and missing you muchly! nina xxxxx