Elephant Camp February 5

We are off to elephant camp where we will learn to ride and command an elephant. We were picked up at our hotel by our guide and drove about one  and a half hours into the mountains where the elephant camp was located. There was a couple from Holland who would be riding with us.

Dante Tour. Our guide's grandfather logged the area around the camp and when logging with elephants ended he needed to find a new way to earn a living so he started giving elephant rides. Our tour guide, his grandson, started working with him and has developed it into a successful business.

Denny (from Holland) and our guide carrying a basket of bananas over to the elephants. We fed the elephants bananas so they would get to know us.

Getting instructions on where you can hold on to an elephant. Ears were a good place.

Charlie feeding the elephant bananas.

The baby nursing from its' mother. In five years the baby will begin giving rides to tourists.

We learned how to get on and off the elephant, where to place our butts and legs, and how to hold on once the elephant stood up.  We learned to give voice commands to the elephants.

Charlie taking a practice ride. Check out our elephant riding clothes!

There was always somethere to help when the elephant decided to do something besides what I was trying to command him to do. We learned the elephant words for stop, go, back, turn left or right. You had to yell the words really loud so the elephant knew you were in control.  Ha! Ha!

I might join the circus and become an elephant rider!!

The baby was free to play with the other elephants and the humans.

The baby was trying to lay on the trainer.

After our elephant instruction class we had lunch.

Tofu and vegetables with rice curry and pineapple. This was one of the best meals we have had in Thailand. Lots of vegetables.

We were not able to start our elephant ride after lunch because there was a funeral going on in the field below us. Fire crackers are shot off during the funeral service and the elephants don't like the noise and can react violently. Therefore, we could not be riding the elephants when this happened.

We walked over to the funeral area. The 14 year old girl, who had died, had been performing in a school show using fire sticks. Some of the lighting fluid has spilled on her and when the sticks were ignited her clothing caught on fire.  The school band played music and most of the people in town were there.

The monks said prayers for the girl.

The casket and ornate covering were set on a cement pyre where the body was cremated.  Fire crackers that gave off white smoke were shot into the air and the final fire cracker traveled down a wire and ignited the funeral pyre. After this everyone left and we went back to the elephants.

Back at the elephant camp we had to put our cameras away and take off our shoes so we could start our elephant ride. We rode the elephants through the jungle and then down to the river. We rode them into the river to give them a bath. We were in the river with the elephants, scrubbing their backs with a brush and splashing them with water. Our guide took pictures and at the end of the day gave us a cd with all the pictures he had take of us riding on the elephants. 

While we were waiting to go back to town the baby elephant came into the restaurant looking for bananas to eat.

Our guide drove us back to town. He works seven days a week doing tours and has six elephants. It was a really great experience and the elephants seemed to be treated with respect and well taken care of and looked healthy.

Chiang Mai, February 4

We met a couple from Pennsylvania who are staying in the same hotel as we are.

Deb and George our touring friends. 

The four of us decided to rent a car and driver to take us on a tour of the mountain area around Chiang Mai.

First stop, an orchid farm. 

There were many varieties and colors of orchids at the farm.

Next stop was a visit to four hill tribes. 

I had only a half of a section around my neck and it was really heavy.

The Long Necks are the group of people who stretch the length of their necks by adding brass to their necks every few years. The rings are only removed when it is time to add more length of brass. The rings are one continuous length of brass.

In some of the tribes, the women wear huge metal tubes through her ear lobes.

The women all weave different types of scarfs or table runners.

Everyone had a little shop where they sold items to the tourists. A few families lived there but the villages of these people were in different areas of Thailand.

For lunch we went further up the mountain to the very top where there was a restaurant.

The restaurant on top of the mountain.

The view from the table area where we had lunch.

The lady making our lunch.

Som Tom for lunch.

After lunch we stopped at Queen Sirikit Botanic Gardens. There were different green houses that each housed plants from the different enviornments found in Thailand.

Tropical rain forest.

Desert environment

Forest environment

Charlie and George checking out the plants.

Water environment. 

Orchid environment

Grounds and fountains that you pass when entering the gardens and green houses.

It was a long day and we made it home around 6:00. Our taxi driver was great. He seemed to take a nap every time he let us off at a site while he waited for us to return to the car.