Finally.
(click on photos to enlarge and see comments)
Got up early and took a GrabTaxi to the airport to catch an 8am flight. I was flying Bangkok Airlines to Chiang Mai--they are a great small airline who has a lounge for ALL their passengers, with free wi-fi and snacks...so I availed myself of those while waiting. They also serve a meal on EVERY flight--even this one that is only an hour long. It is pretty impressive how quickly they get the food and drinks out and then picked up...all before we land.
The Chiang Mai airport is very small, so it didn't take me long to find where I was going...but my ride wasn't there yet. The Chai Lai Orchid airBNB where I was staying sent a driver to pick me up for the almost hour-long drive to their location outside Chiang Mai. After about 15-20 minutes, the songthaew pulled up. A songthaew (pronounced song-TOW) is basically a pickup truck with benches in back and a cover--but the back is open to the elements.
It is kind of a cool way to travel (no pun intended). When we arrived, he parked, then we walked across a hanging bridge over the Mae Wang river to the property. I can already see elephants on the right :-) It is like crossing over into paradise.
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When I arrived, my room wasn't ready yet, so I changed into my "elephant" clothes and joined the group getting ready to head out for the half-day elephant caretaker experience. It started with a brief walk through the property to the area where the female elephants gather at some wooden posts for treats--bananas, peel and all! There is also a male elephant on the property, but apparently he had been acting up recently and was being kept further away from guests--we could still see him but could not interact with him.
The mahouts (the trainers who have worked with the elephants since they joined the organization) and our guide, Alex (very nice and funny), brought out several large bags of bananas for us to feed the elephants with. They taught us the three ways to feed them--place it in the crook at the end of their trunk; say a special word that made the elephant lift its trunk, and then just throw it in there; or put it on the ground in front of them for them to pick up--this was my favorite way, as then their trunk was in position for hugging :-) They have 12 elephants total, including 3 babies and the 1 (very lucky) male.
After some feeding, the mahouts started getting them to kiss us, which feels (and sounds) like a large suction cup. We got plenty of time with the elephants--I never felt rushed. One of the highlights was a guy in our group who was PETRIFIED of elephants and kept freaking out. It was pretty funny.
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After a short hike through the jungle, we headed down to the river for the fun stuff--bathing baby elephants! Two 3 year old toddlers named Chai Lai and Watermelon joined us along with Suki in the river...they would lie down on one side and we'd use gourds to shovel water over them, use the sand in the river as a nice exfolient scrub...then they would stand and lie back down on their other side to repeat the process. They seemed to really love it. Suki loved going underwater. The mahouts would occasionally get them to squirt us in the face--no one was safe! Then they stood for pictures with us--they would hug you, then kiss you, then squirt you in the face. I could have done that all day.
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Then we boarded a truck that took us about 5 minutes away to the beginning of our bamboo rafting trip. There was also an elephant paddock there so I got to see more of them before we took off. I wasn't sure if I'd be into this since elephants weren't involved, but it was so NICE. Blissfully floating down the river with a nice breeze...waving to locals as we passed by. While waiting on our rafts to be set up, a guy in a military uniform came up and asked to have his picture taken with us. A few minutes later, he came to get another picture with us. Not OF us...but WITH us. Weird. I wondered why--was he using those photos to show how he works with tourists or something? He didn't get the elephants in the shot.
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The raft trip put us out right back at Chai Lai Orchid, where they had pad thai for us for lunch--a big pile of it. Delicious.
Then I was finally taken to my room which was a bit of a walk, but really beautiful. I scheduled a massage for about an hour later. This place really IS heaven. I had ordered an aromatherapy massage...but she gave me a Thai massage instead...I didn't complain, but when she realized it later, she came back to my room apologizing profusely over and over and kept hugging me when I told her it was fine.
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After my massage, I headed back to the restaurant for elephant happy hour--they bring up an elephant and give you some bananas to feed her (if you buy one of their special drinks). I ordered some food (panang curry, khao soi soup, mango sticky rice), fed my elephant (and taught some kids how to feed her), and ate way too much. But damn. Sitting on the deck of a restaurant, watching an elephant eat her dinner while I ate mine--so special. I also met a young Chinese woman named Raffir who hopes to go to college in Boston or NYC. She was very sweet.
After dinner, I walked back to my room, taking a moment to pet a family of puppies (there are a ton of stray dogs EVERYWHERE in Thailand, but everyone feeds them). These were adorable and very friendly.
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Tonight will be a good night's sleep...and more elephants tomorrow!
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