The Elephant Carries a Great Big Trunk

One of my favorite songs from when I was a kid, brought to me from my dad and grandma Ettinger:

The Elephant Carries a Great Big Trunk
He never wears any clothes
He's got no lock and he's got no key

But he takes his trunk wherever he goes

Ba RUMP BA BUMP BA BA BUMP BA DUM, BA ROMP BA RUMP BA DA DA

After the film wrapped I got to spend a wonderful week in Northern Thailand visiting elephants, waterfalls and beautiful mountains.

Our last day of filmming was overshadowed by the biggest thunderstorm I've ever witnessed. The thunder shook my room in the night and blew out all the electricity. I love rain and I love thunderstorms but this one actually scared me. On set the wind and rain literally knocked over the tents and threatened to blow us all away. Thankfully we made it through the storm and we wrapped the film as planned.

The wrap party was held at a really lovely restaurant in what appeared to me a much quieter and more civilized section of Bangkok. The food was the best I've had and the atmosphere was really lovely. We all said our goodbyes and had a nice time. I even got our special effects guy to smile for a picture (a feat which NOBODY has EVER been able to do before).

OK so I had to sneak the picture, but STILL I GOT IT!

After sending the rest of the US cast and crew back home, I boarded a flight to Chiang Mai and checked into a really cute bed and breakfast right in the center of town called The 3 Sis B&B. I walked around the city, visitng several wats (temples) and got a Thai massage. After getting 6 or 7 Thai massages on this trip, it occurs to me that I don't actually love Thai massages. They hurt! Why I put myself through them I do not know.

Now it's time for the ELEPHANTS!!! (the rest of the pictures are at the bottom of this post so skip ahead if you want the visuals).

I was picked up by my guide for the Baanchang Elephant Park in the morning, and after making several stops we arrived at the park around 10am and got our first glimpses of the Elephantes (special pronunciation from yours truly). The first thing that happened was that it started to rain. I didn't care! The guide told us we can "forget about being pretty; forget about being sexy". Today is a day for being muddy and wet. I was so happy! We changed into our glamorous wardroe and got an intro to the 'phants. We started off by feeding them truckloads of bananas. These creatures don't bother with peeling bananas or even eating them one at a time - nope - they eat them by the bunchful. We could either place a bunch on their trunk or directly into their mouths. Each time I apprached theese elepahnts over the next several days I did so with an equal mix of awe and trepidation. They are so massive and can squash any person like a bug at any moment. But at the same time they just wanted their bananas and if you obliged they were quite gentle.

We got a tutorial on how to get up on an elephant's neck and we learned commands for Down (LaNONG), up (BOA), Walk (BAI) and turn. Getting up on the elephant was scary and exhilerating in equal measures. After a lovely lunch and rest on the hammock we took our elephants for a walk around the property, then gave them a bath in the lake which they seemed to enjoy (and so did we). My elephant was quite mischevious - she did what she wanted, when she wanted, even with her mahout right by her side. We'd be walking in a straight line along a path and she would decide she needed to eat a tree on the side of the path at that exact moment. So she would eat the tree. I liked her.

Only 3 of us from our group stayed overnight. I was surprised that more people didn't want to do the 3 day course. The amenities were bare - the room had a bed and a fan and that was it. No internet, no tv, nothing to do but think about the elephants :-) The next morning I got up really early due to some very talkative roosters and more than a few gunshots (from nearby hunters I assume, though my guide says the sounds were children setting off fireworks which I highly doubt) and I hung out on the hammocks while the elephants came out for their morning routine. After a nice hearty breakfast we got assigned new elephants and rode them out to the lake for their morning baths, then to the jungle for a really wonderful trek. There was one part that was so steep and muddy it was like being on the scariest rollercoaster of my life with no safety bar. My trusty elephant was quite sure footed, though, and we made it through just fine. We stopped after a while where the mahouts and guide made a campfire and created a table made of banana leaves from the juingle. The best part was that the elephants got to roam free while we ate. I hated that they are either chained or under direct command of a mahout the rest of the time. I absolutely understand the necessity of this for human safety concerns, but I still feel that they should ideally be roaming free in a jungle and not at a human's beck and call for our fun and games. Feeling quite conflicted about this, as I know that the park treats its elephants more humanely then most (no tricks, no chairs on their backs etc.) but let's face it, they are still being exploited for the benefit of western tourists like me. Sigh.

