5th Jan Daily Postings

Day 2, the rest of the group went with Jen to visit the elephant clinic while my sub-group stayed behind to interview a pair of Caucasian couple. We had high expectations of a fruitful interview as they were the head directors of a volunteer movement, Blue Star of Hope, that promotes positive social change in Thailand and South Africa. It was really coincidental that we met them as they were visiting ENP this week. They  went out of their way to make time in their schedule for an interview us despite having to be with the other volunteers and managing their events.

In the end, we interviewed Juelle and her daughter Christian. Our main takeaway was that they genuinely believed in their “power of one” program where each and every one of our actions matter. It’s amazing that they are going around organizing these travel events places such as the ENP to support such places and being ambassadors to promote sustainability and conservation of the elephants. While not gaining new insights into the elephant situation, I’m glad we met such inspiring individuals. Juelle exhibits the kind of leadership I would love to emulate. I have seen many vocally active and on-the-ground type of commander-life leadership. However few have the vision to know what you would like others to help you achieve and making it everyone’s vision. Incidentally now I’ll know where I would want to start if I wanted to volunteer to help the elephants:)

After lunch we visited the jungle to visit other less human-friendly elephants. Out of the 2 elephants there, one was constantly eating the food we brought and going after the truck when she hears it rumbling down the road. Whereas the other one there had previously been hit by a car and was now scared of trucks and humans. She wouldn’t come closer to us even with the food tempting her and her other counterpart eating the food we brought. Its scary how we affect the surroundings we inhabit, sometimes for the worse, especially to more sensitive animals.

At night, Pro offered to bring Isaac and I for a ride on his bike.I’ve got to say that that was the most thrilling and enjoyable ride I had this year, especially considering that I did white-water rafting and jet-skiing previously. Contrary to popular belief it feels quite safe after a while as the main roads are generally smooth and i have handholds at the back and Issac in front. I definitely see the temptation the locals of having 3 people on the bike, especially since it’s the most convenient mode of transport.

However having 3 person or more on the bike comes at a fine of 40 000baht although Pro mentioned that we could bribe the police if they actually caught us. On our one and a half hour ride around Chiang Mai we did encounter one police car along the road whereby Pro had us alight to scout the situation. Chiang Mai may be corrupted but at least the locals do have the fear of going against the law which somewhat deters such actions.