Author: Patrick Cole

       Although I was sad to leave Elephant’s World, I knew that we still had two thirds of our trip to go. Our amazing adventures had really just begun. Arriving back in Bangkok and spending more time there revealed the diversity of the city, from abandoned buildings and trash, to pristine gardens and gorgeous skyscrapers. We had some extra time to explore two huge malls in Bangkok. The second mall had an outdoor food market where Ryan and I picked up some tasty local Thai food. It was kind of strange going straight from our rural living at Elephant’s World to a commercial mall in a massive city, but it was fun to see a new side of Thai life. For instance, once we finished our meals, Ryan and I looked around for a trash can. There was not one in sight. So we just held on to our trash and kept walking, hoping to come across one. Finally a man who looked like a janitor came up to us and asked if we were finished. I guess most people just leave their trash somewhere and wait for the clean up crew to find it. This was a major difference I noticed because at home people look down on littering. Walking around the mall we also noticed a lot of differences in food. Dairy Queen offered Green Tea flavored cones, McDonald’s advertised sweet corn as a topping on sundaes, and a grocery we wandered into was stocked with leechi juice.

      The next day was filled with activities, but we started off the day with a trip to Lumpini park. This park was beautiful, and very well maintained. I imagine it is somewhat similar to Central park because of the skyscraper buildings that surrounded it. Throughout the park there was exercise equipment like a normal gym would have except it was made out of the same material as outdoor playgrounds. I tried all the machines because it was fun, but I was also confused because previously I had thought that most foreign cultures don’t put as much emphasis on exercise, they just live healthier lifestyles. All throughout the park there were beautiful shelters styled to reflect asian culture. We even found a field with bushes that were trimmed to look like elephants. Our next stop was JJ’s Market which is a gigantic outdoor marketplace. We had to use the buddy system because all of the shops formed a labyrinth that was virtually impossible to navigate if you got distracted by something that caught your eye. The most shocking difference we noticed here were the prices. Everything was extremely cheap. I picked up two t-shirts that were only two dollars a piece. Thailand cuisine is known world wide, so being able to take a cooking class was really great. We learned how to make traditional pad thai, prawn soup, fresh spring rolls, green curry chicken, and mango sticky rice. Maybe now I can spruce up my regular meals I make at home with recipes from the cookbook we received.

    When we first arrived at Elephant’s World I wasn’t completely sure what we would be doing with the elephants, but by the end of the week I was left with an unbelievable experience that I will never forget. Ever since I was a little kid elephants have always had a special place in my heart as my favorite animal, but I had really only seen them in pictures and from behind fences at the zoo. At Elephant’s World we were literally side by side, up close and personal several times a day. The very first thing we did when we arrived was feed the elephants. I was lucky enough to pick one of the two baby elephant’s fruit baskets. It is funny because each and every one of the elephants has particular eating habits and favorite foods. We all eventually caught onto those preferences as the week progressed. One day when we were feeding them in the open field an elephant named Malee came up to me specifically because she remembered when I fed her a watermelon. Spending so much time with the elephants and working to gather food for them we learned how smart and gentle the elephants can be. It amazed me how trusting they can be even with their abusive pasts at trekking camps before coming to the sanctuary. Throughout the week we also bathed the elephants in the River Kwai with brooms and plastic pans/buckets. Whatever language barrier or disconnect stood between our group and the mahouts disappeared in the river. Everyone was fair game when it came to splashing and getting sprayed by elephants. Our guide at Elephant’s World, Chokdee, came to be a very close friend to our group. His troubled past as a refugee didn’t stop him from smiling and playing tricks on us while he showed us his favorite activities in Kanchanaburi. Dee, as we would call him, showed us just how nice and generous the people of Thailand can be. Going to these countries and actually getting to know individuals and families helps you to understand and enjoy their culture and lifestyle. So naturally when our week long stay was finished, they threw us a party. The mahouts and Dee grilled us some really tasty kabobs and encouraged all of us to celebrate our hard work and sing karaoke with them.

While we were at Elephant’s World we also got to meet several other world travelers. Many of the volunteers who stay at Elephant’s World for the whole summer were from all over. I met people from Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Canada, Myanmar, and multiple places in Thailand. I was really excited to speak to the people I met from Germany because I was able to practice speaking Deutsch which I spent five years studying in high school.

There are a little over seven billion people in the world. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time imagining that many people.  Before this trip I never really gave much thought to that number. I just accepted it without any real comprehension. It seems any number involving several places quickly becomes just really big or really small depending on which side of the decimal point the digits fall. But traveling to what seemed like a whole other world opened my eyes to the diversity as well as the sheer size of our planet’s human population. Thailand was a journey within itself. We spent almost a full day hopping between three different flights, and I cannot imagine what it must have been like traversing the country without modern transportation. As I have mentioned before I have never travelled very far from my country, or my home, for that matter. So landing in Asia and seeing Bangkok for the first time was definitely a shock to my perspective. We arrived there at night, so all the buildings and streets were lit up. This was the largest city I had ever visited. There was a sky train for getting people from one part of the city to another. The enormous size just of this one city and the super long plane ride it took to get there made me think about how huge our planet really is. It gives you a whole new perspective and respect for community.

      Having taken Philosophy and Sociology last semester I was able to make a real life connection to the idea of globalization that is impacting our world in so many ways today. At sometime during the trip I remember Dean Ransom pointing out the use of US company names for other foreign business. The owners were hoping that the name recognition would grant them more trusting customers and overall more business. An example we saw was the GM Motel that had a strikingly similar logo to the American car company, General Motors.

    I like to call myself adventurous, mostly because I’m an Eagle Scout and I love the outdoors, but deciding to travel halfway around the world was a huge leap for me. I have a much more reserved and introspective personality than most. When I saw the poster for this Southeast Asian Adventure I instantly snagged a photo to read and think about the opportunity. That photo sat in my phone’s library for a very, very, long time. Ultimately, it was the night before I had to make a decision. Everything seemed to come together. I had no summer employment lined up. I love elephants, and the Dean of William’s Honors College was personally overseeing the trip. But still there was this feeling of uncertainty. After spending way too much time on the phone with my parents, to the point where we were both just sitting there in silence, I finally gave in to living in the moment. “I’m going to Thailand!” I yelled. The feeling of uncertainty and fear of the unknown that I struggled with became the theme of my adventure. Waking up not knowing what the day would bring was exhilarating and frustrating at the same time. Once I learned to embrace the unexpected and serendipitous, I found that my day got exponentially better. Going with the flow was part of the Thai culture.

     Looking back at my decision, I would never change my mind because of the relationships I built, the incredible places I visited, and the amazing experiences I enjoyed. Previously I never could have imagined myself exploring the ruins of an ancient Angkor civilization, bathing refugee elephants in the River Kwai, or sailing the waters through Bangkok.  My advice is not to be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. Don’t let fear prevent you from truly living the day ahead. It’s just like these words I found credited to T. Arigo, “The hardest thing to do is leaving your comfort zone. But you have to let go of the life you’re familiar with and take the risk to live the life you dream about.”