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Published: January 4th 2008
Monday 3rd December:
For a change the day started with some confusion........
I came downstairs in the morning and Mrs. Noi said that I wasn’t going to camp today. I wasn’t too displeased about that as I had a heap of laundry to do. So I told Penny that I was sorry I wouldn’t be going with her (it was her 1st day at camp) and that she would have an amazing time, good luck etc. and if she was unsure about anything she could call me as I would be in the office all day. Then….the next thing I know is that I AM going. Not displeased about that either as it was 2 volunteers last day at camp so it would be nice to spend it with them. I’m not sure if I don’t understand them all the time & it’s a language thing or if they really do change their mind all the time!
Tuesday 4th December
After dinner we had a ‘moment’ that totally sums up the weird yet wonderful things that you see in Thailand - I heard a quote recently that completely sums up the place as ’the only place in
Ban Am Pur beach
aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.........the world where you can get run over by a shop.’ We were sat chatting when Mon drove up on his motorbike……with Arnon on the back with a chicken (full size) under one arm and a chicken coop held behind him in the other hand….his explanation was that it was for the King, whose birthday is tomorrow.
So he puts the chicken in the coop, covers it with a few towels and then disappears. Which is when the dogs became interested. They were sniffing around and clever lady dog who isn’t ours but always turns up when she thinks there might be food around (is that the longest dogs name yet?) managed to get her nose underneath. Cue chaos with the chicken flapping around squawking, held by the throat by 2 dogs, feathers flying, with us running around trying to get the dogs off it. It finally managed to escape and hide itself behind Ao’s motorbike and the wall that runs between our studios and the house next door. We tried to keep the dogs at bay whilst Ao grabbed the chicken and put it back in its (not so safe apparently) coop. We covered it with a sheet to
Sunset at Ban Am Pur beach
we were there quite a long time... try and protect it a bit more from the dogs…..and then Arnon reappeared…… All night I could hear the chicken squawking, probably being terrorized by dogs the whole time!
Wednesday 5th December
We didn’t go to the camp today as it was the King’s birthday and a public holiday and Arnon thought there might be lots of fireworks going off which might unsettle the elephants. They would also probably be busier with tourists. I spent the whole day transferring my photographs from the computer onto CD’s. In the evening Penny & I decided to head off to Bali Hai pier as there were some celebrations, parades, fireworks etc. for the King’s birthday. Instead of being lazy and taking a songthaew we thought it would be nice to walk and I said that surely if we followed the beach around we would get to the pier. What I didn’t realize is that the part of the beach that we are nearest to sticks out a LONG way into the sea. After walking for ½ hour I knew that we weren’t very near, and we were lost, so we turned back. I’ve since looked on a map and we were
Ban Am Pur beachat sunset
as it got dark the farangs disappeared (except us) & the Thai's came out to play MILES away from where we needed to be. Sorry Penny! We decided to have a beer on Jomtien beach in the hope that there would be some fireworks being set off - you’ve heard of twister chasers, we were firework chasers! So we bought a couple of beers from 7-11 and found a nice spot on a step. I thought the sand was really sharp as it really felt to be cutting into my backside area, but Penny didn’t seem to be saying anything so I thought it must just be me being sensitive. It got worse though and so I had to say something….she agreed…..ANTS!!! We both screamed at the same time, jumping up and bashing our backside areas. Much to the hilarity of a man standing nearby who must have been watching us. We made a run for the beach purposefully heading for the wet sand to park our bums in to soothe and calm! We had an interesting time on the beach. There was a group of Thai’s near us playing guitar and singing, a woman with a metal detector beachcombing and a western man walked to the waters edge right in front of us and had
a pee in the sea. Yep, right in front of us. No shame. No wonder we have such a bad reputation over here. On the way back we called at a bar to have another beer but were told that because it was the king’s birthday they couldn’t serve beer…….unless we drank it out of a coffee cup. So we did.
