Day 12 - Last Day

Today's my last day at the park. I planned to wake up earlier so I could pack in the morning but I wanted to stay laying in bed with Duke. He fits so perfectly on my bed, it'll be weird to sleep without him.
Our neighbours soon woke up. They told us an elephant was eating the roof of his shelter! We opened the windows and mist started flowing in because it was warmer inside. It looked really cool but it was too light for me to capture in a photograph. I've never seen it so foggy outside, it covered everything.

Mabel and I exchanged emails. I began to pack when Jesse came in. Tiff wanted to leave today. The Power of One group was leaving at 10 am, so she could join their van. Mabel left to help Jesse pack their luggage.

Poor Duke. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he gave me sad eyes while he watched me pack. As I put everything into my bags and zipped them up, I thought about how many times he's had to go through this. I think he knows what it means when people are packing and that's why he's so indifferent to the visitors here. I'm glad I was here long enough to see that he does care. I wonder if he'll still wag his tail when he sees me next time.

I took Jesse to the kitchen so he could pick up his laundry. We also had to get the pants that the cats ripped up during the introduction ceremony. We paid and took the clothes back. Mabel was massaging Tiff's shoulders. Her back was all knotted up and probably the cause of her migraine.

Jesse and I went to work in the Elephant Kitchen. We washed watermelons with the scourers. Next, we gathered ripe bananas in the baskets and organized the green ones on the shelves. There were so many spider webs. The girl I was working with said she saw tons of spiders as big as half her palm. I only saw small ones but I was so jumpy and I pulled out all the bananas with two fingers.

When we were done, Jesse and I went to find Lek to see if he could get the volunteer dvd since they were leaving early. MAI came back to the room with us to talk to Tiff. I went off with Jesse for one last errand. He had a box of stationary and other things to give to the kids in the village. We gave it to Matt and then waited for the van to pick them up. Mabel and I saw the two off. Then she went for a nap and I went back to work in the Kitchen.

Before Power of One left, they had loaded the wash basin up with pumpkins. As we waited for them to soak, a truckload of cucumbers came in. Right when we started, I saw Kham Paan through the trees behind the Kitchen. I must have had the biggest smile on my face. Lauren took one look at me and she knew who I could see! Haha she told me to go to her. It's my last day and I should be relaxing. I helped with the unloading before I stepped out. There were enough of us to make two chains. We got the cucumbers on the platform in no time.

I waved to Angelo when he came in to get Kham Paan's basket so he waited for me before he started feeding her. Maybe because of what happened yesterday with Lek, he said "Kham Paan playful, no like." I know. I don't think I'd tease any elephant. Who wants to joke with a 4 ton animal that's always hungry!
Angelo took out the figurine he made of Kham Paan. She was all smooth now and the scratching stick was glued in place. Yesterday at the gift shop, I saw that most elephants this size were 550 to 750. I gave him a bit more than that. He was so surprised. It made me laugh for a long time. He was only going to charge me 10 baht, pretty much giving it to me for free. He already gave me the ring as a present. I wanted to buy this from him. You can see the wooden elephant on the table under Kham Paan's chin.
Dam and Mae Tee's mahout came over to sit with us. I saw that Dam had a tattoo on his shoulder. Jodi did his tattoo. It was of Hope. He was his mahout for three years. Hope needs to change mahouts so he won't only respond to one person and wreck havoc on everyone else. Mae Tee's mahout wasn't allowed his tattoo, but it's okay for Thai people.

I had mikans in my bag that I fed to Kham Paan after her lunch. They were so small in her trunk. They fit into her nostrils. I was going to feed her two and save the last one for myself, but she could smell the last one. She searched around and gave us a scare when she wrapped her trunk around my camera strap. I think it scared Dam more than me! haha He yelped and gave frantic instructions for her to let go. I gave up and gave her my last mikan. Then we walked her down to the beach.

Angelo scattered some bananas on the grass to preoccupy her while he ate lunch. He pointed out the cucumbers on his plate and named them. We went through all the food on his plate. He knew rice, but he didn't have the correct pronunciation.

I showed him a picture of my sister. Then I showed him pictures of my family, of my pets, dragon boat, things I crocheted, pictures I took in Canada and in Japan. He kept asking, "more pictures?" until I had nothing else to show him haha. We went through a lot of vocabulary going through the pictures. I wish I thought of that earlier instead of on my last day.

He asked if I could watch TV on my phone. If I could watch BBC. haha We watched Ice Age Short: Gone Nutty, a podcast I downloaded from the iTunes store. I lost track of time and they were already clearing the food when I went for lunch. They still have fried rice (which is what I always get for lunch anyway)!They didn't have anymore pineapple, so I got papaya. I grabbed three mikans on the way out to feed Kham Paan later.

I found Mabel close to the feeding platform. I sat down and ate quickly, it was almost Kham Paan's bathing time. The two of us walked down the beach with her. I was disappointed that the sun hadn't warmed up the day yet. The water was really cold and it seemed really muddy too. None of us wanted to get that wet. It was amazing to see her spraying water on Wednesday. Maybe she'll want to play in the afternoon.
Hungry Elephant =) They always get fed bread after bath time.
I usually try to omit visitors in my photos but I love how this turned out!

