The wonders of Chang Mai welcomed us with its exotic charms and the elephants walked sofly through the jungle....
Dense rain clouds turbulent tossed the AR72 200 in the thermals; the sign for fasten all seatbelts flashed ominously at the intrepid tourists. Below us lay flashes of green jungle and the red-brown snake of the Mekong River. Small settlements appeared beneath the dipped wing of our twin-prop jet and signs of large industries proclaimed that we were nearing our destination; Chang Mai – northern Thailand. As the jet landed, the captive audience clapped their hands; their relief clearly written in their faces. Air travel in Southeast Asia had always had its problems created by long flying hours and inferior maintenance.
We were warmly welcomed into the land of friendly smiles by custom agents, who’s only interested was where we had come from, Luang Prabang, Laos.
The Empress hotel on Thanon Chang Khlan is a splendid edifice, just south of the famous ‘Evening Market.’ After a quick shower, we zoomed silently from the tenth floor to street level; back-packs empty and ready for an evening shopping binge. The night air was full of spicy odors, the screech of Tuk Tuk brakes and the call of the vendors; enticing tourists to buy their merchandise and free their dollars into the Thai economy. It was exciting. Here was a splendid venue for tourists destined to part with their US dollars; the opportunity to barter for silver jewelry, Thai silk garments; in fact anything that you heart desired was available. That humid night we dined with the locals at their café; Thai beer, spicy noodles and chicken or fragrant rice with prawns. The buzz on the street was intoxicating and exhausted; we stumbled over uneven pavements to our bed.
Lee and I had agreed the previous evening to a tour; the Maseo elephant training camp, the snake farm, orchid nursery and silver jewelry factory. Off we drove with Dodi our guide, who introduced us to the wonders of northern Thailand; promising us that we would see the wonders of the region. On arriving at the Maseo elephant camp we were entertained by twenty elephants of between five and ten years. It was plain to us that these well-trained animals loved to perform; the applause driving them on to achieve greater adulations. These wonderful, gentle creatures danced the bogie, played mouth-organs with their trunk, and entertained us with a game of soccer. But, the final accolade was when they stood in front of an easel and began to paint flowers for their admiring audience. With great concentration they flourished their brush, and with long strokes the leaves appeared. Finally with solid dabs, the red and yellow’s of the flowers appeared. Wonderful, clever creatures these elephants; they even sold their works of art to their adoring public, to support the training of the younger elephants.
Suddenly it was our turn to climb the stairs to ride our magnificent elephant Mao Sou Dee, forty-nine years old and our ride into the Thai jungle. Six elephants slowly swayed up through the sticky mud, rocking forward and sideways gently rocking their mahout and brave tourists. For many people, an innate fear of these gentle animals had control of their minds, and they missed the communion of man and beast, as one. We were excited, delighted with the view of the jungle around us and the brown, flooding river, below. Slowly, carefully, our mammoth tested the depth of the muddy footprint of the animal before her, with her grey trunk. Reaching a small rocky stream, she stood in its depths and washed the mud from her feet, splashing water along her back. Mao Sou Dee turned her massive head to look at us; laughed deep in her belly, and sprayed us with muddy water, before commencing her leisurely stroll along the river bank. We saw a lone elephant shackled on the hillside, and our mahout and elephant called out their sympathy to him. Perhaps some past indiscretion had sent him to hell; we can only hope that his punishment is almost over. Smiling widely, we disembark from our elephant, grateful for her gentle soul and wisdom, to allow us this experience.
Off we drive to visit a magic Orchid farm; brilliant flashes of color and exotic flowers tempt us and we yearn to take them with us. The odors of Thai cooking lure us to a nearby restaurant and we feast on spicy, chili flavored shrimps and chicken dishes.
The gleam of silver drew us closer as the artisan carved the beautiful designs into the rings, bracelets and silver platters. The temptation to buy a trinket was overwhelming and I brought a silver ring set with white zircons.
Our next stop was a Snake farm where they milked the venomous King Cobras for anti-venom. We entered the dwelling and watched in horror as the snake-charmer tempted these creatures to strike as he waved his black-clad knee before them. He performed many feats for his fascinated audience with Rat snakes and pythons; capturing the Rat snake in his mouth with two others in hand. Relieved to have survived this experience unscathed, we walked among the cages, which contained many animals, birds and snakes of interest.
Suddenly the monsoon rain fell from the heavens as we began our walk through the botanical gardens of Queen Serikit. Many exotic trees and plants lined the walkways; this horticulture is designed to protect endangered species for the future generations of Thais.
Our final experience was to the famous pottery village where beautiful Celadon pottery is still made for the local and export markets of the world. The women paint the ancient, exotic designs learnt over the centuries; highly prized by collectors of beautiful art.
Tired, but jubilant we returned to the Empress hotel; wonderful exciting day and the evening promised even more adventure into the night markets of Chang Mai, Thailand
Sounds like a colorful introduction to the place. I plan to visit Northern Thailand as soon as I got some leave left. Thanks for your article. Franz
Reviewed by Susan Cook-Jahme
10/21/2003
Elephants are wonderful creatures - my husband and I spend a great deal of time in the bush here in Africa and still think out of all the wild animals on this continent, elephants are the best :0)
Quite an adventure, I envy you meeting the elephants, I have always loved them and had a strange experience with four circus elephants here in the UK back in the 60's. I wrote a poem about that called 'Circus Elephants' (very original huh!) Did you by chance get to the elephant hospital where they treated Maloti? The elephant who stepped on a landmine, they had to amputate her left front foot. Jackie <> <
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