Doo wah diddies

Lunch was a traditional Thai picnic, with food wrapped in and served on banana leaves, in a bamboo hut down by the river. Quite beautiful, and very unique. A chance to talk and relax for a bit before getting back into it.

The main activity for the afternoon was to take our elephants for a " walk". Translate that as climb on, let them walk, and concentrate on balancing on not falling off. The motion of an elephant moving is quite unlike anything I have yet experienced. Add height into the equation and you will begin to see just how challenging this was. It took a little doing to get the hang of balancing along with the elephant, but on the whole it is a great experience. We went up the hill then once everyone was together, crossed the road. Yes, across both lanes, and gently stepped over the guardrail, then headed up the hill and into the rainforest. The trail through the rainforest was beautiful and provided a unique view of Chiang Mai.

The only sound was our elephants breathing, squeaking from the enjoyment of being out and our mahouts checking "you ok?" from time to time. The terrain went from steep on the uphill, to incredibly steep on the downhill.

So steep I doubt I could have walked the route without sliding down on my bottom. The elephants found it hard going, as did we as we tried to stay glued on. Ultimately I left it all to Boon Pat, trusting he knew what to do. As for the mahouts, they did it in thongs, Crocs and slip on plastic shoes. Amazing! As we came out of the rainforest we stepped over the guardrail again, this time staying on the asphalt as we walked along the road. By this time I was grinning with joy, and inspired by the continual "D D Boon Pat" started up my own version of Manfred Mann's "Do wah diddy diddy" complete with elephant appropriate lyrics and lots of "D" "D"s.

Two hundred metres later we turned off the road and into the home paddock, but not before we were passed by a motor-scooter driven by a man whose dog was perched in front of him, hind legs on the base board, front paws on the handlebars. Chiang Mai certainly is an amazing place. 28.1.2013

How to climb onto an elephant

Next lesson for the morning was how to climb onto an elephant. There are a surprising number of ways of doing this, none of which involve a ladder, tree stump or trampoline. Each mahout/trainer has their own preferred way of climbing onto their elephant. Some elephants will accept a number of methods depending on the skill and ability of the person climbing on. Others will only allow the use of one, and frankly, who is going to argue? Most skilled, is the mounting option where the elephant lowers its head down onto its trunk, and the trainer facing the animal, vaults up and onto its head face on. This sees you "land" on top of the elephant's head facing the rear. The trick then is to do a u-turn while up in the air, by swinging one leg over the elephants back and scooting around until you are facing the right direction. All at a great height and hopefully without tumbling off. Luckily for me my prowess was not put to the test as Boon Pat didn't know this way of working. Frank though, mastered the leaping on. Once up there though it was a challenge for him, heights not being his thing. Next option is where the elephant sticks its trunk out, you step on and the elephant, operating like a crane, hoists you up, then you leap onto its head. Another highly skilled manoeuvre. A variation on this is when the elephant bends its knee, allowing the mahout to step onto its leg and it raises the trainer up to the point that he can climb on board. More sedate is when you utter "Non Long", asking the elephant to lie down, and it very kindly let's you grab an ear for leverage then step on it's leg, letting you scramble up, over and on to it's head. Then the command "Look" and the elephant clambers to it's feet. Very inelegant on a large fellow like Boon Pat I am sure. My fault, not his. Once up the idea is to hold on to the elephants ears, and wiggle your way forward until you are high on its head. Then it's a matter of finding your balance and you are off.

The commands used by mahouts in Chiang Mai are all Burmese, rather than Thai, due to the connection with the Karen tribe. A few more key phrases are essential around now. " Pai pai" (phonetically "buy buy") is the command for "go forward". "Hoh" is "stop", while "Ma" is "walk forward" if you are leading the elephant by the ear. "D" "D" is the equivalent of "good" so "D D Boon Pat" is "Good boy Boon Pat". This phrase I used a lot as with my mount being huge and only 14 years old, I figured it was best to err on the side of caution and give him lots of encouragement. The funny thing was that mid afternoon I heard Frank also uttering "D D Boon Pat". When I asked him why he kept talking to my elephant he said he couldn't remember his elephants name, so using mines was reassuring - for him! I nearly fell off Boon Pat I was laughing so much. What's more, Frank still can't remember his elephants name! 28.1.2013

Your elephant chooses you

Next it was on to learning how to determine which elephant would be ours for the day. The trick to elephant allocation, according to our guide Benz, was to feed an elephant for five minutes. By this time, he would have a clear indication of whether "our" elephant would accept us - or not.

So, first to be allocated an elephant was me. I followed Benz with a basket of bananas, to find myself stationed in front of the biggest elephant I have ever seen in my life. He was huge, and yes, he was a male. He also had the biggest tusks I have ever seen, and was in fact the only elephant with tusks. So, five minutes later, after he had demolished all of the sugar cane and bananas I looked to Benz to see whether I was "in". Sure enough this huge guy accepted me, so from that point on Boon Pat and I were buddies for the day. Well, Boon Pat and I and our personal trainer, and what a day it was! 28.1.2013