Day 65 to 67 - Elephant Sanctuary

On the morning of the 10th we were up at 5.30 to catch an early bus to the elephant santuary. We arrived at our destination about 9, and before we were even shown our rooms we were thrown into the swing of things. There were 7 other people on the course with us and we got to know them very well over the next couple of days. We were both immediately allocated an elephant and mahout (a person who looks after the elephant throughout their life), who we would work with for the next 3 days. Shelley's elephant was only 9 years old and Tiam, the mahout had stayed with him since the elephant was a month old. It was amazing to see the relationships between the mahouts and the elephants.
Straight away we were taught how to get up on them and ride them as well as instructing them to do certain things. We spent about 1 hour doing this then took them into the river to have a bath. By this time all the tourists had arrived to see watch us. Everybody got very wet but unfortuantely for Shelley, her elephant loved going under the water and as he was smaller than the rest she went all the way under with him too. It ended up being a running joke for the next 3 days, as Shelley was always soaked! After this we left our elephants and went to watch the show. This isn't cruel and doesn't make the animals do any silly circus tricks, they basiacally show how clever they are, and do these shows to make money to keep the sancutary open. It is much better that they live here than in the wild in Thialand, as they are safer.
After this we were shown our huts. These were very simple, but really nice wooden huts, and were in the villages with all the people who work there. There are farm animals everywhere, and lots of cats and dogs.
That evening we road the elephants back out into the jungle, where we had another bath, and then left them there for the night to eat and sleep. That night we all had tea with some of the staff, enjoyed many beers and played chinese chequers (which the Thai are very good at) and the card game, spoons.
The 11th was pretty much structured the same as yesterday, apart from we were up at 6am to fetch the elephants and had an early morning bath. The shock of the day was taking part in the show. Instead of the mahouts doing it, we did, infront of 200 people. As scary as it was we all loved it afterwards. We did visit the elephant hospital the provides free care to injured and sick elephants from all over thialand. Once, again in the evening we played lots of games and continued to communicate with all the Thai people there even though they spoke no English apart from saying that they were "Number 1!" We all laughed so much.
The 12th was the same as yesterday and we did the show again, but not as nervously. Once the show had finished we said bye to our elephants and mahouts, which caused Shelley to cry. We were taken to the main road to flag a bus down to take us back to Chiang Mai, but before a bus came a lady in a 4WD ute and offered us a life in the back. Why not - a free trip! Phil and Peter had a very windswept journey as they sat at the back end, and it was very hot with the sun, aslo a little uncomfortable. None the less, a wicked expereince showing how friendly Thai people are.
On the first day we started our mahout training Phil misjudged getting off his elephant, called Sin-khorn. Sin-khorn was one of the larger elephants and Phil fell some distance to the floor, landing on his toe from a height and putting all his weight through it (the toe). It was badly bruised and a little swollen, wouldn't bend, and very painful. We're now sure that the a bone is cracked too - and their is no chance he can do any climbing in Thailand - he is gutted!

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