Saturday 8th December
Last night we had the arrival of 16 students from Bangkok to spend a couple of days at the elephant camp. I took care of 2 American girls and it was very bizarre as I told them that they had to give the command to the elephant every 3 seconds (‘ma’ meaning ‘come on’) and so they had a system where one said ‘1, 2, 3’ and then they both said ‘ma’ all the way around the forest and camp. All 30 minutes of it…
Sunday 9th December
The students were still here today. I’m not really sure what they’re getting out of it. I think it may just be an excuse to get away from overprotective parents and party big stylie in Pattaya. Today they were all very hung over and,
even though they needed to complete a certain amount of community hours helping at the camp - which was to be developing the volunteer garden - they mainly just lazed around all day. At one point the only ones actually doing any gardening were Penny, Ao & myself! In the afternoon we all went down to the beach - the gay beach - then in the evening the students headed off to the market….and came back with a present. A new puppy! A tiny little pug! At first I was a bit ‘like we need another animal to feed, but he is adorable. Arnon has christened him Winter.
Monday 10th December
A new volunteer arrived today & the students left after keeping everyone awake the whole night with their noise and playing football in the corridor - except me, I never hear anything. I do think I may have a switch that just turns me off when I go to sleep. In the morning 2 monks came to the studios with their alms bowls, very unusual & not something I’ve see here before, they usually have a set route and travel together as a monastery. Anyway the family
felt obliged to give them food and Arnon’s mum, who was here to help with the cooking for the students, made him and Ao kneel before them to show their respect. Mrs. Noi said she thought they were not proper monks!
Tuesday 11th December
Today we traveled to camp in the back of a pineapple collection truck wearing Santa hats. I can’t imagine why people were staring and laughing??
Wednesday 12th December
Another new volunteer arrived today.
Friday 14th December
Penny and another of the volunteers created a backgammon board today, including home-made dice, and I was taught how to play. Unbelievably my counting skills came into question!! I could get quite addicted to playing though. Once I learn how to count….. Another volunteer arrived in the evening. She received the traditional Green Jomtien greeting of beer and seemed to fit in rather well!
Saturday 15th December
Today a couple of the volunteers started to learn how to make a hammock with Pi Tha’s wife, Sam Lan. I think this would be brilliant to do in the future with other volunteers. We also had another new volunteer arrive. I won’t name him.
Especially as he had paid at least double, by mistake, for his taxi. The taxi driver was last seen laughing with glee at gullible farangs and gambling away his good fortune. Allegedly.
Sunday 16th December
Today we went on the boat trip, always a fantastic day. In the evening I was collected by a friend who is staying with her old mahout and his family at another camp. Had a lovely evening eating, drinking and chatting with them all and ended up sleeping in the back of a pick up truck wrapped in a duvet. The driver of the pick-up got a bit of a shock in the morning! (I should point out, especially as my mum reads this, that the pick-up was parked outside their bamboo hut, it wasn’t just a random pick-up that I decided to sleep in!)
Monday 17th December
A horrible day, well evening. I haven’t been able to write my blog because of what happened and it still makes me upset even writing and thinking about it now. The volunteers decided to cook tonight and did barbecued sausages and made mashed potatoes. Absolutely delicious bangers and mash. Then we went to
the Go-Go bar owned by Mrs. Noi’s friend (Tornado a Go-Go - you remember?) I was driving. We’d been in there about 20 minutes when Mrs. Noi asked me to go outside and she said……’we have to go back now, Bua (the Ladyboy cat) is dead, you have killed him.’
I couldn’t drive back I was in such a state. It was bad enough that Bua was dead (I’m getting upset even writing this now) but to be told that I had done it made it 100 times worse. I still can’t believe that I did it. Why did I not feel anything? How did nobody see anything? Everyone was sat in the back of the pick-up, facing backwards so they could see the road, there were people stood outside watching us go……. When we got back they hadn’t cleaned the blood off the road….. The volunteers were amazing. I was hyperventilating, crying. This was the little kitten that I’d brought back from the market. The most spoiled kitten in Thailand, with the shiniest fur because he used to eat ½ of my dinner every night. And now he’s gone and I’m told it’s my fault. I really miss him/her/him.
