of tuktuks and elephants
by Rach
Well, one of each actually.
J14, K9 and I walked over 10km today, and having gone even further yesterday, we felt quite justified in taking a tuktuk back to meet the others at the Night Market for dinner. And a hair-raising ride it was too. It would have been so good to have a video camera – it was the kind of ride you see in the movies – but in reality, we were holding on so tightly we didn’t even get the still camera out. Besides, it was over in eight minutes. One and a half hours to walk, eight minutes to tuktuk back. It was exhilarating fun in a petrifying kind of way. We zipped in and out of traffic, took on a bus (and won), almost squashed some cyclists, raced into spaces that appeared only when we got there and played chicken with motorcycles. K9 loved the speed and sheer terror. I would have loved it if it were a simulator and you knew you could get out at the end of the ride. In retrospect, it was fun.
On the way home we saw this:
Yes, just strolling along the road. We paid a dollar for the privilege of feeding it and wowed that we were meeting an elephant on the road! It even made noises at us. This is very exciting to children who have only ever seen elephants from a distance at the zoo. Actually, if we tell the whole truth, it was not at all exciting to ER2. She simply cried and tried to escape from the Thai cloth holding her securely on my hip. When we mentioned we’d be riding one in a few days she screamed. Really screamed. “No thank you no thank you”
Once calmed, we discussed it as we continued the walk home. By the time we got back she was whispering (because you have to be quiet around elephants, you know – at least that’s what we told her in the hopes that she won’t scream) that elephant rides are like bicycle rides. She loved riding on the back of a rickety old bike holding on to Dadda this morning.
“I will sit on the seat on the elephant with Dadda and he will hold me tightly,” she whispered. We’ll see.
PS Have managed to upload photos to the last three posts…
Tags: children, postcard: Thailand, transport
rayres
wow what an experience getting that close to an elephant
I’m with ER on the elephant ride!
ER looks like she is having a blast on the back of the bike! Fabulous! Yes, I am sure that whispering near the elephant is a good approach 🙂 Glad you survived the tuktuk ride!!
love the bikes – Lance A should use one for his training rides. Is that the remains of a dynamo hub I spot on the front wheel?
You should teach the girls to ride side-saddle llike the ladies do on the back of scooters!