Patara Elephant Farm

Our second day in Chiang Mai was probably the one we were all looking forward to most- our day with elephants. Elephant farms are a pretty popular tourist attraction in Chiang Mai, where you can feed them, ride them (usually in a bench on their back), and watch them paint and do tricks. We chose Patara, which advertises that you become an "elephant owner for a day."

Not even two minutes after we got out of the car there was a baby elephant walking around right next to us. We were all so giddy to be close to him!

Shortly thereafter, his little friend joined him and they played and played. Jack, our main guide, referred to them as "troublemakers." 

The camp was run by people from the Karen tribe who are refugees from Burma. They gave us cool shirts so the elephants would think we were from their tribe too. Each couple was assigned to an elephant, and we got a female whose name was pronounced "Meh-kwan." She was 21 years old and had been adopted from Bangkok. All the adult elephants were chomping on leaves when we got there, and our first task was to bond with them by feeding them more! We each got a big basket filled with bananas and sugar cane.

In taking care of our elephants, we were told there are five things to look for each day:

1. Mood

2. Sleep habits

3. Teeth

4. Nourishment

5. Hydration

Before approaching our animals, we were supposed to make sure they were happy. Flapping ears and a swinging tail were signs of a happy elephant. If it was mad, its ears would be fanned out and its tail would be sticking up.

"Bon" = open your mouth; "Dee dee" = good girl.

I didn't know females could have tusks. Turns out it's a genetic thing, not a gender thing.

When the baskets were empty, we grabbed more leaves for her. They basically just eat all day long.

Third breakfast.

Elephants sleep 5-6 hours a night. A healthy elephants sleeps lying down, but a sick one will sleep standing up. Mequan's filthy sides indicated that she did, in fact, sleep on her side the night before. After patting her side and giving a command of "lay ling," she laid down and we swept all the dirt off of her back and sides with bunches of leaves. It was dusty business!

Then we took her over to get a drink before spraying her off. Our trainer gave her the hose and she grabbed it with her trunk and put it right in her mouth.

Spencer hosed her down like a pro.

Once our elephants were clean, we had to check to make sure they were well nourished and hydrated. That was kind of gross, since we had to check its poo. A minimum of five (head-sized!) balls of poo meant the elephant was eating enough. Also, we had to smell it to make sure it wasn't stinky, another indicator of a sick animal.

Sick, huh? But it really just smelled like hay.

Also, the size of plant shreds in the poo tells you if the elephant's teeth are good. Younger elephants generally have shorter shreds, while the plant shreds are typically longer for older elephants.

We checked for hydration by looking for sweat. You know where an elephant sweats? Its toes!

Mequan's sweaty elephant toes.

After ensuring our elephants were in good working condition, we suited up in some classy riding pants and learned how to saddle up.

There were several ways to get on the elephants, and unfortunately ours preferred that we mount from the front. We had to climb on her trunk, then she lifted us up to help us climb onto her neck. That part wasn't so bad, it was turning around to face the front that was the challenge.

The awkward "Now how to I turn around?" moment.

Success!

Ready for our bareback ride to a waterfall.

I was pretty surprised by the narrowness of the path we took through the jungle. We were pretty much going up and down a mountain, and I had to keep my feet up to make sure they didn't get crushed by a tree. Every time we went down hill, I had to lean waaaaayyyyy back to make sure I didn't fall off! The little rope and burlap sack around Mequan's back didn't give me much to hold on to. For a good portion of the walk we were behind Justin and Stacey. Their elephant, Puchan, was rippin' some juicy ones the entire time! It was pretty hilarious.

After about 30 minutes, we dismounted at a clearing where they'd set up our lunch. The presentation was so awesome, I loved the idea of using banana leaves for an outdoor table cloth.

Yum! We were excited to down more mangosteens.

We were stuffed to the racks and still had tons of food left, so of course we grabbed bananas to give them to our elephants. Well, the baby elephants made their way up to our table first and pretty much cleared the table for us. Besides the fried chicken and water bottles, everything was fair game.

A baby elephant, taking care of clean-up.

After lunch, Spencer and I switched places on Mequan's back. Riding on her neck was a lot more comfortable, and felt more stable too. Her ears served as a sort of seat belt for my legs and made me feel safe when we were going downhill.

When we got closer to the waterfall, our guide told me to scoot up to her head and Spencer moved up to her neck. That was pretty comfortable too. Spencer said riding that way reminded him of Indiana Jones.

The elephants got really excited when they saw the water. Mequan almost walked in with us still on her back! Some elephants were already in and completely under water, so I was nervous about how deep it was.

Don't take us in with you, Mequan!

Luckily the guides held her off long enough for us to get down.

On this particular day, we were focusing on the elephants' skin care.

Using other elephants as stepping stones to get to Mequan's back.

Then we used baskets to pour water over her, and scrubbed her skin with thick-bristled brushes.

Scrub, scrub!

After saying goodbye to our elephants and trainers, we rode over to see a really little baby elephant. I think this one was just a few months old.

It was pretty much the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

The baby was still nursing, and the mama elephant would pat her trunk on the ground to signal that it needed to come nurse. We were all surprised that the mom didn't seem at all concerned that we were so close to her baby. She just ate the whole time and didn't seem to even notice we were there.

It stepped on my flip-flop and almost got my toe too, but I moved my foot in the nick of time!

Good reflexes!

We all fell asleep in the car on the way back to our hotel. We got cleaned up and headed back to the night markets for more suit fittings and some shopping.

We ended the night with some awesome massages.

And got a ride back to the hotel in a tuk-tuk!

Check out Spencer's classy seat on top of the battery.

It was such a magical day. I can hardly believe it was real!