5th Jan/ Day 2

Nothing really beats just sitting beside the Narawat Bridge, at 12am, listening to the live band play “Let it be” by the Beatles. Well, maybe a cold beer would come in handy. Nevertheless, a great end to a great day.

And a great day begins with a great start. Back at the Elephant Nature Park, Jen took the time to tell us about the nutritional needs and favourite foods of elephants – apparently, leaves are the staple, while the fruits and vegetables that tourists are so accustomed to giving out to the elephants are considered special treats. Their favourite food, by the way, is the banana – and look at how fast they went! In a sense then, these elephants have been conditioned to associate tourists with good food. This is true both in the richer and poorer camps – except in the latter, elephants usually only get to eat good stuff if tourists are willing to pay for them. Doesn’t it remind you of human society?

Elephants are just like humans too – with their own preferences, tastes, likes and dislikes. I remember this one particular elephant that would stay far away from humans and other elephants, because he gets scared very easily. We also saw a baby elephant roaming around under the protection of its mom, 1st nanny, 2nd nanny, grandma, etc., as we learnt more about the structure of the elephant family unit. In this case, the baby was born in the camp, and had never before been exposed to the cruel phajaan ritual – as a result, it displays neither distrust nor anger towards humans. The rest were wary – if we tried to go near the baby, or if the baby came too close to us, we can expect its guardians to be ruffled. Wouldn’t we do the same? Of course we would. In fact, the only person who was allowed near the baby was the mahout who had taken care of one of the elephants in the herd before, and had gained the elephants’ trust – this links neatly to the systemic problem regarding elephant welfare raised the previous day.

On our way back from the jungle, we passed through a local neighbourhood. Pro, our student guide, mentioned that almost 70% of all Thais live in the countryside, in neighbourhoods just like these, on 300 baht (12 SGD) a day. The neighbourhood had all the basic amenities, but that was it – the classroom rudimentary but usable, the neighbourhood clean but not luxurious. This not only brings home just how fortunate we are, but also how these people, the lower-middle class, are often the people in the worst state – they’re not rich enough to help themselves, not poor enough to receive help. It would be a mistake to ignore this large majority – in Thailand and elsewhere – if we were to truly understand a society.

Before we left, Jen expressed optimism for the future of elephant tourism – industry practices are changing, he said, which bodes a bright future for the elephants. What we neglected to ask, in retrospect, was why they had changed their ways. Does this phenomenon prove the success of ethical elephant tourism, as other camps adjust to meet this demand? Perhaps.

At the end of the day, Pro offered to take Joel and I out on a motorbike tour of Chiangmai, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Exhilarating, very cold, but very fun. We saw students having supper, transvestites, and a few important historical landmarks (pretty weird to have these terms in the same sentence). Along the way we spotted a dome-shaped structure, apparently hundreds of years old, right next to the American consulate; we had no idea what it was, and neither did Pro – I guess it’s research time for us then. We also observed the frequent flouting of traffic rules (no, we didn’t practice them) – they seem to be very used to this sort of thing, and it makes for, I suppose, a less safe, but somewhat more human (as opposed to mechanistic) environment. Refreshing, all the same, constantly reminding us of our humane-ness and imperfections.

 

“There will be an answer, let it be”