On-the-Road Tales

It poured continuosly during the night and I kept waking up rain hitting the galvanized roof and rushing water past underneath me. I thought about the chances the 2-3 ropes securing us to the bank would actually hold if there was some sort of a flash flood or debris coming down the river. This through process was probably initiated by my practical mother recounting news stories to me about women and children getting washed over a waterfall and drown somewhere in Thailand earlier in the week due to heavy rains! There was also an animal living above me trying to burrow into something but since the roof was metal…is made a terrible scratching sound. Occasionally, there would be a pounce and the whole roof would vibrate. Based on the circumstances, you just deal with floods and wild animals because there is not a heck of alot of options. There is nowhere else to go, and you just want to sleep top recover from the heat during the day. Not sure I would have the same reaction if there was an animal running under me on Lake Cove Drive!

Went to the Sonkaki Elephant Camp where I boarded a massive beast. I thought horses were bad? I was twice as high and twice as unstable! The little boy sitting on the animals head who helped me on was about 6, but the way he climbed up and down and over it – I had plenty of confidence in him surprisingly. Another woman ended up climbing on to be the guide and we did some touring about the camp. Amazing. Thai elephants are very docile and listen to commands. Perhaops because they were used in battle along with the burmese. The handler said they had tried using elephants from Africa and some other countries but none would listen like the Thai elephants. The handler used a tiny stick with a hook at the end and if the elephant went the wrong way, it was prodded. Seemed like such a tiny instrument to control a huge animal.

Onto the river for bamboo rafting. This was the traditional method of transport for the local, lashing reeds together. Although, the current was so fast you had one chance to get the landing right at your desired spot. After 3 very insteresting days up north, it was time to head back to the mayhem of Bangkok.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.