Bohemian Obscura: The Air Conditioner Started to Sweat

This may end up being written between two days cause it's almost ten at night here and I don't really know how long I'm going to last. So...

May 7th

And I thought the first day in Bangkok was horrible with the heat and humidity! Oh hell no, this was even worse! Again I woke up before the sun even rose and finished writing my last blog. Eventually we were fully up and completely packed and we all crawled into a fourteen person van that turned into a fifteen person van while Shannon road in the luggage vehicle all by herself and took a good hour long drive up to Ayutthaya for the day. We mainly went there for the historical park but to get to and from the historical park and around the city we biked, sounded fun, but ended up just the worst idea ever. Six of us were driven to a small store that rented out bikes, the one closest to the hotel that we were using to shower and keep out luggage in had rented out the seven. So we had to get more bikes for everyone. So the guy from the hotel dropped us off and then the lady who worked at the bike shop got on her scooter and we followed her back to the hotel. Traffic is hell when you're from a country that drives on the other side of the road than the country you are in. But we made it all in one piece and waited until the other group returned before the entire class bike down to the Ayutthaya National Park.

Sound familiar? It should because one of the most famous images of Buddha comes from one of the areas. You all know this image. So now when you think of this you're actually thinking of Thailand, so think of me seeing this in person!

We had about an hour to do a few things at the Ayutthaya. There was a small market where I got a few things for some people before we bought the ticket to get inside the area where this Buddha was located. By the time we were done with this hour and regrouped I was drenched in sweat. I couldn't help but think that this hot and humid day felt exactly what it's like once I get out of dance. So apparently Ed and Byron has been making dance feel like a 102 degree 90% humidity feeling, and yet...I don't mind that as much as biking around in a National Park. Though when at dance I don't wear sunscreen and bugspray so I felt twice as gross.

When we regrouped we could go back to the hotel or do a little more of the National Park. I decided I might as well do more of the park, but god it was so HOT. I hated it. We did a small loop before we all just wanted to go back and take a shower. Once that happened we headed out to dinner, where the whole group once again biked. This time it wasn't as bad as the sun was going down by then. When we all returned to the hotel we all gathered up our things and crowded onto four Tuk-Tuk, those bike like taxi things. It was scary but really cool, and it had a great breeze as we made out way to the train station. I enjoyed it and would like to do it again, but I'm assuming that those are not the safest things to ride in.

Train? Yes, a train! And the best part? We slept on it. We had those nice fancy rooms that had rooms with beds. It was really cool. A lot of people had a hard time sleeping, but I practically knocked out like a dead person, I was really comfortable. But at some point, possibly 3 in the morning, the entire room had woken up freezing. Seriously, it was horrible! I had to get out my pillow/blanket for a second layer and huddled with Doppellump to get just a tad bit warmer and woke up again to the woman who was giving us breakfast. While we were waiting at the station before we got on, I used the restroom and there was a young boy who was so interested in my skin he kept poking it as I washed my hands and pulling at it. The mother kept telling him to stop, but I didn't mind really.

May 8th

When we arrived at Chiang Mai we went directly to the hotel. The rooms were ready so we left them in an area and were given permission to wander the town. We went up and down some of the streets and the surrounding area of the old city of Chiang Mai where I found my favorite present for someone and then ate lunch at a restaurant that had cats who enjoyed my bag. We returned to the hotel where we checked in and went swimming for a while before we had a small class meeting. After that we went to the Sunday Market where the group of girls I was with went up and down the stalls the totally wrong way because Thailand drives on the opposite side of the street. Lols, it was kind of easy in the beginning but once the night fell it was super crowded with people. I attempted bargaining where I succeeded in getting three chopsticks for 200 ฿ (baht) instead of 255฿ cause each were 85฿.

I also splurged a little by getting a henna, though the bugspray, sunscreen and sweat and general is making it fade faster than normal. It is still cute and adorable and people here at the Elephant Nature Park right off the bat saw my love for elephants with this.

We went back to the hotel pretty early, Janice and Shannon were the last to return to the hotel. I passed out once again with the little cover I could get because the girl I was sharing the bed with slept on top of the covers so it was kind of hard to cocoon myself like I normally do. This was also the first round of laundry a few of us did and laid it out to dry on the balcony.

