First Stop, Hua Hin, Thailand

Our journey started off on the luckiest day of the century; 8/8/08. Yes, our entire plan was to get out of country during the Olympics. There was just too much hype and too much crazed nationalism surrounding the games and I was just getting a bit sick of it. Add to that the multitude of doping and cheating scandals that have surrounded many athletes and, well, I was feeling a bit cheated by it all..

As it was the big day, we expected our trip out of the airport to be fraught with long queues and jostling crowds. We were incredibly surprised to find the opposite…the airport felt barren. Arriving at check in two hours early ensured us of a 1 hr a 45 minute wait. 

We arrived in Bangkok on time and walked the 2km from our gate to the immigration counter. Yes, the new Bangkok airport is huge. After popping through immigration we hopped into a car to take us to Hua Hin, a normally 2.5 hr drive from the airport. But, our luck would have it, we arrived at about 5:15pm on a Friday…traffic was a problem. The normal drive was extended an hour…so after spending 2 hrs in the airport, 3 hrs on the plane, it was another 3.5 hrs in the car before we settled into our hotel room.

Our mission in Hua Hin was simple…chill out poolside, enjoy some good food, and catch up on reading some books. We did get out for one quick tourist trip. Expat son had never ridden an elephant, so we took him out for the ride.

It was 12 years previous in which I had taken my first elephant ride with Tai-Tai and Expat Daughter…little did we know at that time, Expat Son was along for the ride too (he just doesn’t remember it).

We took a 30 minute ride on the animal around a park which is run specifically for the tourist elephant ride trade. The ‘drivers’ chat with you while you are on the animal and they really care for and love their tools of their living. In fact, the elephant that I was riding was pregnant, expecting her second baby (the other baby was walking around the complex as well).

There was the expected stop to try and peddle some jewelry to us in order to help ‘feed the elephants’, but I didn’t need that…I just slipped them a few extra baht at the end of the ride for their time and thanks.

Essentially we spent hours and hours in the pool tossing the ball, talking, laughing and just enjoying some well deserved downtime for the lot of us. After 4 days, we were on the move again…back to Bangkok.

Below is a little video of the ride...if you like looking at elephant butts, this is the video for you.

Thailand Elephant Ride from GZ Expat on Vimeo.