Elephant Riding

Hello to all of you from Pai! Today my dream came true: I rode an elephant through the jungle in Thailand! Yesterday on our tour of the Pai area we made a stop at Karen's Elephant camp. We walked up to the elephant pavillion and there were three elephants just hangin out right there eating huge grass stalks being fed to them. As I approached my excitement grew...they are really huge! I met the elephant right then that I knew would fulfill my pachydermal desires. We stayed with them for a while, feeding them grass and petting thier leathery wrinkled skin. We knew we would be back.

Later that night we decided we would ride the elephants the next day, so we called Karen's Elephant camp (with some difficulty, stupid foriegn payphones) and asked them to pick us up at 9 AM.
We woke up bright and early, 7AM  this morning full of excitement and vigor ready to ride. We eat a Thai breakfast (tofu curry all around) and make it back just in time for our ride. Oh happy day, there she was, ready to take us.

We arrive at the camp that morning bearing gifts of small bananas and love for the elephant, Noi, that was to take us. We hop up onto her back using a 1 story tall staircase. We could have ridden in a chair-saddle type thing, but we wanted to go Au Naturale. So with only blankets on Noi's back and a rope to hang onto, Travis, Sarah and Chai (the elephant trainer) set off. As we walk I realize (1) How amazing life is that I get to have an experience like this, and (2) how similar an elephant is to  horse. Why is this? Horses love to stop and eat. It is not hard to nudge a horse onward, having reins and a bit, but an elephant on the other hand takes some more convincing not to stop and gorge on delicious leaves.

So we continue, with frequent snack breaks, up the mountain. We plod through the jungle, singing "In the jungle" joined by our Thai guide who knows the "shape" of the English words and the tune but not the actual words. Made for quite an interesting rendition. Plodding through the jungle, elephants. My life had reached a high point.

We countinue on, spirits high, down the mountain again. We walk along the road for a few meters, feeling like celebrities. Everyone on thier motorbikes waving, smiling and taking photos. We walk further and through a neighborhood of guesthouses and beautiful gardens with brilliant pink flowers. It seemed like we were passing hot pink and peach coloered bogenvillia bushes forever.

We arrive at the river. Just before, we pass a restaurant where the smiling waiter gives the elephant a bowl full of pineapple peelings and takes a photo of us. The Pai river lies shining before us, villagers fishing and washing clothes, little birds and big butterflies flutter past. Splish splash, the river is shallow and up it we walk. Soon we reach a point where the river gets deeper.

Noi wades out, and, at the instruction of Chai, proceeds to dive into the river and dump us full on into the water. Luckily we had left the camera and sunglasses onshore, it was quite a surprise to be deposited into the water after just being on an elephant! The water was cool and felt nice, as it was very warm out. Chai lets us get back onto her back and then has her dump us again! Then he says "OK OK no more water" Then again! You know what they say, Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice,.....Can't get fooled again!" I was tricked a total of three times. Then we get back on, and the elephant takes us in our soaked clothes back to the camp. We feed the rest of the bananas to Noi, rewarding her for a pleasant and wonderful ride. What an adventure!!

This really was a day I will never forget and a total dream come true. Much love to everyone, and HORAY FOR ELEPHANTS!!!!

Check out all our elephant pictures from Pai: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.812375635735.2379791.18403674&l=89f615266b