May 9th

In the morning we got up and packed everything up, but got out our duffle bags, left our main bags in the hotel and hopped onto the buses that picked us up to head to the Elephant Nature Park! We got free T-shirts, a water bottle, and a sling that held the water bottle. We arrived a little before 10 and were given a tour of the place, finishing with the new baby elephant who is only a week old! Tiny and adorable I have never seen a baby elephant that small. So I do have to say congratulations on a successful birth!

Lunch and then a documentary film about the treatments of elephants here in Thailand (where I accidentally fell asleep) and woke up at the beginning of the last scene with a chicken crossing the road and Lek the woman who founded this place singing a lullaby to a baby elephant. We then were shown to our rooms, settled in, had a small orientation meeting before given two hours to hang out before we did a opening ceremony in which we had a shaman come and do a ceremony of getting rid of our bad luck and giving us good luck. We were given a white cotton string that was tied in a specific way by a woman who was chanting as she tied it. Women were given on on the left arm and men on the right. Then dinner and now here I am.

I am finally having some alone time and am really enjoying it, besides the bugs that keep wanting to fly into my eyes. I'm tired but I know that this is possibly one of the only times I will be able to recharge for a while as we will be working all together for the rest of the week. I hope that at some point I will be able to have Doppellump out and have his picture taken with one but I will have to tell a Mahout what I'm up to...

I knew this park had elephants as well as dogs but there are so much more animals than I thought. There are cats, water buffalo, and horses. Who knows what else is roaming these grounds as rescue animals, but both the cats and dogs are up for adoption. Thy love volunteers here but there are some pretty tight rules. The one thing that I predicted when I signed up for this class was a status that said "I've decided the first elephant I see I will break down crying." I did. It wasn't really the first elephant, but it was the first elephants that I was really close too. Shannon and Janice said it was okay to cry, but when they say how much Janice came up and gave me a hug. I was freaking out at how amazing these creatures are. I think the main reason why is because of how these majestic beasts withstood all their torment and now wound up here in paradise. I got teary eyed more than once throughout today and had some good personal moments with a few of the elephants, but sadly that got attention of the other people and they all attempted to get their attention so I slinked away as the crowd grew, hoping that I could get some alone time in the room only to find that there was already people in the room. Frankly I haven't really had any alone time seriously, like I call this alone time, but this isn't the alone time I want, where it's just me and maybe one of the dogs or cats. There are people all around, the volunteers, kids of the woman who are doing the massage. Shannon and Janice just talked to me (seriously right as I finished the last sentence about exactly this) and they are fabulous teachers, they understood exactly what I want and told me that I really should cut out time to myself soon, so I'll probably do that tomorrow. It's not completely a full recharge but it's probably the closest I'll get for awhile.

Another thing that I thought of earlier was how we use mosquito nets more as decoration back in the USA. They have no really purpose there besides the decoration but here they have a real use. The main volunteers who actually work here told us that if we had any holes in the nets to tell them so that we could either get new ones or the cleaning ladies would come in and tie the holes closed. It was interesting to watch them but they were happy to do it, they had a real concern.

Mix, the volunteer leader of the Otterbein group even brought in a fan for me because I was in an alcove by myself and didn't have any fans blowing on me. I was really grateful and it really works due to the fact that it was drying out my contacts.

Also another thing I thought of is how dirty the rivers have been here. You always think of clear crips water but then you get up close and it's dark and there is so much dirty and trash. Trash seems to be a big issue here because on the many drives to places there would be open landed that was just covered in trash bags. You could tell they weren't meant to be landfills and yet they looked like they were. Apparently recycling here is kind of a big issue due to amount of waste there is, but how people try to do it anyway. Though you can't find a recycling bin anyway unless it's a person selling water, they'll take it and put it into a special bag that has just recyclables.

The whole time I've been writing this I have had two dog friend lounging next to me and it's made me relax a little. Animals are amazing, cause I swear when it was just me and the elephants the wanted to know what was up. Dogs I think also really know as well. They have wonderful souls and I could live with them for the rest of my life. I can really see myself working here. I haven't done anything besides the few things we did today but somehow, I feel like I have found a second home in a way.

I love this place and I hope that I'll love it even more the farther I get in. I hope that I can come back here again, and some day maybe even retire to work here. Who knows, but for now. Goodnight/Good Morning

-Claire

More images as you scroll.