Thailand: How bizarre

Written in tidbits over 3/16-19/09

Second day in Thailanddddd.  I haven’t been off the ship yet today, but I’m going to hang out with tigers in an hour.  Can’t wait!

Yesterday I went to Pattaya Elephant Village.  The bus left at 1:30 so I slept in, painted some on my latest watercolor (I don’t like it very much right now), exchanged my US dollars into Thai Bhat ($1=35 Bhat), and ate lunch. It was a very relaxing morning. 

Then I got on the bus. A lot of people were going on this trip.  Caroline, Greg, Bradee, Stacey, Alicia, Steve, Disha, Keith, Hussein, Lia, the Megans, Charlotte, Kendraaaa….lots and lots of friends.  Soo popular right now. 

We arrived at the village after about half an hour.  As we got off the bus we were given Elephant Village stickers.  I got two.  Suckers. Then we headed into this arena-like area.  It was stadium-style seating but only 5 rows or so and then there was this huge open space of dirt and rocks.  The seating was separated from the field by a fence and twelve female elephants were just hanging their trunks on the fence.  I was about two feet away from them. 

As we entered the village some people had bought bunches of bananas and were now feeding the elephants.  You could hand an elephant one single banana or the whole bunch and she would just inhale everything.  Sometimes she spit out the stems, but for the most part, elephants don’t peel their bananas.  If you tried hiding a banana and the elephant saw it, she would go for it and stick her trunk right in your face.  I got a fair amount of elephant snot and spit on me. 

Their trunks are so cool.  They can separate a bunch of bananas with their trunks, they can pick up a coin from the ground, they can lift a person with it.  It’s crazy. 

After we finished feeding the elephants, one of the elephant masters began to tell us about the elephants.  He asked if anyone wanted to bathe with the elephants.  A bunch of people jumped at the opportunity, including Caroline.  She was in heaven.  Elephants are her favorite animals.  So about ten people got on the elephants and went over to this watering hole.  The elephants just walk right into the water and start dunking their heads, meanwhile there are SASers sitting upon their necks, screaming, laughing, and getting completely soaked.  White shirts were a bad decision.  Caroline’s elephant was the only one that didn’t really submerge herself into the water so Caroline was barely wet at all.  And ironically she had brought an extra pair of clothes, and no one else had.

Once everyone had dismounted their elephants, the head elephant master gave us all the opportunity to ride the elephants.  I walked up to my elephant and she raised her leg as a step and raised me up.  An elephant master was sitting on her back already and he helped hoist me up on to her neck.  And then I just sat and enjoyed the ride atop the gentle giant. 

After all 120 or so SASers had gotten their elephant ride, we came back to the arena.  The head elephant master told us all about the village and the elephants lifestyle.  He introduced us to one of the male elephants.  I think he said there were 33 elephants in the village and only 3 males.  Kind of like the ship… In the end, it is lady’s choice though.  If she doesn’t like the male elephant she won’t give him the time of day.  The male elephant we met apparently had his heart broken last year.  And elephants never forget.  How sad. 

The head elephant master went on to explain that there are more females in the village because they are more productive then males.  When males are in heat they have to be completely isolated or else…well hormones will get the best of them.

After the educational portion of the show, the elephants did a few more tricks for us, showing off their strength, sitting down, rolling over, typical elephant tricks that make us ooh and ahh. Then we all rode the elephants one last time, but not bareback this time.  Instead there was a little bench-like thing strapped onto the elephants back.  I rode with Kendra, my roommate.  An elephant master sat on the neck of our elephant guiding her around the village path.  He was pretty funny.  He kept saying, “USA all the way! USA all the way!  Obaaaaamaaaaaa!”  Then he took my camera and took a bunch of pictures of Kendra and I on the elephant.  He was a good guy, I liked him.

When it was time to leave, a group of us decided we wanted to spend more time in  the city of Pattaya so the bus dropped us off along a main road in Pattaya next to the beach and a mall and several restaurants and bars.  Nate, Bradee, Stacey, Greg, Caroline and I walked along the beach until we found a restaurant where we wanted to eat.  I think it was called Mr. 99 or something like that.  Upon entering, I noticed all the waitresses in short red dresses, wearing lots of makeup.  I am pretty confident that over half of them were transgender.  The rest of the gang shared my sentiments.  No matter.

