October 3rd
This morning Kerstin and I were up bright and early. We were heading to the Elephant Nature Park. Basically go learn about the Asian Elephants, feed them, and bathe them. We walk across the street at 8am to get some breakfast, pick up should be around 8:30a. Order some homemade yogurt, museli, and fruit with a coffee. Then the van pulls up to get us. We were kind of scrambling to get everything in a take away container. My homemade yogurt was in a pre-packaged container from the store. Yum The food was still good regardless. Sat in the van and ate. We picked up 6 others from a near by guesthouse and then had an hour drive on our way up to the camp.
To pass the time we watched a documentary from National Geographic on the camp and the owner, Leks. She opened the camp back in 95 and had adopted 4 elephants at the time. Currently there are 33 rescued elephants at the camp. They are endangered and only 1000 left in SE Asia.
We arrive and get some instructions on how to behave around the elephants as they can become aggressive at time. They were severely abused by their previous owners. The goal of the company was very enlightening and inspirational. Had no idea the poor conditions that elephants were brought up in to have them become labors for tourism. When they are four years old, they are beaten down to instill fear and learn commands. The process takes 4-7 days depending on how much the elephant tries to defend itself.
We first went to feed them and then pet them. Had to grow comfortable enough to go down in the grounds with them. They eat watermelon, pumpkin, and bananas. Many of the elephants that the camp rescued have poor dietary intake. When you see them in the streets being paraded around Bangkok and Chiang Mai they eat anything and everything. Fruit and trees are the best food for them. Living in the cities they become stressed as their feet are very sensitive and feel all the vibrations around them; cars, people, lights, motorbikes, and anything else that moves. One of the elephants was a street elephant and got hit by a car, now has a damaged hip and can't walk properly. These animals are the symbol of Thailand and worshipped in temples, but mistreated so badly.
Once we fed some of them, they were getting ready for their bathing time. During this time it was already time for us to eat lunch. They prepared a Thai buffet full of curries, fruits, and many vegetarian dishes. The food was very good. At the camp you also see many other animals, they are all rescued as well; dogs, cats, cows, and water buffalo. The community is only on 150 acres and they are looking into getting more land to grow the camp. There are nearby villages that also partner up with them. They trade for crops and use their resources and labor. The hut was built to be sturdy enough for the elephants to come and scratch themselves on it, they have very itchy skin.
For their bath, we walked down to the river with them and poured buckets of water on them. They would stand, lay, swim, and roll over in the water. These massive animals are really playful and gentle, was incredible to engage in their behavior. We washed one and she was blind. Her owner treated her so badly as to hit her when she wouldn't move fast enough and stabbed her with a wooden stick with nails on the end and hit her in the eyes. There were some horrific stories for everyone of them.
There was so much information on the elephants I wanted to retain it all. They are pregnant for 2 years and are identified by certain characteristics, skin color, humps on their head, and toes. They need to bathe in the water to keep cool, right after they go into the mud and spray dirt on themselves as it asks a a sunscreen and protects them. Elephants only sleep 4 hours in the night and spend most of their time eating thorough out the day and night.
We were able to spend lots of time with them, petting and learning all about them. The day went by pretty fast. We headed back to our guesthouse and the guide asked me if I wanted to grab a drink or dinner and talk more about elephants. I said no and got out of the van. We met back up with the boys and they were in a Thai cooking class the whole day. Kerstin and I plan on doing that either in Pai or when we come back on Wednesday. Depending on how long we go to Pai for, we leave in the morning at 10am and it is about 3.5hours by mini bus.
Go shower and clean up to head out for dinner and some coffee. Walk over to the Sunday Night Market, supposed to be better than the Saturday one we went to yesterday. Since I did a lot of shopping last night not sure how much I will get tonight. There was a Pizza place right at our entrance, so we sit down there. Kerstin and I split and pizza. We have some great conversations and get up to walk along the market. We are over it in about 10 mins as it is all the same stuff from yesterday. I would say there are more clothes available, but I saw the same stands repeated. We all agree to go relax at a bar and have one drink. The Pirate's Cove was closed so we walked to a Reggae bar down the street from our guesthouse. Walk in and the bartender lets us know that there is seating upstairs on the terrace.
Some locals are sitting up there and celebrating a birthday party. Pretty awesome time, we talked with them the whole time and learned some more Thai words. Then they offered some fresh grilled fish and muscles. The food was delicious. The time ran fast and I was exhausted. Called it a night and went back to our guesthouse.
http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/
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