The first day we were picked up from our guesthouse at 9am. We sat on bench seats in the back of a pick up with a French couple that ONLY spoke French. It was sad that the first language that came to mind was Bangla and I kept mixing up 'ami' with 'je' when trying to say I. But just as we were beginning to make progress with the conversation, we had to jump out and join another tour group. I was pretty bummed out. I was looking forward to improving my French.
We jumped into the back of another pickup, this time with six Puerto Ricans and three fellow Vancouverites. The group of six had two guys and four girls--all the girls were about to graduate from medical school and take their boards to start interning in America. Each was going into a different area of medicine so it was cool to pick their brains a little.
They took us to the first elephant camp where we stopped to have some fried rice for lunch. Then we headed down to the elephants and climbed into the big chair perched precariously on the elephant's back. We weren't able to take pictures of ourselves on top and instead had to buy a copy from the company's photographer. Kind of a rip off but when it's your first time on an elephant you really don't care. I think the rest of our group got pictures of Dad and I in our chair so hopefully they will post them to Facebook soon so I can steal them.
After about an hour ride through the jungle, we headed back to camp and started our three hour hike from 300m to 1200m above sea level.
[sorry I have to interrupt this blog post because it's so late.. It took forever to load up all 162 pictures to Facebook so I'll continue my story later. Check out the pictures though if you want to get a taste of what Dad and I have been up to :)]
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=204850&id=549112159&l=1f68b1cc41
--And we're back in after a short delay :)
So we started our hike up. At first, it didn't seem too bad. The first hour and a half was pretty intense but our guide Puzaa had us stop fairly often for water breaks. Then he'd say "Okay Puzaa Army! One more mountain!" Of course, we thought that meant, only one mountain left but nooooo... lol He said that about 10 times, each time making us hate him a little more. Especially since the last hour and a half was almost vertical. My goodness. We were all sweating like none other, chugging water, and gasping for breath. My poor calves... While the whole thing was pretty much uphill, sometimes we were walking through jungle-y parts and other times, we were walking through burnt landscape. The local farmers set controlled fires to burn away debris from last year's crops in order to make room for the new. That's also the reason why the whole valley had a dense layer of clouds covering everything. The worst part was when we were gasping for air on the hike up, we were breathing in smoke sometimes which only made our lungs burn more.
Eventually though we made it up to the Black Lahu village. The house we were staying on was built half on the ground and half held up by long pieces of bamboo and wood. The house had a long front porch and a single room with no divisions, save for the mosquito nets between the beds. We showered by garden hose in the room adjoining the outhouse, then relaxed in the setting sun as we let our muscles unwind.Later on, Puzaa made us yellow chicken curry and green bean fry and we all filled our hungry bodies to the brim. Puzaa pulled out a deck of cards and showed us a couple card tricks, then did a couple mind-bending puzzles with toothpicks. As the night wore on, they pulled out some local moonshine whiskey and we all sat in a circle to play a game. We basically had to count to 21 but there were rules along the way to trick people into messing up the counting. If you messed up, you either had to take a shot, sing a song, or let someone in the group paint your face with charcoal from the bottom of the cooking pot. Like lifelines, once you used one, you couldn't choose it again. Hence I sang "I want it that way" by the Backstreet Boys, let Vanessa put a mustache on my chin, then warded off the whiskey by heading to bed early. All in all, we had a pretty good time.
The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and began our descent of the mountain. We actually went up and over the mountain down a new trail that was just as equally steep. Thankfully no one fell and got hurt but there were quite a few people that slipped at some areas. I don't know if going up or down is harder, but my poor quads were shaking by the time an hour had passed.
The waterfall was well worth it though... So beautiful. And refreshing after a long hike in the mid-morning sun! Puzaa said I could change behind a rock in the distance but he didn't mention that was on the trail. Right after I had put my bikini top on, though I hadn't started changing my bottoms yet luckily, another tour group came by. Freaked me out! lol I scrambled my stuff together and hid behind a more secluded rock to change.
The pool was only about 2-3ft deep but it was enough to wade around in and submerge to your neck if you wanted. At one point of the rock, you could lie against the rock and have the water spray against your back like a full blown shower. It was pretty cold but again, after a long hike, it feels sooo good!
Another hour through the jungle. This time it was fairly flat and half of the time we were walking alongside the road. We came up to the white water rafting station, grabbed paddles and helmets, and headed down to the river. Right now, it's the dry season so the river was kinda low but we still had a lot of fun--though we got stuck quite a few times on the rocks. We rafted for about an hour, then transferred from the boats to bamboo rafts to gently float down the river. Dad was chosen to steer us Venice-style down and did a great job :)
Another 30min of that. When we got the end, we all piled onto the shore, grabbed our bags from the truck, and made a beeline for the showers. Those rivers aren't the cleanest things I've ever seen so it felt nice to wash off any invisible gunk on my skin. lol We had a great lunch of pad thai, browsed the shops, then all piled into the pick-up for one last ride. The truck dropped us off at Baan Chang Elephant Park then headed back to the city to drop off the rest of the people. Again, I really hope I can get their pictures because my library is missing quite a few shots I'm realizing now.
