Helen and Randall on the road

The train journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was long but picturesque – 15 hours instead of 12 because of flood-related diversions. On the way we saw some of the devastation caused by the flooding. The railway tracks were now obviously above water, but next to them and all around were homes and small businesses, and of course agricultural land, completely swamped. On the houses we could where the high water mark had reached – at least a metre higher.

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 23.30, hopped in a Songthaew (shared taxi/minibus thing) and checked into the Awana Guest House.

Early start meant grabbing a packed breakfast from a restaurant down the street and getting picked up at 7.30 by a minibus from Patara Elephant Farm to be an ‘Elephant Owner for a Day’. Their philosophy is based around rescuing and recovering, then breeding healthy Elephants to build the population, as the Asian Elephant population has been declining significantly in Thailand.

First we got to meet some of the elephants:

Did somebody say bananas?

Just a few months old. One of 6 babies they have on the farm at the moment.

Overfamiliar  baby elephant!

Then we got to put on stylish mahout smocks:

Randall not sure about this as a fashion statement…

We all had to get to know our elephant, learn how to check their health, and then do the ‘Elephant Skincare’ (cleaning and bathing the elephant) before we got to go on the trek to the waterfall for lunch:

Helen gets to know Mah-kah-su. The mahout smock is supposed to help.

OK, she likes me. Even in this outfit.

Dusting an elephant is harder than it looks…

Randall takes the lead.

Randall’s big pregnant elephant.

Poo checking. Part of the overall health check. At least that’s what they told us.

Scrubbers

You can do it, put your back into it…

Yes, ALL of the elephant needs washing…

Mum and baby elephant. Baby elephant…toooo cute for words!! (They have several, a testament to their breeding programme)

Very funny. All wet. (Elephant humour)

My elephant wouldn’t do either the foot thing or the trunk thing so my ascent was rather less elegant than it might have been. Remember that scene from ‘Temple of Doom’??

That’s better.

Phew!

It’s a long way down from here!

Riding an elephant is harder work than it looks, particularly on the steep up and down track we took, so lunch break at the waterfall was very welcome!

As was a chance to swim with the elephants:

First, mount your elephant. Elegant, no?

See – he couldn’t stay on either!

Mahout on poo-fishing duty.

Beautiful waterfall. And Randall.

Baby elephant got the job of hoovering up the leftovers.

Randall finds a soulmate.

Mum gets a share of leftovers too.

Posers.

Posers #2

Even elephants need a kiss from time to time.

Finally it was time to say goodbye to our elephants and hand them back to the experts, the guides who had looked after us all day:

The Experts.

And give them a final feed. Easier said than done – it’s difficult to get elephants to share:

This was a really wonderful day – we can’t recommend it enough – a must do if you are in the area. Book in advance via their website – they limit numbers to ensure one elephant per person and plenty of attention. Thanks Pat and Dao, Jack, Ben and all the team at Patara!