Elephant Ride
Trip Start
Nov 08, 2006
1
39
229
Trip End
Ongoing
Chiang Rai,
Thailand
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
We hadn't done much in Chiang Rai. We were relaxing and enjoying the holidays. One afternoon we visited the Hill Tribes Museum in town and saw a trek that looked pretty interesting. It was a boat ride to a Karen Village and then an elephant ride through the hills. But the price was pretty insane - $90 for two people. That may not sound like much, but this is Thailand. You can buy a kidney for that much money. So while it sounded interesting, we weren't going to throw around that kind of cash on it. However, the day we went to the Buddha caves, we had seen a sign for the Karen Elephant village on one of the highways. I figured we could rent a motorbike again, drive out there ourselves, and do the trip for much less. And if they turned us away, it would still be a nice drive along the river.
01 Wat in Chiang Rai
So we rented a bike and made our way to the village. They were happy to set us up with a 2-hour ride and it only cost $20. That's still a lot for Thailand, but they have to feed the elephants.
We were afraid the ride might be a bit cheesy. I had imagined that they might just toss us on a baby elephant and guide us in circles around a pen Barnum and Bailey style. But once on the beast, we immediately headed out of town and into the surrounding hills. Our guide must get bored with the normal paths, so he took us down one that was obviously rarely used. At one point he had to stop because our narrow path was blocked by an overgrown tree. So he pulled out his machete, hacked off the offending branches, and fed them to the elephant. The ride was actually more of a long buffet for the animal than any kind of tour geared toward us. It stopped often and ate bamboo, trees, shrubs, whatever was around. But it was cool because while it was obviously trained, it was clear that this was still an enormous beast and did only what it chose to do, and more importantly, when it wanted to. So our 2-hour ride didn't cover much ground, but it was a lot of fun. We climbed a hill that seemed dangerous and difficult, but the elephant managed. Lindsey and I each got of our imperial perches and sat on the elephants head while our guide napped in the plush seats.
So while we didn't do any logging or head into war on the animal, it was a pretty authentic experience. The elephant was in its natural environment in some sense. And it did its own thing, lumbered about, ate a lot, waded through the river and shot water out of its trunk. We both enjoyed it. Check out some photos to see how I look like I was born to ride one of these things.
Comments
I want to do this.
Madre