Day 12 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand (Part 1)

The last week or two has been rough, hence the hiatus in posting the rest of our trip. Job #1 (teaching) involved our school hosting exchange students all week, an all-day field trip (we picked up beach litter at a remote beach in Ka'u), a full week of costumed, excited children and helping at nearly all-day Halloween event on Friday. Job #2 had me scrambling to research ever more Obamacare regs over the last few weeks. We've also been lucky to have had some very special guests visiting us (the BFF and ohana from NZ!), I suffered a nauseating bout bout of motion sickness that lasted 48 hours, and Ry had double pneumonia for nearly two weeks straight.

So although I love nothing more than recapturing 'trip magic' via the blog...I desperately needed to clean my house first and didn't get around to doing our FIVE loads of laundry and other cleaning until today. Life isn't hard, but it sure isn't a snoozefest either, y'know? Back to the trip...

I'd booked a full-day activity for us on Day #12 well before we'd even arrived in Thailand, and was more than a little nervous things might not go as planned. The day's itinerary was ambitious to begin with, and relied on many different moving parts that I could not control- weather, tour guide reliability, other businesses, animal temperament, etc. But thankfully, I needn't have worried- the day went far better than I'd ever hoped. In fact, day #12 was without a doubt, one of the most memorable days of our life.

I'd been tracking the weather for Kanchanaburi (our destination, about 2-3 hours away), and it was very iffy. It was raining with thunder and lightning the night before we left, and it showed rain for the afternoon we were to be there. We got up at 6am for our 7am pick up, and I was vastly relieved to see a brand spanking new 15-passenger Toyota van and two smiling guides waiting for us in the lobby. So not only were they a legit company (whew), but they were there early and the van was gorgeous- creamy tan leather interior with reclining captain's chairs, curtains on the windows if you chose to snooze on the drive, and not a soul inside but us (ahhh). Remember- we once booked an 'exclusive VIP' tour of the Great Wall near Simatai in Beijing and were shoved into a packed van (that hit top speeds of 35 mph) held together by duct tape...and I had to sit on an overturned 5-gallon bucket since there were no more seats). So even though Travelocity helps, we take nothing for granted.

Our drive out of town was a little worrisome in that it was pouring rain for the first hour or so, and then after sitting in nearly 30 minutes of traffic- there was a road closure (which had our driver rapidly doing a 180 and speeding off  on an alternate route). So it was pouring, and we were a good hour behind schedule.

However, once we arrived in Kanachanaburi at our first stop (the elephant camp) a few hours later, we soon forgot all of that. We walked down a long ramp that took us to a soaring viewing platform. From atop the trees, we could instantly see a dozen or so elephants (of all sizes) roaming freely in a lush mountainous landscape, right near a river. Most were grazing, sleeping or lollygagging...so it was quite a relief to see them in such a natural habitat, with so few 'working' and most relaxing (a big reason why we booked them).

We quickly jumped onto Ride #1...this first time, with a 'saddle' (really, a chair perched atop the elephant) for our comfort and safety. On this ride, we cruised around the area before wading through the River Kwai. I'll be honest- it was a scenic river, but quite muddied and brown. And that was before our elephant nonchalantly pooped in the river and it floated by us... FYI, elephant poop looks like un-chewed balls of dried straw mixed with soil...and are about the size of small cabbage heads). So yes, very attractive.

Also, as you can imagine...elephants are large, lumbering creatures who dip quite dramatically with each step. A ride atop Dumbo is not what I'd call soothing...it's not a ride you could really nod off on (mostly you clutch the handrail and try not to fall off or puke from the motion sickness). Still...it's kinda fun...for about, you know...five minutes (if you're older than age 10). So it went on about 40 minutes longer than I'd have liked, but Ry loved it. :-)

The last time I rode an elephant (in northern Thailand about 15 years ago), I had a naughty one (i.e.- probably an intelligent one who knew he was far too intelligent to be hauling chubby tourists around all day), who had zero interest in following the herd, and instead stopped to eat every three steps. This resulted in severe beatings from the little Thai man perched on the elephant's head, which made me shudder in guilt each time he cocked his fist back.

Fortunately for Ryan...this elephant camp was all about us treating the elephants kindly, and our sweet female seemed to gaily swagger along the path with only 1-2 meal breaks.

 

Once our saddle ride was over, we each donned swimming clothes and hopped onto a second set of elephants...this time bare back. I figured with an animal that large it wouldn't be difficult, but Laaawd have mercy. We immediately were angled straight downhill all the way down to the river (so we were trying not to pitch forward with only a thin, shared rope to hold onto). Plus, as I'd mentioned earlier, elephants dip up and down quite dramatically, even moreso on steep hills...so we were all clutching on for dear life to avoid falling off and getting trampled. It was truly quite traumatizing for a few minutes trying to get used to the ride! Thankfully, once we got to the river, it was all fun and games...

The reward for making it down the hill to the river? Getting sprayed, lifted and dipped into the water by our playful elephants!

We were given a good hour to sit on the elephants, wash/scrub them, get picked up by them, etc.

Once we were done, we rode bare back up to the camp to have a snack of ice cold watermelon before showering off (and you better believe we all had visions of staph in our heads as we manically lathered up). Uphill was a thousand times easier than downhill (although you can see that I am riding solo back as my father said he was over it).

From the elephant camp, we were taken to a gorgeous restaurant to have a Thai buffet lunch overlooking the River Kwai. It was so gorgeous, and right next to the notorious 'Death Railway' (aka the 'Burma-Siam Railway')...which we learned quite a bit about that day. The railway linked Thailand to Burma, and was built largely by forced labor during WWII (Japanese forces occupied the country at the time, so they used Asian and Allied POW soldiers to build it). It is conservatively estimated that about 90,000 of the 180,000 laborers lost their lives building the 258-mile long railway, hence it's appropriate nickname. We were also told that there have been various movies made about the bridge's bloody history, and were given a chance to walk on it (it's still used daily).

To be continued...