Thailand Journals: Day 8

Saturday, April 15, 2006

This morning started even earlier than usual, but we wanted to make it to the elephant camp for the early showing, so that we could enjoy the elephants before going to airport to start our trek home.

There really is not much to journal about the elephant camp besides to give you a brief rundown of all the activities we got to participate in. We arrived and watched the elephants take a bath in the river (this included watching a lot of poop being dropped into the river). Next, the elephants put on a show for us where they did things like….shoot a few hoops, play a little soccer, do a relay, massage a guys back, do other tricks…and paint a t-shirt. It was very entertaining. Afterward, I got to be picked up by the elephant on his truck. It was actually quite hard to balance. Next, we paired off and went for an elephant ride. I rode with Anna. She was terrified, but after a bit I got her distracted by talking and she did pretty good. After a bit, I got to ride on the elephant’s neck. That was fun. I loved it. Unfortunately, I don’t have any picture of it…but that is okay. The elephant ride was about an hour I believe. After the elephant ride, we rode an ox cart back to the main entry area. Here we enjoyed a leisurely lunch. After lunch, we went on a ride down the river on a bamboo raft. When we got off the raft…that ended our adventures at the elephant camp…but I must say that it was a very enjoyable day. We still had a few hours before we had to be at the airport, so we went to a huge mall. We roamed there for about an hour before loading up and heading to the airport just 5 minutes away.

At the airport, we said goodbye to Belinda, Able and Carol and their family, and the two Sam’s. It was a good trip. Our plane left Chiang Mai at about 7:00 pm.

So when Saturday ended and Sunday began…I am not quite sure. From Chiang Mai we flew to Bangkok where we had two to three hour layover. I grabbed some KFC before settling near our gate to wait to board the plane for home.

Now, you know you have been hanging around Asians a lot when one of the things that runs through my mind during our layover in Bangkok is that Europeans are big, have fake tans, and wear a lot of make-up. Due to the holiday, the airport was very packed. I would look at the Europeans and think, he and/or she is bigger than me. Or…they are my same height. I just marveled to see so many people who were more like my build. It was weird. Also, the make-up was not bad…just distinctly noticeable. Also, Asians don’t favor tans. They think white is good. Anyway, I was discussing this with a few of the kids I was traveling with, and they had some of the same thoughts and feelings.