Tigers and elephants and temples, oh my!

Two weeks. This is how long they say it should take to acclimate to a tropical climate.  Two weeks for the fatigue, sweats and swollen legs to dissipate. I think today probably counts as day one, since my first two weeks were spent in the cooler, dryer climate of northern Thailand.  Today was a bit of a shock to my system.  I was pretty tired when my train got in. They'd already sold out of sleeper cabins when I bought my ticket, so I was stuck on a broken seat that reclined a bit, next to a drunk guy who sang in his sleep and smelled like he'd lost control of his bodily functions.  Suffice it to say, I hadn't slept much.  When I got off the train (which had been air conditioned to near-arctic temps), I was startled to notice how hot and humid it was, considering it was only 8am.  I stripped off a layer and went to find the ferry to get into the "island" of Ayutthaya.  (It's surrounded on all sides by rivers, so it is technically an island, but it doesn't quite fit the image that the word conjures up.) I was stopped by a tuk-tuk driver who bargained down to a decent price for a taxi ride into town. It was significantly more than a ferry ride would have cost (though still only about $1.50), but worth it to me since he said his price would include him driving me from guesthouse to guesthouse until I found one that suited me. I hadn't done much research on where to stay, and truthfully had no idea where to start, so this sounded like a brilliant offer to me.

Almost all of the Buddha statues here were badly damaged in the 1700s during war with the Burmese.

After finding a place that worked for me, I grabbed a shower, rented a bicycle, was given a few safety tips and a map, and was on my way. I wasn't entirely sure which sites I wanted to hit, but the map had pictures and brief listings of what could be expected at each wat. There was only one that I knew for sure I wanted to see, so I decided to head in that direction.  I hopped on the rusty old one-speed (whose chain threatened to fall off every half-block or so) and tried to make sure my skirt would neither get caught on something nor fly up, flashing the neighborhood. Admittedly, a skirt and flip-flops were not ideal for my bike day.

I pedaled over to a couple different wats, opting not to pay to go inside until I arrived at the one I really wanted to see.  Sadly, I got myself a bit confused; after biking around for awhile, I realized that the very first wat I'd passed by was I'd been looking for. Doh! I tried to make my way back, stopping here and there for some shade, a cold drink, and re-application of sunscreen. I eventually found where I wanted to be, payed my 50 baht and wandered around the old ruins for a bit.  My quest was to find the buddha head entwined in tree roots that I keep seeing in pictures, and I was surprised by how small and unimposing it was. It's quite beautiful, but somehow it always seemed bigger in my head.

The Buddha head at Wat Mahathat.

After a few hours of seeing temples and ruins, I was hot and getting a bit grumpy.  I'd tried to talk to several people throughout the morning, using my very best Thai (I only know a few phrases, and I always butcher words when I try to read them, but I've been told that my pronunciation is quite good once I've heard someone say it correctly). Nearly every time I tried to talk to someone, I was greeted rudely, if at all. Perhaps it was just a cranky day in this town, but I encountered far more rude people today than I have in the past few weeks combined. I was contemplating staying here for a couple days, but the mood of the place isn't working for me, so I'll head out for Bangkok some time tomorrow.  Not sure how long I'll hang out there (I can always spend more time there later, since it is my departing city...), but after Bangkok, I'm going to head for more rural areas. I want wild animals, jungles, rice paddies, waterfalls... in short, I'm in the mood to be away from big crowds and throngs of tourists.

The last few days have been interesting for me. There's one to-do item that I've deleted from my list, and there's another I checked off my list but wish I'd deleted (or at least done differently).  Chiang Mai and Pai are both hubs for heading to visit the hill tribes, but after hearing people's stories of their visits, I decided against going.  The stories I heard were of people cramming into a tour bus, which would head to one of several tribal villages up to an hour outside of town.  When the bus pulled up (next to five or ten other tour buses), the tourists trotted out, cameras in hand, and were greeted by a group of people in traditional tribal dress who would spend their day posing for hundreds of photos.  This wasn't an experience I wanted. It was a photo-op - a glorified "freak show," as one person put it.  This was not an opportunity to see how the tribes lived, to sneak a peak into their routine; it was just the opposite. It was replacing their traditional routine with tour buses and gawkers with cameras. If I come across an opportunity to spend a night in a tribal village (without dozens of tourists), I might take it... but this way felt like I would be paying to disrupt the very lifestyle that intrigued me in the first place. I hope this doesn't sound melodramatic; I'm just trying to explain my thought process.

This was really neat, but I'd do it differently if I could go back.

