chiang Mai

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I decided to fly to Chang Mai instead of getting the night train due to all the protests going on. The flight was really cheap and it only took an hour to get there.

When I arrived in Chiang Mai I made my way to Julie’s Guest House. Once settled in my room I went to grab a beer out the fridge, they had a trusting policy, you just helped yourself to drinks and wrote what you have taken in a book. Even When the owner’s had packed up for the night you still could help yourself to the supply of beer, I couldnt imagine this working too well at home.

I was sitting in the chill out area, I had been there for about 30 minutes when an Australian girl called Katie had asked to join my table. Katie was from Sydney, she was travelling for a month on her own while waiting for her husband to join her in Vietnam. We visited the night market and tried some local cuisine, Chiang Mai has a great vibe, busy but relaxed, It sets a good example to the rest of the cities in Thailand orderly and much cleaner, no funny smells and I had not seen one cockroach, ow and did I mention the food, it is so good.

After getting back to the hostel and chilling on the lounger’s for a while chatting to a few more stranger’s as you do I headed to bed, I knew I had a big day tomorrow, my first day with the Elephantie’s and I couldn’t wait!

I arrived at the main office in Chiang Mai early like a keen student, I signed in and was given my volunteer t - shirt. As I was so early I grabbed some breakfast before meeting the rest of the volunteers. I was so excited being there, it is just another dream that was becoming a reality. Did I mention that I am having such an amazing time and that this trip is crazy fun and I might not return for some time, he he!

I was all ready to jump in the minivan to the sanctuary when I was introduced to Jack, he was our leader for the duration of our stay. We all introduced ourselves during the bus ride and watched a DVD of the sanctuary explaining what its purpose was, introducing it’s founder Lek and why it was so important to have us the volunteers. This was the first time I observed the cruel inhumane torture of what street elephants, trekking elephants and elephants that were forced to work in the logging industry go through, it was heart breaking.

All elephants have a Mohout ( a master if you like) that stays with the elephant throughout it's life. A Mohout is suppose to love their elephant making sure it has the best life, like a mother would with it’s child but unfortunately this is not always the case. Many Mohout's have an elephant to make them money, they would brutally torture thier elephant until it obeys them by squeezing them into an enclosed cage stabbing them with several large hooks, in some cases blinding the elephant. I watched a Mohout smash a hammer down on an elephant's head because it did not want to obey him. They continue this torture for day’s sometimes even weeks until the elephant gives in, this is called breaking an elephant’s spirit. They beat them so bad that they have no other choice than to do as the Mohout ask’s, these elephants today roam the streets of Thailand (begging elephants). You will see the Mohout standing next to the elephant making it do tricks for the tourists, you buy fruit to feed them, this make’s the Mohout a lot of money. There is so much more I could explain and tell you but it is such a huge topic I could go on forever. The aim of this sanctuary I am working for is to ban street elephants and to allow elephants to live free in the jungle where they belong. No more elephant riding, no more working elephants on the streets.

When I first was organizing my trip one of the things I wanted to do was to ride an elephant up through the mountains in the North of Thailand, I have now decided to take the bus!!!

When we arrived at the Sanctuary the first job I was given was to feed the elephants, this is where I first met Mae Geao name meaning crystal glass. She had been at the park for just over 4 years, she is 65yrs of age. Most of her life she was forced to work in logging, she spent 17yrs in Burma. She was found in a trekking park in Thailand and was rescued by Lek. Lek has dedicated her life to rescuing elephants and made the sanctuary what it is today. Mae Geao is blind in one eye for reasons I explained earlier, she has small ears and a short tail, this was bitten off by another elephant in a fight. She apparently is temperamental and doesn’t really like everyone. She decided she liked me and I loved her.

After feeding was over it was lunchtime, the food was so yummy, I knew I was going to add to my already growing belly this week. I need to go on a diet getting a bit chubby. But I decided then that it could wait till next week. The next job I was given was bathing the elephants in the river, Mae Geao and I had a bonding session, I splashed water up her back, under her belly and behind her ears. When I stopped she rested her trunk on my shoulder as if to say don’t stop please bathe me more, it was so cute. Mae Geao’s Mohout was really nice, even though he didn’t speak any English we had a few water fights of our own.

The Mahouts here at the sanctuary are mostly from Burma, Thai people do not want to become a Mohout as it is not classed as a very respectful profession. This is something lek is also trying to change, Mohouts are very intelligent and it takes great skill and time to become one. The Mohouts in the sanctuary have come from logging camps but have been reeducated by Lek to love and respect elephants and to show them that they deserve and belong in the wild. The Mohouts in the sanctuary have good relationships with their elephants and some have even learned to love them.