After lunch we had to hike into the jungle to find our elephants, then as we trekked back they ATE our table and all the leftovers. It was awesome! We trekked back, gave them their final bath of the day, then took them back to their night area and fed them bamboo leaves. Towards the end my mahout tried to get a final picture of me with the elephant but she didn't feel like posing so she kicked me. Not hard enough to knock me down but hard enough to certainly scare me. I felt badly because the elephant got in trouble for that and as I was walking away I saw the mahout hitting her repeatedly.

We were done by 2:30pm and I spent the rest of the day lazing away on the hammock (my new favorite spot on earth) watching the elephants and just hanging out. The third and final day was more of an adventure trekking day than I had anticipated. After a final bath and feeding with the elephants, we headed out to a beautiful hike to a waterfall. Really lovely hiking and a bit treacherous navigating bridges made of sticks and planks. We made it all the way there and almost all the way back when I tripped on an uneven piece of ground and twisted my ankle. So stupid! I was fine to walk so we finished the hike, then went whitewater rafting and visited an elephant dung factory.

The next day I took the bus to Chiang Rai (about 3 hours away) and spent the next couple of days exploring northern thailand and even a bit of Myanmar. Got to see the tea plantations in the mountains, the Golden Triangle, and some local Chiang Rai sights. Even took a thai cooking class on my last full day in Thailand.

Overall it was a fantastic 7 days and I learned an incredible amount about Thailand, it's people and animals, and about myself.

Monk Chat in Chiang Mai - Not Doing Evil

The hammocks - my new favorite spot on earth

Morning view of the elephants

Climbing on my first elephant

Getting up is scarier than it appears!

Getting a lovely kiss from my lovely phant.

My very sweet guide

There's nowhere to hold on when you're riding an elephant's neck so the key is to put your hands on the bumps on her head to steady yourself.

Taking a rest

This is how they eat a banana - whole, and by the bunch

We trekked to this jungle for a lunchtime feast

The mahouts chopped wood for our fire

Table made of banana leaves, which the elephants later ate.

In  the jungle

Having a bath

Their morning meal

We each got a basketful of bananas to hand out

They seem to really enjoy their baths

Bridge made of sticks

Bridge made of a plank of wood

Gorgeous waterfall

lunch inside a banana leaf, and pineapple to die for

Same Same But Different

Our Thai drivers speak no English but they do say a few words such as "lobby" and "same same". "Same same" can mean just about anything, from "yes, it's the same" to "i don't know what else to say". I thought it was just our guys. But at Patpong I saw a shirt that says "Same Same" on the front and "But Different" on the back. This past week's shoot has been "Same Same But Different".

Shoot week 3 highlights:

Finished up at MovieTown, then spent a half day at a temple in Bangkok before moving to a warehouse near the Pine resort which we used as a soundstage.

The temple day was fun - tons of cool shops selling statues, old coins etc. They also sold fried insects, yum (ok I didn't actually try them but I'm told they're quite delicious)

The monks were very interested in our shoot.
Most of the time the monks look quite monkly; however
at the JJ Market I witnessed a monk on his phone,
smoking a cigarette and throwing the cig on the ground. Bad monk!

There is a van that picks our day players up each day in Bangkok and drives them to location. One day when we were shooting at the warehouse, the van picked up a group of a group of people and it was only once they arrived on set that everybody realized several of the people in the van had nothing to do with the film and in fact were tourists from Russia who thought they were going on a tour to a local wildlife park. I guess it was a language issue between them and the driver. They had a nice breakfast on set and were taken back to Bangkok. And now they have a good story to tell their loved ones about their crazy trip to a Thai movie set.

The food here is really tasty. I am careful about not eating soups or drinks made from tap water (or ice), and I'm definitely one of the less adventurous thai food eaters on the US crew. If I don't know what it is, I'm not eating it! But every day I do eat some thai food. The pineapple here is pretty divine. It reminds me of some pineapple I ate in Fiji in 1986. One night, though, Yasha and I decided to grab a bite to eat at the resort's restaurant. The food has been uniformly delicious there; however, twice now there have been ants in our food, and a couple of people have gotten sick after eating there, so we had pretty much agreed to not eat there anymore. However, since there's nothing else around it's kind of the only game in town so this one time we decided to go and just get something really plain like rice. Of course, when I ordered, they told me there was no more rice. So they ordered some noodle thing for me. Then they came back and said they had rice after all, so I thought they would bring me what I originally ordered. Nope. They brought me some boiled rice and chicken in broth. The kitchen was closing and nobody spoke any English so I ate the meal with some trepidation. It was very good but I just kept thinking to myself "don't eat the soup! the soup is made with tap water and you will get very sick!". So I ate the rice and the chicken but drained out the soup. I'm such an American tourist. Not the most relaxing dining experience of my life but knock on wood I survived and am just fine.

