Riding lessons.....Part II

The view from an elephant's bristly neck is awesome.  

Taking photos with one hand as you lumber along is tricky.  The photos of Paula and I were taken by Theo, my mahout.  Photos of me alone were either by Paula or Theo.

Perched up there, on top of Mokasuop's head, it looked a long way down......it was! 

For some reason I thought we'd follow a smooth, level path, being first time riders, but before long we were leaving the main camp..............

............... via the river bed!  Paula is smiling despite our initial concerns of toppling over our elephant's head into the water.  That rope was our only hang-on-to-thingy as we headed downhill!

Passing the rest of our group heading in the opposite direction, the rocky pathway is clearly visible.......

.............but we continued without any problems except for the throbbing in the thighs which came with holding ones legs in a new position.  Paula and I agreed we should have taken yoga lessons for six months before attempting elephant riding!  The younger members of our group, and yes, they were all younger of course, managed to ride longer and were able to stand up when they got off.  We almost collapsed in a heap on the ground......and yes, I did slide down Mokasuop's trunk to dismount, a wonderful experience. 

Big boulders but apparently no problem for those big feet.

So we rode on, patient, gentle, lovely ladies (the elephants, not us!) for about 45 minutes.......how we made it that long was incredible.  You have no idea how painful it was for our legs, holding them up behind those flapping ears!  We were told to rest them by letting them hang straight down now and then, however in that position you did not feel secure, wobbling from side to side, plus our shoulders were somewhat achy from the tension of holding on.

Reaching the road which led to the forest where the waterfall rushed into the river, Paula and I opted to take the van uphill for the additional mile plus ride, realizing more riding might impede our being able to stand up to go sightseeing the next day!  Getting off our mighty steeds, we almost collapsed when our legs buckled under us, but of course were thrilled that we had ridden elephants bareback.

When we all gathered at the river the elephants waited patiently for their swim - they love the water - and many of the group went in the water with them.

Elephants, and people, having fun.  View from the picnic area.

The mahouts produced an amazing picnic lunch served on a bamboo platform above the river.  On a 'tablecloth' of banana leaves, they set out chicken, fresh fruit and sweet coconut desserts, and the little packets of leaves tied with raffia at each place setting contained hot food..........

....including my vegetarian version of rice with delicious veggies, lemongrass and lime, along with sticky rice and other Thai delicacies, all perfection!

A picnic to remember!

Paula and I so enjoyed this elephant experience............and would recommend it to anyone spending time in northern Thailand.

Lovely creatures. Gentle giants who are often treated badly, even being destroyed in some countries for their ivory tusks.  These have to be the most awesome animals on our planet...............hopefully they will never become an endangered species and good breeding farms, such as Patara near Chiang Mai, will make certain that Thailand's Asian elephants will survive - forever.

Riding lessons.............Part I

Hope you're ready for this post.  Caution: graphic images of crazy women riding bareback!  

I promised to share with you the rudiments of bareback elephant riding.  No sissy, comfy howdah chairs for Paula and me in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  No climbing aboard mile high pachyderms via platforms.  We opted for the real thing - a day at Patara, a working elephant farm where we 'owned' our elephant for the entire day and miraculously lived to tell about it! You will laugh........elephant riding is definitely less elegant than horseback riding, no butt-snug jodhpurs and polished to a shine riding boots, and whispering "giddy up" into one of those huge ears doesn't move one of these beauties.

First, I was thrilled to meet my elephant's 4 month old grandson................the most adorable little guy who loved being around people. There were several babies, and many females were pregnant. Patara's breeding program has been very successful and they have not lost an elephant in 10 years. It was easy to see this farm is dedicated to saving and raising healthy elephants - there are NO circus acts or performing of any kind.

It was an amazing feeling to be able to cuddle up on a baby elephant.

 My elephant was named Mokasuop and her mahout was Theo who had worked with elephants at the farm for 4 years.

Preparing Mokasuop's snack of bananas and sugarcane treats.

Before sharing all that elephant love, we were shown how to feed our elephant.......they are eating machines and keep going all day long until they've consumed about 300 lbs of vegetarian deliciousness.  This made me feel exceptionally close to Mokasuop, my lovely gal being vegetarian like me, and even helped when it came time to do her daily 'health check' which included squeezing her fresh poop to make sure she wasn't dehydrated.  I could not have done that part if she was a carnivore!

Brushing vigorously to remove grit, accumulated during the night sleeping on the ground, from an elephant's hairy skin, is necessary before bathing - however balancing on rocks to reach her back was not easy.

Mokasuop's daily bath I left to my mahout......I did not have a swimsuit or change of clothes.....and to be honest I was more afraid of leeches, and other nasties possibly lurking in the muddy waters, than getting wet.

Getting ready to ride a squeaky clean elephant.

Traditional 'mahout' garb

To prevent chafed legs - elephants are wiry creatures - we added the loose 'fisherman's pant' to our traditional woven cotton tops, over our regular clothes, kicked off our footwear, and whoopee, it was time to get on our elephant. 

Now these are not pretty pictures coming up. Remember no steps, no stirrups, no cranes!  There are three ways to mount an elephant -

• Have it pick you up with its trunk and deposit you gently on its back.......only thing is you end up facing backward and then have to turn around which is quite difficult. 
• Give the command for your elephant to lift its front leg, climb onto its raised foot and clamber up the leg.  I may have chosen that way, but for some reason I never could determine, mine wouldn't do this one.
• What sounded best to us was have our elephant lay down and climb aboard.  Sounds simple but isn't.  An elephant on the ground is still huge - tall and wide - and as soon as you're halfway on they start to get up before you can even get your leg over! 

The rope was not much help, in fact I found it a hindrance because..............

.............the rather large knot got caught between my legs making it really difficult to pull myself up to sweet Mokasuop's bristly, knobby head!  Altogether I was a sight to behold and can only caption this photo with the words, "Hail Mary, full of grace"........and, because I refuse to be the only foolish looking first time elephant rider, here's Paula, my cohort in crime, looking just as silly.  How we laugh at ourselves now watching the video version on the DVD we were given at the end of the day!!!

 So here I am at last, up on squeaky clean Mokasoup's very wide neck, knees bent to grip, bare feet behind her ears to steer, ready to ride.  

What was it like, how did I do?  

TO BE CONTINUED:  Come back for the rest of the story.......a rocky ride to the waterfall, and a delicious picnic.

*************

Meanwhile, here's to the New Year......may 2012 be one of good health, great happiness, and many blessings for each one of you, my dear readers.

The view from an elephant..........

.................is amazing, and your thighs and shoulders will remind you of the exhilarating ride for several days!

Getting to know Mokasuop, my elephant for the the day at Patara Elephant Farm near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.....

.......and her four month old grandson, the sweetest little guy.

There will be plenty more elephant pics later........

.....until then, rest assured, it's one heck of a big animal to get on, it's a long way down...........and only a short distance before your thighs are screaming. I warn you, upcoming elephant riding pics of Paula and I will be graphic!!!!!


I'm in Saigon right now...........another amazing place.