I walked down river to play with some other elephants that were rolling on their backs enjoying the water. I looked up for a moment to take in my surroundings. Mountain views all around, many elephants either bathing or walking around freely as they should be, you could actually see them smiling. It was strangely peaceful and quite even with so much going on, I knew then I was going to have a great week.

My room was lovely a bamboo hut on stilts surrounded by elephants walking free, it was better than I had imagined. Once settled in my room we had a welcome ceremony. The head man of the village came and blessed us with prayer. Lots of humming and different dialect was used, we had water splashed on us and a piece of string tied round our wrists. He had called on our spirits to protect us from illness and sadness, anytime I felt unwell or sad he said that the rope would hold my spirit which will protect me, let’s believe it works as things only have power if you believe in them.

After the welcome ceremony, the scrummy dinner and introduction speeches I headed to bed. I was not very brave on my first night, full darkness, strange noises etc. I had my own hut that was detached and away from the other volunteers, I had to walk to the bathroom with a touch. It took me a few days to get use to it, I become a little braver near the end of the week, I found it so easy to scare myself.

Second day on the job and I started at 8am, the first job I got was shoveling poo can you believe, I knew this would be on the agenda but just after breakie! There were a total of 14 volunteers but 8 of them decided to go along on the Jumbo Express for a couple of days. This involved driving 5hrs or so further into the north to a village. Lek first started up the Jumbo Express before the sanctuary, this was to go around the villages to educate the locals in the benefits of keeping their elephants in the villages and not to sell to the logging industry. If they kept them in their village it would attract visitors, bringing money to the people. The elephants could wonder free and avoid cruelty and the village people would still receive an income. Logging has been around for sometime so it is going to take a while to change the peoples mind set, in the meantime Lek takes volunteers to meet the village people helping them with medical care, construction of their village or anything they may need. If you build a bond and friendship hopefully it will change their way of thinking and they will want to help Lek and as a result help the elephants. It is such a quick explanation of what the Jumbo Express is about, again there is so much more to say but I hope you get a rough idea of it's purpose.

Even though I think the Jumbo Express is a great Corse and important to the sanctuary I decided to stay and help with the elephants, it is where I wanted to be and with everyone away I had all the elephants to myself.

After shoveling poo and building up a smelly sweat I helped in the elephant kitchen where I met Michelle she was in charge of the kitchen, she works so hard! I washed pineapples, peeled corn and made Tamarind balls. It does not sound like hard work but trust me it is. We had to feed 30 elephants twice a day, they spend most of their time eating only consuming 44% of what they eat. The mountains of bannana’s, melon, pineapple corn was crazy, so much everyday all having to be treated, washed and cut before consumption. I Went to the river to wash corn plant, this is the leaves that the elephant enjoy grazing on during the night, elephants only sleep 3-4hrs a day so they need to be kept occupied throughout the evening while everyone sleeps.

During my time in the Kitchen I met Lisa, she was the Veterinary Nurse that worked at the medical centre, Jack introduced me straight away and I was soon invited to the medical centre at 4pm to assist with treatments, I tried so hard to hide my enthusiasium, soooo excited!

Fed the elephants at 11.30am and 3.30pm every day, Bathed them at 1pm every day at the river, however I think some of the time it was me taking a bath!

It was very hard work the first few days not having the others to help, we were doing workloads between 6 people that usually would be completed by over 20, Jack said this was the smallest group he had seen in a while, I wasn’t complaining it just meant more experience for me. Jack was more like a volunteer than anything else, he worked just as hard as us in between winding me up and chucking water at me any chance he got, cheers jack!

Day 3 I went to the medical centre to help Lisa with treatments. Mae Geao’s best friend Boloy had an abscess on her medial left flank that needed to be flushed and treated twice daily. It was so much fun and such an opportunity, I don’t think I would have an elephant presented to me at home. I went to the medical centre twice daily, cleaning, organizing medicines and making up emergency kits. We also treated an elephant named Meadow for pressure sores daily too. Sorry vet friends if I am making you jealous!
After one of my morning visits to the medical centre we went for a walk outside the sanctuary through the local village and up a very steep hill to cut down banana trees. They actually trusted me with a machete! I have never sweated so much, near misses but no injuries by the way. When we got back I did a bit of gardening in the afternoon and planting of sugar cane.

Did I mention the dogs at the sanctuary by the way? There are over 40 odd dogs that have been rescued at the sanctuary, they roam around freely, getting along with each other most of the time with the occasional scrap. They kept you up some nights with their howling, I nearly become a dog hater near the end of one restless night but they were to bloody cute the next morning I gave in and had to love them all over again. There was one that carried a plastic bottle around with him where ever he went, so sweet. I helped Lisa with treatments on some of the dog’s, they take pretty good care of them which is nice to see out here. Lisa seemed to trust me a lot and asked me to supervise the medical centre on her day off to ensure treatments were applied and given correctly, I ended up performing the treatment and was really chuffed that they intrusted me to cover.

