Author: nbo2

To take a much larger perspective on ElephantsWorld and all that it stands for as a social infrastructure is quite fascinating the most identifying point of ElephantsWorld is that it is a Social Hub to the global community. To study it beyond an elephant sanctuary proves how influential and educational it was to visit and learn from the culture.

The vast differences among societies around the world are overwhelming when one strictly looks at facts and the do’s and do not’s (rules) that plague any culture. Daunting and uncertain many choose to remain in the safety of their own culture; others, however, believe that seeing the world is a part of living. The latter group is not of one specific region of the world, but the entire group is drawn to the idea of adventure and of experiencing “wonder”. Culture does not instill in us the desire to explore or go beyond our levels of comfort; it is far more the instinct of the human that drives these emotions. I believe it is not the wonder of the place that appeals to us but the wonder of the humans inhabiting that place. The various mechanisms of life around the world intrigue humans and draw them together to experience the ways of life. Enter the only way to bring hundreds of cultures and people together, a social hub.

ElephantsWorld like any other social hub acts as a central location for the global community that is interested in helping animals, specifically elephants. Proof of its centralized gathering capabilities come through when one observes where everyone who is participating at ElephantsWorld is coming from. The volunteers were from all around the world as were the visitors. I was able to talk with a few of the volunteers to hear their story and why they were at ElephantsWorld. One girl, Becki was from England just 30 miles south of London. She graduated close to six years ago and came to ElephantsWorld to finish off a time of travel, close to seven months. She had been working for five months in Singapore for her job involving video and documentary and then had a bit of time traveling around to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. She had come to ElephantsWorld as a visitor but enjoyed it so much that she decided to extend her stay and work as a volunteer for a full four weeks (Becki, personal communication, May 23, 2016). Another volunteer was Andy, she is from Pennsylvania and just recently graduated from college with an environmental science degree. This was her second time at ElephantsWorld as a volunteer and she was planning to stay for four weeks, leave for four weeks then return for another four weeks to continue volunteering. She discovered ElephantsWorld after studying abroad in Bangkok her junior year. She told me that in September she will hear back from the Peace Corp; she is hoping to go to either Panama or Ethiopia (Andy, personal communication, May 25, 2016).

The perspective of life Becki and Andy brought and shared was quite knowledgeable. Travel to them was very important for growth and allowing one to experience different cultures and ways of life. They also loved to identify all of the ways ElephantsWorld had impacted them, with knowledge about elephants to how to live a very different lifestyle they helped us to adjust and enjoy every moment of the trip beyond just the elephants but with the people as well. This form of social interaction would not have happened without the centralized location of such a diverse global community. ElephantsWorld allows for people from all over the world who have a common desire to travel and help come together and experience each other’s company and culture.

With such a diverse social atmosphere it is essential that we keep our minds open to new ideas from cultures everywhere. More often than not it is a common routine that we fall into that sets us back in our ability to grow as people. To learn from one another in work mentalities or ways of life has become so difficult as a result of the narrow-minded lifestyle we live. Only through global social hubs are we able to truly expand our knowledge about the world and experience people as they normally live. Through organizations like ElephantsWorld, we as a global community are able to come together and learn far more than would be possible if we remained in our normal homogeneous domain without any knowledge of cultures beyond our own. No one culture is better than another, each has their weak points but it is only through understanding and cooperation that the global community will advance as a whole.

A few weeks out from our trip I have found that life has easily gone back to routine. Far from the abnormal way of life we experienced while traveling around Southeast Asia. To be honest I still think of the trip nearly every day. The small moments that made me laugh to the point of tears are still crystal clear and I miss beyond words just being in such an amazing place that allowed me to explore and see things that were so far from the routine and normal day to day life in the states. Instead of posting seven or eight more mini posts that are little snippets of the trip I figured I am removed enough from the trip that it will be far easier to just summarize the parts that I found most influential and amazing. I don’t expect anyone to read this entire post as it will be a bit lengthy but that is what subtitles and sections are for right? That being said I hope you enjoy the final summary of my trip that truly inspired me.

