Back in Surin
Two weeks after our latest visit we are back in Surin. This time we don’t want to forget bringing food, so we first go to the market to buy bananas. Everything in Surin seems to be more expensive, like the fruit at the market. In Chiang Mai, we would pay 20 Bath for a bag of bananas, in Surin they ask 20 Bath for a bunch of bananas! We stroll from one stall to another to compare prices and negotiate. In the end these are just bananas for elephants! Some offer their bananas for 5 Bath per bunch, but only have a couple of bunches for sale. So we have to buy all the bananas from different sellers. By calling out loud “chang” (=elephant) and “kuai” (bananas) and because they are not used to see many foreigners around here who want to buy bananas, we attract a lot of attention. From everywhere people come to help us and pose for a picture. With our minibus fully loaded with bananas, cucumbers and pineapples we are on our way back to “our” elephants!
In two weeks time the rice fields in Surin have become a lot dryer and more yellow. Most elephants have been moved to the cities for begging. The mahout of the elephant we are going to visit today, Mae Lai Tong, tells that this week 20 elephants have left from his village to cities like Lopburi and Saraburi where there is more money to be earned on the streets. The fields where his elephants are staying now are starting to get really dry. He even fears the fields might catch fire within two weeks. The elephant will warn him though when the fire comes close. From now on he will constantly stay with Mae Lai Tong and Mae Tong Bai in the field.
The elephants both have a long chain attached to their foot, so they can walk to a little stream across the road. Mae Lai Tong (golden luck necklace) is a twenty year old elephant who we have seen two weeks ago at the festival. All weekend she was standing in the heat of the sun, chained to the ground, shaking her head from one side to the other because of stress. Her left hind foot has exploded when she stepped on a landmine near the border with Birma. She was bought three years ago in the Chaiyaprou province bordering Birma, where she worked in the logging industry. During this work she stepped on a landmine. Lek has bought here in an impulse. We are now with the owner to arrange the papers and the transportation to Chiang Mai.
The other elephant Mae Tong Bai (golden leaf) has been with this family for 20 years and she is now looking over Mae Lai Tong. Mae Lai Tong is much more at rest now then she was at the festival, but she is still stressed. When her girlfriend moves too far away from her, she hits the ground hard with her trunk. Mae Tong Bai then turns around with wide ears to look if everything is ok with her friend. The family just owns these two elephants. Mae Lai Tong has never been able to work because of her hind foot. They say they have just bought her at the time to take care of her, but now they are out of money. They will also bring Mae Tong Bai to the city cause there is no more food to find in Surin.
When we are at home with the family, the neighbours’ baby elephant is offered for sale as well. His name is Pepsi, because he reacts best to that name. In contradiction to the families of Silver Flower and Sri Nuan, this family doesn’t make the impression of being in the elephant trade. They are poor and don’t have another choice then sending their two elephants to the city or sell them. Our impression of them is good and we don’t have the feeling they treat their elephants badly.
In the village of Sri Nuan (eye lost, daughter lost), it turns out that the owner has left with his elephant by truck to the bordering province. There they try to make some money in the cities. We are not able to get in touch with him by phone. Happily the head of the village can help us with another telephone number. Now we are able to contact him, and we negotiate further by phone. We offer him a price and ask him, when he agrees, to return to his village with Sri Nuan. We are anxiously waiting for his response now. This afternoon we will look for Silver Flower!