I ordered deep-fried vegetables, (everything is deep-fried in Thailand and anything that is deep-fried is good in my book) and some sort of tropical, fruity drink.   We sat around eating, talking, and laughing.  Once we finished our meal, we walked across the street to the beach and put our feet in the water.  Then we decided we would go find another restaurant or bar to hang out at for a while.  We came across this tiny bar called the Tiger Bar named after the Thai Tiger Beer.

What a bizarre experience we had at this bar.  We all sat down on stools around the counter and within seconds the bartenders took out games for us to play, like Jenga and Connect Four.  It honestly felt like we were at a carnival.  There were Christmas lights strung up everywhere that were flashing and blinking, and I was just waiting for the bartenders to give us prizes when we got four in a row.  I was so confused as to why they had all these games.  I mean little kids can’t drink, they can’t go to bars, is this a common thing at Thai bars?  It was so weird.

Along with the odd bar scene and the large amount of manly women, I also became aware of another commonality in Thailand: old, white men with tiny, young Thai women.  Creepy.  These couples were everywhere.  Thailand is kind of a racy place, in fact.  We learned all about sex workers in Global Studies in the days leading up to our arrival.  Very sad.  Young Thai girls, some no older than 13, become sex workers.  Some are sold into it, some see no other option in order to support themselves or their family.

While hanging out at this Tiger Bar, Caroline, Nate, Bradee, and Stacey befriended some of the bartenders, who were all women (I think).  They were all rather scantily clad and overfriendly with all customers, male and female.  To the best of my knowledge, these women were strictly bartenders, but one woman, Nan, told Caroline stories of men expecting more from her.  Nan said she works all the time, and she doesn’t really like her job, but it’s the best she can do.  During this entire conversation, Nan was flirting with both Nate and Caroline.  I had noticed she was a bit touchy-feely, but I didn’t realize how handsy she had been until Caroline informed me she was very uncomfortable and wanted to leave.

The whole situation was getting kind of weird and sad, so we decided to leave.  Then we went to a GoGo Bar.  I had read about these bars on Wikitravel and had no desire to go to one. Nate, however, wanted to go and experience Thai culture, and unfortunately this is a part of it.  I was extremely hesitant to go and expected/hoped it would be more like an actual bar.  How wrong I was. Probably one of the most uncomfortable situations I have been in, ever.  Older men watching young Thai women dance in next to nothing.  Black lights.  I truly wish I would not have gone in with them and I split off from that group very quickly after entering. 

I went to a Seven Eleven, which are everywhere in Thailand, and got snacks with the Megans and a girl named Michelle.  They were over the whole club/party/sex scene, as was I, and we decided to go back to the ship.  Caroline and Greg wanted to come with us too, so we got a “taxi” back.  I say taxi in quotes because it was basically a pick-up truck with benches to sit on along the side of the truck bed and a roof over the top.  The wind in my face was refreshing. 

Once back to the ship, I saw Kendra and Alicia sitting near the gangway at this little market that was set up right next to the ship.  I came over and sat with them and chatted for a while.  We saw pick-up truck after pick-up truck carting home SASers.  Soon I saw my friends Martha, Lia, Disha, Hussein, Keith and Steve.  They came over and we all sat and shared our Thai experiences thus far.  They had all been in Pattaya as well and I wish I would have traveled with them after the Elephant Village.  They weren’t scarred by the GoGo bars and they tried grasshopper which is something I wanted to do and never got a chance to.

Now for the first and second day in Thailand, I had SAS day trips and I was free for the following three days after.  Originally I was planning to go to Bangkok with Nate, Greg, Caroline, Lia and Alicia.  But after talking with Lia and Hussein and that group, I decided that I would break off from my initial group and have a spontaneous adventure.  Hussein, Keith and Steve were going on an overnight SAS trip to Ko Samet, which is this beautiful island off the coast of Thailand.  As great appreciators of free things, Lia and I kindly asked them if we could stay with them in Ko Samet and they obliged.  Lia and I still wanted to see Bangkok, however, so we made a reservation for the last night at a hostel in Bangkok.  This change of plans and act of total spontaneity more than made up for my poor choices earlier regarding explicit bar situations.

