Thailand 3 - Elephants

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Thailand 3 - Elephants

Day 128

We were up early again to catch our flight to Chiang Mai in Thailand. We succesfully navagated the KL subway system and caught the shuttle bus to the airport which was well over an hour outside of the city. Once we landed in Chiang Mai we head straight for the bus terminal so we could catch a bus to Lampang – the closest city to the Elephant Conservation sanctuary. We booked tickets on the 3pm bus so we had time to get some lunch first, then realisd how daft we'd been as Thai time is an hour behind Malaysia and so really we should have got the 2pm bus, but by the time we realised this all the cheap seats had sold out so we had to wait anyway.

Once we got to Lampang we refused to pay the extortionate prices the taxis were trying to charge us to the centre of the town and so ended up squished up together onto this motorbike with side car taxi contraption, with our bags dangling from hooks on the back.

It was raining so we spent a few hours in an internet cafe, planning our route through Borneo & the Philippines so that we could book flights between them before prices begin to rise. Afterwards we went for dinner in this popular & charming local restaurant. As the food is so tasty and cheap in Thailand we ordered lots and had a veritable banquet, with beer, all for about £5. We then went for an evening drink in a bar with awful karaoke, where people were singing to a live band. We also saw that there was a birthday party happening and it seems to be normal in Thailand for everyone to eat the birthday cake using chopsticks.

Day 129

We got up early and were straight into a taxi to begin our first day working as Elephant mahouts. We were made to feel very special from the moment that we showed up at the Lampang Elephant Consevation Centre. We were given our own special 'mahout suits' which were made from a very heavy cotton which would keep us from getting our own clothes dirty, these suits were like VIP cards and meant that we could walk into just about any area in the park, even those cordoned off to the public.

Then we were taken to meet our elephants which was very exciting. Tracy had a male elephant called Gao who was 13 years old. He was beautiful and still had two big strong tusks, although it appeared as though they had been sawed off at the ends. Joe's elephant was called Pancock and she was a female. We had to get on with our command training straight away as we were all going to be performing in the morning's show for lots of thai school children & other park visitors. First of all we had to learn all the different ways of climbing on to the elephants. The easiest way was to say 'samsong' and the elephant would bend his front leg. You could then step on this and use his ear and the chain on his neck (a bit like a collar) to pull yourself and jump up. It sounds a bit cruel at first but we soon realised how tough the elephants were and that this didn't hurt them at all, they can probably barely feel it. Getting down was like the same process in reverse where you had to slowly slide back down to the elephants bent leg. The other way to get off was by getting the elephant to kneel down so we could swing your legs round to in front of its face and then jump to the floor. You can also climb back on this way but it's a bit trickier as the elephants had a habit of turning standing up again before you could manage to rotate yourself on his neck so that you were facing the front again. Other tricks that we learned involved how to drop things and getting the elephant to pick them up for you and hand them back to you with their trunks.

Once we had mastered these skills we were off down the road for the mornings bath. Ridding the elephants was so funny as every stride they meant threw you off balance so we had to concentrate hard not to fall off. We walked down to a small lake where the elephants are bathed every morning and there is a spectator stand for the people visiting the park to watch. One by one we waded into the water on the backs of our elephants and waited till they submerged themselves so that we could scrub & clean them. It was so much fun, though we got completely soaked. Afterwards the elephants formed a parade wand walked back to the show arena to give the mornings performance. The show was very nice, it was educational as well as funny and we had to demonstrate our new mahout skills to the crowd. It was quite scary with everyone watching you as it would have been very embarassing (not to mention painfull) if we would have fallen off

After the morning show we checked into our overnight homestay which was in a tiny village inside the park and had lunch. We used this opportunity to get to know the other people on our course; an Australian lady called Chris and her 8 year old daughter Lola. This was their 2nd time on the mahout course so they were able to tell us all about what to expect.

In the afternoon we repeated the same routine as in the morning, firstly bathing the elephants and performing another show. Bathing the elephants seemed top become more fun and more messy each time, with both our elephants dipping their heads so far under the water that we were up to our chests in it and clinging on for dear life so as not to actually fall in ourselves. Once the afternoon show had finished we fed the elephants some roasted coconut and sunflower seeds as treats and rode them off into the surrounding jungle where they are kept overnight.

We used the rest of the afternoon to explore the park, visiting the baby elephant nursery and the hospital where sick elephants can be brought by the public to be treated for free.

Day 130

We got up at 6am so that we could get dressed and then go walk back into the jungle to collect the elephants from their overnight resting spot. As we rode them back to the centre we stopped at a different bathing whole and got to wash the elephants without all the spectators watching. This was important as all the elephants were filthy because they had been spraying themselves with dirt in the afternoon to keep cool in the hot sun. Tracy got a soaking herself when Gao filled up his trunk with water and then decided to spray it all over the back of his head and neck!

Once back at the camp we fed the elephants lots of bananas and bamboo for their breakfast. They are so funny as they like to line up 4 or 5 bananas on their trunks before stuffing them all into their mouths at once. The also get lots of food during the shows as there are ample opportunities for the crowd to buy food and hand feed the elephants.

We went down to the lake for the mornings public bath and this time we had both learned the commands for trying to get your elephant to spray water from his trunk. You need to tap him on his head and shout 'bon-bon'. Then you can grab hold of his trunk and try to direct where the spray should go. Tracy & Gao were clearly the best at this game with 3 great squirts at Joe & Pancock who just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. After the wash we did the parade and show again and then got shown all around the elephant hospital before lunch. Some of the elephants in the hospital looked like real sad cases and it was heartbreaking to see but we had to remind ourselves that at least now they were in the best place for them where they were being well looked after.

Once we had lunch we said our goodbyes and headed off to catch a bus back to Chiang Mai. This is easily one of our best ever experiences and we are both so happy that we waited and chose to do it in Lampang, it really is something we'll never forget.

Once we were back in Chiang Mai we tried some rather unsucessful skyping due to a bad internet connection and went out for a final thai curry. It seems weird to leave Thailand again as we seem to return here so often.

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