Not everyone goes on a holiday to experience something different. Some travel simply to travel—to say they have passed through a particular landscape. Others travel to the same spot each year to lie on the same beach or play the same golf course.
My aim is always to find a refreshingly new experience. I’m not talking about simply a new country. I’m speaking about an event that may be off the beaten track or unusual in some way.When we were in Thailand recently, we visited an elephant camp—home to about 40 elephants and their trainers-masters. This was in northern Thailand in the low mountains outside Changmai not far from the Golden Triangle.
We arrived at the camp about mid-morning. Quickly, we hiked over a fast-flowing stream and found some of the elephants in a tight corral. Their trainers were perched on their heads or tucked behind their flapping ears.One of our friends bought bananas and sugarcane to feed to the elephants. Then he was urged to have his picture taken with the elephant’s trunk wrapped around him.
After the photo session, he had to dig into his wallet to get a 20 baht bill to pay the elephant. It took the money in its trunk. flipped its trunk upward, and the trainer took the offering.After that the elephants were paraded down to the stream where they immediately defecated into the flowing waters.
Great green balls of dung floated down the stream where several older ladies caught them in nets and dumped them into baskets. The story is that this elephant “output” is used in making a high-quality paper product.We watched the elephants then lie down and bathe themselves in the cooling waters as the day was hot at 39 degrees Celcius.
We strolled up to the arena to get good seats for the elephant “show,” which turned out to be outstanding. Elephants must be incredibly intelligent or easily trainable because they performed tricks that astonished us. They bowed to us, they berated us, they twirled their trunks, they hauled logs, they stacked logs, they kicked large soccer balls at a net, they threw darts at balloons, and they painted magnificent pictures.
We were impressed most by the elephants’ abilities at painting pictures. After a lull, five elephants trotted into the arena carrying boxes of paints with brushes. Canvases had already been set up on easels. The trainers prepared the paints and handed the wet brushes to the elephants.
Clasping the brush in its trunk, each elephant made strokes upon the paper. My thought was that this was going to be an exercise in abstract art. However, the elephants actually painted outdoor and still-life scenes. The elephant-artist we focused upon painted a landscape with a sunset and green grass background with palm trees in the foreground.
Immediately afterward, someone paid 7,000 baht (about $200) for this painting.After the show we wandered over to the platforms where our elephants were waiting to take us on our ride into the jungle and over a small mountain into the next valley. Our elephant was 48 years-old and a bit cranky. But I couldn’t blame him because it was extremely hot in the sunshine and the trail was quite steep.
Our elephants lumbered upward, urged on by their trainer-masters sitting on the top of their heads. Clamped into a heavy wooden seat, we rode precariously on top of the elephant’s middle. It was like being strapped in for a midway ride, except this was real leathery elephant. After a long ride where we rolled left and then right as the beast moved forward, we found ourselves in the village of the long-necked people.
But that’s another adventure.