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After a five and a half hour trip on the bus with those vile European girls we got to chiang Mai and got a songthaw with a group of other people to our guesthouse, the bed and terrace guesthouse. It was lovely, we had a corner room with a big double and a single bed, it had its own bathroom AND aircon AND a tv AND a balcony! Ahh heaven. We got our selves ready and went straight out to the night market as it was at least 8pm. We headed out and walked past lots of dubious bars 'sweetheart bar' 'darling bar' etc etc ignoring the pleas from the hostesses for us to go inside and ignoring the large number of single white men that were mooching about there.
We got to the night market, and finally this is what we were talking about. The main street was lined with stalls selling just about everything and leading away from the main street were indoor markets or squares that led to other outdoor markets and restaurants. As opposed to other night markets I've been to in say Bangkok, the vendors were much more laid back and happy to let you look about yourself without pressurizing you into a sale, which was lovely.
We watched a lady performing some authentic Thai dancing on a stage in a square, waiting for someone to come and take our drink order, and when thu didn't moved on instead to another section of the market to get food in this Thai/European restaurant. It was tasty enough and we chowed down on spring rolls and pad Thai washed down with some Chang beers until it was time for bed. Thankfully David had been paying attention to where we were going and found our way back to the hotel. Typically he remembered the burger king which was his reference point ;)
We got back tired and went to bed.
This morning we confirmed out reservation for another two nights starting from tomorrow, and managed to leave out backpacks there just in time for the minibus to come collect us to head for our two days at Baan Chang Elephant Park.
It took about an hour to get here off some dusty roads in the mountains, but as we rounded the corner and the group of elephants came into view we got excited.
We got out of the van and were ushered into the hut in which I now sit typing this, and we're handed special clothes to wear and were told to change in the rooms provided.
Once changed it was time for a briefing, mostly on how the camp are ethical interns of their approach to these animals, unlike many others they don't do shows, they work for a few hours a day and the rest of their time is their own, no tricks or gimmicks etc. we then were given massive tubs of bananas and sugar cane, their favourite snacks, and got to go feed them!
Each elephant had their mahout trainer with them as was explained they like humans all have different personalities. Some you can feed directly into their mouths which was pretty daunting. Pushing a big bunch of bananas (they're weird here, they're short little fat things, not like the ones at home) into their gaping mushy mouths is a weird feeling, but they were really well behaved and let you move your hand before they chomped down.
Others you could feed by grasping the food at its ends and letting them wrap their trunks around it, putting it in their mouths themselves. One of them, a smallish 2 year old boy elephant was famed for taking the food and then dropping it, as he liked to save some of it for later. So cute!
We then had a briefing on commands. It was time for our first ride. The mahouts brought over two big elephants and after showing us how to get on and off them it was our turn. You had to shout Nolong, sometimes numerous times each one louder before they lay down. You then put your foot on their leg and grabbed an ear to hoist yourself up onto the neck/head, grabbing hold of the top of both ears as you did as they stood up as soon as you were on. Once they were up, you then balanced yourself by placing both hands flat on their head bracing yourself. You shouted the same thing again several times usually and sometimes with some encouragement form the mahout and thy would lie down. Again grabbing the ears so you could secure yourself, swinging a leg round and sliding off, usually grazing yourself on their bristly hairy skin as you did. We did this on and off thing twice then it was time for a break and briefing.
We couldn't go round the actual jungle on our trek due to forest fires in the area, but there was a trek planned nonetheless. Our guide Thom went through some other commands with us then. You had to gently kick them behind the left ear and shout 'Huway' if you wanted them to turn right, kicking with the right and shouting the same thing it you wanted them to go left. 'Pai' meant carry forward and 'How' meant stop. These words and actions learnt we then got on our elephants again and did a small lap of the camp area.
Once everyone had a go, we went on our trek. I went on the head, David on the back and trundled out slowly. We had the biggest elephant and it made some very odd noises. I thought it was growling, but Thom later said they constantly burp. We moved along, occasionally having to lift our legs when the animals decided they wanted to rub themselves against a tree and it was all fine, until we went up hill which was ok, just a little scary. We stopped at the top of the track so the elephants and us could take a break, scratching themselves against trees and slurping water from their internal water reservoir with their trunks and spitting it out all over them to keep cool.
We got back on and continued around the course before our steep descent back into camp. It was pretty terrifying on this animal, as my view was over the top of its head and trunk and I braced myself hard to stop from falling overboard.
Back at the camp we got to go into the pool with the animals and bathe them. Playfully throwing buckets of water over them as they spewed water at us from their trunks was amazing, scrubbing their trunks legs body was great and you could actually see them smiling when you brushed a bit that might have been bitten by a horsefly or mossie. It was a lovely 20 minutes and so much fun it was a shame it ended.
Just before it did tho, a mahout came charging over the hill toward the pond on the back of the 2yr old. As soon as they hit the water, the mahout kept saying 'squirt' and the baby would go up to people and squirt them square on with his trunk, clearly he was enjoying the game.
All done we came back to to the hut where Thom took us up to our rooms which are lovely and overlook the hills. We sat outside and had beers with Paul and Liz, English honeymooners from Leicester and the north east, before we wandered back down to camp where I sit writin this. Dinners at 6.30 and well find out what's on the agenda tomorrow. Absolutely brilliant day so far tho. Love it!
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