planes, trains, n tuk tuks….

A quick breakfast and off we were to our elephant ride/bamboo rafting tour we had arranged the day before w/ a local street vendor.  I use the term ”tour” loosley as this was no well oiled tourist machine, but rather a pick up truck that we jumped into the back of, and off into the mts.  Greeted by the three elephants and a small thai boy who immediatly ushered us onto a platform and spoke what turned out to be the only english words he knew.

”One, Two, Three….JUMP!””  So we did.  Larry, Mo, and Curly (i”m curly as my hair has been one giant frizz mop since arriving in this humidity)  jumped bareback on that elephant with just a cloth and a rope.  3 american girls and 1 thai elephant hit the road w/ our guide who walked yards away most of the time talkin on  a cell phone, only returning to yell commands at ”Mai Mai” when he needed to move over to let trucks go by.  Eventually we turned onto the jungle path and for and hr or so traversed, Very Slowly.  the guide would run and climb on rocks and jump on the back of Mai Mai when he got tired of walking.  So larry, curly, mo, thai guide, and Mai Mai walked n walked n walked through the blistering afternoon heat.  This was beginin to feel like round II of theory vs. practicality until we reached the rivers edge.  The same dirty, swift moving river we had been terrified to fall into off the bamboo bridge, we now barreled into.  Our guide then spoke the only english sentence of the day. 

”Now Elephant Dance””  and w/ no more warning that elephant shimmied us straight off his back flopping in 3 different directions into the river.  It wasn”t until i had a mouthful of river water and was fighting a really fast current to surface that i even grasped that i was no longer on the elephant.  Eventually surfacing to see the guide and i”m pretty sure the  elephant laughing hysterically.  From then on it was elephant jungle gym time and we all climbed, stood on his back, he would spray us with water, and then when he wanted do a l”il jig and throw us off back into the river.  For at least an hour we all played in that filthy river, on big happy family.

Our afternoon was part II of the tour, a traditional bamboo rafting experience.  Back n the pick up truck and further into the wilderness we rode while it poured down rain.  Hardly a bother still being soaked in Pai River water from elephant gymborie.  A little man jumped in the back off the roadside, w/ more teeth missing than present, not that it kept him from smiling the whole way.  He like most people in th rural thailand didn”t speak even a word of english.  We arrived at a wwII memorial bridge and he got to working on building the raft out of 8ft bamboo hollow rods attaching them w/ twine while we ate unidentified meat on sticks cooked to perfection from the roadside vendor.  When he was done w/ the engineering process we boarded and he grabed a big stick / paddle/ rudder and for hrs we meandered thru rice fields, past pastures, into lush jungle while he spoke to every animal along the way in their native tongue.  He cooed, chirped, mewed, and howled at cows, birds, monkeys while we relaxed and watched the magnificent scenery go by.  The whole trip passed too quickly even in the sporadic pouring rain.  A great day.

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