Elephant Nature Park

Elephant Nature Park
 

After a few very busy days, we were pretty tired, but we were being picked up bright and early to head to Elephant Nature Park, about an hour and half north of Chiang Mai.  The Elephant Nature Park is a sanctuary for rescued elephants.  In 1988, Thailand outlawed logging; a great thing for the planet, not a great thing for the thousands of elephants that worked the logging camps.  They were left without jobs, and elephants who can't work are of no use to their owners.  Many owners resorted to street begging with their elephants in  major cities- not at all an appropriate environment for a wild animal.  Still others were trained for elephant shows: painting pictures, playing basketball, and doing circus tricks.  Elephant Nature Park began in he mid-90's by a woman named Lek so that the elephants there would never have to work another day in their lives.  There are no fences, no rides, and most importantly, no bull hooks used to coerce the elephants into doing anything they don't want to do.

We arrived at the park and received a tour of the facility.  The elephants have hundreds of acres to roam, and the park is bordered by a river in which they can swim and bathe.  It was breathtaking to see so many wild elephants walking freely with their mahouts.  We entered  the park almost hesitantly; it was like we entering an enclosure at the zoo.  But our guide assured us that as long as we didn't stand in front of, behind of, or in between two elephants, we would be fine.  We were able to spend some time feeding elephants bananas, watermelon, and pumpkins.  Some of them preferred to have the food placed in their trunks,
others opened wide and let us put the food directly into their mouths.

There is one young male elephant in the park named Hope, and our guide kept referring to him as "naughty boy."  He is stubborn and unpredictable (he is a boy, after all) and any time he came near the area we were in, we had to seek safety.  He wears a bell around his neck to make his arrival known.

Hope spraying water on the visitors and volunteers

 After a couple hours of feeding and petting various elephants and roaming the park, it was time for lunch.  A huge vegetarian buffet awaited us, but we were more excited about what came after lunch- bathing the elephants in the river.  The elephants got in the water, and we followed with buckets to fill and splash over each part of the elephants.  It is amazing how gentle and graceful the largest land animal on earth can be, especially in the water.

After bathing, we spent some more time in the park with the elephants.  We were even able to meet the park's founder when she paid us a visit.  It was easy to see the connection she shared with the elephants and how much they loved her.  She said that they were probably upset that she hadn't been there to play with them in a while.

Later in the afternoon, we watched a documentary about elephants in Thailand and how contradictory this country is toward them.  The elephant is a revered animal here, a sign of how Thailand was built and how it prospered; yet there are no laws to protect them here unless they are wild elephants.  There are about 1,500 wild elephants left in Thailand; there are about 2,500 domesticated ones.  The domesticated elephants are considered livestock by the Thai government and receive only the rights thereof.  The biggest and
saddest shock I received was the way these beautiful creatures are made to perform, work, and submit to their mahout.  Especially amongst the hill tribes, elephants are made to go through "the crush", in which they are chained into a small wooden enclosure for three days.  They are beaten with sticks, hooks, and sometimes stabbed.  It is said that this will break the animal's spirit and cause them to submit to their owners.  While in this cage, the elephants are taught commands.  If they choose not to follow, or are defiant in any way, many owners will beat their most sensitive parts, especially their eyes.  Many elephants go
blind due to this practice; the park had three elephants that were partially or fully blind.
 

After their bath, elephants cover themselves in mud to protect from the sun and bugs

And so, elephant tourism is a catch twenty-two in Thailand.  After the documentary, Jon and I were completely torn about what is right.  Being at the nature park felt right; these animals are treated respectfully and humanely, they are given an environment as close to their natural environment as possible, and they are loved.  They never go hungry, never have to work, never carry humans or materials.  However, there are not many sanctuaries such as this one, and they can only afford to look after a limited number of elephants.  The working elephants, the ones who give rides and do tricks and shows, need support too.  Although they
may be treated inhumanely, if their owners have no use for them anymore, they can be abandoned, mistreated, or sold into a far worse situation.

Until Thailand enacts stricter laws on the treatment of domesticated elephants, this problem will persist.  And if it persists, the elephant population will continue to drop.  If you visited Thailand, what would you do?

Trekking Through Thailand

Trekking Through Thailand

The next morning began our trekking adventure north of Chiang Mai, near the Burmese border.  Our guide picked us up and we met the other 6 people in our group.  Our first stops were at the market (of course) and then to the orchid and butterfly farm. 