Second Day in Thailand:

So as I said in the beginning of this post, which I started writing 3 days ago, I went to the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo on my second day in Thailand.  This was another bizarre experience.  I was excited to see and play with baby tigers and I was under the impression that this was a sort of sanctuary for tigers, where the trainers loved them and bred tigers to release into the wild.  I was wrong.  I should have known that since it was called a zoo, it would make me sad as most zoos do.

This place was huge and just…weird.  It was like a carnival/zoo.  There were three animal shows: tiger, elephant, and crocodile.  I only went to the tiger and crocodile show, and I found them very sad and a bit disturbing.  The trainers did not treat the animals with love or respect.  I can only assume that the tigers had been treated very harshly all of their lives in order to submit to the trainers slaps as they did in the show. And the crocodiles were sedated during the show, so that the trainers could open their mouths and they crocs wouldn’t even react.  And then the trainers would drag the crocs around by their tails and poke them in the eyes.  I didn’t go to the elephant show because I didn’t want to see more mistreatment of animals.  However, there were elephants doing tricks outside of the Tiger Show arena.  These elephants were branded and chained to the ground. 

After the tiger show, Caroline, Fiona, Alicia, Bradee, Nate and I went to go play with tiger cubs.  We went into this building where there were at least 15 tiny baby tiger cubs in cages that were probably only 3x3 feet.  I was torn.  I wanted to hold the cubs, but I didn’t really want to support this place because they treated their animals so poorly.  In the end I paid the 150 Bhat to hold and feed a tiger cub and get my picture taken doing so.  I want a tiger cub.  I want to take all of those babies and put them back in their natural habitat, which is not some crazy petting zoo/circus in Thailand.

We explored the zoo grounds after our encounter with tiger cubs and we were continually amazed at how weird this place was.  We turned one corner and there was a bunch of camels and horses and deer milling about. Near that there was an orangutan sitting on a bench with a zoo employee.  Next to him there was a little fenced-in area with a bunch of bunnies.  Then there was a pigpen, with a dog in it as well, who apparently was friends with the pigs?  And nearby there was a cave with a woman who sits in there all day covered with scorpions, deemed the Scorpion Queen.  Her job is to sit in this man-made cave that is grimy and poorly lit, with forty or so scorpions clinging to her clothes.  Imagine that.  There was also the “Elephant Museum” which had several plastic elephant replicas and grammatically incorrect and poorly spelled signs about elephants’ evolution, diet, reproduction, and so on. 

I can’t even describe the odd juxtaposition of all these animals and amenities.  Nothing really fit.  Nothing made sense.  And it seemed as though only the SASers were troubled by the peculiar situation and mistreatment of the animals.  I can understand little kids being impressed by the tiger, crocodile, and elephant tricks, but I couldn’t understand why there were so many adults unaccompanied by children at these shows.  I didn’t get it.  How can they watch it without feeling guilt or sadness?  Granted I watched it, but I watched in horror, not awe.

After spending about 4 hours at the zoo, we were supposed to go to this place called Mini Siam for shopping and such, but a few of us just went back to the ship because we were exhausted and I personally needed some alone time to proceess the sad zoo.  Caroline, Nate, Greg, and Alicia were all heading to Bangkok that night as well, so they wanted to get an early start on their travels. 

The ship was empty.  I hung out in my room and painted.  Then Lia came back from her cooking lesson in Bangkok and we sat in my room, eating the chicken satay and peanut sauce she had made.  It was delicious.  Disha came over too and we stayed up late talking.  Then we remembered we had to get up early and we needed to pack for our Ko Samet adventure, so we said good night and I packed my backpack to the brim.  Lia and I begged Disha to come with us on our adventure, but she had other plans.  We were staying at the same hostel in Bangkok, though, so we would see her then.

The next day… Ko Samet.  Heaven.  Paradise.  Lia and I got up early, ate breakfast on the ship, and then walked out onto the port and got a taxi to take us to Ban Phe, where we would then take a ferry to the island.  But for now, I should sleep.  I think I’ve only gotten about 15 hours of sleep in the last 3 days.