This dog was rolling around, scratching his back with elephant poo. The worst part is that I'd still let him sleep in my bed after seeing this! haha
Mabel and I got popsicles from the ice cream man. I dropped off the figurine in my room because I was worried about the scratching stick breaking off. The afternoon project was.. CORN HUSKING! It felt weird that I did it all last week and this was the first shipment this week. I was really slow peeling the corn because of all the blisters on my hand but we had almost 10 people helping out. I couldn't believe how fast we finished all the bags.

We finished just in time. The VCs collected everyone to help with the elephant rescue. They wouldn't be back in time for 5, so I couldn't go with them. I helped Michelle sweep up the Kitchen, then I bought a lime drink and relaxed on the feeding platform. I played with mookie and took pictures of the elephants hanging around.
The babies were also playing by the platform.
Laurel and Dr. Pack talked about a paper she wanted to write about. Then they went out with Matt to shoo the babies off the log.
Doggies
A mahout was working on an elephant to sell at the gift shop.
Derrick, Lek's partner, driving a tractor.
I couldn't see Kham Paan and only at 3:45, I realized that Angelo must have kept her near the beach for me. When I got there, they were already waiting with the basket.

I fed her for the last time. I tried to imprint everything into my memory. The way the watermelon squished under my thumb as I bring it to her trunk. How she'll spray water everywhere when she's eating them because they're so juicy. Her tail flicking away the flies. The trunk curling around the food. The kissing noises she makes when she eats. How her skin feels soft and rough at the same time. I tried to remember it all and each moment seemed to last forever.

Finally, it was hot. Once we were out of the shade, the sun felt strong on our skin. Kham Paan sprayed herself with water. Left, right and above. I laughed every time the water hit me. It's like she rained kisses on me. Mae Tee's mahout told her to spray me. I'm not sure if she would have done it, Angelo stopped her because I had my phone on me. I would have thrown away my phone! haha It would have been fun to be sprayed.

She scratched herself all over with the poles. Watch this video! You'll love it, I promise.

I followed her to the shelter. She scrounged around for snacks under the feeding platform. Now I know why she always rushes off to the shelter after scratching herself but takes so long to get to the shelter!

I got my luggage from the room. I saw Angelo locking Kham Pann up. I dropped off my bags in the van then I ran back for a hug. Angelo said Kham Paan and him won't leave until I come back. I saw Mae Tee's mahout and I hugged him too haha.

I slept in the van. I woke up when we got to Chiang Mai. I was the last one off so it felt like I was awake longer than I slept. I got dropped off at the office. The plan was to pick up the two volunteer DVDs and get driver to the airport but the second disc wasn't ready yet. At first, I was told it'd take 30 minutes, then it got extended to 45 (but it really took an hour haha). I offered to take the taxi to the airport, but the driver took the van for a wash then waited with me.

I went over all my pictures at the park while I waited. The girl from Singapore that I saw on Monday was there too. She left the park at 2pm today, but was at the office to play with the dogs. I had some memory left so I tried to take a video of the dogs with my camera to test the quality.
The driver took me to the airport. He asked me if I wanted to be dropped off at the domestic flights entrance or international. I was flying to Bangkok, so I said domestic. At the entrance, I had to put my bags through a scanner and go through security. At the check-in counter, I was told I could check in all my flights at the International counter because my final destination was in Kansai. Fortunately, International check in wasn't far.

I got a C.I.Q. sticker. I didn't know what it meant. The closest thing I could find on google was "Customs Immigration Quarantine"? Up the escalator to the International Lounge, I had to go through another security check. The guard gave me a thumbs up for my omiyage squid snacks. haha

At my gate, I went to the bathroom to put on leggings and jeans under my skirt. Then I went to the café and bought a tuna turnover and a black sesame turnover for 35 baht each. The cashier heated it up for me and I ate it at the tables in the café. It was so hot, it burned my tongue. The lounge was cold though. I put on my wrap, long sleeve t-shirt and windbreaker too.
I snacked on strawberry wafers (the last pack from New Year presents exchange with the village school children) while I waited to board. The flight was delayed a bit, but nothing too long to make me miss my transferring flight. I got THREE mosquito bites while I waited. Two on my left foot and one on my right. Good thing I had After Bite in my backpack!

On the plane, I fell asleep even before take off. I almost missed my snack! We got a slice of banana bread. It was so good. I went back to sleep and woke up just in time for two small sandwiches and jello. Upon landing, I suddenly realized that I forgot my three paintings in the room back at the Palace. .. I know, right.

We walked down the stairs onto the tarmac, then boarded a bus to the terminal. I had to walk soo far to gate D8a. It was the farthest gate possible. I went through two security checks before I got to the waiting area. I didn't have to sit long before our flight was called.
An attendant gave me an extra blanket. Then I found out that I had all three seats to myself. So I actually had FOUR blankets to use! I only used two though. I stretched out and slept most of the flight. It was awesome.