Riding Elephants

Our last day in Pai (before heading to Vietnam) we began at Thom's Elephant Camp. Unlike the USA, Thailand lacks any kind of safety precations or instruction, and immediately we were able to pet and feed the elephants. The elephants were previously used for teak logging in the jungle which was outlawed. Our elephant was Pompaen (meaning Lovely Girl), a 19 year old female and the smallest of their group.



Soon it was time to ride the elephant and we grabbed an ear, stepped on it's leg, and not-so-gracefully pulled ourselves on top. We walked to the river and quickly realized there are more comfortable modes of transportation. Regardless, it was a pretty fun ride.



At the river, the elephant walked in and began spraying us with water, with Lindsey taking the worst of it. The trainer had her spray us, sit in the river, and do everything to drench us. The best moment was the elephant dance (kind of like bull riding) which sent Lindsey screaching and falling into the river. Steve lasted a bit longer since he knew what was coming. We have it on video, but need to get to a better internet connection to upload it. Here's a picture for now:



After the ride, we got to relax in thermally heated hot tubs before heading for a slow ride on a bamboo raft. The raft was pretty boring, but we got some close up view of bathing water buffalo.


Pai was a very relaxing place, and would have been even better without the smoke. Our next stop is Hanoi to meet up with Lindsey's dad and begin our journey down the Vietnamese coast.