Elephants are Cool

Yesterday the four of us had a perfect developing country-style experience. Our plan was to leave Chiang Mai late morning for Lampang, stopping at the Elephant Hospital and Sanctuary en route, then go from Lampang to Jae Hom where R&K are teaching. There are no official buses to the Elephant Hospital, but we agreed to ask if the interurban bus from Chiang Mai to Lampang could drop us off there. We decided to worry about where to deposit our giant, American-style backpacks during the elephant show once we arrived at the sanctuary.
After some discussion with both Robert and Kate speaking long minutes with the woman at the ticket counter, Ian guarding some bags, and me floating around on the edges of R&Ks conversation not doing any good at all, it became clear that we could buy tickets for the 12:00 bus, which would drop us at the sanctuary, only we would have to stand until some other people got off. This was strange, thought Robert and Kate, although it sounded very like something Kenyan to me. They asked more questions, though, and eventually figured out that we would stand for about 3 minutes until the bus went to a bus barn; there, everyone going to some destination or other would get onto a better bus, and we would get to sit on the first bus. This all went according to expectations, and we eased out of Chiang Mai and onto the highway.
Highways in Thailand are another example, along with health care, large new cars, and abundant food, of how this country is not a traditional developing country. In fact, what I surmised about the Peace Corps in Thailand is true; Peace Corps felt that Thailand did not need its services, but Thailand asked Peace Corps to stay and in fact is partially funding its presence in the country. And highways, wide, multi-laned, and in good repair, are a far cry from the pitted, or totally unpaved, highways of other parts of the world.
We rode along comfortably out of Chiang Mai and up into the first set of mountains on the way to Lampang, talking about similarities and differences between the US and Thailand (Kate claims to have forgotten, by now, what exactly the differences are), when suddenly Ian said "Hey--I think that guy is motioning to us." We peered up to the front of the bus (we were in the last two seats), and sure enough, the tout was beckoning. We quickly gathered our small bags and rushed up the lurching aisle as the bus careened down from the first pass and screeched to a halt at the side of the highway. The door swung open, the tout jumped off and lifted the luggage out of the side of the bus, and the bus careened away down the rest of the mountain pass. We were at the sanctuary, and just in time for the 1:30 show.
After buying our tickets for the show and the shuttle, and filling the small ticket booth with our backpacks, we rushed with crowds of Thais onto the open-sided shuttle and held on tight as the driver hurried the 2 km to the showplace.
I have to say, elephants are so cool. We were treated to a demonstration of elephant work--logging techniques, mainly--and elephant aesthetics. Several elephants played instruments--gongs and drums, mainly (and not surprisingly), and two elephants painted. Okay, sure, their trunks are flexible and dextrous and they're very smart, so it's not particularly surprising that they could be taught to weild a paintbrush, and one of the elephants did the expected and painted an abstract, with lots of bold brush strokes and swirls and colors. But the other elephant painted an elephant, complete with mahout (the elephant rider/trainer) on top and green grass below. Hello?
After a brief viewing of a baby elephant and a hurried lunch, we collected our bags and trekked out to the highway where we proceeded to try and flag down transportation the rest of the day to Lampang. In general, public local buses ply the route, stopping at an official-looking structure there on the road. But yesterday was the king's birthday, so lots of people were traveling and routes were perhaps of schedule. Anyway, one local bus passed us, the tout waving her hands as if it were already too full, and I feared our serendipity had run out for the day, when Robert managed to flag down a passing sawng taew (pick-up with a canopy on top and benches inside), and the four of us plus a woman who also needed the bus rushed over. The driver tossed our bags on top and completely failed to tie them down with the rope I saw coiled there, a kid maybe about twenty gave up his seat inside and stood on the back platform in the light rain holding onto the side of the truck, we shoved ourselves into the already crowded seats, and away we went at highway speeds. Every time we hit the slightest bump, I pictured my bag taking flight, hitting the kid on the back in the head and throwing him from the speeding vehicle, then bouncing into the traffic behind us and causing a multicar pile-up. But we made it to Lampang without trouble, and were dropped at the sawng taew stand for Jae Hom just in time to catch the last bus of the day (yay! Bags inside!), and we arrived at Robert and Kate's charming little two-bedroom house as the last light faded from the sky.