Beginnings in Bangkok (Part 2)

Thus begins a continuation of this post. Cool.

March 31, 2014: XploreAsia staff showed up at our hotel in Bangkok, gave a little talk, and then shuffled us all off in vans to Hua Hin, where we would spend one week of orientation and a three-week TESOL course. I had fried rice and corn flakes for breakfast, which I think is pretty brilliant.

{truly the breakfast of champions}

{a fantastic quantity of luggage before leaving the hotel in BKK}

April 1, 2014: Day one of orientation. Spent a very involved morning in which everyone detailed their reasons for coming to Thailand to teach. There were stories and Feelings and a ceremonial burning of said Feelings (you were supposed to write down all the things you felt were standing in your way or something.) I had lots of Feelings, then burned the log and retreated to my stony-yet-cheerful cynicism. This is one thing I will need to work on in Thailand. Ahem.

{burn your feelings!}

April 2, 2014: Today was the “do all the things” day of orientation. We were picked up via songtow from our accommodations in the morning and taken to Wat Thum Khao Tao (a temple on “turtle hill”), then a pineapple farm, and then to the Hutsadin Elephant sanctuary, where we fed the procured pineapples to the elephants. Other than the fact that the temple was beautiful and that pineapple in Thailand tastes a thousand times better than pineapple stateside, I don’t have a lot to say about the first two. Have some pictures, instead. But not too many because today was the day that my brand new camera decided to betray me.

As for the elephants, well, if you know me at all then you know it has long been my dearest desire to meet an elephant. (Dangerous things happen when you read books, kids.) So, I was pretty chuffed.

{damn chuffed, even}

I was pleased because I have been concerned about my ability to encounter an elephant in a non-harmful manner. I won’t, for instance, go on any so-called “safari” or “elephant trek” because these are exploitive and incredibly harmful to the elephants. Hutsadin focuses on providing care for elephants who were abandoned due to illness, old age, or inability to work.

This beautiful girl was in her forties and when she arrived she was so terrified of people she would cower in the corner of her enclosure. Now, she is quite friendly and much prefers bananas to pineapples, thank you very much.

This fellow was in his nineties (!!!) and was a world war two vet. He had his tusks sawed off — another evil frequently forced upon these beautiful creatures. Incidentally, elephant tusks are extremely sensitive — they are actually teeth. So imagine your dentist sawing off a few of your teeth. Without anesthesia. This elephant was blind and toothless, so we had to mash the pineapples up for him. But he was in good spirits and eagerly waved his trunk around from person to person in search of more snacks.

You see all those marks on his face? It’s scar tissue from being whipped, over and over again. So can we all agree not to ride elephants for fun, or attend exploitive “safaris” that brutalize animals behind the scenes for the sake of the tourist’s dollar and “exotic” experience? Cool.

While the situation at Hutsadin is far from perfect (They only recently got the funds for coverings for the elephants. Before they were exposed to the elements and getting terrible sunburn), they seemed to be in good hands, and the caretakers seemed to genuinely care for the elephants.

Oh — one more.

This is Songkran. He is a baby. And I am obsessed with him.

April 3, 2014 to pretty much now: I won’t bother writing up everything that’s happened because boring. Basically, TESOL course, TESOL course, food stalls, TESOL course, a beach or two, TESOL course. This coming week (April 21st) marks the last week of the course. Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday I will know my teaching placement and by Friday…I will be headed somewhere.

I still have a few more things to post about — Songkran (the festival, not the elephant), the caves, general life in Hua Hin, but for now, consider yourself good and caught up, dear reader.

BOOM. Productive Sunday for the win.