Chiang Mai #My first Elephant adventure!!

Singing..”I’m going to the e-l-e-p-h-a-n-t’s tour..yes!!”.. I kept singing it last night, so excited. Morning came I jumped in the shower… put on sun block, blush on, big red hat, sunglasses, all the accessories I could possibly wear and most important is the CAMERA!!, the tour car came 8.45am off we go!!, it took an hour to get to the elephant tour. First thing we did was visiting baby elephant and fed them with banana or sugar cane for 20 baht. they are so cute, a female elephant needs 21 months to carry the baby inside before she delivers and they only can be pregnant 5-6 times in their life (wow, I just leant this fact!!)

Second was bamboo rafting, we sat on these files of bamboo tide together, i kept asking the guy “is it saved?” the river was brown it flowed fast.. i was sitting in the front row (Shea didn’t want to come bcoz his hockey team played this morning, no worries… i still have the excitement and fun!). oh our group was so boring, seem like I was the only one who talked a lot. 4 Taiwanese, a middle easter couple with 2 cute kids, a young boring couple from Europe (not sure what country, who didnt have interest in doing anything but sat there n waited) and 2 Australian girls (who were friendly). I was always in the front line (showed how excited I was), bamboo rafting: I jumped in first (hey I used to jump to Mahakam river back then in the program) no problemo, followed by the Australian girls and the boring couple. The guy who canoed n made sure we didn’t hit the tree was kinda funny, he enjoyed himself, he sang and talked to the other Thai guy he met. He said “No crocodiles.. no.. no.. (umm i don’t think so.. im sure there is some crocodiles hidden somewhere near the tree. “picture..picture..ladies.. ha!! 15 baht..” I gave him my camera n took some pictures (it sucks not to have a travel buddy coz u miss all the great picture of yourself, I asked the Australian girls to take my picture many times, I told them “oh my bf is watching hockey game and he didn’t want to come. They were so nice to me). Bamboo rafting was about 30 minutes and it was Fun!!

Next was the elephants show.. oh what an amazing show.. so awesome!! The show started in the river, they all took a bath and played in the water, some of them sprayed the water towards us, then after they were refreshed they went back to their show area. We all sat ready to watch. The host (Thai lady) first introduced the elephants one by one.. (oh I forget their name), whichever elephant who being called was stepped forward and gave us warm greeting by bending their big body it was so cute… they did some attractions such as: playing food ball, putting the big trees in order, walking side by side (they hold each other’s tail) but the most incredible things they did were “dancing and panting” OMG.. it was hilarious, they were so cute and funny, when the host played the music they were dancing by spinning their trunk, head, shook their giant body and put their front right or left foot up. Oh I can’t describe it but it was so funny. the most touching moment of the elephant show was the painting..ohh this young elephant did a great painting. At first she drew a black circle line… then she kept drawing the line..OMG she drew an elephant (herself) from the back, with 2 big ears, 2 back legs, long trunk and long tail, unbelievable.. then she drew a green tree. It took her about 10 minutes but it was a great drawing.. and after just like an artist she also signed her painting. I wanted to buy it but the Chinese guy ordered it first from the host. There are some souvenir stalls that also sells the elephant painting but I wanted that painting.. the one she just did. Oh what an amazing animal. End of the show they came to the front and greeted us, some tourist fed them banana and some money (of course the guy who rides them took it). But these elephants have been taken a good care by them coz elephant is one of their holy god and the symbol of their country.

Then riding an elephant.. Yes this is the moment that I’ve been waiting for!!, I jumped in first but since I came myself they tour guide gave me one elephant.. MAN.. I almost pee my pant.. I was so scared!! The lady I met from cooking class was there and she yelled at me “do u want me to come with u?” I was like “YES”. She jumped in (her tour guide was different than mine, he yelled at her but she sat next to me already so he couldn’t do much). oh I thought it was easy!! First time ever riding an elephant who wouldn’t be scared!! (I know Shea is scare hahaha). this lady was so nice n tried to calm me down, she has ridden an elephant before and she said it safe. I had this bad thinking goin on in my head “what if..what if.. what if the elephant gets upset.. oh goodness’ but nothing happened, first 5 minutes my heart was pumping but then I enjoyed the ride. We went up and down the hills muddy road. I could feel the bumping of every step of our elephant took. I thank God he wasn’t a big elephant, the view was magnificent, pure nature with the green mountain and tress, beautiful.. it was like un-touch nature. I also bought some bananas and sugar cane our on way to the final stop.

Next was riding Ox.. just like the old Indian movie two white ox, tide with old wood buggy i was the only passenger but then two old Swedish joined in. the ride was bumping but fun.. the buggy guy got off then took some pictures of me.. it was so much fun.. (don’t have to wait till anyone else around to have fun.. I don’t wait I just do it!!) no Shea nor travel buddy but I still had a great fun!.  We went back to the first station then had lunch (included the tour package), it was buffet.. yumyum all Thai food..Great!! I was so hungry. No one arrived but me and the boring couple (oh gosh they were real boring…didn’t do much, didn’t talk, didn’t asked, didn’t take many picture, I didn’t see the excitement in their face like everyone else) I ate, I didn’t wait for anyone else, besides I didn’t know anyone except the Australian girls, I didn’t even know their name coz I never asked and neither did they. Pad Thai, vegetables, chicken with mushroom, soup, rice, etc oh it was delicious.. I ate a lot.. I ate first and I finished last.. hahah I was the last one who still eating in the table while everyone else had gone. I love eating… J

It was almost 2pm, next tour was long the neck village, OMG I saw them in NatGeo Adventure, oh my dream came true.. I took some pictures of some girls with the long neck, their neck was real long with golden iron necklaces… just like on TV. Oh I felt sorry for them, they became an object for tourist.. this Taiwanese guy took their picture without permission or said something. Oh Goodness show your respect!! Come on!!! (Dasar turis China suka heboh nga jelas.. chang ching chong!, mending permisi ato beli dagangan mereka ini kagak).. at least I asked.. you know… when u ask, they will give you those warm smile… of Bless them!!.

last but not least, the orchid..  the warm greeting from the receptionist by giving us a pin of orchid and pinned it in our clothes, oh beautiful!!, many kind of orchids, it reminded me of my aunty back home, my  turkish student's mom who loves orchid so much.. yellow, purple, pink, red, etc., they all beautiful… I took a bunch of pictures.. ahh my battery was dying but no worries I had another spare battery picture after picture, this time not the battery but the memory card.. I took too much picture. Near the orchid garden, there was this butterfly farm, beautiful butterfly and also the cocoon... it was almost 4, I was super tired, smelly, messy and grubby BUT otw back to hotel I kept smiling n saying “what a wonderful day…”  

 PS: oh i uploaded too many pictures on my blog, but i think a blog without pistures is lame and boring:)