Surin Elephant Round-Up

On the train.

Greetings everyone! I hope you're all getting ready to gain five pounds in one day this Thursday, and that you've thought about tacking on another few to make up for my absence. I have to say, I'm going to miss Thanksgiving up in Worthington with the Murray/Downey clan: crackling logs in the fireplace, frigid walks through the woods and cemetery, mom's forty desserts that she woke up at 5 AM to make for the previous three days, drinking, a little throwing around of the pigskin, and of course, passing out on the couch with Caroline for two hours in a tryptophan-induced coma...oh, and the historic game of Trivial Pursuit where there no one can ever agree on intellectually challenging questions such as "What did the first Spanish dog to be fitted with contact lenses not see the day after the fitting?" Yes, I just looked that up online. So, put those feedbags on if you love me and try to agree on some answers this year.

Sam and Alicia!

This past weekend, I went to Surin province with some friends to see the annual "Elephant Round-up." This is day one of a 10-day elephant festival in the city of Surin, it's people known for their excellence at capturing elephants in Cambodia and using them in wars and for agricultural purposes. While elephants are not used in battle anymore, and rarely (if ever) used for economic purposes in Thailand, the people of the Surin province still hold a special reverence for these majestic and kind creatures.

Countryside views.

The train-ride from Ubonratchathani to Surin was a quick two hours through the beautiful countryside of the Isaan region of Thailand. It really makes you appreciate wide open spaces and greenery as far as the eye can see, especially when spending most of your time in a cramped city environment. I saw lots of lotus ponds and rice fields filled with farmers and laborers harvesting their crop, as well as lots of water buffalo and beautiful white cranes. The train itself was another story-it was pretty ghetto. I'm pretty sure the cars are about 80 years old since they were composed of grimy metal and glass windows and thinly cushioned wooden benches; basically, think of the circus train in "Water For Elephants" plus a few benches. It was kind of cool though to be barreling through the countryside, head banging on the window every time the train crossed a trestle, in what seemed to be a nearly-antique train car. Maybe you had to be there since I'm not giving the best description, but I hope you can check out some of the pictures for a better idea.

Beautiful young elephant.

Once we arrived in Surin, we hopped on a tuk-tuk and sped through the rainy city towards the festival. It was already busy when we arrived around 9:30 AM since the famed "Elephant Breakfast" and parade had already started at 6:00 AM. Outside of the arena was a sort of bazaar filled with lots of delicious Thai food, trinkets, wood carvings, clothing, umbrellas, and men walking around with wooden boxes filled with ivory carvings. On the latter, I was kind of bummed because there were some really cool elephant pendants, but I also thought about the prospect of landing in prison upon my return to the States, so I restrained myself. We bought some tickets and some lunch, and while we were eating, some of the mahouts (elephant handlers) began walking some baby elephants down the street! They were, at risk of sounding like a girly-girl, extremely cute and very personable. The mahouts kind of scared me because they had these wooden sticks with sharp, metal hooks on the end that they would poke and prod the poor elephants with. When they need a place to put the hooks, they just put them on the elephant's ears. The whole thing was basically just a performance to make money for the mahouts, but I've never touched an elephant or fed one, so that was a really cool experience. The little guys would take your money in their trunks and then you could feed them some food. Feeling an elephant suck the money and food right out of your hand was a very strange sensation. Their trunks have course hairs on them and are very tough and leathery, but they were so gentle. They also made these little high-pitched elephant noises (sounds sort of like this...) and it made me think it would be pretty hard not to love these incredible creatures.

Getting ready for battle...

Surin Elephant Round-Up ticket.

Huge elephant guarding the goal!

Soon, we headed into the arena to watch the actual performances by the full-grown elephants. First, a group of elephants did some hula-hooping and dart-throwing. After that was over, a few elephants came out to step over their human volunteers, who were lying face-down in the arena while a massive elephant poked at them with it's trunk and sometimes gently tapped on their bottoms. It sounds terrifying, but it was actually really funny watching the volunteer's reactions to having a gigantic creature stepping on them. Once the volunteers recovered from their heart attacks and got off the field, two large groups of elephants with their mahouts wearing either yellow or orange trotted onto the field for a game of soccer. Those elephants could show up Manchester any day of the week! The last hour or so consisted of several traditional Thai dances accompanied by the elephants and large drums. The finale was a reenactment of a battle between Burma and Thailand, complete with swords, spears, uniforms, gun smoke and fire, and of course, about 25 elephants dressed to kill (hehe...get it?). 

The four of us wandered the bazaar for a bit, walking past mango stands and insect stands and all sorts of stands. I do not think I will ever be adventurous enough to eat a cockroach or a cricket, but I did have my favorite thing in the world-fresh coconut water with coconut meat. Our journey back to Ubonratchathani took about four ridiculously uncomfortable hours, but it was well-worth the journey and the opportunity to get out of Ubon and into the country. 

This guy knew how to dance better than I ever could. 

 Surin Elephant Round-Up