Day 12- MY BIRTHDAY Playing with Elephants

I usually like to sleep in on my birthday- but today is special. We are going to spend the day with elephants. We woke up at 6am, got dressed and had breakfast. We were picked up by the Patara Elephant Farm Bus at 7:30am. Then we took a long ride out of the city.

Once we got to the forest we put sunscreen on and big spray and went the bathroom. We were in a group of 9 people. We were handed a basket of banana and told to go feed the elephant. Within mins of arriving, I was already up and personal with an elephant. 

Their lower lip and tongue are all one thing. Their teeth are set way back in their mouth. We all fed the elephant and it was a great experience. I was very nervous at first. I would squirm and move away when she would move near me. 

We then had a short presentation about Patara Farm. There are two extremes when it comes to the elephant farms in Thailand. One is where the elephant dances, paints and kicks the football around. Thousands of tourists visit them. Then there are elephant sanctuaries where they have sick elephants and hurt elephants. They fundraise money to help cure their elephants. But their elephants never get better. If they got better they would not have the emotional side of their business to prey on people. Then there is Patara Farm. They are a local Thailand family who own elephants. The are aware of the decline in elephant population.  In the last 40 years the population has been dwindled down from 6,000 Thai elephants to 3,000. The elephants can live up to 85 years, so they are saying that is not even a generation of elephants and so many have died. Patara Farm has owned elephants for 10 years, they have invited tourists to work on their farm for the past 8 years. Ann in that town they have had 19 births, 0 deaths and current 17 of their 38 elephants are pregnant.  They have a good track record. 

After our introduction our driver and guide for the day, Ben, took us to meet our elephant. 

Our Elephants's Name is:

Mae Bua Tong= sunflower. 

These are the commands we learned: 

By=go

How=stop

Toy=back up

Grab the ear and say My=move

Don long=get down

Look=get up

The. We learned to check if our elephant is happy, healthy and in a good mood. 

We had to wear handmade outfits like the trainers. 

Sunflower is 18 mths pregnant. 

Here we are leaning how to get them to lay down. 

Next we bathed them and brushed them. 

Bill was setting out on his hour long ride through the jungle. I opted not to go. 

Instead I went to play with some babies. This is Tarah! She is 8 months old and feisty. She would run off and play around with her trainer. She would nudge my baby bump rather playfully. 

Here is the heard coming out of the jungle. 

Bill thoroughly enjoyed riding Sunflower. 

Next we had a picnic feast. All the food was soo good. 

What we didn't eat we fed to the elephants. They did not like the rice. They would pick it out of the banana leaves. 

Can you see the smile on the elephants face? 

After lunch and feeding the elephants one more time, we got on and had a short walk. Because the land was flat, I got to ride with Bill. It was fun but my legs hurt. It takes a lot of strength to sit and ride an elephant. 

We arrived at a temple and concluded our day. Best Birthday! So much fun. We became friends with our elephant and she was a sweet gal! 

The people in our group were awesome! We had a blast! At the end of our tour we got a cd of all the pictures Ben took of all of us. He had some really awesome pictures- expect to see some  on the Christmas cards! Most people have pregnancy photos taken at the beach, in a park- mine were taken with an elephant! 

Chiang Mai Day 2 part 2

For lunch we went to the Tiger Kingdom. This was not part of the original plan, but a great Stop. We're we are lunch next to some tigers. Then we got into the cage with them and took some photos. I was a little unsure about how large a cat they were, but I kept telling myself it was just a Big Degas. 

First we got into the cage with 8 mth old cats. I was too scared to remember to take a picture with my camera. 

If you notice a big girl- only 18 mths old is sitting right in front of the door. 

Here you can see how big they are- the trainer said he is just a kitten. 

And this is how you move a tiger from in front of the door. 

Bill got some great shots. He was not scared. This boy was rather interested in the people near him and would look back at who was petting him. 

Notice the apprehension in my face. I was not comfortable with him moving around so much. The trainer kept saying it was fine, but I was not really sure. I can't get up and down off the ground real quick, and we had seen a trainer walk by with a hurt finger. I think that was going through my mind. 

This guy was sleeping. He could have cared less that I was laying on him. We scratched his belly and he rolled over for us. 

And another female tiger. She is the smallest big cat- her name means rain. She also loved to have her belly scratched. 

Next we went to the Hill Tribe Village. 