Dola at the banana stand
He's not gonna sell many from there! Friday 21st December
We stayed at the camp tonight and Arnon made us play some ‘bonding’ games - I think that’s what they were! First we had to hold hands in a circle and jump in or out at his command. Very funny as, of course, his commands were in Thai and both commands sounded very similar. I quickly realized that the best thing to do was just copy Tha as he’s Thai so knew whether Arnon was saying in or out! Then we sat around the campfire and had to link little fingers. We then had to take it in turn to stand up and say what the project meant to us. I was last…and was almost forgotten! Arnon was just saying ‘and now me’ when the volunteers reminded him that I was sat there too. I stood up and simply said ‘this project means everything to me, I gave up my life for it and I love everyone here.’ Arnon spoke for about 20 minutes and kept stopping to tell one of the volunteers off because he thought she wasn’t paying attention or was laughing. Everything that everyone said was very poignant and showed how much
this place affects and means to everyone. I think we all felt a bit silly playing the games but they definitely had the desired effect. We felt like a team. Arnon is very good at doing that, he did a game with the schoolchildren and they loved it.
Saturday 22nd December
On the way to camp we stopped and bought some trees for the volunteer garden. We got 5 banana trees (but somehow ended up with 8?) and, after asking so many times and being told they didn’t have any, we got a free papaya tree. I also bought a lime tree to take to Leam's family (where I stayed with Louise at the other camp) and Penny bought one for the volunteer garden - as well as buying the banana trees.
In the evening we went to the night market & I finally took pictures of the scary mannequins that they seem to think will prompt people to buy the clothes on them. Stopped with one of the volunteers for something to eat (yummy steamed sweet corn) and a drink…but we couldn’t buy beer because it was election weekend! What is it with this country? You can’t
The obligatory picture of baby Em
wearing a little bit of feminine pink paint... buy beer between 2 and 5 in the afternoon - is that to try and prevent alcoholism or create it, surely you would just stock up? - you can’t buy alcohol to celebrate the kings birthday - except in a coffee cup - and you can’t buy alcohol on an election day (or the day before or after) presumably to prevent you x’ing the wrong box!
One of the volunteers left at 2am and we all stayed up to see her off. I ended up paying for her taxi and closing ceremony as she forgot to leave me the money!
Sunday 23rd December
In the morning we went to a shop/warehouse that one of the volunteers had found - it was flippin’ shopping heaven. I started off walking around in a complete daze, they had EVERYTHING & I couldn’t take it all in. Then got in a right tizz because I couldn’t decide what to get. We’ve decided to do a secret Santa and I cannot decide what to get. There is SO much and I love buying presents! I am going to add this place into the itinerary, never mind the Chinese temple!!! Went to beach in
first steps in the volunteer garden
I know it doesn't look much yet but there are cauliflowers, broccoli & brussels sprouts in there...somewhere the afternoon again & watched the sunset, took pics of one of the volunteers getting v cocky on a jet ski. Really missing home & can’t believe it’s supposed to be Christmas!
Monday 24th December
Christmas Eve!!!!! No, no, no…..couldn’t finish off my maltesers advent calendar as the ants had got to it. Mark & Alison that I was a volunteer with in May arrived and they brought me nectar, AKA Absolut vodka. We had planned a night sat drinking and chatting here but someone (whose fault was this?!) decided that we should go out. Four bars and lots of alcohol consumption later we arrived home - I also fell asleep in a nightclub - see NOTHING stops me sleeping. Unfortunately Ao took a picture of me. We also sang carols in the computer room!
Tuesday 25th December
Christmas Day!!!!!!!!!!!!! No, no, no, no, no, no, no…… Woke up to someone banging on my door….had they all gone to camp without me…….why are my clothes on the bathroom floor?????