One of our actresses is the most adorable little 7-year old girl in the WORLD. She is so sweet and she is learning English (she can count from 1-10!). The other day on set she brought me a bracelet that she made by herself plus the most lovely note. I will treasure it FOREVER :-)

"For You...Nicole. I'm do it myself...this accessorie in really () to do for you, while we are working together I have so much fun and nice experience....work with professional guy like you it's really amazing time! Really nice to meet you!...and you always in my mind...Hope to see you again Don't forget me"

On my day off this week I went into Bangkok to shop at the world's largest weekend market, called Chatuchak market (also knownn as JJ Market). This market covers 35 ACRES and contains 15,000 stalls.I went with 3 other girls and we had a blast. It was hot and crowded but we found some good stuff - not just the touristy stuff like they had at Patpong, but clothing, food, books, furniture, you name it. We also found the equivalent of a farmers market where I bought a whole bunch of local delicacies for the girls on our crew.

The only thing I didn't like was that they have a whole section of live animals - puppies, kittens, fish, turtles, snakes, lizards, squirrels, bunny rabbits- pretty much any kind of animal you could have as a pet. They were kept in tiny cages and it was really hot. I'm sure all these animals came from puppy mills (or the equivalent for each animal) and once they're not cute little puppies anymore they probably get discarded. I really hated that. I know there's nothing I can do, being in a foreign country where the culture of pets is totally different, but I didn't like witnessing it AT ALL.

Today it's back to work. I finally found my favorite thai dish, called Mee Krob. I've been asking for it at every restaurant and have been uniformly given blank stares in return. Then today as I was walking through the Ayutthaya Floating Market I saw it in this lovely box, packed like a dessert. I asked the

shopkeeper what it was and she said "Mee Krob" - WAHOO!!! So I guess it's considered a dessert/snack, and not something anyone would have on a restaurant menu as an appetizer. Anyway, it is deelish!

Week 2

Done with week 2...12 shoot days down, 9 to go.

This week we encountered:

Even more flooding at our main location. We literally were knee deep in water.

 

walking down the driveway to the set. Any American film set would have been shut down immediately but in Thailand we carry on!

A 3 night move back to Bangkok. We're all happy to be back in civilization. Even I am getting weary of the Pine resort.







"Same Same" t-shirts at Patpong night market in Bangkok. 





A trip to the fanciest hospital I've ever seen. A friend of mine had a rash resulting from mosquito bites and heat so we went to the ER at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok. It was the greatest hospital experience of my life and apparently is a top destination for medical tourism. We were in and out in under two hours and the place was like The Four Seasons. The craziest part? The whole thing including medication cost about $100.



Bumrungrad Hospital Exterior of ER

A new location in Katana Movietown, about an hour west of Bangkok. The rain on the first day was relentless and of course we were shooting outside in a very swampy area so I came home with very muddy feet. There are butterflies, fireflies and sheep in our midst.

We tried to feed the sheep an apple but all the sheep wanted was our garbage. 

Sheep knows all about film set catering

Lots of rain equals lots of photo ops

Good days and bad (and make no mistake, there have been both)....every day is an adventure.

Dedicated to the Menu



This is maybe the best thing that's happened since I arrived 3 weeks ago.  It's a bit dark but worth the read.



A Lovely Day Off

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This is going to be my obligatory travelogue post. I remember how boring it was as a kid to be forced to sit through other people's slide shows so feel free to skip this one if it's boring (though I will try to keep it as entertaining as possible of course!)

Yesterday was a day off, woo hoo! My new and lovely friend Yasha (our on-set editor from India) decided to spend the day with me touring Ayuthaya, which is about 40 minutes from our hotel. We were pretty overwhelmed with where to go and what to see. All the guide books just list like a million temples but they don't really give any good itineraries for a day trip. But between the two of us and our trusty friend Google, we came up with 5 or 6 top destinations we thought we'd like to see.

Luckily we had a van and a driver for the day, though he speaks no English so communicating with him was a bit of a challenge. Everything we asked or said, he said "yes" or "same same". Did we go to XYZ temple today? Yes. Did we go to the moon today? Yes. Which did we go to first? Same same. I actually felt really badly because he was forced to take 2 tourists around all day on a Sunday (which should be his day off since he's also the driver for our crew during the week). I bought him a nice little thank-you gift though I'm sure he still would've rather had the day off.

