When we ask people about rain up here, they tell us that this is winter and that they do not expect too much rain from November till March. So at this point, they are right...no rain!
Our driver, Kung, picked us up at 8:30 and we headed north east to visit one of the many elephant camps that dot the area. There are two types of camps here; one is an intensive training and educational program where you learn about the elephant, how to care for it, bathe it, communicate with it, mount it, ride it etc. That type of camp usually requires a full day and sometimes overnight stays.
The other tries to give you a quick overview of the elephant, an appreciation for its ability to communicate and understand orders, and then takes you on an elephant ride for about an hour. Given our time constraints, we opted for the shorter tour.
The drive to the camp took us up in the hills above Chiang Mai and into an almost forest/jungle type setting. Lots of greenery, dense forestry, streams, rivers and waterfalls everywhere and a busy back roads filled with tourist busses and vans transporting people like us to the many elephant farms in the area.
We opted for a combo ticket, which combined an elephant show and ride, an ox cart ride, and a bamboo raft trip down the river.
We began with feeding the elephants in their stalls and meeting some of the baby elephants that were as little as one week old (70 kg at birth after a gestation period of 22 months). We then gathered on a large deck that lined the river and watched the handlers (called Mahout in Thai) take their elephants into the river for bathing. These are huge creatures and the path down to the river was quite steep, but they are quite amazingly sure footed and slowly but surely they made it into the river. Some were accompanied by their babies who swam beside them. The Mahouts had their animals drink up water thru their trunks and spray those of us who were standing close to the rails.
Each handler has his elephant and is recognized by its elephant. They respond to their name being called, and they respond to the commands that he gives.
When they emerged from the river we were up close and one of the handlers had his elephant kneel down so that Fran could sit on his foot which was bent to create a stool for her. He then had his elephant hug me with his trunk and then kiss me and my clean shirt with goobering saliva...guess you have to do this once in a lifetime!?!
We then gathered in the arena for the show. There were about 10 large elephants and they were taken thru a number of well rehearsed steps of dancing, singing, playing football, they grouped themselves in various formations, played basketball, and finally two of them were lined up in front of easels and actually painted scenes of forests and trees, that were quite amazing. They picked up different paint brushes and created colourful art pieces. The trunk has many muscles and we sat in wonder as this very large animal carefully took different colors and placed green leaves along the brown tree trunk that he had created. We actually bought one of the pieces after the show.
We were then ready for our ride. We mounted the elephant and sat on a chair like saddle that was strapped on its back and our mahout sat on its neck. We proceeded down a very steep path into the deep river and the elephant walked along the river for a while and then up a path into the forest.
It took about 45 minutes and we ended at a clearing where we disembarked. Along the entire route there were Thai women in treehouses who would sell us bunches of bananas and sugar cane to be fed to the elephant. Each bunch cost 20 Baht (about 60 cents) and if you agreed then the elephant would extend his trunk, take your money and hand it to the lady.
At the clearing there were a number of booths selling locally made handicrafts. We bought a few souvenirs and had a drink of cold coconut milk directly from one of the fruits that was cut open with a machete. It was sweet, cool and refreshing.
Now it was on to an ox cart pulled by two huge beasts that would take us back to the camp.
At the camp, included in the purchase price was a full buffet lunch which we of course skipped other than the fresh pineapple and watermelon slices, and the lunch that we had brought with.
Now we boarded our personal bamboo raft captained by two locals who rode us down the river for about 35 minutes, where our driver Kung had driven to wait for us when we arrived.
All in all, it was very enjoyable experience. Sort of Marineland for elephants :-)
From here we headed up the road to a unique tribal village. Here we met members of the long eared tribe, the long necked tribe and others; most of these are refugees from Burma who have been granted some sort of status that allows them to stay in their villages but not venture out. They live in thatched roof huts with no plumbing facilities and here they do a number of crafts and raise their children. In our pictures you will see some of the long eared and long necked women posing with Fran.
In order to stretch the ear, they pierce the ear and place a ring in the hole and gradually increase the diameter till the hole is a couple of inches in diameter.
We had been looking for items to buy our daughters, daughter in law and granddaughters and this seemed like a good idea :-)....
They all do weaving and jewellery of some sort so they try and get you to buy their wares.....
Our next stop is the orchid farm where we saw amazing orchids in every colour under the rainbow. It was very nice, although it was not as nice as the orchid farm in Singapore that we had visited a number of years ago.
They make jewellery out of real orchid petals that are preserved thru some latex solution and then surrounded by gold...to preserve its shape....very pretty and a unique gift idea.
Our last stop of the day was the Tiger Kingdom, where there are many tigers of all ages and you pay to get into the cage with the tigers and with a trainer who will hopefully get you out of the cage in the same condition in which you entered. Btw, this was the only place where we signed a waiver....in North America we assume that before you get near an elephant or on a raft on a river, you would be signing all sorts of waivers....but not in Thailand.
You had your choice of small, medium or large ....ie baby, young or mature tigers. We opted for the baby tigers as most others did as well....and they are smart, you pay more for the babies than the fully grown. You get into the cage and cuddle up to the tiger and voila...a Kodak moment! Again, something that you will do once in a lifetime....but worth the experience.
It was a great day....we returned at 5:30 and awaited the tailor with Fran's made to measure new dress, made in a day, for a fitting...another popular Far East attraction. It was close to size and beautiful and we sent him back to make some adjustments...final product hopefully before Shabbat.
We ended our long day with another delicious and cheap meal at Chabad ....huge vegetable soup, Pad Thai (stir fried rice noodles and veggies) and chumous with ground meat....delicious, plentiful and $8.00
Early to bed and hopefully a relaxing day on Friday after a very hectic week.
Hope to send the second collection of pics on Friday
All the best
Fran and David
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