In our two years of marriage we have done some pretty fun stuff – hiked a crumbling section of the Great Wall of China, fed kangaroos and held koalas, and hiked “the most dangerous mountain in China” (Hua Shan) – but riding elephants through the jungle in Chiang Mai is now really high up on our list of the coolest things we’ve done! Not only did we ride them, we also fed them and bathed them. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s our story of the elephants:
“Fourteen minute ride then food,” said the man who picked us up from our hotel. Twenty minutes later we realized “fourteen” was probably “forty.” After a quick bathroom stop (squatters, of course, with no toilet paper, just a bucket of water), we were headed into the mountains. We knew we were close when we had to share the road with a huge elephant. After crossing a small river over a rickety bamboo “bridge” (yes, driving in a truck!) we made it to our destination.
We started by changing into clothes they provided for us and readied ourselves to feed the baby elephant. They gave us five huge bags of bananas and that little guy was in elephant heaven! All six of us were standing around him with bananas and he just moved his trunk down the line until all the bananas were gone. He even got double bananas since some of us put them right into his mouth while he grabbed at others with his trunk. So cute! Then he gave us all elephant kisses with his trunk! This little guy was our favorite throughout the day.
After feeding him, we got the chance to ride the grown elephants. Our guide told us that the baskets that many people put on the elephants are bad for the elephants because they are so heavy, so we rode bareback. Even more fun! I got the lucky spot in the front on its neck and Jarek took the middle of the back. Before we knew it, we were off through the jungle! One of the highlights was when our elephant stopped in a puddle of mud and decided to cool herself off. You know what that means… We got sprayed! We were covered in mud! Our elephant would not go anywhere until it was sufficiently cool, so were there for a while! Once she finally decided she was cool enough, we moved on and went down to a more open area and the mahouts just let us roam around with our elephants by ourselves. Ours found an area with lots of dirt and began to feast. Apparently the dirt has nutrients that are good for their stomachs, so they like to snack on it when they find it. After getting thoroughly sunburned in that open area, we headed back. We rewarded the elephants with lots of bananas and the rind from pineapples and watermelon. It was amazing!
The day was not over, though! After getting lunch of our own, we went to the water to bathe the elephants. That was definitely a highlight! It turned into a big elephant pool party! The little baby elephant loved spraying everyone as we dumped buckets of water over the elephants (and the people). The best way to get people wet was by grabbing the little guy’s trunk, putting it under water, then pulling it out while yelling, “Fire!” and he would spray water at everyone! So fun! Thailand – and many countries in this area of the world – is awesome because anything goes so you can pretty much do whatever you want. Nobody is worried about getting sued like in the U.S. If you want to ride the elephant again, you can. If you want to jump on its back in the water, no problem. Of course, it’s best to make sure with the elephant’s mahout before you do anything, but he will most likely say yes to anything. I hopped on one of the elephant’s backs and she got up and took me away! You feel bigger than them when they are bathing in the river, but once they stand up, you remember how small you actually are! Those are big animals!
After one last feeding, our fun with the elephants was coming to a close. We took lots of pictures with them and played with them a little more and then it was time for them to rest. (But I don’t think that little one ever wanted to rest; he was so full of energy the whole time!) We changed out of our awesome elephant clothes and said goodbye.
The day went perfectly and I was so impressed with the park we went to. The only elephant that had to be tied to a tree was the little guy because otherwise he would have run away! Each elephant had a mahout and was treated very well. There was only one other group besides ours and most of the day we had the elephants to ourselves! I would definitely go back to see those elephants again! It was amazing!