Elephant
I have yet to write about my elephant-riding experience in Kachanaburi, about a week ago. Tina, one of my good friends who is also teaching in Samut Prakan, was my elephant-riding partner. And together, we experienced the sentiments of fear, anxiety, worry, and more fear, as we sat atop this gargantuan animal. Though the ride was, indeed, thrilling in retrospect, we were scared because our elephant was the largest of the group -- massive, really -- and, our elephant "driver", the person whom we were entrusting our lives, was borderline crazy.
Crazy man was crazy because he kept looking back at us and yelling at us, or muttering at us, in inaudible Thai. When we'd kindly ask him if we could take a picture of his elephant, he literally bellowed at us, "NOOOOOOOO." Well alright. When we got off the elephant, which had roared various times during our trek (yeah, that really calmed our nerves), crazy man glared at us. No really, he stared me down; I felt it within the depths of my soul.
Anyway, it was pretty scary. But luckily, we calmly went bamboo rafting afterwards, which was sweet, other than the spider (that had a skull on its body) that I found crawling all over me.
Squirrel + Pig
Fast forward a few weeks. Before I talk about squirrel + pig experience, let's start with a precursor. /// I wrote about Tor, one of my new Thai friends here in Phra Padaeng, in my last post. Well, Tor is super legit and is probably the nicest human being I've ever met. He is so kind, giving, and patient. I say this because yesterday he took Linnea and me to the JJ Market, where he waited for us to try on clothes for about four hours, held our bags, threw away our trash for us, paid for our cab rides, and even took us on a scenic route to JJ Market on the Chao Praya River. After, he joined my CIEE friends and me for a Halloween celebration at club Route 66 in RCA, which was a fun but crowded experience. Oh, also, can I say that Thai clubs are the most polite clubs I've ever been to? Despite the fact that the club was sooo packed (it was a fire/safety hazard for sure), every time I bumped into someone, s/he would still kinda bow his/her head and "wai", kinda, and say "khao toad! khao toad!" (excuse me). So polite. We all ended up singing to a rockin' band at a quieter pub down the road, and after, Tor found us all cabs home. Really, a great guy.
Today is Sunday. L and I met up with Tor and went to a Thai "grocery store" to buy produce because he invited us over for dinner -- his chef (yes, chef) would be making us some home-cooked Thai food. In these produce aisles, we walked past tables with whole pigs cut up. I was stunned by a floating pig's head at this one table when I saw something moving behind it; low and behold, it was a SQUIRREL. A pet squirrel. You see, the owner of this table/kiosk had chained a pet squirrel (or maybe it was a chipmunk?) to the pole of this table, and let it roam by his produce. By the pig's head and guts, that is.
The man would play with his pet squirrel when he didn't have a customer, but when a customer came over, he'd wipe his hands off on his apron and tend to his customer's request. Without washing his hands, he'd handle this...this...FOOD, after playing with his pet squirrel.
It was honestly the most bizarre and borderline appalling scene I've ever witnessed. Vegetarianism might be an option for me again after that encounter...
Dog
I didn't get a rabies shot before coming to Thailand, but maybe I should have. It's not the many stray dogs I should be scared of, though. No. Because today, at Tor's house, I got nipped by one of the three huge St. Bernard's he has.
Beethoven, rightfully named so, along with his pack of other huge freakin 'dogs, got excited as a car approached the house, and sideswiped me on my left. In the process of doing so, he BIT ME. Uhhhh, OW? Oww. He didn't get any flesh, but he for sure ripped my brightly colored floral skirt that I just purchased yesterday.
Yes, that sucked. But other than that, the food that Pe El (Tor's chef) cooked was "aroi ma" (delicious!). The dishes included tom yum with mushroom, papaya salad, broccoli, and pork. She must've loved us because Linnea and I couldn't stop snapping pics of her and the food.
Nonetheless, it's been an interesting few days. I didn't even write about my experience at the Buddhist temple, which was, in short, impressive and filled with food and nice people. I'd elaborate but I'm getting concerned because a mysterious rash just appeared on my right arm...
WHAT IS THIS MADNESS????
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