Backpack to Civilization

Well, time has decided to fly on by and our two months in Cambodia has nearly come to an end. Tomorrow we will head to the beach and then take a boat over to Thailand. We will have about a week to make our way up to Lampang in the north. There is a lot of unrest in Thailand, as I’m sure you’ve heard, so our travels will undoubtedly be limited. Thailand will be quite the change from our short time in Cambodia. In Mondulkiri province, not all the roads are paved, the town only recently received electricity, there were very limited food options, and the town closed down at 7PM. Plus, Jack didn’t have a kitchen so we had to eat every single meal out... and the food wasn’t all that much to be desired. Many people think of Thailand as “third world,” but it is far from it; it’s much more developed than Cambodia. We must admit that we won’t mind driving on paved roads and cooking for ourselves. Then, let’s not forget the wonderful work opportunities that we have for ourselves. Monte and I both will begin by working for Richard Lair, the Nelsen Mandela of the domesticated Asian elephant world. This will be a great honor and we will make some wonderful connections.
With all of that to look forward to, there will be a lot to miss back in Cambodia. While Jack’s personality proved to be a bit challenging from time to time :), he taught us a lot and even threw us a surprise going away party. We met many other people that we will also miss. Of course, what I will miss most are the three elephants that I came to learn and understand. They all had very distinct and unique personalities with amazing histories. I will spare you all on the detailed events on these wonderful creature’s lives because that might get a bit dull for all those not fully obsessed with elephants… All in all, we are quite happy that we were able to volunteer with E.L.I.E. It was a great opportunity and we were honored to be a part of it.

Edge of the World

Hello to all! Well, as you may have noticed, it has been a long time since our last post and so much has happened in that time. Life in Sen Monorom is very different from what we’re used to. This town is very, very small. So far Monte and I have been kept quite busy. The program we’re volunteering for is called ELIE (Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment) which is an NGO that promotes the well-being of the domestic elephant population in Mondulkiri province in eastern Cambodia. Jack Highwood is the leader of the program and we’re living with him. Jack’s main project under ELIE is called The Elephant Valley Project. The project is in the jungle and Jack is building some nice guest houses for people to come and stay in for around a week. During this week the people will get to work one-on-one with the elephants and their mahouts (elephant handlers). This money from these tourists will be used to provide better care for the elephants and the mahouts.

Monte’s job is to drive back and forth from town to deliver supplies to the construction workers. The road that Monte has to drive is insane with huge potholes, water-buffalo holes, steep ridges, and of course the POD (the pit of doom that’s near impossible to get through). When it has rained, the road is impossible to drive on because it’s too slippery, so thank goodness the monsoon is coming to an end. My job now is to lead tourist treks through the jungle with elephants. My job rocks!!! We play with the elephants in the morning, then we walk through the jungle to a waterfall that’s just gorgeous.

One of the elephants at the project has a very special story. Before she arrived at the project she was living in a Bunong village and working the rice fields and logging. Somehow many years ago her leg was broken and never attended to. As a result of all this stress over the years, her spine has twisted and her organs are pushed to one side of her body. It looks extremely painful. Anyway, we took pity on the fact that she’s still being worked and not receiving any medical care so Jack talked to his donors and they agreed to send him money to buy the elephant. When the villagers agreed to sell her they invited us to her good-bye ceremony. We arrived to the village around 9AM on Friday morning and they were already passing around the rice wine. Children as young as 4 even got to partake. After a few rounds of rice wine, it was time to begin the actual ceremony. When a village sells an elephant, apparently the custom is to sacrifice a baby pig and smear its blood over the elephant’s nose, the stake it was tied to, as well as a piece of bamboo. As they were smearing the blood, they were also chanting. It was an incredible, but intense moment.

The mahout was supposed to come with us to this ceremony so that he could then walk the elephant to the project, but he never showed up. We couldn’t leave the elephant in that village overnight because then they’d try to get more money out of us so Jack and I took it upon ourselves to get this elephant to the project. Jack knows the commands for an elephant, but has no real experience riding elephants and commanding them for long periods of time. This elephant is smart and she knew that she could get away with things she normally wouldn’t. It took a long time for Jack to get up on her, but once he did we were off. I just walked beside the elephant. (Jack calls her “Princess” but I think that’s lame so I’ll stick to her Bunong name of G-Dai). As it turns out G-Dai is quite afraid of bridges, motos, and cars which made things very challenging. So, we got walking, and we walked, and walked, and walked. Soon it started to get dark and Monte came and met us with the truck. We arranged a spot where we’d stop to camp for the night at the mahout’s old abandoned house (well, it’s really more of a roof with nothing else) and waited for Jack to get there. When Monte and I got to this house we saw flashlights all around us and we got really scared because we don’t speak the language and who knows who is out there. (We came to later learn that those flashlights were smugglers coming from Vietnam, because we were literally on the border). There were a lot of bugs everywhere, but the hammocks were equipped with mosquito nets so we survived. The next day Jack and another man managed to get G-Dai out near the project and everything is now well. It was just quite the experience to get her there!

We have only two weeks left in Sen Monorom and we will head back to Phnom Penh on November 24th. We must leave the country by November 28th because that’s when our visas expire. We’ll head to Thailand and try to figure out life. Apparently we might run into some problems with extending our visas, which might cut our time in Thailand short… we’re trying to figure that out. Monte and I are both happy and healthy.

Oh, and of course, GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!