ElephantsWorld

I don’t think I could ever capture what ElephantsWorld truly was or how amazing it was. Looking back at the pictures I am still moved by the beauty and peace that was this place with such majestic “dinosaurs” as we called them 🙂 We lived in a cabin like structure for the week. I got to be roommates with Courtney and honestly that probably helped to make the trip ten times more wonderful. She was my sarcastic, dog loving, light-hearted companion. Together we shared our compassion for animals… (this involved idolizing Tungan, one of the local dogs, removing ticks from Tungan, and saving grasshoppers that were stuck in the mosquito net) let me tell you if you have never looked into the eyes of a grasshopper write it down on your bucket list they are what we classified as “Compounding”. No joke it was almost like they could see into your soul.

On the first day at ElephantsWorld, we did the visitor tour, this involved bathing the elephants, feeding the elephants and making sticky rice balls. We got to meet Dee, he would be our guide for the entire week and honestly made the entire time at ElephantsWorld amazing. He was never shy to laugh and always did everything he could to give us the adventure of a lifetime.  It  was a really fun first day but I was a bit nervous. I had in my head that this trip would be us helping the elephants not just acting as extended tourists. Over the course of the next few days, my worries were put to rest. As it turns out the staff of the organization was quite intent on putting us to work. We cut wood for the fires, washed watermelons for the elephants, unloaded corn, cut more corn, and pulled up grass for the elephants to eat. (All about the elephants!) The day that identified itself as the most gruesome volunteer/helper day was when we climbed aboard a very large pickup truck and drove for about an hour and a half to go to war with the great pineapples.

The morning of the Pineapple War Dee told us at breakfast to go and put on a pair of long pants and a long sleeve shirt. I had heard that we were going to pick pineapples but in my mind, it was not going to be a high-intensity manual labor effort. I have never been so wrong. I did not have a pair long pants so I wore capris that went just below my knees. I also did not have a long sleeve shirt so I threw on  a tee shirt and went on my way. Honestly part of me was happy I had forgotten these items, I didn’t want to look like a wimp to the mahouts unable to handle anything they did (these are the individuals that climb mountains in flip-flops in twenty minutes) I had it in my head that they would be wearing their normal attire of shorts and tanks or a tee shirt and I wanted to fit in as much as possible. It turns out that I was very mistaken with this assumption… We got to the truck and the mahouts that were going with us had long sleeves on, the rest of the group had followed orders and were wearing pants and long sleeved tee shirts. In that moment my only thoughts were “double nuggets” I am in for something.

After the ride in the back of the truck, we climbed out to see pineapple plants all the way to the mountains on the horizon. It was stunningly beautiful and seemed so peaceful. The mahouts immediately go to work, Dee gave us some gloves and told us to pull up the plants. There was a definite reason why he told us to wear long sleeves and shorts. Apparently, pineapple plants have little thorns on the leaves that when brushed up against cause for little paper-cut like scratches. By the end of the day after working with the plants and throwing them around (into the pile, onto the truck etc.) my arms and legs literally looked extremely beaten up. This moment of the trip is just so striking to me. At one point of the day, one of the mahouts with us looked at me after throwing a pineapple plant over my head and told me I was doing a good job! That made my day a hundred times over. The entire day was topped off when we were getting ready to leave; they looked at us and told us to climb up to the top of the pineapples that were piled up on the truck, so I was able to sit on top of pineapples and ride at 100 km/hr for an hour and a half. It was beyond amazing and something I will keep with me forever.

A Little Thai Cooking

After we left ElephantsWorld, we made our way back to Bangkok and spent a day at JJ’s Market shopping and experiencing the culture. We got back to the hotel and then Dr. Ransom told us we would be going to a Thai Cooking class at a cooking school that was owned by one of her friends. We got to make fresh green curry and learn how they cook all of their foods and the small tricks they use to make their food so tasty and popular! My two favorite parts of the evening were making the green curry paste and listening to Ryan tell us of his adventures at JJ’s Market. He told us that while wandering about he turned a corner and was hit in the hand by a man on a motorbike… The way he could tell a story is astounding, he had Olivia and I in tears at the beginning of the story and by the end, we couldn’t move and our abs had gone through a legitimate six pack workout.