We started the day with great enthusiasm. Our first stop was Wat Yai Chaimongkol, which had tons of buddhas (even a reclining one), a lovely temple and quite a few monks walking around tending to the grounds. The first thing we noticed was how HOT it was (this will be a recurring theme). We've been hot and sticky every day on set but this was different because there was no shade and no fans. It was also really crowded. But absolutely stunning nonetheless. Yasha and I took about a gazillion pictures until I realized that all the pictures were looking alike. Here are a few highlights:

The Temple



Buddhas, buddhas everywhere. Hundreds of them, all a little different.



Baby Buddha, Yasha Buddha and Mama Buddha




Offerings for reclining buddha

 

We thought we were done with this temple but we weren't sure (the grounds were huge and there were no signs in English) so we walked to the other side of the parking lot and lo and behold we found the strangest sight of all time. There were literally THOUSANDS of rooster statues, in all shapes, sizes and colors. I have no idea why. I did a quick internet search when I got home last night and it is still unclear what the significance is of these creatures. Either it is a religious symbol or it is a symbol of one of the former Kings who likes to cockfight.

Second stop was The Ayuthaya historical park and Wat Mahathat. This is a giant archeological site of ruins of the old city of Ayuthaya. We walked around these amazing ruins for quite a while and just as I thought I had enough, we found the head of a buddha with a bodhi tree growing around it, which was quite beautiful.



Even buddhas need to do their laundry



 

There were a couple of gifts that I wanted to buy at one of the little tourist shops, and when the store owner quoted me $350 Baht, I thought to myself, well that seems fair, OK. Luckily, Yasha stepped in and did some heavy duty negotiating (she is from India and does this on a daily basis). I ended up getting TWO of what I wanted for $400. Yay for Yasha!

After this we were starving (we hadn't had breakfast) so we stopped at a restaurant for some Thai foood. After lunch, we hit up Wat Chai Wattanaram, which is another huge temple. As soon as we walked into this one, I realized that my Eastern European body is simply not meant for this weather, and I was starting to really fade and get cranky (anyone who has traveled with me before knows that I can get cranky!). The temple was astoundingly beautiful, though, and there were cool dragonflies everywhere! So I still enjoyed it.

Once we got back in the van, I was DONE. I think Yasha could have kept going but I told her that I couldn't even get out of the van anymore. We did drive through the city and past some other temples and ruins, and through some settlements including the old Portugese settlement.

We hit major traffic going home but I didn't care because I took a much needed nap.

After we got back I got a 2nd wind and rented a bicycle with our special effects guy Jerami, and he showed me around the huge grounds of the Pine resort. This place, though run down and quite rustic, has a very summer-camp feel. It's got rope courses, lakes, canoes, rock climbing walls, ATV courses, bike rentals, tennis courts and ziplines. For group activities it really does have everything. Before I arrived I really wanted to do some of the adventures but seeing as the lake has a thick green coating and the obstacle courses are in complete disrepair, I think I'll skip most of that stuff after all. Even the bikes we rented yesterday had no working breaks. It was still fun, though!

After that adventure I went for a Thai massage. The cost was 200 Baht (around $6) but I gave a $100 baht tip, but that's still only $10. This was NOT a spa, I'll say that much. It was a tiny room with 3 cots used as massage tables and one lady who spoke no English. She kept trying to talk to me but I didn't understand anything. I have learned a few phrases but certainly not enough to have any meaningful conversation. The massage was great though (WAY better than the one I had last week in Bangkok) and I left happy.

By this time it was around 7pm and I was ready to pack it in for the night. I went back to my room and watched a thai movie and got really into it, even though I didn't understand a word. It was a romantic comedy so between the music, camera movements and facial expressions I was able to follow along just fine. I kind of have a crush on this male actor who has played the lead in 2 movies that I watched this week. What is happening to me?! I am here 3 weeks and already addicted to Thai soap operas. My high school girlfriends would be proud :-)

Lost in Ayutthaya.  There's a lot less English signs outside of Bangkok

So that's my day off. Today it's back to work. I did get to Facetime today with my Dad and Diggie, which was really cool. Diggie didn't seem to know that I was talking to him. He seems happy and they say he is being "semi" good which probably means not very good at all but hopefully he's being good enough!

I've been here exactly 3 weeks today and today is the first day that my tummy doesn't feel quite right. I've been super careful about only drinking bottled water but it's harder to manage the food because we're being served on set and I don't really know how it's being prepared. I'm definitely being very careful so hopefully this stomache ache is just for today.

Today we're in Bangkok shooting at a bar. Hoping for a smooth and fun week ahead.