At Baan, we were put up in a really nice room about five minutes walk from the main area. There were three other rooms in the complex but we were the only ones staying over. We rested for about an hour then headed down to see what was going on for dinner. We took some pictures (from a distance) with the elephants and got to spend some time talking with Tom Cruise, our tour guide and main mahout, about how the place is run.
They really have an incredible thing going. They rescue elephants from work camps and other places where they are being abused and give them such a great life. The elephants get plenty of food and never have to have those big metal chairs on their backs because the company only offers bareback riding in consideration of the elephants. They save most of what we pay for the rides so that in low-tourist season, they will still have money for food and such. If they are able, they seek out abused elephants, buy them, and bring them to the park. They actually got a new elephant while we were there that had been working in the rock camps for 20ish years.
Later that night, Tom lit a campfire and made bamboo sticky rice for us. He basically put raw rice down a bamboo shoot, added coconut milk, and sugar and put it over the fire to cook. It wasn't bad actually! He also brought out these huge lanterns that, once lit, fly high into the sky filled with hot smoke. They burn for about 20min then float back to the ground, leaving someone else to deal with their wire frame. lol We put three in the sky and watched the air currents take them high up and over the mountain. We stayed up eating sticky rice, listening to another mahout play the guitar, and just enjoying company with the staff. We were the only guests there!
The next day, we had a traditional Thai breakfast of rice and vegetable soup and helped feed some of the elephants. Tom took me around, sharing some of the elephant's stories, letting me feel their skin, and all around get to know them better. We had to change into these awful blue denim outfits that were supposed to protect our clothes from the day's events. It would have been fine but my dumb shirt was about 15sizes too big :P lol
When the day group arrived, we had a quick orientation with the park's founder who told us all the history and facts associated. Then they let us feed whole bunches of bananas and halved pineapples to the elephants. My favourite elephant was Pwei. She's 10yrs old and whenever she is standing or eating or whatever, she is always swaying. I call it dancing lol. They think she was separated too early from her mother when she was a baby and thus was devoid of contact. Just like babies in the same kind of situations rock back and forth, Pwei dances. She's a really sweet elephant though. I gave most of my bananas to her :)
After the feeding was over, we got our first lesson in driving elephants. I volunteered to be first because it didn't look that hard to climb up. Was I wrong! Those things have HUGE necks and it's a lot harder than it looks to wrap your legs around. But we learned "na-long" means stand-up and sit down and that you really have to yell it.
Then they gave us the little hook tool that mahouts use when driving. It looks like quite the violent tool but really is about the same as using a riding crop or reins as a whip to a horse. The elephant's skin is so tough and thick that it just gets their attention without hurting them. Plus, the mahouts use this as a last tactic, using their legs and voice first to command. "Kway" plus the hook means left or right. You have to put the hook against their right ear to turn left, and against their left ear to turn right. I know that sounds backwards but it works. "Pai" means forward and "How" was stop. I think I used these two commands the most.Dad rode on the neck for the first half of the ride and I held onto two rings on the back. We went up a hill around the camp, stopped for 10min to let the elephants rest, then I jumped into the driver's seat with Dad on the back. Honestly, for the most part, the elephants just follow one another but it was amazing how aware of your balance you had to be. Otherwise, you are going over the head! lol It was an incredible experience.
But my favourite part BY FAR, probably even my favourite part of our trip around Asia so far, was bathing the elephants. After the jungle walk, we took them to the watering hole by the park and let them play. Don't worry, we handed all our cameras and such over to the staff before jumping in. The elephants had SO much fun playing and spraying water all around. The little baby elephant kept doing barrel rolls beside us and spraying us over and over. We were all given rough scrub brushes to clean our elephants with, a great experience in itself.
I really can't say enough about our day with the elephants. It was just incredible. I would come back again if I could. Dad is wanting me to get off right now so that he can write a review about them on tripadvisor.com actually :) lolBut we had a long day today so I should get to bed anyways. We left this morning at 7am for the Golden Triangle. It wasn't anything TOO spectacular but it was cool to see where Burma, Laos, and Thailand all meet up. We got back around 9pm tonight... long day... About 8hrs in the van. I'm going to take a shower beceause it's blazing hot still and hit the hay! :)
ami tomake bhalobashi
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