Water of Life

Our next big move to continue exploring Southeast Asia was to go to Cambodia.  We got up at 4 in the morning and climbed aboard a nice little plane (a lot smaller than our 747 for the 13-hour flight). When we got to Phnom Penh we were greeted by Pen and went directly to the Christian Church to watch a worship in Khmer. It was really interesting and very eye opening to see that the service had the same message that we hear when we go to church in the states. I am not sure if I was expecting something different but it was very comforting to hear a message that I have listened to my entire life. Later in the day, we went with a group to an outreach program in the poorer part of Phnom Penh; it was about an hour away. To get there we had to drive to the ferry and then take the ferry to the other side of the river then drive a bit more to reach the buildings. Once there, Erin, Olivia, Courtney and I stayed at the small school building while the others went to a different site to work with some more children. We played duck duck goose, sang some Khmer Christian songs, and we taught the Baby Shark with the hand gestures. It was a lot of fun and very fulfilling to be able to interact and just help the kids smile and laugh. On the ride over we were going to ride in a Tuk Tuk, a group from the church came to get us and a few of them were on motorbikes. Ariana, Courtney and I asked if we could ride on the back of the motorbikes, not expecting to be allowed, but they were literally beyond excited by our question to ride so we got to ride on motorbikes in Cambodia!! This was probably one of my favorite parts because I felt very apart of the culture and the guy I got to ride with was one of the sweetest people. He told me everything about Phnom Penh and about himself.

After the outreach there was a little bit of separation from the group, the guy I was riding with took me back to the Water of Life boys home instead of back to the hotel like the rest of the group. Pen called and told me to stay put and that we would meet at the Compound to play some soccer and ultimate Frisbee. The Compound was an open area with two soccer fields and three volleyball courts and a place to eat and hang out. Ariana, David, Ryan, Courtney and I all had the best time running around with the group from the church they had so much energy to play and enjoy the game but were not as intense, playing was enough no one had to win or be the best and it was really refreshing to just play for the fun of it.

Final Thoughts

This trip was an amazing experience, I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was such an eye-opening experience I cannot wait to see where else I wander. Seeing and connecting with all of the people we did was life changing and I hope the friends I made on the trip will continue to be the awesome people I think they are.

The morning after we arrived we immediately left for Elephants World that was located about 20 kilometers outside of Kanchanaburi. It was a two-hour drive from Bangkok.

On the way, we stopped at the famous Bridge over the River Kwai, I made sure to whistle while I walked across it. I enjoyed this mainly because I was able to stand at a very well known landmark that represents a lot of the country’s history.

Once we were back on our way Courtney and I were on dog patrol; we saw so many puppies running around it was amazing. We saw a garage type structure that looked abandoned Courtney and I both said, “whoa look at that building” then when we looked closer there was a stinky pooch trotting along on the fourth level all by itself just living life to the fullest! (At least I like to think it was)

Courtney and I were both very excited to see the free-roaming beast.

Once we got to Bangkok we took two trains one of them was from the airport and the other was from a place in Bangkok that took us further into the city. After we got off the train we carried our luggage down to a more unnerving part of the city. It was right by one of the main roads to the city with a more “be careful here feeling”. We were waiting for some of the people from the hotel to come and pick us up… For a moment, I thought that either they had left us or we were lost in downtown Bangkok (that was to happen later on the trip) As it turns out we were simply on the wrong side of the road and they came and collected us. The even bigger adventure of the night was that we all rode in a Tuk Tuk, a small three-wheeled motorized vehicle meant to hold six, our two Tuk Tuks managed to hold all eleven of us and our thirteen bags of luggage. Needless to say, it was a tight fit. Courtney and I sat on either side of the driver with our legs hanging off the side of the vehicle. It was the first of many adventures.

School ended and before I knew it my family and I were heading for the airport at, as my Dad would say, “the butt crack of dawn”. Excitement was not the word I would use for how I was feeling, quite honestly I was beyond nervous with the thoughts in my head of what the heck did I get myself into, Thailand? Who would, for their first trip out of the country choose to go to Thailand? A closer destination seemed far more appropriate (in other words not a twenty-two hour flight and eleven hour time difference).  Rolling all my luggage into the airport I was in quite a daze, I said goodbye to everyone and watched them waddle out of the airport silently wondering if I should follow like the little duckling I am to my mother and older sister. Once we landed in JFK I was a bit more comfortable but still very anxious, traveling with nine people I would classify as at that point in time acquaintances was in a word; frightening (what if they didn’t like me?)… However these fears and unnerved thoughts were silenced when we shared our first general laugh and joke and together boarded our flight and left the JFK airport and embarked on our thirteen hour flight to Tokyo, Japan. Little did I know that this truly would be quite the adventure and life changing experience.