Elephant Snot

Elephants in the countryside

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Elephants are pretty big...in Thailand.  You see carvings of them, tapestries with their pictures, and of course, the real deal on conservation land and working as part of the tourist industry.  Yesterday I did a trekking tour to the south of Chiang Mai (Sanpatong area) to visit some of the hill tribes and see the countryside.  Well, the tour included, yes you guessed it, an elephant ride!  (My second since arriving in Thailand...for those who have seen the pix...)  This was very different, though...more rural and the elephants were, well, a little more aggressive.  I climbed atop one of the largest in the bunch with my new British friend, Jill, and immediately the elephant began to throw back its trunk, in search of food.  The guide told us we could buy bananas and sugar cane to feed our elephant if we wanted, for just 20 baht, but we said, "no that's ok."  So then we started on our way and after 10 feet, the elephant stopped, began to get agitated, and turned its trunk back again to be fed...we urged him to keep moving, but he just started flapping his ears and stepping from side to side.  After a bit he began walking again and we came to another "feeding hut" where they offered to sell us bananas (20 baht) to feed him.  We said "no thank you" adamant that we shouldn't be bullied into buying elephant food! Our elephant continued his agitation and then began to sneeze, trunk pointed directly at us, meaning a spring shower of elephant snot!  There were two more feeding huts (for a total of FIVE in a mere 10 minutes of walking) and FINALLY we caved and decided that spending 20 baht was worth it to end the rain of elephant phlegm!  The good news, however, was that we ended the elephant walk in a river and our elephant was able to cool down (literally and figuratively) and then "cleaned us off" with water from his trunk.  Lots more stories to share, but must be moving on to see the city now!  (Hopefully I'll have time to tell you about "bamboo rafting"!!)