The Gentle Giants of Thailand (Dec 7)

Elephant Day!  Morning came early, even with our 9:30 pm bedtime the night before.  We wanted to be at the elephant camp for the very first session to see the elephant baths… so we were up and ready for a 7am breakfast.  The buffet was incredible – cook to order omelets, Asian soups, an entire bakery section, scrumptious fruits complete with chocolate sauce and whipped cream to top them with if you so desired, and much more.  Hits for our family: fresh chocolate donuts and out of the oven chocolate croissants and the STRONG coffee (by this point in the blog you might not be surprised by the developing chocolate and coffee theme J )

After breakfast we drove to Mae Sa Elephant camp – about a 30 minute drive through beautiful tropical rain forest. 

Words really won’t do justice to the excitement that began to build the moment our feet hit the ground at the elephant camp.  While the kids were very enthusiastic, I think I was the one who really could barely contain herself!  There were many hill tribe people there selling their wares -- we couldn't resist this photo with two of the girls in their native outfits:



The girls with 2 Hmong hill tribe girls who were helping their families sell bananas and sugarcane.

 We started with elephant rides first.  The seats atop the elephants accommodated 3 people.  Can you guess where Zach ended up?  You got it… right between his beloved Grandma and Papa!  Could a 5 year old be any happier? 



Good day for an elephant ride :-)



The Boyum girls rode together:

 

Christina, me and Elise with Mae Ruamdown, our 31 year old ride for the day

 A day Josh will not soon forget... an elephant ride with his Daddy:

What an experience  to sit atop these uniquely created gentle giants!  We were in a howda, or seat, which was strapped atop the elephant.  Our feet were on his skin/back, so we could feel his strong muscles working beneath his thick, wrinkled skin and which was covered with wiry hair.  

We were surprised with how much of a sway was contained in the elephants gait as we began our 30 minute trek.  When we went down the hills, we found ourselves quite relieved that the howda included a strong bar in front of us because we thought we would slide right off that elephant!  What a joy to experience this with both Mom and Dad as well as Kev and the kids.  Our smiles were non-stop, and so were the clicks of our cameras unceasingly snapping photos!

After the show we fed the elephants.  For 40 Baht (about 66 cents), you could purchase a bunch of mini bananas or a bundle of 5 sticks of sugar cane to feed the elephants.



This elephant eagerly but genly ate Christinas offering...



It was super fun to get to see the dexterity of the elephant trunks as they took the food from our hands.  They also would take the hat off the mahout (elephant driver) and put it on the guests – with a cute little pat (or two) of finality.  The mahouts were also very happy for us to “feed” the elepants Baht (in any denomination), which the elephants would immediately pass back to their mahout.

 

This elephant was a champ at the "hat trick"



This elephant had just shared his elephant slobber with my head... but we're still friends :-)



Next we observed the elephant bath time in the river.  The tools of the trade?  A scrub brush, a small basket for pouring water and an elephant!  Some of the elephants had fun squirting water in return for a boisterous round of applause from the crowd they had just sprayed (smart animals – they had the crowd trained already).

The show which followed was delightful!  We were completely engaged as we watched them do so many varied activities:  Kicking a soccer ball with (feet), playing basketball (trunk), shooting darts (trunk), bowing in many fun ways, wagging their trunks energetically – they particularly enjoyed this as did the crowd), trumpeting, rearing up on their hind legs, “massaging” their mahouts, dragging and stacking lots, and painting.  Yes!  Painting.  It was amazing to see them use different size brushes and different techniques to actually paint pictures.  Not surprisingly, the pictures were for sale at the end of the show (we opted to take pictures instead J )  In fact, Mae Sa (this elephant farm) holds the Guiness world Record for selling the most expensive elephant paitning in the world (1.5 million Baht, or $50,000).

The soccer ball would reach to a man's knee :-)

Check out the mahout -- he uses his legs only (and the elephant topogrpahy, especially the ears) to stay on...

Some other factoids or notes of interest from our elephant day:

• Elephant dung is BIG
• Elephant dung floats
• Elephant gas is, well, voluminous and quite abundant (and it stinks)
• The visual of the tip of the elephant trunk... here it is so you can share...

 Things I will always remember:

• The feel of the elepants back musles under my feet while he walked
• The look on my mom’s face when the elephant got a bit too friendly

High points for each member of our family:

• Me: see above – muscles moving
• Kev: touching the elephant skin, seeing the painting, riding
• Papa: the whole experience, especially the painting
• Grandma: the ride (but NOT the downhill part)
• Christina: observing the trust that both the elephant and the mahout had for one another – and the way the mahout trains/controls the elephant mainly just with his voice
• Elise: going in the river with the elephant
• Josh: seeing the elephant poop and pee (it was actually very interesting)
• Zach: riding elephants with Grandma and Grandpa!

 A few parting shots:



A very happy group!



All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our elephant experience – it was a true high point thus far in our Thailand experience!