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Published: January 21st 2008
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Gibbon on Head
A playful gibbon in Pattaya's Elephant Village sits on my head. Props to the tour guide for his excellent photography skills. The low point in my trip has since taken an upswing. Today was the best day of my time in Thailand by far. First off, yesterday. Yesterday was another ugh day. I left Bangkok for Pattaya in the morning. The bus ride was without a doubt the worst transportation experience I have ever had in my life. The ride, in theory, should only take 2 hours, but it ends up taking 3 hours because every 5 minutes the bus stops to pick up more passengers. Except, they find the most obnoxious and agonizing way of doing this. Every 10 seconds the bus driver honks a very loud horn to get people's attention while another employee yells out the window. When the bus stops for passengers, it sometimes stops for 5-10 minutes whilst a worker goes outside. The ride is hot, long, and thanks to the bus staff, incredibly unpleasant. I finally arrive in Pattaya, and get on a truck to get to my hotel. Except the truck driver, who previously said he knew where my hotel was, doesn't have the slightest clue as to where it is (Thai drivers will never tell you they don't know where your destination is). After
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden
The most common phrase in all of Thailand in floral form at Pattaya's Nong Nooch Tropical Garden. asking several people and driving around, he finds it seemingly by chance.
My hotel, the Opey de Place, is spacious and in a decent location (plenty of services nearby), but the service is god-awful. The receptionist kept getting distracted while filling out my information. The room itself is very large: $41 a night gets me a bedroom, a kitchen/living room and a balcony, but it is somewhat dirty and the shower is in a room seperated from the toilet only by a short partition (having a shower and toilet unseparated is common in cheaper places in Thailand, at least this one there is some division between them). Furthermore, when I got back to my room today, the bed wasn't done and the garbage wasn't taken out: I had to call reception to have them finally do it. The place isn't absolutely awful, you do get a large room cheap and a decent pool-side area but I'd recommend anyone reading this to seek out some other hotels first.
Anyway, after finally arriving yesterday, I went to Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, which I later found out was much further from my hotel than I expected (which cost me more than
Making the Shot
An elephant prepares to shoot a basketball at Nong Nooch Tropical Garden. I wanted to spend in motorcycle taxi fees, but at least Thailand is relatively cheap). The garden itself really wasn't worth the effort I took to get to it considering I only stayed there for 2 hours, but if you don't have to go through a lot of hassle to get there (on a tour or with your own car) it's a nice stop. The admission (for non-Thais) is expensive by Thai standards. The sight itself has several different gardens, a mini-zoo, and a Thai cultural show (demonstrating Thai dances, martial arts and elephant combat) as well as an Elephant show showing elephants painting (which you can then buy), playing bowling, soccer and basketball.
Today, however, was definitely the highlight of my time in Thailand. I went on an elephant trek at the Elephant Village. The specific trek I took was a combination trek, in which elephant trekking is only part of the overall event. The trek starts with a one-hour elephant ride, which is a bit uncomfortable but an interesting experience nonetheless. It then continues with a walk through the jungle. This part was the most memorable experience because of the gibbons (small apes) who follow you through
Elephant Ride
Elephant-back at Pattaya's Elephant Village. Props the Russian tourist for taking my camera on elephant-back and taking the shots. My rider is filming him and his wife in turn. the walk. There are 3 specific gibbons that have become known to the tour guides and follow the trekkers around, playing with them. The gibbons jump on people's backs (and one stole my hat! The tour guide had to chase him for a bit to retrieve it), sit on their heads, cling to their legs while they walk and fool around. I had a gibbon latch to my leg twice and jump on my head twice, which was hilarious and made the trek great.
The trek continues with a short visit to a house where silk is produced, and the production is explained and demonstrated. To the shock and entertainment of the Western tourists, one of our tour guides started eating silk worm cocoons, which another guide explained can be considered "Thai popcorn". He said they can be bought for eating in Pattaya for 35 baht. I'll pass, thanks. We then went on a raft across a lake. The gibbons jumped on the raft as it was leaving and continues their shenanigans. Most notably, one of the gibbons stole someone's water bottle, and, to my amazement, unscrewed the cap (I have no idea how he knew to do that,
Gibbon on Leg
This gibbon decided to latch on to my leg while I walked. primates are smart) and started drinking from it! Two gibbons then proceeded to fight for the bottle, eventually spilling it and then licking the water off the table they were on. The trek finished with a ride on an ox-cart, where we were brought back to the Elephant Village. There, we had a buffet lunch while a traditional Thai band played music. While we ate, we also got to watch a martial arts demonstration. One of the fighters asked a Russian woman to come up, take a sword, and fight the other guy! Another Russian woman was also asked to do the same after but refused, so I was chosen to participate next. Corny though it may be, it was entertaining and made for good photographs (another Russian tourist took photos for me).
Although I came for the elephants, it was without a doubt the gibbons that made the trip. The trek was an awesome experience, and I would highly recommend the Elephant Village's combination trek to anyone passing through Pattaya. They even solve Pattaya's difficult transportation problem (no metro and no metered taxis, so you have to haggle with moto/truck drivers for a ride) by offering free transportation
Smart Gibbon!
The gibbons somehow figured out how to unscrew a bottle cap and proceeded to drink some poor tourist's water. to and from your hotel. After all that, I went for a much-needed swim in the hotel pool (after dealing with the aforementioned problem with getting my room cleaned). It seems my best experiences on this trip have been with animals (my other favourite thing on this trip was the Iwatayama Monkey Park in Kyoto). I also can now tell people when I return, I have been threatened by macaques, been attacked by deer and had my belongings stolen by gibbons!
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