Day 4, the rest of the volunteers had returned filling us in on their adventure, it sounded great but it did not make me regret staying I had gained so much more than I had hoped for already. I was hoping this meant more man power less work! I was feeling the pain! On this day I Helped in the kitchen preparing food, planting, feeding , bathing, helping with medical treatments and dog treatments all throughout the day. At 1pm lek gave a presentation on her sanctuary and shared her experiences so far. We were all brought to tears.

That afternoon as the workload eased I sneaked of for some alone time and visited the baby elephants. There were 2 at the sanctuary, 1 girl and 1 boy. The boy was so naughty, he would charge for you thinking it was funny, not realizing that he could seriously injure you, everyone would shout baby boy! baby boy! And you would dive out the way. On my last day Olivia and I witnessed the day visitors’ jump over the fence in sheer panic when he charged for them, it was so funny. The boys Mohout got whipped by his trunk more than once too.

The girl on the other hand was gentle and loving surprise surprise! She would walk up to you for cuddles and kisses. On this breezy afternoon I sat with her, singing lallabyes she rocked herself before lying down falling to sleep. I sat with her that day stroking her, I was so happy that this one was going to get the best life, I felt a little bit of pride rush over me when I realized I was contributing to her happiness, she was smiling with every song sung and every head stoke I gave her, bless.

I wanted to concentrate on observing the elephants in their natural surroundings, I cannot say natural habitat because we were not in the jungle but one day I hope they will be. Lek has bought a bit of land called Elephant Heaven where she takes them sometimes so they can wonder free. Unfortunately the land that the sanctuary is on is not big enough to allow them complete freedom without their Mohout, they would just get shot. So they have to settle for short visit’s to elephant heaven for now, they love it.

I went and watched the big family with the 2 babies the day before my last, rolling in the mud having a great time. It was just me, the Mohouts and 2 other volunteers so it was pretty special walking around watching them play for a few hours. Jungle boy one of the 3 males decided to annoy them at one point charging for them, they have such individual characters and learning about them all, their sad history and happy endings was a privilege, one I will remember forever.

That evening we had a culture lesson, learnt a few more Thai phrases and had a laugh learning the Chang song and dance, Chang meaning elephant. What prize pratt’s we looked but it was a giggle.

My last morning at the sanctuary and I was no way ready to leave. I knew I had the opportunity to stay, maybe even work there but there was so much more of the world I wanted to see, maybe I will return one day. The last elephant I fed was Hope, naughty Hope, he had to have a bell round his neck so you knew he was coming! I did all the usual daily tasks and then got ready to leave.

A group photo was a must, I know I have not mentioned much about the people I met but I did meet some great people. New friends for life I hope especially you Olivia! Firstly she has a great name, secondly she reminds me of my Claire Bear, very intelligent, funny and clumsy at times, I cannot help but laugh at her, she is great, so much so I will be meeting her in Laos for another adventure. We all had a group photo and said our goodbyes to each other and the elephant’s , I nearly cried.

I got dropped off at Julie's guest house after the driver reversed into a motorbike, the women really didn’t scream loud enough it was like a little squeak, she was ok just a few scratches. I collected my passport along with my Vietnam visa as promised. Julie's was full so I walked to another hostel that I heard was ok round the corner called Same Same Guest House. I booked into a dorm and soon realized I was sharing with 2 guys, one was Japanese who did not speak any English and looked like a mass murderer, I imagined a machete under his pillow. The second guy was French, I met him when he came into the room from the shower dripping wet with just a small towel round his waist. We started chatting and mid flow into our conversation he dropped his towel! Obviously not a problem in his culture to dry his bits in front of a complete stranger, I think I continued the discussion well considering. It was going to be an interesting night! I soon left and went to meet Katie who I had met a week before at Julie's. We have planned to travel North Thailand and Laos together. We Had a massage in the local market and tried some street food. Knowing what I had to face when returning to my room I was not keen on heading back, however I had a travel day to Pai ( further north) the next day so I needed some sleep, it had been a hard week. They were not in when I got to the room, I quickly got changed and fell asleep as fast as I could it didn’t take much, I was so tired and I fell asleep knewing I had a new and exciting adventure to start tomorrow.

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Photos

meet Mae Geao
She's beautiful

The park
so peaceful

The family
After a bath

Elephant kitchen
breakfast

Elephant kitchen
Melon anyone!

Elephant kitchen
They love banana's

My baby girl
xxxx