A Plethora of Pachyderms in Pattaya - 4 October

We pulled into the Thai port of Laem Chabang at 8:00 this morning. I looked out the window long enough to decide that the scenery was less important than my cozy bed and tried to go back to sleep. We had been warned that clearing customs would take forever and not to rush to get ready so I heeded their advice. I discovered that going back to sleep was futile so I decided to take advantage of faster internet service and check my e-mails. I'm finding that the umbilical cord between me and my computer is a strong one that is difficult to cut. I'm glad I'm not like this with the phone too.

Around 11:30 customs had still not cleared us so I wandered into the dining hall to get some lunch. Finally at 1:00 my tour to the elephant village was called even though customs was still doing their paperwork. I later heard that the customs officials had taken a lunch break and then wanted to do some shopping in the ship's store before resuming their paperwork. If the students had known about this there would have been a riot. So many of them had plane reservations out of Bangkok which is a three hour drive from the port. Many of them were in danger of missing their plane.

But as I was saying, my tour to the elephant village was called at 1:00. We loaded onto the buses and made a 1/2 hour journey to the city of Pattaya where the village was located. We pulled into the area and made our way to the picnic area. We could see glimpses of the elephants and we started to get excited. The manager of the elephant village greeted us and then drummers emerged from a pavilion to guide us to the elephant area. A long line of elephants were there to greet us with their masters on their backs. They are such impressive animals.

The MC for the afternoon greeted us and gave us some time to feed the elephants bunches of bananas. After that, he asked who would like to go for a bath with the elephants. About seven brave souls (not soules) volunteered and climbed onto the elephants' backs and lumbered off to the swimming hole. The masters commanded the elephants to submerge themselves in the water at which point the students got totally wet. They were clinging to the elephants head for dear life and shrieking quite loudly. I'm was so happy that I had declined this opportunity when I saw the elephant dung floating on the water as they dunked themselves. Ick to the nth degree.

After everybody returned to the main elephant area, we had the opportunity to ride the elephants "bare back" without the seats that we would use later. I decided that this was the time to participate and when an elephant was available approached her with great determination. Two men were standing by her side ready to help me on to the great beast. She was kneeling for me and I stepped on her leg as instructed and slung my leg way up over her back. I just barely got my leg over when she started to get up. Jumping Jehoshaphat! The men started pushing me up the rest of the way and the master sitting on the elephant grabbed the back of my shorts and started pulling. I got the wedgie to end all wedgies but I was on that animal! My friends got pictures of this debacle and you can see that the men were finding this very amusing. So I was for that matter.

I finally got situated on the elephant and clutched at her head - as if you can actually clutch something as big as an elephant's head. I managed to pull myself together in time for the official photograph and actually looked like I knew what I was doing which was such a farce. We made a circle around the grandstand and returned to the docking station which is level with an elephant when they are standing. I dismounted with much more grace and dignity than when I mounted.

After that bit of fun, we sat back down in the grandstand and saw a show about how elephants used to be used in Thailand when they were clearing the forests. It was a fascinating show but everyone wanted another ride. After the MC was done with his show, we went back over to the docking station and paired up for a ride on the elephants with a bench seat this time. It was wild! There was so much rocking that we grabbed for the railing that was placed in front of us and held on for dear life. We took a walk around a pasture with all the other riders and then, after 10 minutes or so, went back to the docking station to disembark. We all had huge smiles on our faces as we got off. It was so much fun.

That was the conclusion of our time in the elephant village. We were given the opportunity to buy our official photos for $10 complete with a frame which I did. We got back onto the bus for a very quick ride back to the port. This has been an amazing day that I will remember for a long time. I got to ride an elephant!