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| Gavin in his appropriate moped helmet. :D :D :D |
Today we decided to explore the Warorot market in Chiang Mai's Chinatown area, a daytime
market selling mostly clothing and food that was more for the locals than the
tourists. On the way we briefly walked
through the flower market, a row of stalls with familiar and unfamiliar
flowers, of which the orchid stall was my favorite! We bought a couple things, and noted that the
prices here were about half of what we had been paying at the more touristy
markets like the Night Market. After
wandering through the indoor and outdoor parts of the Warorot market, we headed
back toward our hotel, stopping for a quick lunch of khao soi in a little
restaurant called the Black Elephant, which had a lovely little garden patio in
the back.
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| The Flower Market. |
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| Interesting flowers at the market. |
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| Gavin at the flower market. |
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| Bottom floor of the Warorot Market. |
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| View from the top floor. |
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| Chinatown in Chiang Mai. |
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| Buying a cheap bra outside the Warorot Market - she insisted I try it on. :D |
Back at the hotel, we got picked up for our elephant
encounter with Eddy Chiang Mai Elephant Care.
Our guide Nic drove us about an hour outside of Chiang Mai to his
uncle’s land in the jungle, where they housed about a dozen elephants in
captivity, one is even older than I am!
Nic said that he had inherited some elephants from his parents, and kept
acquiring more as they had babies, or they adopted more from other places,
etc. He told us there are actually no
wild elephants left in Thailand, and he has to take care of them and keep them
captive because all elephants are tagged with the responsible party’s
information; if they get out and do any property damage, the owners pay a large
fine. So he is “stuck” with the
elephants, but he obviously loves them and has a fun time with letting tourists
get to know them; tourism is the only way he can afford to care for them.
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| Eddy Chiang Mai Elephant Encounter grounds. |
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| Ready to ride in my elephant riding clothes. :) |
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Gavin dressed in head to toe stonewash denim.
The 80s called, they want their outfit back... :D |
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| Elephants in the shade. |
When we arrived at the elephant farm, we were amazed by the
silence of this part of the jungle, only broken by the occasional trumpeting of
one of the elephants. Nic gave us some
clothing to wear for riding so we wouldn’t have to get our own dirty, and then
it was time to meet some of the elephants!
Nic grabbed a bucket full of bananas and walked in through the
elephants, all of them lunging against their single ankle chain to get to our
bananas; it was a little intimidating!
Nic showed us how to feed the baby and a large elephant behind us,
saying the command “Bon soong!” to get them to open their mouths, or we could
also let them grab the bananas with their trunks. While we were feeding one, if our back was turned
one of the others would reach and tap us with their trunks to get more
bananas. :)
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| Baby elephant was REALLY excited about the bananas. :) |
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| One of the other elephants. |
Me feeding the baby elephant.
Gavin feeding the elephants.
One of the elephants giving me kisses! Ew! :D
Next it was time to ride them bareback! I figured there would be a driver and Gavin
and I would be passengers, but they taught me the commands to direct our
elephant, whose name was Bifern, and Nic’s uncle walked beside us to help. I had to say “Pai” for and kick Bifern behind
the ears to go forward, “Kwa” and kick behind her left ear to turn right, “Sai”
and kick the elephant behind the right ear to turn left, and “Yoot” and lock my
legs around her neck to stop. Gavin rode
on a carpet on the elephant’s back, and I sat directly behind her ears, and
both of us were surprised at the coarse, prickly hair that covered her hide. Nic walked with us and used Gavin’s phone to
take a plethora of pictures.
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Checking my "cheat sheet" of elephant commands. :D That's our
elephant Bifern in front of me. |
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| A walk with Bifern! |
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| No hands, hahaha! |
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| Riding on the path. |
As we rode (SLOWLY) along the path, Nic’s uncle kept
chopping sugar cane Bifern to carry and eat.
Nic explained that if the elephants get to eat while they work (i.e.
carrying tourists, following commands, etc) then it makes them happy and look
forward to working. As we were walking,
suddenly the elephant broke wind LOUDLY.
Nic yelled to Gavin, “Hey Gavin, you fart fart!!??” and then Nic and his
uncle dissolved into a fit of giggles. I
am sure they make that joke several times a day, but I guess it doesn’t get
old! :D Gavin and I laughed, too. :)
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| Bifern eating as we walk. |
We rode the elephant down a shallow river, and then into a
little shallow pond, where Nic’s uncle gave a command we hadn’t learned, and
Bifern laid down on her side, dumping us off into the water, and it was time
for her bath. Nic’s uncle gave us
brushes, and we scrubbed her for a bit.
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| Bifern just dumped us off into the water. :) |
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| Now it is time for her bath. |
Then we noticed Bifern had decided to take a massive crap in
the water. The turds the size of my head
were floating toward Gavin and I, and then Nic’s uncle just wandered over,
picked them up one by one and chucked them out of the water. We noticed where he had chucked them onto
shore, there were hundreds of other old dried turds there. So I guess the pooping in the water is a
frequent occurrence. We both wanted to
jump out of the water, but we didn’t want to offend our hosts… so we were stuck
wading in the elephant toilet. :)
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I think he took this photo RIGHT at the moment I
noticed the turds. Gavin is still oblivious... |
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| I let Gavin know he's getting close to turd central... |
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| Nic's uncle getting ready to shot put a turd to shore! |
When we were done bathing in elephant excrement, Nic told us
to get back on Bifern, this time with Gavin in the front and me standing
behind. Then they had the elephant soak
us with (elephant toilet) water from her trunk repeatedly, while laughing
uproariously. I thought I was safe and
they were just going to do it to Gavin, but they had me trade and go in front
next. :)
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| Me getting sprayed. :) |
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| Both of us soaked in elephant toilet water. :D |
Gavin getting soaked by the elephant. :)
Now it's my turn...
Right after our elephant toilet bath Nic showed us to real
showers he had ready for us (thank goodness, but there was no soap…), and we
changed back into our own clothes for the ride back into Chiang Mai.
Once back at the hotel, we showered again more thoroughly,
then went out to dinner. We wanted to
eat at a restaurant along the Ping River, so we went to the one Lonely Planet
recommended. Unfortunately, it had permanently closed and there was a new
hotel/restaurant in its place, so we ate there at The Service 1921
restaurant. The restaurant was in the
old British embassy, and the theme of the restaurant was 1921 British secret
service. The staff were dressed in 1920s
wear, the menus were given to us in envelopes marked “Top secret,” and when
they brought our appetizer they informed us that this was “our first mission.”
:) The theme was cute, we got to eat on
the second floor with a view of the river, and the cocktail I had was tasty,
but the food left much to be desired.
The pork curry I ordered had good flavor, but it was 90% solid white
fat. Gavin’s beef wasn’t much
better. We ended up leaving a big pile
of our scraps in one of the steamed rice bowls.
:)
After dinner, we walked back through the Night Market again,
and I bought a few more home décor items.
Then we headed back to our hotel.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to Chiang Mai.
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| On the way back from the Night Market we ran into a couple Transformers! :) |
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| Or maybe this one is a Decepticon? :) |
