Chiang Mai...Land of Gentle Giants

For our school Fall Break in October we chose Chiang Mai in Thailand as our destination. We flew  first into Bangkok and after a day and night of fun, caught the one-hour flight to Chiang Mai the next afternoon.

I'll tell you about our time in Bangkok later...my beloved elephants come first!!

Our (or I should say "MAI") specific goal was to visit the Patara Elephant Farm.   I confess a slight obsession with The Jungle Book in my childhood.

Patara is an elephant rescue sanctuary that teaches visitors all the daily requirements to keep elephants healthy and happy. Each visitor then has the responsibility of feeding, bathing, exercising and playing with their "own" elephant.   This was my idea of heaven...a bucket list item for sure!

Patara sent a driver to our hotel at 7am Sunday morning for the 45-minute drive to the elephant reserve.  Upon arrival, we were first taken to visit the mother's with young babies.

This little boy was one day old!

The proud new mommy!

I got a HUG!!!

5 month old and a 4 month old "toddlers" make a game of clobbering each other on the head.
Mark and Grant keep a safe distance.

I wanted to hug all the babies, play with all the babies, and take home a baby.

This little guy kept charging my legs, begging me to wrestle and play with him.

SO SWEET!!!

He was determined to take me for a ride!

I had a hard time leaving him...he was so funny and so insistent that I stay!

Hmmm...chewing my leg off might keep me from leaving?

Surrounded by the mountains and valleys of Chiang Mai

In our safari shirts!  Time for Elephant 101 where we learned the daily care regimen of the Asian Elephant.
....I think you can see who was most excited.

After "class," the head trainer told us he had watched all of our interactions earlier with the mothers and babies.  He would now "assign" us elephants based on our personalities and interactions with the animals.

Jane was given 8-year-old Pan, the youngest and most obedient elephant.

Grant was given 32-year-old Abharamu...a headstrong, independent and fearless Alpha-female.


I was given 19-year old Matchindan, the newest addition to Patara.
Rescued from an abusive owner, she was very strong-willed, and was not always willing to obey commands.

Love at first sight!!

Matchindan was known to charge anyone that offended her.
They told me my comfortable attitude with all the animals would put her at ease.
She also loves "talkers!"  That's my girl!!!

They told Mark he would have 28-year-old Monmou, the slowest and laziest elephant of the herd.
Mark was not amused.

Mark tries to get Monmou's attention

In our safari shirts with (l-r) Matchindan, baby Pomola, and Monmou

                                    FEEDING TIME
Our first job was to feed our elephants a big breakfast of bananas and sugar cane.

Feeding my Matchindan and her 8-month-old daughter Pomola, seen here.

Matchindan listened as I chattered away. She happily allowed me to take care of her baby.

Jane Ellis feeding Pan

                     THEN CAME "POO CHECK TIME"
After feeding our new pets, we had to count and analyze the "poo" of our elephants.
A pile of 4-5 was considered a healthy output.  Just counting...easy enough.

Oh but there's more!!!  TRUE "poo analysis" required us to pick one up, break it open, check for evenly chewed grass, and then (oh joy) smell the poo.

Mark learning how to tell "good poo" from bad poo!!

If it smelled "good" your elephant was healthy.  Surpisingly, it actually smelled just like sweet grass and bananas.
Effective immediately, I have put Mark on a new diet.  Hard to find enough grass to fill him.

At this point, Mark was seriously questioning why he was paying for this "vacation."

Finally, we had to SQUEEZE the poo...if a good amount of liquid came out, our elephants were deemed to be well-hydrated.  

And so they SQUEEZED!!

BRUSHING AND BATH TIME

You can't ride without cleaning your elephant or the grit under your legs irritates their skin.

Jane Ellis and Pan pose together after she has brushed all the dirt off of Pan's back.

After brushing our elephants we all have to give them a quick shower

                           SAFARI TIME !!!

Jane gets ready to shift into forward-facing position

Grant climbed up easily and, soon after, Abharamu took off through the jungle ahead of the rest of the herd, clearly not interested in whether anyone of us followed her.

Next it was my turn.

Time to pivot!

All set!!!

Meanwhile, Mark heaved himself over Monmou's face with the speed of a glacier.

As Mark thrashed and struggled past the top of Monmou's head, the trainers protected her ears from his flailing limbs.                               

           
                                          ALL ABOARD!!!

Ready to ride! See baby Pomola making sure I don't leave her behind!

On our jungle safari to the river....my "Mowgli" moment!

Baby Pomola is right at our heels!

When we got to the river, our herd let us dismount so they could race into the water while we took a break

A light snack after our jungle ride was just what we needed!

Jane riding in to give Pan her bath

This bath stuff is HARD work!!

All 5 elephants clean and ready for playtime!






I was the only one dying to swim with the elephants...Matchindan was thrilled!

Pomola got jealous and kept swimming under me!

Matchindan decided to lie down while a rode on Pomola's back

Pomola thinks she is a big girl now!

Sitting under the ICE COLD waterfall!

Too cold for Jane Ellis!

Can't resist the rock slide though

Splash down!!!

Such a nut!

                                      LET THE FEAST BEGIN !!!

A magnificent meal provided by our new Thai friends!!

After all that riding, bathing and swimming, we were famished!!

Heading back up the mountain at the end of our wonderful day...

Jane gets a goodbye hug from Pan!

Sunset shot in front of Patara's strawberry crop, sugar cane (back left) and rice paddies.

Bye-bye Chiang Mai!!
Thailand lived up to it's nickname as the Land of Smiles.
As you can see...I could not stop smiling!
I love Chiang Mai and I love ALL my gentle giants!!
This was one of the BEST days I have ever had!!!