A Day with the Elephants

Thursday

Today was our day with the elephants. Slept in a little later. No wifi signal this morning. I ate a piece of last night’s leftover pizza--made me think of Jeshua. Like son, like mother. : )

Our first order of business was to pick up our laundry that we had left yesterday and weren’t able to get last evening. This sign is just down our little street. The laundry is done by machine, but everything is hung on hangers to dry...underwear and all. I must have had a kilo and a half as my bill was B60...a little bit under $2.

I put my laundry away and did a little housekeeping and then down to add a little more to my cold pizza breakfast...half a hard boiled egg, a couple of bites of watermelon and then we were off in a van to our elephant encounter. This experience is a gift to us from Tee and Martha. Martha was the “local” guide for the van trip, which including a stop at a local small town market--don’t think grocery store--was about 2 hours.

Now for a little geography lesson extension from yesterday’s post...we went south out of Chiang Mai and then gradually turned west. Chiang Mai is in a valley surrounded by mountains...not much in the way of foothills as we understand them in CA, you’re pretty much in the valley or rising up into the mountains. Once we were beyond the city, we were definitely in farm country...fields and orchards dotted by the occasional wat (temple).

Then we stopped in a small town...and had 15 minutes to wander the local market. Back into the van and on into the mountains we came. While we were in town, Tee passed by us driving a songthaew which is kind of an pick up transport, with bench seats on each side and a cover (think of a conestoga wagon on a pickup bed) full of folks taking them to the elephant place where he currently works. He used to work at the one they sent us to and feel like the experience there is more personal with the elephants...better ratio of elephants to people. I was also very thankful to be riding up in a nice enclosed van with air conditioning. Besides ourselves and the driver there was a young woman from Germany and a couple from Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Hello, Jama!) They are both young professionals...he has a PHD, in the sciences--cellular biology, but they both work in some form of the pharmaceutical industry.

Narrow roads and an 8% climb until we landed in this beautiful spot. We are above the elevations of the jungle and into the pine woods...so it has a really Virginia woods feel, not an abundance of jungle type undergrowth and some pine trees scattered throughout.

This is walking up from the parked van (notice I did not say parking lot!) to our base camp for the day.

Then the view out over the surrounding fields from the base camp.

Another view of the base camp with the enclosed garden. Notice that bamboo laundry line is full.

And here they come! We played with a total of five.

This mama is 38 years old and her baby  is about 18 months old.

They were inquisitive and generally friendly.

Then our guide gave us each one of these should bags to wear full of bananas and cut up squash.

They were VERY interested! This person is handing the elephant a banana which she is taking with her trunk and will then put in her mouth. They don’t have “biting” teeth, but a long ridge of molars to chew with.

If you said the right words, they would lifr up their trunks and you could feed them directly into their mouths, which is what Martha is doing.

The little ones are very sweet.

Since you’ve seen the dried poopoo balls, thought you should see the freshly dropped ones! Very moist! Elephants spend most of their day eating and pooping.

This is a sweet mama-to-be...two years gestation and 3 years of nursing. She’s a year into her pregnancy.

After their elephant fruit and veg snack, we all wandered up the hill and into the woods for some free forage time.

Didn’t want to be too close behind when they lifted their tails! 5 or more poopoo balls get delivered in an “episode.”

Up in the woods we just all hung out together.

The nursing calf wasn’t quite as intent on foraging and enjoyed the interaction.

This is for my friend (and Martha’s sister), Phoebe, who has spent a lot of time searching out and photographing fungi, but these sweet little fellows were growing out of an elephant poo ball. Cool!

We went up the hill so, of course, we had to go down! I longed for Cyrus, but I made it!

Back at base camp a couple of ladies had prepared us lunch...yellow curry with potatoes and rice, a squash-scrambled egg dish and fruit. Rice cakes with palm sugar paste spread for a bite of dessert. And much appreciated water bottles. Quite a nice view out of the lunch pavilion. Notice Martha is wearing a jacket. It was a pleasant slightly cool day up in the mountains with a nice breeze.

This is dragon fruit. Martha bought some at the market we had stopped at. Didn’t get a photo before it was cut, but it is oval and looks very dragon-y. : )

Sunflowers growing at the edge of the garden.

After lunch was a rest time. There was a nice shady spot with some bamboo mats.

A nice break in the day.

In the afternoon folks could don bathing suits and play in the mud and then go down to the river to play in the water for a bit with the elephants. We chose not to do that part, but I did get one picture for the footbridge.

When they came back from the river the elephants were all squeaky clean!

This tiny baby is about 9 months old.

The sweet ladies who had made and served us lunch, brought out plates of sweet potato fries, cut papaya and some sweet squares  that are the noodle equivalent of rice krispie treats.

A nice final visit together around the tables (mom and three kids from New Hampshire)….

...a final farewell to the elephants (couple from Sau Paulo)...

...and back into the van we went and down, down, down that curvy 8% grade back to Chiang Mai.

Martha definitely is the keeper of the cold now...she waited around until the rental car we are taking for the next 11 days to be delivered and then she and Tee headed home to put her to bed. Indira and I opted to stay in for a “cup of soup” supper from packets I brought along with me. I had bought the wonderful little tangerines at the Market we stopped at earlier in the day and there were still some crackers left that Martha had bought for me on the day I was sick.  It made a fine supper. I was in bed by 8, thinking I’d read for an hour. A short chapter later and I was a goner!

Tomorrow we leave for Pai and the Land Split. The adventure continues!