I really don’t even know where to begin. It was all so incredible, I still can’t even believe the whole experience was real, even up to this very moment. Unfortunately, though, I’m going to have to begin on a sour note. It was difficult being a 6’1 man crammed like a sardine in several airplanes for the extent of some 20 some hours. Looking back on it, its incredible that I was able to travel from one side of the world in under a days time. We had a brief stop in Japan, but other than some art pieces on the walls, you couldn’t really tell you were there. These large airports all seem so similar to me. We arrived in Bangkok around 9:00pm on Thursday. The heat and the warm exotic smell of the city was overwhelming. I handled the heat when I was stationed in Texas, so I told myself I could handle it here. We rode the sky train from the airport all the way down the line; my eyes glued to the windows for anything interesting. We exited onto the platform, surrounded by glowing signs, bright lights, and skyscrapers. We descended the concrete stairs until we hit street level. Bangkok is such a layered city that when you hit ground level, it hits you back with this feeling of confinement. Buildings looked down on us from every direction as we cut through swaths of people, all speaking a language I couldn’t understand. I remember thinking; this must be what It feels like to be a foreigner, something I have never experienced. The street was a little scary. Crews of bikes and mopes whizzed by as a pair of shady characters eyed us down from underneath a staircase. I tried to look as imposing as I could. We waited in the street until two tuk-tuks from the hotel we were going to stay at picked us up. I’ve only ever seen a tuk-tuk, a sort of motorized carriage, in movies and video games, so riding on one through the night in a strange foreign metropolis was definitely a first for me. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, if not a little cramped. I was exhausted at this point and I felt very ill. I had prayed that I would feel better come tomorrow. David, a goofy mechanical engineer, and I were able to sleep even in the heat. We didn’t know the room had air conditioning…. unfortunately. We boarded a van Friday morning: destination Kanchanaburi. The ride was quite enjoyable because there was always something interesting to look at. The city appeared almost completely different in the light. There was this strange contrast of elegant and beautiful buildings and the slums. We stopped in Kanchanaburi to look at the bridge over the river Kwai, build by Thai and English soldiers enslaved by the Japanese during World War II. Despite its dark history. the rest stop had a calm beauty t it and set the inspiring tone for our trip since. We arrived at Elephant’s World, a reservation tucked away in the mountains, a place that I could only really imagine on the T.V. I still couldn’t believe I was there. We rolled up to a shack, registered and got our nifty little water bottle satchels. We drove up to the feeding area for our introduction briefing. As we approached the Asian elephants for the first time, our faces were lit up like small children on Christmas morning. As soon as we got out of the van, a staff member suggested that we feed the big gray beauties some yam fruits. I held out the yam fruit, which looked like a deformed brown turnip, to the closest elephant I could find. She snatched it out of my hand, my eyes following the rotation and extension of her trunk. I don’t necessarily believe in magic, but there was something special about this place. i felt safe and welcomed the moment I set foot inside the reservation. An unforgettable journey laid its path out in front of me. I never could anticipate what the next moment would bring, and this was only the beginning.
