Logistical talk
At the office I try to sketch the route as much as possible with Mr.Lee. From Surin we will be taking two trucks for the elephants to Ayuthaya.We try and estimate which roads we will be taking, where we will be making the stops at night and for which parts of the journey we will need trucks for the transport of the elephants.When we drive the route we will make a definite decision on the route. It is possible that when we drive the temporary route we might bump into some bridges that the elephants may not dare to walk over. Or that the tarmak has gone, where we don’t want the elephants to walk. We go through all the checkpoints where we need different papers for. The stretch from Surin to Ayuthaya, before the actual walk begins, needs to be done with a truck anyway. We also decide that we will use a truck on the stretch between Lopburi and Phichit because the distance is too far for the elephants to walk. This would be too much for the elephants and also we would risk running out of water and banana’s. This way we have some extra time around Sukhothai and Tak.We can take three weeks over that stretch and we won’t have to walk more than an hour a day. From Lampang to just past Chiang Mai we will also take a truck. There are some busy roads and mountains on that stretch, with all the risks involved. Safety for our elephants first, Mr. Lee says. Sounds good! We calculate the distances and times. In the end we have made a good provisional travel route that will take two months, in which we will have a lot of time to relax so we don’t have to hurry. When we talk about the walk I can hardly believe that it is actually going to happen. Especially now that somebody else says to me that he has to get in touch with a temple leader to say that we are on our way, so they can make there will be a nice resting place for us and lots of banana’s. So it’s really happening now…
