Lindissi

Elephants and Thai people have a special bond.  The elephants are revered by the hearts of Thais.  They are the symbol of the Thai royalty.  That being said elephants in Thailand face a decline in habitation, the domesticated elephants outnumber the wild ones and of course they face poachers.   These intelligent beast of burden have historically played an important role in Thailand. The white elephant is am important symbol in their monarchy and elephants adorn many temples. Even today they are have proven why we are so fascinated with them.  Recently,  BBC reported that elephants where used to record evasive tiger cubs for a documentary.



One of the many things I've wanted to do during my travels is ride an elephant. After failing to do so in India I was looking forward to it on my Thailand trip.  Some people including myself have mixed emotions about riding a elephant particularly in regards to how they are treated.  It is hard to tell whether the elephant you are riding has been treated well or not.  But, we must keep in mind that elephants like many animals have been domesticated for a long time. A mahout is the elephant trainer.  A mahout is with an elephant for his life, since typically the elephant outlives the man.  Like with training dogs the mahout has to establish dominance. Since elephants are much larger and more dangerous than dogs more precautions are taken.  I remember when I was on a jeep safari in India and we encountered a herd of wild elephants.  The driver and guide got very nervous, shut off the engine and made sure we were all very quiet.  Given their size elephants are not to be taken lightly.



While in Thailand I rode two elephants.  The first is below.  Becky and I where in Chaing Mai, Thailand which is the northern territory.  We along with 8 others rode a group of elephants for one hour and then continued on our trek to a village.  Our elephants was the lead elephant and the largest.



We bought bushels of banana to feed the hungry snout that came back to great us.



The rest of the group behind us! 



Our second elephant adventure was on Koh Chang which means Elephant Island.   "Koh" means island and "Chang" means elephant.  Chang is also a beer.    This time we where with the elephants for two hours and we got to take turns sitting on its head.  Which was a little unnerving but completely safe. 



We also got to bath with the elephants are the ride.  Becky wasn't wearing her bikini but didn't want to miss the experiences so she went in with her clothes on. 



These pictures are when I almost got ran over by the elephant exiting the poll.  It was quit rocking there so I didn't think it would exit that way. Needless to say I escaped unharmed....



Here we are at the end of the trail.

Yes I rode an elephant....twice!