We then headed about an hour and a half out of town, ate a quick packed lunch of fried rice, and then we started hiking.  Our hike would last about 4 and a half hours into the mountains and would bring us through various hill-tribe villages and a dark cave filled with bats. 

Many portions of the trail were quite difficult, up and down, slippery and wet.  I obviously won the slip-and slide contest, totaling four slips and falls.  Miraculously my bottom never hit the ground, but I was quite muddy (and greasy and wet from the heat).  We took a few much-needed breaks along the way, and our guides, Tom and Tep, pointed out many wild plants like lemongrass, ginger root, and plants used for medicines.

We reached the village where we would be staying around 4 in the afternoon. 

Our bamboo hotel

At first, it was quiet and a bit awkward. Our guide ran off to begin dinner, and most of the tribal men were still away working.  The longneck women, those that wear rings on their necks to elongate their bodies, shuffled to their respective shops, each selling similar hand-woven scarves, bracelets, and jewelry.  It was interesting to see that we all sat on one side of the village and they sat on the other, looking at each other like young boys and girls at a middle school dance.  Eventually, Jon and I made the move to go purchase a few things and get a few pictures. 

The children were playing hopscotch in the dirt and building with rocks and sticks.  Dinner was a delicious massaman curry, and after dinner we got drinks from the local "7-Eleven" (which was a hut selling semi-cool drinks with a cardboard sign that said "7 11."  It's true what they say about Thailand's love affair with the convenience store.  There really is one everywhere you go.

I was able to engage with the kids by beginning to draw in the sand using sticks.  I started drawing a smiling person, and one of the little boys outdrew even me!  A girl was telling me the words for different body parts in her language by pointing to the drawings, and then wowed me by showing me the various English numbers and letters she could write.  The smallest girl, probably about 2, continually filled up a bottle cap with sand, and then would spit in it a bit and pack the sand in.  I was laughing so hard, but she was quite engaged and wanted nothing to do with this "falong" (foreigner).

Jon was instantly drawn to the sound of music, and asked if he could try playing the tribal reed flute that the older men in the village were playing.

Later in the evening, we overheard one of the mothers singing and playing guitar to the youger children, so we asked our guide to get permission for us to listen in.  So we sat on their bamboo porch, passing around the reed flute for everyone to try, playing to the man's homemade (and beautiful) guitar, and listening to them play and sing traditional music.  What an awesome experience!

Once it was bedtime, we found out how difficult it is to sleep on bamboo in the jungle. 

The sounds were deafening, between the bugs and birds and the villager's pigs and whoknowswhatelse, it sure was noisy.  It didn't help that Jon spotted a large spider near our beds right before lying down!  After some rest (a few hours at least), it was time to get up for another busy day.

After a quick breakfast, we continued on our hike.  My legs were screaming "why?" at me as we started up and downhill again, over streams and through dense jungle.  Jon spotted a scorpion on the trail as we walked. 

Large beetle with amazing leaf-cutting strength

After about 45 minutes of walking, we were picked up in a truck to bring us to a nearby elephant camp.  We were able to get in the river with these massive and beautiful animals, get kisses, and then take a ride. 

During our ride, some water buffalo happened across our elephant, who trumpeted loudly, and quickly was ready to rear back and/or run.  It was a bit of a scary moment, but the "mahout" (elephant care-taker) was able to get the elephant back under control.  Speaking of control, these elephants were controlled using bullhooks and were also wearing chains around their necks and legs.  I was very upset about this when we first arrived at the camp, and will write more about these practices when I share our experiences at the Elephant Nature Park.

After the elephant park, we took a slow-moving bamboo raft ride and then were off to see a waterfall. 

After only 15 minutes at the waterfall, our guide was hurrying us along to go whitewater rafting.  Rain threatened, and from what I could make out, if there was rain we could not get a guide to bring us.  This was the only multi-day guided tour Jon and I have taken on this trip, and we quickly realized why we don't do them often.  Some people like the ease of traveling when everything is laid out.  Somebody tells you where you're going, gets you there, and then tells you how long you have.  Our guide was so pushing and rushed
everywhere we went.  It made it difficult for us to enjoy the experience.  We just don't travel that way; we like making our own itinerary and doing the things we most enjoy for as long as we'd like.