Swapped our (not so) secret Santa pressies. I got a beautiful wood elephant carving. What the person who bought it didn’t/doesn’t know is that I bought one
Yaa & Mr Duan building a platform for putting a chair on new elephnat Lam Pai
helped by Stuart and a little bit of whisky, which I think is probably responsible for Mr Duans pose!! last year, not the same, but of an elephants head and it’s the same type of wood so they will look amazing together! V happy. I think my present was well received too. I didn’t do well with the ‘secret’ concept though as I’d written a message inside!
We went to the camp - a bit late - and gave out presents that we’d bought: mainly for Bim it has to be said. It was amazing to see her reaction though. She’s not had such a brilliant life so far, at only 6 years old, and to see her happiness at receiving the presents was truly amazing. Warmed the cockles it did. I bought her an elephant hat, a fairies wand & a water pistol (& also one for Dola) oh how I regretted that later! She also got a teddy bear, clothes and a bracelet from the volunteers.
After pressie giving we took a pony and trap ride to the Silverlake vineyard (that produces no wine - waste of space?) to check out the ATV options. Whilst there one of the volunteers - I can’t name her, I didn’t check before she left if I could - decided to
mobile toy shop
yes, a toy shop being pulled along by a motorbike. Told you, only place where you can get run over by a shop! do a bit of impromptu, spontaneous karaoke. It was absolutely, amazingly, life enhancingly hilarious. There we were in a nice civilized vineyard, people wandering around, taking in the scenery, sipping grape juice (remember no wine!!) and all of a sudden ‘love is in the air do de do de do….’
Spoke to my mum & dad later. So nice to hear from them but I am so homesick. Really missing the little traditions we always follow at Christmas.
Wednesday 26th December
My parents wedding anniversary!
We have a water shortage at the camp, the elephants have no water to drink or cool down with. Yet over the road at the Buddha Mountain they have sprinklers on all day, many of which are just watering the road.
Saturday 29th December
After camp in the morning Penny & I went to Ban Am Pur beach. We pass it on the way to camp and have kept saying that we should go as it looks so nice, far better than the dirty old man filled Pattaya/Jomtien beaches, and it was absolutely gorgeous. There were some umbrellas and chairs out, but not covering the whole beach like they do in
Pattaya/Jomtien, and there was actually a large expanse of bare beach - and not a fat, old, ugly farang with a Thai girl young enough to be his daughter in sight!
Monday 31st December - New Years Eve!
We’d been invited to a party that the mahouts were having at camp tonight and so decided to stay. All day a lot of the mahouts were missing - turns out they were chopping up a pig for tonight’s dinner. Not sure if they had slaughtered and skinned it too, I didn’t really want to ask! The party was fantastic, but probably the most unusual, bizarre and surreal New Years Eve I have ever had. All afternoon they had been preparing food and when we went over at about 5.30pm they had laid a big mat out on the floor, rigged up a huge light & a massive speaker system. They wouldn’t let us help when we went over and kept telling us to sit down. Eventually everyone joined us - mahouts, families, people from the market, pony boys, families, friends….. and the food was served. Basically it was lots of variations of pig…..spicy minced pork, barbequed pork and…….raw pork
mince soaked in blood….eek! I casually moved that bowl away from us. Luckily Ao had also bought us some chicken and noodles as well!! Tia was DJ for the night and was giving a running commentary along with the music. I realized that he had something about me when everyone looked & pointed at me saying ‘Saaaammmm,’ I have no idea what he said but it may have had something t do with dancing as the next thing I knew Pi Tha grabbed my hands and hauled me up to dance. I don’t think I stopped again for the rest of the night, except for a turn by Pi Jon, singing on the mike, which I didn’t understand but they all found very happy and amusing. It was an amazing night, such an experience, the only problem was that the Thai’s had partied themselves out by 10 o’clock! I did manage to see in the Thai New Year with Penny and then woke up at 6.30am so that I could also contact home & see in the English New Year too!
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Kate
non-member comment
Bua
Sorry to hear about Bua, he was a great cat, especially his obsession with eating people's feet.