More Elephants and a Stay in a Rice Paddy
- jill
- Feb 20, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 13, 2020
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Got up early this morning to pack. It was FREEZING last night--now that I am further north in Thailand in the mountains, while it is still quite hot during the day, at night the temperatures plummet. After packing and having breakfast with an elephant, I walked up to some benches near the elephant paddock to reflect on the previous day.
Alex explained to us yesterday that there is no such thing as "the wild" for elephants in Thailand anymore. It is far too dangerous for them to roam free. The male who lives here escaped recently and made it up onto the street (imagine the danger from cars and trucks!). Another one got loose and ate a plastic bag that made her very sick. So very sad. But this is the reason that at certain times during the day, they have to keep them chained in the paddock.
I've heard them trumpet...I've heard them make a growling sound like a tiger...and other sounds. I always used to think that they just trumpeted, but they make lots of different sounds.
As I sat at the table eating my breakfast, I watched a woman go down where the elephant was to feed her a couple of bananas and say goodbye to her...and it made me very sad. I literally started to cry, because I realized that I would also be saying goodbye soon and I didn't want to. I'm not sure why this is affecting me so strongly.
After finishing breakfast, my guide for the day (who said his name was Jackie Chan, and when I laughed and said, "no, really" he just looked at me strangely) came to get me to begin my 2-day adventure. We went to the paddock to get my solo elephant for a walk through the jungle. Seavoy is a 50-year old female who is their "friendliest" elephant--the most used to hanging with humans, I guess. She was beautiful and had freckles on her nose like me. We had a lot in common. Before we left she did one of my favorite things I've seen them do--when they have an itch, they'll rub up against a tree or a post to scratch it. So cute!
We walked along a path that was very narrow at times and had some steep hills to climb up and down...and she was better at it than I was! I am amazed at how agile they are for their size. At one point, I noticed Seavoy had tears in her eyes. When I asked about that, the guide told me their eyes were really sensitive to all the burning that has been going on. My guide also told me that the "growling" sound they make means they are trying to talk to you/tell you something. Sweet! She kept asking for more bananas (they had given me a bag of them when we started out to feed her along the way). I was so sad when it was over--I could have walked with her forever.
After our walk, I waited at the restaurant for the next tour group to arrive, which I would join to bathe elephants again. This time, I was able to enjoy it even more since I wasn't worrying about taking pictures. It was also a smaller group, so we had more time. Since I had already done the bamboo rafting, I skipped that and just dried off in the sun at the restaurant. When they returned, we had lunch (fried rice, which was even better than the pad thai we had yesterday) and then I sat on the deck watching the elephants play in the river. They like to fall over and go underwater...it is so amazing to watch.
At that point, my new guide arrived to take me and some other people to our Karen hill tribe homestay. Her name was Gulu and she was a 28 year old woman getting ready to leave to study in Switzerland for a year. She was amazing. I got into another songthaew truck for the 45 minute ride to the village where we would be staying. The other 6 people were all in their early 20s and kept talking about where they had gone to school and what they were doing...they didn't really talk much to me, I think, because I was so much older.
We arrived in the village and were assigned our eco-huts. They seemed brand new (and it looked like they were building a bunch of other ones as well), and had their own bathrooms and also electricity and a small fan. They were very cute, and situated right in the middle of some rice paddies (which were dormant now as it is the dry season). This was actually probably the nicest place I have stayed so far.
We had about an hour to settle in (by the way, I have finally conquered my fear of the bidet toilet! For most of the day I had to use squat toilets--which are exactly what you think--they don't flush; you have to pour water down the hole when you finish--so I was thrilled to see this hut had an actual sit down toilet), then we all met at the outdoor cafe (you can see it in one of the photos above in the distance across the field) to take a walk around the village before dinner.
I was really hungry, so I didn't feel like walking, but boy, was I glad we did. There are about 500 people in this village (Gulu lives in one with only 60!), and they were all getting ready for a wedding that was coming up soon. Everyone goes to the weddings. Women ask the men to marry them here...and you don't marry anyone without a "family." Lots of dogs, chickens, and pigs. Along the way, Gulu would stop and pick something off of what looked like weeds and offer it to us to eat. I tried a coffee bean, tamarind seed, and Thai basil (which tastes a bit minty). There was a plant whose leaves make bubbles if you break the stem just right.
Most of the wildlife no longer exists, so dogs (whose job used to be to hunt) just hang out and beg.
After a really interesting walk around the village, we went back to the cafe for dinner--chicken/rice stew, pumpkin/egg mash, and morning glory (greens) with rice. We also had passionfruit for desert...very sour but delicious.
It was getting dark, so they built a campfire and some drunken locals came by and brought some rice whiskey with them. They seemed to enjoy making the foreigners try it. It was pretty good...not as strong as Kentucky bourbon though...and since I was born in KY, I think maybe I have a stronger constitution :-) Had a chance to talk more with everyone tonight...and they are pretty nice. Four of them are/will be teachers, so they asked me a lot of questions about that.
The drunk locals were really funny (and very friendly). They didn't know much English, but they could communicate pretty well.
What a great day. One of the best so far. Tomorrow, we hike to a waterfall for a picnic, then back to Chai Lai Orchid to say goodbye to the elephants and head into the city of Chiang Mai.
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