The elephant ride I went on is the part I wish I could undo.  I was really excited about seeing them, watching them play... I'd read about some places that are really abusive to the animals, others that are sanctuaries, and still more that fall somewhere in between.  I thought I'd found one of the sanctuary-type elephant camps online, and I set out to find it.  When I arrived, I only saw three elephants and a small platform from which people could get positioned to ride them. This seemed much smaller than the place I'd read about, so I asked and was told yes, I was in the right place.  I assumed (incorrectly? I'm still not sure) that this was just an offshoot of the main camp, for people who aren't spending the night. I payed the woman my money for a ride and was rushed onto a small (relatively) elephant. I was told that he was nine years old and still had lots of growing to do.  His spine was very pronounced, which I noticed for the entire hour of my ride, since we rode bareback.  I'd recommend a saddle of some sort if you decide to do a ride of your own - NOT comfortable.  Anyway, after I was situated (the guide was minimally helpful in telling me where and how to sit, just that I wasn't doing it correctly), the guide grabbed his tool: a wooden baton/handle about two inches in diameter and roughly two feet long, which has a metal barb (a few inches long) attached to one end.  I'm told this is a tool that's used by all trainers, but that the good ones shouldn't really have to use it much.  My guy did use it.  A lot.  He would yell at the elephant, and if it didn't immediately respond, he would position the barb behind the elephant's ear and pull, digging the barb into the ear until the elephant started walking in the right direction.  He also hit the animal on the legs when he wasn't moving fast enough.  They weren't full-force blows, but they weren't just taps, either.  Now, in fairness, I recognize that I don't know how to train elephants. I don't know how much pressure they need before they feel something and I don't know at what point it crosses over into painful, but I do know that the whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth.  From the stories I've heard from other people, this was certainly not the worst that happens, but it was far from being the treatment offered at the sanctuaries.  I think I'll stick to trying to see a herd in the wild (which I hear is possible in the national park I'm visiting next week). It's not the captivity that bothers me - I fully understand that it helps keep them from extinction - but I wish I hadn't paid to support what looks like poor treatment of the animals. It was really neat to get to ride one, but if I could do it over, I'd make sure I was supporting better conditions.

Hanging out with my new pal Sticky Rice.

Not to end on a sour note, I've saved the awesome tiger story for last. They were beautiful! After the previous day's elephant ride, I did quite a bit of research on the tiger visit and monkey show that I was planning. I ended up deciding to pass on the monkey show, as it sounded kind of sketchy, but the tiger kingdom got rave reviews. They also have a lot of information available about what techniques and tools they do and don't utilize, as well as explanations as to why.  It sounded like a great place, so I negotiated a round-trip fare with a songthaew driver and away we went.  There were different package deals you could get depending on which tigers you wanted to play with, and I decided to go with three full-grown tigers. When they call your number, you're allowed down to the paths with the enclosures.  About half of the tigers are hanging out on their own while the others are being petted and photographed. You can see all of them in their enclosures while you wait to be taken in to see "your" tigers, you just can't get as close to them.  One guy - who didn't seem to get the importance of the rules - walked past a barrier, stuck his face right up to the enclosure and made obnoxious noises to one of the tigers. He continued to taunt (with his wife laughing and snapping pics) even after the tiger roared at him a few times (which I'm assuming meant: back off, jerk; I'm napping but I'll be happy to wake up long enough to eat you).  That guy is going to win a Darwin award someday, and his wife will probably take pictures of that stupidity, too. 

Now, back to the good stuff... Sticky Rice, Meatball, and Spicy Sausage (yes, apparently all of the tigers are named after foods) were all gorgeous. Meatball was my favorite: adorable and gentle, yet a wee bit sassy.  There's a trainer with each tiger, and they are very good about explaining what to do. Your bag has to be left outside, and you're welcome to pet the tiger's belly, back and tail, but don't go near his head. Their fur was soft and beautiful, and they were generally very calm.  If one started to get up, you were immediately told to get back out of the way, and the trainer would hug the head of the tiger and talk to him until he lied back down.  The first time this happened for me was when the trainer was playing with the tiger to try to get a funny photo. He tried to put my sunglasses on Meatball, and Meatball was not having it. He was clearly way too cool for my shades, and he tossed his head back to flip them off.  The head toss seemed to be playful, but it was abrupt, and thus was the catalyst for my being told (calmly but forcefully) to get out of the way. Nothing gets your heart racing like a huge tiger jerking his head in your direction and being told to run. *grin* After a second, Meatball was back to lying down, his trainer stopped teasing him, and I was invited back over to marvel and fawn over my spectacular new pal. I now understand why the guy I met at the airport when I arrived had come back for two months just to volunteer at a tiger sanctuary. (I want one!)

Nice afternoon snooze with Meatball.