Winter Vacation 2010: Day 9

15.2.10

This morning, I woke up at 7:30 and dressed in a bathingsuit, shorts and t-shirt. I packed an extra set of clothes and we waited downstairs until the van came and picked us up. We drove around for a while picking up other people and then drove to a market where we were shown bananas and sugarcane and told how it's like dessert for the elephants but too much can hurt their stomaches. (Later I learned that my concept of too much was different than the mahouds' and the elephants'. I guess that more than 2 bananas would be too much for me- but when you eat up to 250 kg of food a day, 8-12 bunches is about right.) Then we went to their office to sign insurance forms and then drove an hour to he elephant camp. It was almost in Pai. When we got there, we were given clothes to wear. We were told that it was a Mahoud uniform but the Mahouds there were wearing longsleeve shirts and jeans. It was a good thing that they gave us the clothes since the first thing that we did was feed the elephants bananas and sugar cane.

There were many elephants at the camp, including a 9 month old baby elephant.

There was one elephant who was called Dancing Queen because when she did not have anything to do, she would bop back and forth and looked like she was dancing.

Then we took turns getting on and off the elephants as well as walking them around and giving them commands.
- Pai- forward/go
- Quwe- Turn. There was a hook tool that you used to tug at the elephant's ear to indicate which way you wanted them to turn.
- How- Stop.

We took the elephants on a circle around 2 trees clockwise and then counterclockwise to practice both directions. Then we took a break for lunch- rice and veggis, clear soup and an omelette. Then there was a 45 minute rest before riding time. Although there were 5 other "couples/pairs" as part of our group, I had no desire to talk much with or even find out the names of the younger ones as they were discussing eyelash extentions and travel cell phone rates. One came fully made-up. Not my crowd!

Yo and I were on the same elephant. I started in the front, as the driver and sat on the neck of the elephant while Yo was the passenger and held into a rope tied around the elephant's middle. At the 1/2 way point we switched.
At the half way point, we learned more about the elephants- they poo about 50 kg a day and drink between 30-200 liters of water a day. There was also the opportunity to get kissed by one of the elephants. It was gross, yet cool. Then the way back was downhill and much more challenging. I was glad that I was in the back as the ride was a bit smoother there.

When we got back (after about 90 minutes of riding), we took the elephants into the "pool" (aka- dirty ditch) where they sprayed us and we scrubbed them.

I have a great time playing with the 9 month old elephant who kept playing with and trying to give my feet "kisses." At one point on the ride I got a photo of the elephant nursing.

Then seeing as we were wet and gross (elephant poo floats), we were able to shower and change before heading back to the van and to our hotels. Then we dropped our stuff off and went to internet and then to Mad Dog for pizza. Now it's time to repack because we leave Chiang Mai tomorrow.

........

So I thought that I was done for the night when it was about 8:30pm and I was showered, in PJs and in bed looking at the megillah reading when Yonina asked if I had gifts for my parents. I said no and asked if it could wait until morning. She said it was better to get something in Chiang Mai since things were much cheaper than in the islands. I was thinking of waiting until morning to check the market near the Taipae Gate but I was unsure about what time it opened. So we decided to put clothes back on and head out to the night market. I ended up finding other Israelis and bought toilet paper holders with elephants on them. Now the shopping better be done!