ELEPHANT

So, today I rode on an elephant. And that is all you need to know.





RIGHT. As if I could write just one sentence and be content. If only...

So last night, I was talking to my mother and I was retelling the story of my bus ride in Cambodia from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, and I realized that I forgot a KEY piece of that story. You see, not only was there a mis-communication about the time that it would take to get to Phnom Penh, but the bus attendant made some pretty amazing announcements as we took off from Siem Reap. The name of the bus company that I was traveling with was Mekong Express. But the attendant's accent, it came out "Mekong Espray Buuu." I was actually listening to her thinking how I would spell it all out so you could understand what she sounded like. Anyway, she was making an announcement about the facilities of the "Mekong Espray Buuu," and she told us that the bus had a toilet so that we "don't need worry by your travels by Mekong Espray Buuu toilet." I actually laughed out loud when she said this because what she was trying to convey was so hilarious and the way it was being said was even more so. It brought me so much joy. So now you're all caught up on THAT important piece of information...LOL.

Today was the big day. The BIG day. The day of the elephant. In Thailand, elephants are symbols of good luck, and they're apparently pretty common. Well, I've been determined to ride an elephant in South East Asia, and I was successful today. I went "elephant trekking," which basically entailed me riding on a little seat on the back of an elephant as it wandered random trails near a waterfall in the interior of Samui. At some point we stopped to water down the elephant, which I was glad for, because it was hot and the elephant had to be feeling it. He also decided to take his trunk and blow air at me randomly...I do not know why. And my little driver guy just kinda laughed and shook his head the elephant. I had JUST gotten comfortable being on the back of this elephant in my little seat with a "seat belt" when the little man who was "driving" my elephant got off of and told me to sit on the elephant's neck. So I climbed down from my little seat and RODE ON THE ELEPHANT'S HEAD!!! It was ridiculous. And I was kind of freaking out (internally, of course). The guy took tons of pictures and the elephant kept trekking and I kept fearing that I was going to fall off into the river. Now, you would think that this must be something that they let everyone do, actually RIDE the elephant. But no. Only me. For some bizarre reason, I was the only person I saw that was allowed to get out of the seat and sit on the elephant's head (and there were several other people trekking with me). In fact, the other tourist people were taking pictures of me on the elephant's head and congratulating me on my prowess (haha). That was kinda awkward.

So yeah. Of course the driver man kept asking me if I had enjoyed myself and if I liked the pictures he had taken, and when I responded in the affirmative, he not-so-subtly suggested that I tip him well--haha. But I did. Because, well, he let me ride on the elephant's head. Like no one else. And he had taken lots of pictures of the occasion. As well as checked out the other photos that I had taken on the camera, which I thought was a little weird.

Once my elephant adventure was finished, I walked over to the waterfall (on foot) to take pictures, and stopped at the little kiosks that lined most of the path. It was on my way to the waterfall that I had my second (yes, second) awkward encounter with random Asian men who insisted that they have their photo taken with me. I think they were Chinese, but I can't be sure. This happened to me before when I was in Cambodia (and those guys were Chinese as well, I'm pretty sure), at one of the temples. Though those guys kept their distance from me as I smiled awkwardly for the camera with them. The one today actually put his arm around me and gave a "thumbs up" sign for the camera. I was like, "what the heck is going on??" I have no idea why these men are so fascinated by me...there were definitely other white people around, and i can't be the first white female they've ever seen. I know I looked quite a sight in my elephant trekking garb (which was basically just black capris and a flowered tunic with my floppy hat on my head), but it's not like the other white people were all decked out either...Can anyone explain this truly strange phenomenon?? So yeah. That was weird. I took my photos of the waterfall and then decided that I was ready to head back to the hotel, lest other random Asian men accost me for photo ops as well.

I got back to the hotel just before 4pm, when the shuttle for Lamai leaves. I ran to my room, changed my shirt, and made it to the shuttle. Unfortunately, in my rush, I forgot that I had removed my wallet from my purse for the elephant trekking. 15 minutes into the 20 minute ride to Lamai, I realized that I had no money for dinner, souvenirs, water...anything. Because it's a scheduled shuttle, there was nothing I could do. I had met a rather friendly Thai family who were also on the shuttle from the hotel and I considered being pathetic and asking if I could borrow some baht, but decided against it because it seemed sketchy, even for me. :)

I got out at Lamai and wandered the streets for the 2 hours, frustrated because I could buy nothing. :( Random dudes kept "introducing" themselves to me, and when I shook one guy's hand, he wouldn't let go--which was again, awkward. And again, people never thought I was from the US. Do people from the US never visit this country? I am so confused by this.

I caught the shuttle back to the hotel and went to the restaurant and had this delicious Thai dish with chicken, pineapple, and veggies in a tart sauce. It was so yummy! Then I decided to go for a swim and I realized that there was a thunderstorm in progress. I say "realized" because there was no thunder sound and no rain. Just silent lightning streaming across the sky, over the ocean, and tons of clouds. It was beautiful. I tried to capture some photos of the awesomeness, but the night was so black and I was STRUGGLING to time the photos to get the flashes. After about 20 minutes, I ended up with like 5 decent photos and decided to go stalk this frog I had seen earlier and take pictures of it. Found it.

Now I'm back in my hotel room packing my things because I leave for Bangkok tomorrow at 1pm. I'm excited to be able to explore the city a little bit, especially the famed markets. Hopefully I'll end up with some more awesome (-ly cheap) souvenirs.

Samui is beautiful, and I'm already trying to figure out when I can come back. I was talking to one of my friends, Henry, last night, and I'm hoping that we can converge our schedules on a trip back here. :) I can dream, anyway.