THAILAND

Our Thailand volunteer program began in Bangkok. More specifically, on Rambutree road, adjacent to the infamous “backpacker’s street” called Khao San: a street full of lady boys, insect kabobs, obnoxious statement tees, ear-piercing music, and the insanely cheap buckets of liquor which we learned from experience at the Full Moon Party to stay away from.

The first official day started with a tour of Bangkok where we enjoyed seeing the popular (and therefore crowded) tourist destinations including: Grand Palace, Wat Arun, and Wat Pho (where the massive reclining Buddha sleeps). Maybe it was the timing or more likely it’s always the case, but all attractions were uncomfortably crowded with selfie-sticks and humans with no concept of personal space. As such, we found ourselves moving quite quickly through each one simply to get away from the masses. Sitting in the shade under a quiet tree observing the sights from a distance was much more pleasant than pushing a crowd of people out of the way to try and get a perfect picture for Instagram. Despite the crowds, Bangkok had many high points including shutting down hip-hop night at Sugar club, haggling for Hublots at MBK mall, browsing the various “cities” at Terminal 21, and suiting Nate up at the best tailor in town (Signatures – tell the owner Ram you’re a part of DBTnation). Given Bangkok is the Thai hub and you most likely will be flying in here, it is a must to explore this eclectic city for a few days before crashing some of the beaches.

Now on to the first portion of our project: a brutal six-hour bumpy bus ride to rural Eastern Thailand to help out at Mr. Lee’s Elephant Sanctuary.

Mr. Lee’s place was the bomb (and so was he). A big wooden structure with a few separate “rooms.” When we say rooms, we mean a a small square wooden den with mats on the floor, a window, and a mosquito net. No WiFi, no service, hardly any electricity at all, just peace, elephant poop, and the roaming roosters that would wake us up at the butt crack of dawn. This is the life Mr. Lee’s family has led for generations, the life of a Mahout. A Mahout is an elephant caretaker, and Mr. Lee’s family has dedicated their lives to doing just this. So, what does this actually entail? Well, here’s what our daily itinerary looked like:

The Morning Mission:
We would then set off in two whips with all of the volunteers sitting in the truck beds in search of elephant food. Sugar cane, banana leaf…the morning mission always entailed manual labor. We slaved away chopping down and carrying forests of crops back to our trucks, and Worn made sure the work continued until both truck beds were full. He also made sure to sit in the shade, drink ice-cold Coca-Cola, and sing Despacito while we all worked. True leadership. Once the two trucks were piled full of food and our arms were destroyed with cuts from the plants, we would head back home to feed the elephants. It was all worth it to come back and feed these majestic animals. We were full of excitement as we handed them stalks and they gently collected the food right from our hands.

The Afternoon Cool Down:
Lunch was all homemade by the volunteers and staff. Every day consisted of so many beautiful colors and flavors made in Mr. Lee’s kitchen hut — these were some of the best meals we had in Thailand. If we weren’t cooking, we were hanging out in hammocks for some downtime, kicking a soccer ball around, exercising with the makeshift barbell Mr. Lee’s sons had made (a metal pipe with 2 paint buckets cemented to the ends), or spoiling his elephants with love, attention, or watermelon rinds. If you were lucky you’d get a slimy suction cup kiss or a sneaky trunk to the butt.

The Afternoon Grind:
Post-lunchtime it was back to the fields for more chopping/planting, or off to the river to bathe the elephants. This was the BEST. The elephants would go running down the muddy path straight into the water. We followed them in and had a splash fest, rubbing their tough skin and prickly hair to try and get all of the dirt off them. They filled their trunks up with water and blew it to the sky making for a pretty epic water fight. The babies were the hardest to clean — the second we had them all washed and pretty they would plop on their side and start rolling in the mud! While in the water bathing them you have to watch out – the baby elephants jump all over the place and occasionally you will get a good kick or stomp on the foot. It was so much fun playing with them that we almost forgot we were swimming in a lake full of their poo.

The Wind Down:
After a mucky elephant bath we needed some serious showers. A long day in the sun and plenty of manual labor left us all exhausted. Another beautiful meal with the volunteer fam, a few beers and laughs, then off to bed to rest up for the next day’s duties.

