More clinic and ELEPHANTS!!!

Yesterday was our last day of work for the week. We broke up into the normal stations in the clinic. Colleen and Cyle were on diagnosis for awhile and saw a patient with uncontrolled diabetes and another with constipation. These were pretty simple diagnoses but they did get to use some skills we learned in school to palpate the man's stomach. Garrett got to diagnose a monk and got to feel around his eye. That doesn't sound like a big deal but apparently monks can only be touched by another male for medical purposes.  We then sorted out pills and filled prescriptions for a long time. While sorting pills we started to hear this really loud music. We walked outside and the temple across the pond was having a small parade for the newly initiated monks. They rode elephants that were all painted up and traveled throughout the village. We then left for lunch.  We becoming slightly more and more adventurous with our food choices and have even indulged in some of the spicy sauces. We returned back to our guesthouse and napped for a bit. 

We decided to do a workout since they were starting to feel a little restless. Just down the road is what they call an exercise park. There is a running/biking path around the lake and all these body weight exercise machines in the grass. The machines are used as toys by kids but can be used as weight lifting contraptions for adults as well. It's actually really cool and innovative.  Due to the heat and humidity though we were unable to do much. As we were dying of heat and sweating buckets, the Thai people were casually working out in long pants or long sleeved shirts. Cyle's extremely unproven theory is that the Thai people's bodies have adapted to the extreme heat and humidity. In the clinic it has been observed that most Thai people very watery stomachs, which makes us believe they retain their water more than we do as Americans. Again, we really have no scientific evidence that this is true though. Anyways, after our suicide attempt of a workout we showered up and got ready for dinner and shopping. As it was officially the weekend we went back to the Jahbar for another departure celebration for the Scottish girls in our group. The band they had there this night sang American songs with a more reggae or jazzy feel. The idea of it is interesting; for some songs it worked and for others it definitely did not. At one point Cyle was handed the microphone and serenaded the crowd with a not-so-tantalizing version of "She Will be Loved" by Maroon 5. Miraculously, he was not booed off the stage. It was another fun night but we kept it pretty calm since we had to wake up and ride elephants!

 

Today was the day we had all been waiting for since our arrival in Thailand; the elephant riding day! We woke up at 8 am and traveled by pickup truck for a little over an hour to the elephant sanctuary, which we ended up just driving through. There was elephants all around including a 3 month old. Pictures were difficult to capture due to the fact that we were moving. We then stopped for a bit near a jungle area to wait for our elephants to arrive. There was a slight miscommunication so we ended up driving around until we met up with 3 of the elephants walking towards the pickup spot. They asked if anybody wanted to ride the elephants to the pickup spot so Colleen and Cyle jumped at the chance. 

It is pretty difficult getting on an elephant as one can imagine but with a little help we were able to hoist ourselves onto the massive animal. Riding on the elephant with no saddle or seat is actually quite the glute workout. You constantly feel like you are going to fall forward but somehow manage to stay on. You can't really grip the elephant with your legs like you would a horse so most of us held onto a rope around the elephants' neck or pushed against their head for balance. 

After the first initial ride Colleen and Cyle met up with the other volunteers struggling to get on their respective elephants. Cyle had to make an elephant change for some unknown reason which required him climbing onto about a 10 foot bar and transferring to a new elephant. This elephant's name was Numchu.  Colleen rode an elephant named Pajumpon. The elephants took us on a narrow path that winded through the forest. It was amazing how they could follow the path with little guidance. They also were able to traverse through ravines created by rainwater on their own with out letting us fall off. Multiple times it felt like you could fall off but it's probably harder than expected. At the turn around spot the trainers lead the elephants to the river while we were still on them. The elephants swam around and dove into the water fully submerging themselves. The people on top stay mostly out of the water except for Cyle whose elephant decided that rolling while underwater would be a good idea. Somehow we all managed not to fall off or submerge our heads underwater. We were determined not to since we had just witnessed Cyle's elephant pooping in the water. We definitely don't need to contract E. Coli, cholera or any other waterborne disease we learned about this last year while on this trip. We then turned around and headed back to the starting point. 

Upon arriving back to the starting point we had the even more difficult task of getting off the elephant. It required us to hop onto the top of the truck and subsequently climb down shortly afterwards. We didn't realize elephant riding required so much climbing. The elephant riding was quite the experience one that we all hope to do again in the future.

After that we ate lunch and traveled to a silk village. Silk clothing is handmade in Thailand and this small town had many shops that sold various silk items. It was fun bargaining with the merchants even though we are not the best at it. We then traveled home and took a much needed nap. We didn't wake up until way late and found ourselves starving. We walked to a really cool outdoor restaurant that had delicious food (for non-vegetarians...Colleen's dinner ended up being mostly oysters that she shouldn't stomach) and good music. All of the bars are closed this weekend due to the Buddhist holiday so we ended up just playing cards at our house before heading to bed. Overall, it was a day that we will not soon forget!