There are three sets of tribes that live here. They live in the traditional ways, but have some modern accommodations, like running water and electricity. It is possible that it is all for show, but I still enjoyed the experience. 

Here is their farm land. In the middle is a water buffalo. 

Here we are at the top of the village. 

Here is that buffalo- laying in the field. 

There are chickens roaming around everywhere. I wonder if they know that their days are numbered. It is strange to think they are house pets and food. 

A bamboo bridge- I refused to cross. 

The people were fascinating. I felt strange taking pictures of them, but they would stop what they were doing and pose. Here is a group of ladies. 

A young boy- notice what he is playing with- not sure I would want my young son to play with an axe 

Here is a little girl only about 7 or 8. She was spinning thread. 

As the girls get older the rings go on their wrists and under their knees. 

I think this little girl is about 9. She has rings around her neck, knees, ankles and wrists. She also has large gauges (holes) in her ears. 

The people were fascinating to look at an watch as they went about their daily business. I must look up the history behind the rings and long necks. 

Our last stop of the day was at one more temple called Chiang Mun- the oldest temple in the city. 

It maybe old, but it sure is pretty! 

Here some kids are setting birds free for good luck. 

Here is the old part. You can tell the gold on top has been restored. 

Here is a picture with the sun shinning onto the temple. 

I love the elephants holding up the base. 

Here you can see the elephants wrap around the base of the temple. Their ears are spread wide. 

After this temple visit we stopped at the post office to get some stamps. Then Jane took us back home. We hopped in the pool to cool off had a lovely early dinner and went to bed early!! Tomorrow is my birthday and we get to play with elephants!!

Day #11- Chiang Mai Day 2

We scheduled a tour with Jane, our driver from yesterday. He picked us up promptly at 8:30. We were going to tour the temples in the city first and then head out of the city up the mountain to visit a tribal village. We first stopped at The old original gate of the old city. Thapae Gate- it was just a quick photo stop. Then We stopped at the Three Kings Monument. Another quick photo stop. The first king is the king who settled and choose the area for Chiang Mai. The other two kings were his friends who helped him build and occupy the city. Chiang Mai is almost 800 years old. 

We had a short delay- Bill thought he had forgot his sunglasses. We returned back to the hotel to get them. He was gone a long time. I knew he could not find them. I returned to the room with him and he was really upset he had lost his new sunglasses. I was doing my best not to be frustrated with him, he got them for Father's Day. Am at himself we got back in Jane's car and in the center if the back seat, mixed with all the seatbelts were his sunglasses. Our blessing yesterday did bring good luck! He was so relieved! Jane thought it was hilarious. 

So we set out again. We headed to Chedi Luang Wat.  

I am still amazed at how beautiful the I sides of all these temples are, everyone is in wonderful condition and look well restored. 

I really like the outside of the old temple. This use to house the Jade Buddha that is now in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The original temple has not been kept up and was destroyed during a storm long ago. I still think it is beautiful. 

Most of the elephants on the outside were gone, but on the far corner, they look to be in good condition. 

I zoomed way in to get a photo of the golden Buddha sitting up at the top in the door way. 

The sky and the sun were beautiful and to have such a clear backdrop to an interesting temple is just pretty. 

Here is their reclining Buddha. 

And the traditional Buddha. 

Next we went to Srisuphan the Silver Temple. Here is the inscription outside the temple. In short- I could not go in! 

I guess I will accept that I can not go in for my own protection. But still I would have liked to see the inside of such a pretty building. I guess I will look at the pictures Bill took. 

I was not allowed to even step foot at the base of the temple. 

Silver elephant! It is such a contrast to all the good we have been seeing. 

This is the back side of the building. 

Here is the adjacent temple. One gold Buddha and one silver Buddha. You can see Bill putting on his shoes. 

After that temple we visited Suan Dok Wat. It is an area where the royals ashes are buried. 

Inside each spire are some royal ashes for the royals who fought in this area to claim the land for Thailand. 

The good against the white is very striking. To enter the grounds you had to take your shoes off. Even though we were outside. Barefoot in Thailand! 

We went into a building that was under renovation. I kept thinking I can't believe I  am walking around barefoot in a construction zone. 

The ceiling is equally impressive. 

After this temple we went to the Tiger Kingdom for lunch. 

Finish this post on part two- there are too many pictures to load! 

Day #11- Flight # 5- Hotel # 5- City #5