The day I'd planned this whole trip around. The reason I'd come to Thailand in the first place, to be honest.Back into the songthaew first thing and off to the Elephant Conservation Trust (and not conversation trust as i just typed! ) We drove for about an hour up into the hills through the forest to get there, turned off the highway and had spotted a few nellies by the time we got to the carpark!
We took a bus up to the display centre. First stop elephant bathing! Whilst we were waiting for the main event the mahoots bought two over and Nok told us we could go down and stroke them! A mahoot pulled me over and stood me next to his elephant, and it sort of nuzzled up towards me! It just felt so amazing, being so close to such a huge animal and not sensing anything but gentleness. Their skin's really dusty and smoother than I'd expected.. bit like chamois leather.
Then the main troop arrived. They have a "mahoot school" where you can go for a few days and learn some basic elephant maintenance, so the elephants were all being ridden by the "trainees" - straight into the lake! Then the real mahoots joined in and helped scrub their charges down, whilst the elephants did their bit by diving in or lying down.
From there we went to the elephant show. They were led in by two carrying a drum whilst another beat it. Other talents on display included picking up the mahoot's hat and putting it on his head, playing Chang, Chang, Chang (the elephant song), and painting pictures (OK, I bought one.. I intend to tell my visitors, quite truthfully, that it's a vibrant abstract by a talented young Thai artist ;0) ). It could have been really tacky, but somehow wasn't; I think it's because the stuff they're doing is closely related to the skills they have for logging anyway.. with the possible exception of the painting!!
And then the elephant ride! Carmen and I clambered into a howdah (they have a sort of raised bus-stop to make it easier to get in!) and off we went. The gentle rocking motion takes some getting used to but it felt amazing.. just resting my feet on the elephant's shoulder and feeling the solidity and the strength .. we'd seen some elephant bones at the royal palace and they looked like something out of the Flintstones! I didn't think it could get much better than that. Wrong!!
We got back on the bus and headed up to the Elephant Hospital, where we met Aoi, who was going to look after us at the village homestay. She'd cooked us an amazing buffet, and when we'd all finished stuffing our faces she told us about the hospital and the story of Matala. Matala is the first lady of the hospital. She had her foot blown off by a landmine 8 years ago. It was all over the news when they brought her in, and she became the fundraising figurehead for the hospital. They're training her up with a prosthetic now. She doesn't accept visitors, although we could see her in her paddock down the hill, but Aoi took us over to see a baby elephant who's also lost her foot to a landmine. Cutest. Thing. Ever. We got to feed her bananas! She hopped over to us and climbed up the fence to get closer. We started off peeling them for her, and then she got bored with that and just helping herself whilst we were still fumbling with the skins!
She tried to get someone's water bottle, so Aoi thought she might want a drink (turns out elephants are that smart!). The trick is to make a cup with your hands and get someone to pour some water into them. So I gave it a go, and our little friend shoved her trunk into my hands, paused for a moment, and then snorted the water straight back out and all over me! Not a banana; not interested!
PS. Despite the tender ministrations of the laundry in Chiang Mai that t-shirt ended up in the bin... turns out elephant snot is really really hard to wash out!
5 comments:
Oh, your pictures are wonderful! The elephants all look so adorable and so majestic at the same time. I'm glad you had such a great experience, and thank you for sharing.
- JB
Department of Completely Missing the Point: Okay, you know I would be the one to notice this, but in that first pic, of you with the elephants...there's this random leg in the pic, and I can't figure out who it's attached to! Was someone behind/under the elephant somewhere? (This "spare" leg is between you and the guy on the left, if that helps!) Or am I just insane and it's not a leg at all? Always a possibility, you know...
/random
I am so jealous of this trip of yours--how fabulous it all looks! I can only imagine how amazing it must be to go for an elephant ride!
BTW, what the heck is a "songthaew"? I gather it's some sort of transportation, but am otherwise utterly without clue.
yup, only you..
i hadn't spotted it, but i think it must be a mahoot. the kid on the elephant was from the mahoot school, and the real mahoots were on the ground at that point!
a songthaew is a popular method of local transport in safety conscious south-east asia... basically it's a pick up truck, with a bench down each side, and a roof of variable degrees of sturdiness on top. Some of them are purpose built with proper windows and steel frames and stuff, and some of them look like they've been knocked together from an old tent and some timber scraps.. it's an enlivening way to travel.
Can't you put the elephants at the top of the page as had to read down to find them!!
Is this suitable for your 4 year old godson (who still thinks you are the person riding the elephant on the postcard) or do I need to read and edit first?
Lorna
It's been written with my 82 year old father in mind, so I would think it's godson proof! There may be some swearing in the early picture free posts about me trying to print my tickets, but i can't imagine he'd be very interested in those anyway ;0)
The elephant bit is definitely safe!
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