We made it quickly to the whitewater rafting launch, rushed to put on gear, and then sat and waited for a guide for about 20 minutes (grrr....).  It was, however, worth the wait.  The rapids were fantasic and our guide was great fun.  In between rapids, we had paddle splashing fights with the other boat.

(Pictures taken from videos we took.  Hopefully a compilation video will be posted soon)

Close to the end of our ride, it started raining pretty hard, so it was perfect timing to head back into town and relax for a bit.  The ride itself was not relaxing, as we were in the back of a pickup truck, but once we made it back to Chiang Mai we checked into a different guesthouse (this one with AIR CONDITIONING!) and spent the rest of the evening relaxing, eating, and catching up on Facebook.  Trekking was something we were glad to have experienced, but we were also glad that we had only signed up for the 2-day experience!

Siam Rice

Siam Rice

We were also able to see the machines used to make coconut cream and cocounut milk in action.

We then headed to the school where we were each able to choose a different dish in each of six categories to make: soup, appetizer, noodles, vegetables, curry, and dessert.  We each chose different dishes in each category to maximize our cooking experience and how many dishes we'd be able to try.  All day long, we ATE! And then we would eat some more.  Our instructor Sim's favorite phrase was "eating time."  It was gluttonous and over-indulgent and completely delicious.

 

We were both interested to find that most Thai dishes start with a similar base of flavor consisting of shallots, ginger, chiles, and usually coconut milk and soy and oyster sauces.  The employees at the school were incredibly efficient and organized, and always had the dishes prepared for each person's choice.  Our teacher was amazing and could keep track of each dish everyone was making and when to add this or mix that.  Not a single dish was burned.  I can't even keep track of 2 dishes of my own at home!

Our first dish was soup.  I chose the chicken and coconut soup (Tom Gai) and Jon opted for the Hot and Creamy soup.  Both were delish!



Tom Gai (left), hot and creamy (right)

Next up was the noodle dish.  I learned to make the traditional Thai dish of Pad Thai and Jon made glass noodles with chicken.

Pad Thai

Glass noodles

By now I was incredibly full and hadn't finished either of my dishes, but it was time to make curry paste.  It was so intriguing to learn what went into this very important Asian ingredient.  We used a mortar and pestle to combine chillies, shallots, garlic, thai ginger, lemongrass, shrimp paste, lime peel, coriander and tumeric, adding different spices for each type of curry we would be making.  I was making Panang and Jon chose the Jungle curry, which is the spiciest (go figure).  Most Thais add about 10 chiles to this mouth-watering dish; my husband added 24!  I thought there would be steam coming from his ears, but he ate most of it like a champ.

Jungle Curry

After the curry, we had a short break and a vegetable carving lesson.  Our teacher taught us to carve a flower out of a carrot.  Can you guess which is mine, Jon's, and our teacher's?

Shortly afterwards, it was back to cooking (and more eating).  We each made a vegetable dish with chicken.  Jon made cashew chicken and I chose fried ginger and chicken.

Next up was the appetizer course, which seemed a bit out of order but was yum-o none the less. Jon perfected wrapping up a spring roll and wok-frying it, while I made papaya salad.  I had tried the spicy papaya salad in Kanchanaburi and dislike it because of its strong fish sauce flavor, but now that I was able to control what was put into it, I loved it!

Last on the menu was dessert.  Jon made sticky rice with mango, probably my favorite dessert here in Thailand, and this was the best yet.  I made bananas in thick coconut milk, also very delicious.

Overall, it was a fun and busy day.  We both enjoyed our instructor and the food and will hopefully bring this skill home with us (especially since we have gotten spoiled by CHEAP Thai food and it's quite expensive at home). Asian markets, here we come!

We were both uncomfortably full, so headed back to the guesthouse and napped, relaxed, and
packed for our trek the next day.One of my most favorite things from our Europe trip was our cooking course in Italy, so I insisted we do something similar here in Thailand.  Jon and I signed up for the Siam Rice Cooking School; we were picked up early from our guesthouse and our first stop was a local market.  We had been to plenty of markets, but our teacher was able to show us all the fresh ingredients we'd be using during the day: lemongrass, kaffir limes, fresh peppercorns, Thai ginger,hot basil, many types of eggplant.