Thailand Chronicles: Chiang Mai Elephants

I felt like Mowgli. Only I was wearing more than just a tiny tot cloth as underwear. In fact, I was decked out in Thai elephant pants and a woven top that bore a striking resemblance to a Mexican poncho. Watch out boys! I had minimal expectations for the Patara Elephant Farm right outside Chiang Mai and with so many companies offering elephant trips (sorta like white water rafting in the Carolinas), it was hard to know whether we were making the right choice. But after spending the day with our 13-year old elephant, "Mae-wen-dee," I know Patara was the right fit for us.

In visiting Patara, my sister and I were paired up with what our leader said was one of the naughtier elephants. He wasn't kidding. Mae-wen-dee was like the honey badger. She takes what she wants. Every command we uttered fell on deaf ears. If she wanted to walk, Mae-wen-dee walked. If she wanted to eat (and boy did she!), she ate. But despite our difficulties, we quickly grew fond of our elephant feeding her two baskets full of green bananas and sugar cane before the day began and two piles of leftovers from lunch midday. Apparently elephants will and can eat close to anything (except fried chicken). We also enjoyed the mahout who, despite his ability to speak any English, still found ways to communicate with us and share in our excitement.

Our day couldn't have been any better. We learned all about the elephant farm which raises 30-40 elephants currently. We learned how to care for elephants and ensure they were healthy and happy. The 4-prong test:

• Are there dirt marks on both sides of the body indicating the elephant slept on their side? (Sick elephants sleep standing up)

• Is there sweat between the toes? (Sick elephants don't sweat as much)

• Is the poop (this is gross...) in clumps of 8-10? Unscented? Moist when squeezed? (Sick elephants poop less, it smells, and isn't moist)

• Is the tail moving and ears flapping? (sign of happiness)

After feeding, we bathed Mae-wen-dee in the river before jumping on and traveling through the jungle. In total, we probably rode her for roughly two hours and one British guy at the end of the day said he would be walking like a cowboy for the foreseeable future. I think my favorite part of the day would have to be lunch. We stopped at a waterfall and stuffed our faces full with an enormous spread of heavenly goodies (sticky rice with mango, doughnuts, fried chicken, fried banana and the list goes on and on). Post lunch, we played with a few of the elephants in the water. AMAZING!!!

All in all, it was day I will probably never forget and an absolute highlight from my trip. The staff at Patara, the guests, and the elephants all mixed for a magical day.