baanchang elephant park

for the final adventure of my trip we went to the baanchang elephant park.  i must take a moment here to sincerely thank shanti for setting up our activities and schedules for the past 3 weeks.  i'm so burnt out i couldn't have cared less if i had done nothing but ride tuk tuks and eat.  but shanti researched, organized, motivated and made it all happen.  i am very thankful for that.  love you shanti.

our van pulled into the park and the first thing we saw was a field of elephants of all sizes and ages, each chained by the leg so they didn't touch one another.  they seemed pretty happy and healthy.  sol was in heaven.  after a short briefing our first task was to feed them bananas and sugar cane.  and we were told which elephants we couldn't touch, the blind one, the angry one, the people hater.  each of the elephants had come from a working environment where they were mistreated and are here to recover and give rides to tourists like us.  

we grabbed bunches of bananas and as much sugar cane as we could carry and walked to the different elephants to feed them.  their trunks were so cute!  as we approached they'd sniff us out and if there was food the trunk would snuffle and grab and it was really like some sort of alien being.  truly weird.

after going through several bushels of food it was time to learn how to sit on an elephant.  we were going to ride them bareback so learning to climb on and off was important.  many of the elephants at the park were recovering from being tourist transit with the giant wooden platform seats on their backs, which are not healthy for them.  we learned the command to sit (but no matter how much we screamed it the elephants only listened to their personal trainers), the elephant would kneel down, you step on the front leg, throw yourself on top and the elephant would start getting up.  i can't equate that feeling with anything else i've ever done, it was definitely unique.  like climbing a small mountain and then being in an earthquake?  

we sat way high up on the neck with our knees tucked in behind the ears.  the tigers were much comfier.

after practicing sitting we learned how to steer an elephant and did a practice loop, turning in both directions.  the command to go is 'pai pai' while kicking your elephant repeatedly in both ears (not hard kicking, more like flapping their ears for them).  to turn we yelled 'kwek' and kicked the ear on the opposite side of the way we wanted to go, like a giant turn signal.  stop was 'how' and we squeezed the neck with our knees.  the elephants just humored us by making us think they were listening but really they've done this loop probably about a million times in their lives.

sol's first elephant ride was a success.  pablo got up, i passed sol to him, they did a loop.  he loved it.

after lunch was the real fun, a jungle walk.  we got on our elephants (shanti pablo and sol had one and i had my own) and were each led by the animal's personal handler.  some people's elephants were a little rowdy and had to be led by a rope, some handlers used their spiky axe thing for reminders of manners, but my elephant, tong toom, was excellent.  all she did was follow her guy and never did anything naughty.  

riding an elephant bareback is something that everyone should try once.  it was incredible.  i locked myself in with my knees (sort of), my hands were on her giant head for balance, and we lumbered around for about an hour and a half.  the skin and prickly hairs were so fun to touch.  her eyes were beautiful and old and sad, with 2 inch long eyelashes.  she did have some scars from her past life but was super healthy looking otherwise.  occasionally she'd wander to the side of the trail and scrounge a snack and chomp as we walked.

the commands we learned were just to make us feel important, the elephants didn't listen to a word we said.  tong toom's trainer walked right in front of us and every time he stopped, elephant stopped, whichever path he took, elephant followed.  i still pretended to steer.  

i looked back a few times but shanti was too far behind to see them much.  i did see the 3 of them happily riding.  turning around to look at things while riding an elephant is not easy.  i relaxed as much as possible but the balance thing was far from anything i've tried before and maybe another hour of practice and i would have it no problem.

elephants have a pretty clever/gross air conditioning system.  as they walk they stick their trunks in their mouths and suck water, spit, slime, food bits out of their throats and spray themselves down.  they keep a lot of water on hand, just in case.  the sound was maybe like a 2000 lb man hocking a giant spitwad.  through a 4 foot long nose.  ok i'm not sure how to describe  it.  trunk in throat, sucking accomplished, then tong toom would alternate sides and bottom, spraying whichever part was hot.  which included me.  after our ride i was soaked with elephant phlegm.  truthfully, though, it wasn't bad because it kept me pretty cool too.  stinky but cool.

after our jungle tour it was time to wash our elephants and let them rest.  we ended the walk at a pond of brown water and floating elephant poop and walked our elephants in.  we got buckets and scrub brushes, although i don't see how we could accomplish any cleaning in poop water.  the elephants laid down and we got to scrubbing.  i enjoyed this part immensely because my trainer let me lay on my elephant and strike calendar poses, and i got to stand on her too.  but i scrubbed and washed and loved.  shanti pablo and sol were having a blast washing their elephant (moon, i think), she kept snorkeling water and spraying them the whole time.  

when the trainers started getting their elephants to lead them in for the nite my trainer let me ride tong toom one last time.  this was an unforgettable, amazing experience.

i said my goodbyes to shanti pablo and sol and went to pack for home.  surprisingly everything  i bought fit in my bags.  i think i kinda like this shopping thing, i'll have to try some more. 

i know i'm sorta jet lagged and travel weary but its 1pm now.  my flight leaves china at 2:30pm.  i have 17 hours of travel left and i'll still get home at 1pm today.  which is right now.  i'm going to think about this again after a good week of sleep. 

one lucky little boy.  and big boy.  and girl.