Elephants!

I'm always afraid to trust the people I meet when I'm traveling. Does the seemingly nice lady who comes up to me on the street really want to help, or is she just looking to sell me something? Will the "great deal" actually turn out to be a sham? Traveling though Thailand, I've been amazed to see how many people actually do want to help and really are just being friendly.

That's the way I felt about elephants. They're big! They're heavy! When the first one came bounding up to me this morning, I was cautious. But, within the first five minutes of Eric's and my Mahout (elephant rider) training course, I knew those guys just wanted to have fun. And eat bananas. Lots and lots of bananas.



We changed into special Mahout outfits and spent the first part of the day--once we had gotten used to the random elephants coming up and nuzzling us, and kissing us, and playing the harmonica (!) at us--learning the commands that tell an elephant to go forward (pai), go backwards (toi), stop (hao), and turn (quay). Our trainer, Mr. Big, also taught us how to get on top of an elephant: you sit on either the elephant's leg or her trunk and she lifts you up on top of her head.

After a delicious lunch, the real fun began. We each got our own elephants and set out on a ride. My elephant, Pytoon, was a huge pregnant lady who reminded me that she was eating for two every time we stopped anywhere near greenery. I would have taken her home with me, if I could only have fit her in my backpack. (Did you know that elephants carry their babies for almost two years? And then they spend three years raising each baby? Good thing our trainer says they can live for over a century!)

Just when I was starting to get saddle sore, we arrived at the river and it was time to give the elephants a bath. In the process, we had a great time climbing on the elephants and swimming. Then, Pytoon sprayed dust all over herself (to keep the bugs off) and the trainers said I had to wash her again. Take another dip with my elephant friend? I thought they'd never ask.

We rode back to the training camp and spent another hour or so playing with the elephants, especially a little baby that stuck close to her mom, before the drive back to Chiang Mai.

As a little kid, my favorite Thai restaurant was a little street corner place that Eric and I called "Purple Elephant," because the real name was too hard to pronounce and there was a big purple elephant on the sign.  The real deal knocks the pictures out of the watering hole!