Elephant Roundup

Sai reading her part during the presentations (she is in the black with the white on the shoulders)

Well, we just got through the Elephant Roundup in Surin for 2007. This is the big event that is centered in Surin. People come from all over Thailand, even all over the world just to see this event. It lasts for about 4 days and all takes place in my backyard! Every night, there was a concert (at the loudest decibels of course) just across the street, and a fair that is running even to this day. The fair was really something, just like an American carnival with rides and everything, but instead of artery clogging stuff, you could buy bugs or papaya salad, or pad thai. Incredible, we were loving it. Why, they even had Thai bingo going on around every corner. The only difference was the ear-drum busting volume at which the leader bellowed out the numbers. Absolutely deafening.

Elephant Buffet- check out the jaws on this guy!

The first real day started with the presentations by the local schools. We went around with our Thai teacher, Khru Wee, who was given a microphone (always dangerous for a Thai, they love 'em) and proceeded to have us try out the Thai words for every vegetable or fruit featured on the floats.

Hey! No snitching!

It was very good practice, and it was televised. So we are famous... somewhere, we just don't know where. It was a really neat thing to see, the school kids put a lot of work into the floats and the presentations. There was all kinds of Thai dance and traditional music being played, and Sai from Surin Baptist read the English welcome for her school. They had her in all the traditional regalia, she looked great, and did her part perfectly. Made us so proud! She was just one big smile the whole evening.

The elephant Stadium in Surin, just down the street from our house!

The next day, I was told by Khru Wee that I needed to be at the "Elephant Buffet" in the morning. So I finished up my morning class and hurried over to the main road. There, they had large tables piled high with melons, sugar cane, cucumbers, bananas, and various turnips and roots. The elephants paraded in and proceeded to tear into the tables of food. Everybody sat behind the tables and fed the elephants. It's kinda weird to be sitting across the table from a couple ton galoot who is feeding his face with everything in sight. They are so huge and slow, but so very precise with their movements. They are strong enough to do incredible damage, but careful enough to take a melon from a child's hand. Amazing.

The Burmese army reenactors march in

On Saturday, they held the actual Elephant Roundup. This was positively amazing. About 300 some elephants paraded at one time into the arena that they have built. They did cultural shows, elephant demonstrations, and even a reenacted battle. I've never seen anything like it! Our own Archan Jim narrated in English for the "farang" guests. You're looking at the show and understanding the amount of elephants running around in front of you, but it's hard to really fathom that. My favorite part by far though was the battle reenactment. It was Thailand against Burma in costuming that was reminiscent of a couple hundred years ago. So there were swords and spears and such, but also cannons.

The fighters engage! Lots of action!

Very cool costuming though! They had explosions going on all over the field, it was really incredible. Then at the end, they had the king come out on the biggest elephant, a monster of an animal all decorated with gold, and they played the kings song. This is a song that they play all the time here, at 8:00am and 6:00pm every day. So everybody knows it, and is supposed to stand out of respect when they play it. So it made for quite an ending!

Thai traditional dance at ancient ruins

That night we went to a cultural show at some ancient ruins near Surin. Dr. Li and her family took myself, Leah and Amanda to see this. We were expecting to pay for the 100 baht seats (about $3 USD), but she insisted on paying for this, because she was the elder of us. So we let her, assuming this was a cultural thing. Well, this was actually because we didn't sit in the 100 baht section, we sat in the 3000 baht section. Right behind the governor of Surin! Yikes! I felt seriously under-dressed. They started off with a fashion show of Thai silk dresses, so Leah and Amanda were loving that. Then they did a cultural show telling stories of the ruins and legends, etc... There was such beautiful lights and sound, dances and music. All in all, it really gave me a new-found appreciation for this culture and their ways. There are so many things here that ring true of biblical culture. Like the agricultural rice-farming communities, even Thai dance is probably a lot closer to the dance described in the Bible. It puts things in a fresh light. For instance, the descriptions in the Bible of the early and latter rains and how that affected the harvests. Well, here in Thailand things have to happen just right for a good rice harvest, something that a lot of the dear church people depend upon for survival. Too much rain and it drowns the rice, too little, and it withers. You get the picture.

So that was basically the elephant roundup. We had a little more trouble getting around as there were tons of people and literally tons of elephants walking all around Surin. I found myself dodging people and elephants as I motorcycled around the town. What an experience!

-Andrew