August 17, 2011
On our way out of Bangkok in the evening, we took a local bus to the train station. The traffic was horrendous, but it didn’t matter since our train would leave late at night. We joined the other Thais that were waiting in the large open space without chairs. I unfolded my tarp, laid it out and we got a few hours rest before our train departed. The train ride was pleasant, but uneventful.
Surin, at first glance is a depressingly typical Thai town. In fact it seemed like it could have been anywhere in the world. Despite this, though, we knew immediately that we had flung ourselves far from Thailand’s large and well-beaten tourist path. Very few people spoke English and most signs were only in Thai. There were hotels, but not the typical kind that cater to backpackers or foreign tourists. It was a long, hot walk through town before we found our “Sangthong Hotel”. It was huge, and seemed nearly empty. The price was less than we would have paid in Bangkok and we had a much nicer room.
Our forage for a meal turned out to bere far more difficult than anticipated. Perhaps we had bad timing, but it seemed that very little was open and what was open didn’t have much to help out the non-Thai speaker. I realized that I had become spoiled. Since the previous two countries we had been in had been colonized by English-speaking countries, I was used to English being fairly common. Even in West Africa I was able to get by on French almost anywhere. Now we were in a mid-sized town in Thailand, of all places, having a surprisingly difficult time getting a plate of noodles. We eventually settled for a cold bowl of gelatinous noodle soup. It was one of the more boring Thai meals we ever had.
We made up for it in the evening, though, where we discovered Surin’s night market. It had a lively atmosphere and it was interesting to receive so much attention in a country that has so many foreign tourists. We sampled all sorts of small dishes from the different booths before further wandering the city. We went to another area that supposedly had some nightlife. There indeed were a few of bar/restaurants, but they were almost deserted. One of them had “live music”, which was bordering pretty closely on karaoke. A man sat behind a keyboard with a microphone and a laptop. He didn’t seem to do much with the keyboard, but would sing along with the karaoke music coming from the laptop. He was a good singer, but his setup was still a little funny. There was only one person there, and it turned out to be the server. We decided this would be a weird, but maybe fun place to sit with a beer. Since we were really the only customers, we were able to shout a few requests the singer. Eventually, though, he offered us a turn. Since we were already having karaoke withdrawals since leaving the Philippines, we were quick to hop on stage. I sang a Creedence song and Lise sang her specialty, “My Heart Will Go On”. Afterword, as we were sitting at the table close to the open front of the restaurant, an elephant came walking down the street, led by his caretaker. It was a funny sight, and Lise was especially excited. He was making his rounds around town, looking for people that wanted to pay a few Baht to feed the elephant. We handed over a couple coins for sugar cane and bananas. The elephant eagerly stuck out his trunk, greedily grabbing at the snack. We wanted to savor it though, and gave him the bananas and sugar cane sticks one at a time.
We weren’t sure of what our next move would be, but the next morning, we packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. We were planning to go to a village just north of us to see an obscure elephant farm. We had ideas of going on to another town further along, or perhaps camping at a nearby river. Either way, we walked out of town, past the train tracks, moving north along the widening boulevard that stretched out before us. It was hot, and the traffic was moving fast. Not the best hitching conditions, but we eventually made it to a traffic light near the edge of town.
It took less than ten minutes of waiting to get our first ride in the back of a pickup truck. The man drove us to a turnoff that would lead us to Ban Tha Klang, the village with the elephant farm. Our map must have been pretty inaccurate, since we had thought it would be a straight shot on the same road from Surin all the way to Ban Tha Klang. We quickly got a ride down the winding country road in the back of another pickup truck. A middle-aged woman sat in the back with us, with a big, almost devious smile. She tried to speak with us, but there was not much we could communicate to each other, except that we were going to the elephant farm.
We got dropped off right at the gate of the “Elephant Study Centre” in Ban Tha Klang. It was pretty obvious that we were in for a kitschy treat. We were a little bit early for the 2:00 elephant show. Tourists, mostly Thai, trickled in slowly and took seats on the wooden bleachers around the performance space. There were a few pudgy and pasty western tourists, and even that was a little surprising. There are so few major attractions in this region of Thailand that I was surprised that anyone would spend vacation time coming out here.
The elephant show began with a few of the beasts lumbering and shimmying to the rhythm of Thai music into the middle of the performance area. Then they moved into a series of tricks, each a little more impressive than the last. One of the elephants painted a picture with a trunk, while the next one threw darts at a balloon on a target. Between the acts, the trainers would bring the elephants to the audience and sell bananas and sugar cane to be fed to the animals. Then the elephants would dance some more and eventually they got into playing sports! Yes, it was cheesy and kind of awkward, since I wondered how the elephants were treated, but they did indeed make impressive showing in basketball and soccer. Not only could they slam dunk a basketball, they could make the occasional free throw. Not only could they kick a soccer ball with considerable force, a couple of the elephants could play goalie pretty well and make saves with their feet.
After the show, we perused the souvenir stalls. Lise was in the market for some Christmas gifts for her family, and she came up with a couple of decent finds. We also used this to bide our time while the tourists all left in the overpriced shared taxis. We figured we had made it here by hitchhiking, so we could probably get back as well.
As we were waiting by the road, we saw the same grinning woman that had been in the truck on the way there. She seemed to want to get our attention. It was rough communication, but it seemed that she wanted to hook us up with a ride. Her husband came and pointed to his nearby tractor, saying he could take us back to the main road. It didn’t appear that he was going there anyway, meaning we would probably have to pay. We started to sense some opportunism, and figured they were looking to make a little money (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so we declined and kept walking down the road. Soon a truck stopped for us, and we hopped in the back. We had said through the window that we had wanted to go to the main road. They didn’t understand, but they were going in the right direction, so we figured we would just get out when we got there or as far as they were going. After ten minutes, though, we could tell they were driving with less confidence. They had taken some weird turns and eventually had taken us in a circle. They asked for directions from a shopkeeper, and turned back the way we had come. It turned out that they had been in the wrong direction the whole time, so we ended up back at square one by the elephant farm.
A few minutes later, a decrepit old pickup passed by and picked us up. We hopped in the back with the other passenger, an old farming woman. She had red-stained teeth from chewing betel nut, a common practice among the elderly women around here.
When we came across a sangthaew (extended pickup truck with a roof over the back used for public transport) heading all the way to Surin, we were coaxed from one vehicle to the other. The inside was crowded, so I said we would ride on top. They were fine with me climbing up, but when Lise tried, the men in charge protested. For whatever reason, they found it unacceptable for women to ride on top of the truck. Lise insisted, causing a brief conflict, but she won out.
The sunset ride into Surin was relaxing and beautiful. We didn’t accomplish too much in the day, but with so many rides in the open air, we felt at ease and comfortable.
No comments:
Post a Comment