Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Surin, Thailand, Elephant Festival 2012

WELCOME TO SURIN............ELEPHANT'S GALORE!


Well this trip to Surin to see The Elephant Festival is starting to become an annual trip for me and my family, it's my wife's home town and the home of my extended Thai family. Surin for the most part is a typical Thai Town, small fairly quiet with not a great deal happening. Surin is situated in the North East of Thailand, Issan it's about 6 hours from Bangkok. Then in November of each year the elephant's move into town and take over!!
Actually what seems to happen is the people of Surin and beyond come here to pay respects to this amazing animal, people hold elephants in very high esteem and their festival is more than justified and deserved.
The Elephant Buffet...is a site to behold! I must admit the first time I heard my wife declare, 'we go to elephant buffet tomorrow', I was very alarmed...visions of elephant's being served on a platter didn't really appeal to me! Then with a little more explaining I soon realized that it was us who would be feeding the elephant's,not us eating them...THANK GOODNESS!
The whole town has a really pleasant carnival festival. feel,adult's,teenager's, kid's, families, old ,and young, all mixing together. There is a really strong effort to help the traveler's to understand the festival and there is some very well spoken English commentary..well done SURIN!
People can select a great variety of foods that are really elephant friendly...if I was a n elephant I would be in heaven!..... a good thing for all... it's all free... no need to pay to feed the elephants.
I was told that there are usually about 300 to 400 elephants in Surin during the Festival.They range from very young elephants maybe a few months old to old elephants with great tusks and they are really grand looking animals.
Some of the elephants have some grand looking outfits too.
This little chap or chappess was really lively trotting around and making happy noises and generally enjoying himself.  There are numerous chances to have a ride on an elephant, it really is a must and the atmosphere is very relaxed and enjoyable.
You are sure to meet some great people during your stay and you'll find Surin Folk really friendly and helpful.
There's a large section of the town is closed off to traffic so it's safe to walk around the streets of Surin and mix with the elephants, but be careful these animals can move very quickly!
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REFUELING AT THE PICK UP POINT FOR AN ELEPHANT RIDE.

SURIN IS ABOUT 6 HOURS N.E. OF BANGKOK.
 BUSES RUN REGULARLY FROM MO CHIT BUS STATION.
 TRAINS ALSO SERVE SURIN AND RUN THROUGH OUT THE DAY AND NIGHT FROM HUA LAMPHONG TRAIN STATION.
                                                                                                                                                                             

 
                                                                                                                  FOOD WAITING TO BE EATEN BY THESE HUNGRY ELEPHANTS.



A YOUNG ELEPHANT HAVING FUN.

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