Mr. Lee’s spot was unlike any experience we have ever had before. Mr. Lee himself couldn’t speak a lick of English but we communicated through laughs, one English word here/one Thai word there, and hugs. His family, workers, and himself have been some of our favorite characters to date. He even wanted to keep Nate in his family as a Mahout. Before we left he grabbed Nate and said, “You Mahout now!” His family and the local coordinators showed us the time of our lives and the beauty of a simple lifestyle. We were surrounded by nothing but animals, nature, and truly happy people. Even the elephants smiled at us through their eyes and communicated with us through their tender movements. There is a good reason why these gentle giants are most people’s favorite animal. Staring up at the star-filled skies and cruising through the natural beauty of the country side with nothing but the wind was an experience we will carry with us forever. There is no doubt in our minds that we will head back to visit Mr. Lee and his family again, and you should probably come with us…

From the Eastern town of Surin we departed to head to our second project which lies near the Myanmar border on the far West side of Thailand. It was a long, six-hour journey that involved steep winding roads and a bus load of nauseous volunteers. Without the help of some sleeping meds, anti-nausea pills, and our handy neck pillows we surely would have projectile vomited everywhere. Peeing on the moving bus was a memorable experience in and of itself. After about five hours of misery, the mountains made way to the most beautiful and untouched scenery. Trees, grasslands, lakes, blue skies, not a person in sight… we were amazed as we had no idea what to expect of the small town we were heading to.

Sangkhla buri consisted of about two square blocks surrounding a vibrant little market. The streets were decorated with colorful triangular flags that made you feel like you were at a permanent parade. One bank, a post office, a couple coffee shops, a few whole in the wall restaurants (a couple plastic tables covered by a tin roof), and of course the token 7-11. Stray dogs dominated the scene and we were welcomed in our truck by one dog in particular who we soon found out would be our personal escort for any and all local activities: Rusty. Rusty followed us around, tail wagging, as we walked the town to gather snacks, drinkable water, and explore our minimal surroundings. He made us feel like locals. We later found out that he is particularly fond of foreigners because of the extra love and attention they give him. Go figure – Linds gave this guy more smooches than me!

The Morning Routine:
After a sunny side up egg that had been fully submerged in oil and some make-it-yourself dissolvable coffee (4 teaspoons of this stuff in your cup and you’re bouncing off the walls), we set off to our construction project. Portable speaker booming, sun beaming, and wind in our hair (except Nate, for whom it was wind on his bald head), we geared up for a morning of hard work and swamp-booty.

The Daily Struggle:
Our project here was to construct a vegetable garden for a tiny elementary school in this extremely rural town. This involved hoeing and digging, mixing cement manually, laying bricks, and cleaning up the area for the garden to grow. It was a true team effort. 12 volunteers from all over the world came together to construct a fortified vegetable garden to last for years to come. We took turns getting dirty and digging deep to make way for the bricks we would be laying as the garden border. The hot sun beamed on our backs as we dripped sweat and our energy melted away. All the while, the local project manager took no breaks, wore long sleeves and jeans, and barely broke a sweat. Thankfully the children kept us sane with their welcomed distractions and giggles.

We counted down the minutes to lunchtime every day because it meant a break from the scorching heat. We would get carted down the street where a lady welcomed us to her home and cooked for us on her stoop. We took full advantage of break time knowing that we would soon again be swimming in our own filth. After about an hour, the afternoon labor session began, which typically consisted of multiple screams at abnormally large hissing beatles, massive spiders, or random mountains of exploding giant ants, large pools of sweat, and some energetic Spotify playlists to toughen out the remaining few hours of garden duty. Despite the grunts and groans, it was pretty cool seeing the progress made at the end of each day.

As the week came to an end, our hard work clearly showed through the sturdy and precise foundation that we constructed. We can’t wait to see what the fully grown garden will look like, but we are certainly happy to be done doing manual labor. Huge shout out to anyone in this industry – you are the real MVPs. Neither of us would ever make it….back to computer screens and barbells for us.

Volunteering in Thailand was completely different than our experience in Vietnam which was our intent. We wanted to be doing something new and fresh every month or so to keep us on our toes and to keep learning new skills. As two of the biggest animal lovers out there, the elephant camp was special. We not only built relationships with Mr. Lee and his family but we forged strong bonds with each of their elephants. Walking over to the elephants and spending some quality one on one time was a personal retreat that solved all problems and wiped away all worries. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but they put us in a state of complete peace. Nate might end up becoming a Mahout after all. The construction project was wildly different and the first time either of us have ever mixed cement, laid bricks, and built a garden. Nate thought he was Tim Allen from home improvement with a little dirt on him and his newly-grown beard. It was one of the most satisfying experiences as well – to come together as a team with people we had just met in such trying conditions, and then see our hard work come to fruition. We were flattered when we found out how much the head of the school liked what we had built that she wanted a second garden – the struggle continues for the next set of volunteers!

Time to go for now though – we have some friendly faces coming into town!