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Published: January 20th 2019
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January 20, 2019
I woke up to another day filled with sunshine! God is so good J. I feel sorry for my family who aren’t here to enjoy this beautiful weather! Since arriving, we have only had 1 day of rain…By 8:30am, we (the MC students, their buddies, my co-leader and 2 of my new Thai friends who are also BCNC faculty) were on our way to Maetaman Elephant Camp. It is an hour away from campus in the mountains surrounding Chiang Mai. I have been looking forward to this since I found out we would be going there. Once we arrived, we watched a show where the elephants bowed, gave “massages” painted pictures, and kicked a soccer ball. We fed them sugar cane. You hold out a piece of sugar cane and one of them would come up and curl their trunk around and put it in their mouth. Some were so talented they were able to hold 2 and 3 pieces of sugar cane with the trunk. If they dropped one, no worries. They picked it up and ate it. No 10 second rule here! We had our pictures taken with the elephants too. One elephants
gave kisses by placing his trunk against our cheeks.
After the show and pictures, we headed off for an elephant ride. Each elephant carried 2 passengers and a driver. The driver sat behind the elephant head and we sat on a set that was secured across the back. The elephant that gave me a ride was called Gingerale. She was 30 years old. She likes bananas and sugar cane so I bought some to give her before we set out. Part way through the ride, we came upon a store (aka grass hut) where someone was selling bananas and sugar so we pulled up to the “store” and purchased a bunch of bananas and sugar cane. Gingerale ate the entire bunch of bananas at one time followed by the entire bundle of sugar cane!
I discovered there are 50 elephants at the camp. They come from provinces in north and northwest Thailand. The elephants eat 400 pounds of food a day…yes, I did say a day! They are vegetarians. They like bananas, sugar cane, bamboo, corn, and grasses. The camp was established in 1980. I learned the keepers control the elephants by pulling on
their ear. That typically results in the elephant squealing (or at least that is what it sounds like). After I discovered this, every time I heard an elephant squeal I wondered if the elephant was talking to another elephant or if it was responding to having its ear pulled…
After the elephant ride, we went for an ox cart ride. Two oxen pull a cart that holds 4 people + a driver. The oxen who pulled the cart I was in were named Gentle and Gentile. Both were boys. Their favorite food is bananas. So I purchased bananas for them too. If they are going to give me ride, I may as well give them their favorite treat. It’s only fair, right?!
After the ox cart ride, we headed to lunch. There is an open air restaurant on the property that serves a delicious buffet of Thai dishes. The food was very good! Then, we were off to float down the river on a bamboo raft. It was so much fun! There were 4 people + 2 drivers (one at the front and one at the back) to steer the raft as we floated
along. As we were pushing off, a group of elephants carrying passengers came walking by. In a million years, I never would have thought I would be sitting on a bamboo raft on a river in Thailand with elephants walking beside it!
The raft ride was relaxing. Just the water, the birds, and us! Once we were under way, I was able to given the opportunity to steer for a bit. It was easier than I thought it would be. I was cruising along pretty well and then I saw a “small island” right in the middle of the river and I was going to have to steer us around it. Now, being a newbie at steering a bamboo raft, I was just a little concerned about my ability to navigate us around this “island”. I decided we would go to the right since the raft naturally seem to be headed that direction. Bon, our driver, who had happily given me his pole to steer the raft, noticed my look of concentration…I was trying to decide if I should hug the “island” and let the current pull us around it or cut it wide and hope we
don’t crash in to the side of the river. Now keep in mind, as we were boarding our raft, we noticed elephant dung floating in the water and we had joking said to each other, “if you fall in the water, keep our mouth shut!” One raft mate kept saying, “Mel, you should let Bon drive again.” I have to say I agree with her and happily gave the pole back to Bon who has been navigating the river every day for the last 4-5 years. He expertly navigated us around the “island” and we arrived safely down river to meet the other members of our group.
It is a day I will never forget. The elephants were like gentle giants. We watched them play in the river, spraying each other with water. We also experienced them reaching out to us with their very long trunks searching for sugar cane. Today, was my birthday and I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the day any other way here in Thailand. The weather was beautiful and the company great. The only thing that could have made it better was having my family here to experience the camp
and to celebrate with me.
We ended the day shopping for ingredients to take home to make the Thai dishes we learned to make yesterday. I was able to find everything I needed with the help of my Thai buddies. My family is in for treat when I get home and can prepare them some of the yummy dishes I have been eating for the last 2+ weeks.
We head for home in 4 days. Tomorrow, we will getting Thai massages followed by a visit to the Chiang Mai-Bangkok Hospital. It is a private hospital so I am curious as to how it will differ from the NKP Hospital.. So stay tuned for more!
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