March 17, 2019

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I woke up knowing that today was going to be a great day – because today was the day that we got to meet the elephants! I’ve always really loved elephants – I think that they are just so majestic and smart. I was looking forward to this part of our trip the most, and it did not disappoint.

However, we didn’t start the day there – so I’ll start at the beginning.

We had an early morning – we had to be on the road by 7:00 AM. The funny thing about this trip is that we are always running late, which drives me crazy. Thankfully, it isn’t the same people each time. But I really want people to get it together, considering they are inconveniencing everyone.

The Elephant World Sanctuary that we were heading to was out in the countryside, which is why we had to leave early in the day. We stopped along the way at a War Cemetery. What I didn’t know, prior to this trip was that Thailand had wanted to stay out of WWII, but Japan wanted to build a railway through Burma/Thailand to create an easier supply train. They used Prisoners of War and Thai civilians to build this railway. Many people died – about 15,000 Prisoners of War died as a result – and over 100,000 civilians. A lot of the bodies were buried at the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. The American bodies were brought home – but the bodies from other countries were still in this site.

We hopped back on the bus and we drove to the bridge over the Kwai River. This was bridge was part of the project that took the lives of so many – that were buried at the War Cemetery that we had just stopped at.

View from the bridge.

I’m going to briefly get up on my soapbox. This is a WWII Memorial – and people were treating this location like a photo shoot. It was appalling to me. I don’t know if there was a language barrier – or maybe they weren’t part of a group and they just randomly stopped. But it was really disappointing to see how many of them didn’t carry a somber tone at all. Lives were lost.

With that being said, I’ll hop off of my soap box. And I’ll tell you how we experienced “survival of the fittest” on this very same bridge. Yui had told our group that you can walk across the bridge, but just to be careful. She also warned us that if a train comes you need to get behind the red line (which also happened to be super faded – for the record!). We could see a train in the train station – yes, this train station was still in operation. The train honked a few times – and all of us from our group immediately went to parts of the bridge that were safe – and out of the way.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many tourists stood in the middle of those train tracks taking selfies. REALLY? By all means, if the train is coming and you just really need that selfie on a bridge that is known as the “Death Railway,” go ahead. Unfortunately, the train couldn’t leave the station until everyone was off the tracks. It was worse than herding cats. One group would finally get the idea, and then another group would run down the middle.

No one was hurt. #endrant You can see a few of the dumb girls looking at the train and trying to decide if they should walk out on the bridge. The only original part of the bridge is the curved part – the Allied forces bombed the bridge – and you can see where the Thai people began to rebuild (square portion).

It was time for the elephants. We arrived at Elephant World Sanctuary and it was amazing. We had a quick orientation from one of the workers – and then we had lunch. After lunch they brought baskets of fruit to us – and we were able to feed two mothers and their babies. One of them was nicknamed “Naughty Boy,” but don’t worry – I’ll get back to that. It was a lot of fun – and those elephants can eat a LOT. We were feeding them sugar cane, pineapples, and bananas. Some people in our group were nervous – but I was just too excited. Besides, I love pineapple and bananas and you gotta give the elephants what they want!

The babies had a tendency of dropping their fruit on the ground and coming back and picking it up. I think they wanted to keep their options open. Andy saw that Naughty Boy had dropped a piece of sugar cane on the ground. I was standing behind Andy getting ready to take a picture of him – when Andy bent down to pick up the sugarcane. Naughty Boy thinks that Andy is trying to steal it – before I know it Naughty Boy swings and thwacks Andy across the chest. He got punched by a baby elephant!

Naturally, the doting wife that I am handled it with grace. I broke into laughter and was extremely disappointed that I hadn’t been filming the entire thing.

Our host from Elephants World.

Elephant World is a conservation organization – dedicated to protecting and taking care of elephants. You do not ride the elephants. Anyone who goes there is working for the elephant. You feed them. You cut the grass for their dessert. You bathe them. And have a great time. They do a great job teaching you about elephants, and it’s a great organization. They also protect water buffalos, cows, dogs, and chickens. The staff was amazing – they were all friendly and very helpful. They were eager to tell you about the different elephants. Their organization has 24 elephants currently. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit: https://www.elephantsworld.org You will not be disappointed.

My favorite part was getting to help bathe the elephants. I was walking in the water and one of the elephants took one look at me, dunked her trunk, and came back up and sprayed me in the face. I have to admit, I don’t think I deserved that – but I loved how playful she was.

Me helping bathe the other baby elephant, she was far less naughty than the little boy.

One of the workers saw this interaction, and took her trunk and dunked it again. He was going to aim it at me and shoot me again – and I kept saying, “No, no, no!” And the elephant ended up spraying someone else.

These large creatures just loved being scrubbed. It was so cute – they will roll on

their sides when you hit an itchy spot. They really enjoyed it – and so did all of us.

After our time with the elephants we checked in to our hotel – and finally were able to hit the pool. They had a nice swim up bar area – and we got to spend some time with a few other people on our trip.

Logistics:

1. Kancdhanaburi War Cemetery

1. Bridge over the River Kwai

1. Elephants World Sanctuary

Tomorrow:

1. Bang Pa In – Summer Palace

1. Ancient Temple