Surin Thailand Elephant Round Up
In Bangkok I was let off at the train station and had a quick bite to eat at a street restaurant burning a bit of time. My train from Bangkok wasn’t until 8:30 pm and would arrive in Surin at 4:30 in the morning. I had a sleeper so at least there would be a bit of comfort and there was. The night train is a great way to get from A to B. I didn’t have a reservation anywhere and was a little worried about arriving at such a lovely hour in the morning that all the doors would be locked.
On arrival the steward bid me a Thai good morning and I peeled the curtain back to let him know I was up. He said we would arrive in Surin in about ten minutes. Not many other travelers stirred except a few Buddhist monks in saffron robes popped out of their bunks. We disembarked and I had forgotten that someone would be there for me but when I got out to the parking lot and man walked up to me and called my name. He led me to a tuk-tuk and off we went to the Petchkasem Hotel only a short ride away, I could have walked if I knew where it was. The hotel is massive, the rooms spacious and a pool is always a bonus. Since I was going to be here for a few days doing some writing and watching the elephant festival prepare itself for the weekend ahead I decided to stay a few days before making final hotel plans.
The day grew hot and humid as the sun rose in the east. I wanted get my bearings and find out where everything was going to take place so I took a walk and began sweating profusely as I moved through the day. Many shops were setting up and I could hear a recording of the events to come. I walked toward the noise and found an empty stadium where a group of men were preparing the field for the festival. Next to the stadium a music venue was being erected while a carnival of entertainment, food stalls, and vendors such as Honda with motorcycles, Samsung phones, and a few heavy equipment companies had back hoes, tractors etc. on display. Obviously I was a few days early but at least I knew where it was and began making my rounds through the shops that were open and found clothing extremely cheap. I bought a pair of shorts for less than $2.
I met a few ex-pats in Surin but there don’t seem to be many. Most of the expats seem to be motorbike enthusiasts and very mobile spending half the year in Thailand and the other six months in their homeland. There are few bar and restaurant streets such as in some of the other more popular cities in Thailand. I found a great little area developing near the bus station where the Oasis Restaurant faces the Farang Connection. Both have great food and seem to be a magnet for expats and tourists alike. Further on around the corner there is a beer garden, pizza place and the Sawadee Bar for great contemporary Thai and western music in the evening. A new club opened called the Monkey Bar but I haven’t been to it. It appears this will be a bar zone in the future.
My alarm went off at 6 am on Friday the 20th and I popped up for a short walk before it got hot to see the Elephant breakfast. I had wandered through it the day before so I knew where it was and the locals were setting up for a big weekend event. Dancers encircled the round about and the music kicked up. Bands paraded around the corner and played songs as they walked the kilometer of tables loaded with 67 tons of fruit and vegetables for the elephants. The elephants turned the corner lead by a white elephant, just a painted symbol, not a true white elephant. Apparently white elephants do rarely occur but there isn’t one right now. The rest of the elephants were of all ages and sizes and they just kept coming. Warnings were offered over a loud speaker in numerous languages to not tease the elephants, not to feed them home cooked food, and to stay out of their way. I heard a story about a woman a few years ago teasing an elephant with a watermelon. Her husband didn’t get a good enough photo so she repeatedly pulled the melon back away from the elephant and the elephant got pissed off and smacked her with his trunk and broke the lady’s neck, she died instantly.
The elephants were ridden by a driver and offered rides by paying guests sitting on a bench strapped to the elephants back. Stairs to platforms were set up and spaced out along the road. Other men walked smaller elephants and asked for 20 baht for a handful of bamboo or sugarcane sticks that tourists get to feed the elephants. Most of the expats frown on this due to the arrangements sighting many of the elephants being owned by the Chinese and subsidized by the Thai government getting something like 8,000 baht/year for food/elephant. It turns out that many of the elephant handlers are Cambodian not Thai.
It was getting hot so I went to the pool at the hotel and cooled off for the afternoon. The elephant festival in the stadium began the following morning at 9 am. Again up early due to not having a ticket I grabbed a motorbike taxi and bought a ticket. The stadium filled up with people and then the music started and the elephants arrived en mass along with troops of wonderful dancers and musicians performing various traditional dances and songs. The whole festival or round up was originally for the king and a hunt but those times have passed and now it’s just a gathering and celebration for the elephants. Over the loud speaker the good care of the elephants is boasted and yet I witnessed a few moments where a driver used a sharp metal hook tugging forcefully on an elephants ear or hammered the blunt end of the hook forcefully on an elephants head with more power necessary to drop a nail. There were many times I wanted to yell out, ‘stop!’ but I didn’t. Later, I heard others tell similar elephant abuse stories witnessed at the festival as well. There are some animal rights groups here doing documentaries on this and some of them have it on film. Not to take wind out of their sails you are going to have to wait for the footage.
With the festival coming to an end today it’s time to get to the beach and go for a swim and do some scuba diving. I’m on my way.
