Good Morning!
Arrived into Chiang Mai on Sunday morning to beautiful blue skies and a hot, hot day. We walked the city on a quiet Sunday afternoon until we were simply too hot. Had a great bowl of noodles and chicken at a roadside shop. Tuk tuks and taxi trucks honking at us for rides.
On Sunday night, there is a huge outdoor market. You can purchase almost everything there. Loads of people, tons of stalls, incredible smelling food (both good and bad). Blind people were in the middle of the aisles singing for money. Pesky women in traditional dress asking us to buy stuff. A bit overwhelming. A huge monsoon rainstorm made us run to a local cafe where we had a light snack waiting for it to stop. We returned with just a few purchases.

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was one of the most special ever. We were up early and the worker at our guesthouse came in early specifically to make us breakfast - great pancakes! We were picked up and driven to the Patara Elephant Farm in the mountains. We immediately saw the elephants when we arrived, but were disappointed to see them chained up. However, we were told that if they were not contained, they would explore the neighboring farms and destroy the farmers crops, property and fields.

The owner of Patara gave us a great introduction. He rescues elephants from Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and beyond. They have recently had 3 babies born in the past 4 months - cuter than you can imagine. They do not accept money from outside sources and they keep their elephant activities a secret from Thai officials. He obviously has a passion for elephants and for treating them with respect and love. The program is called "elephant owner for a day" and we were responsible for adopting and caring for our own elephant for a day. We had to put on the official Mahout outfits (shirt and riding pants). They gave each of us a heavy basket of bananas and cut sugar cane.. We were then introduced to our elephants and 'Mahmout' guides. Travel Gal and Travel Boy shared one elephant - a HUGE female called Membudi. They walked up to to her and hand fed her the bananas and cane. Very cool.
I was delivered to my elephant, a large female named Mehma. But there was a catch. She was a Mom and so I had 2 elephants - her and her 4 month old baby Bohni. Cutest thing you have ever seen!

We learned how to approach them, give them directions, and check their health. We had to analyze their poop - and there was plenty to analyze! While we were learning this as a group, Bohni kept walking away to play and explore. Mehma didn't like it when she can't see him, so she would first let out low growls, then she would scream for him. He would come back running.

We then had to unchain our elephants and walk them to the river for a cleaning and wash. They would lay down in the water and we would wash and scrub them. They seemed to love it.

We were then instructed on how to climb up on them. Two ways: the elephant can lift one leg and you can step and walk up their leg to reach the top, or you can climb up their tusk. Fun! Travel Gal and Travel Boy stepped up the leg and got on their huge gal. They were really high up. No seats or anything. Travel Boy sat in front with legs dangling in front of the elephants eyes while Travel Gal sat with her legs directly behind the elephant's ears. There was a rope behind you could grab to secure yourself. I climbed up Mehma's head to get on. We went for a nice long walk through rice paddies, rivers, and muddy areas. The whole time, Buhni was directly next to us, often getting stuck in the mud and struggling to walk over rocks. Too cute. We then went on a long trek towards a waterfall. Beautiful and peaceful landscape, all from the vantage point way up on an elephant. It was unreal.

We arrived at the waterfall and stopped for lunch. A fantastic local lunch lovingly prepared by local ladies. We ate sitting on the rocks enjoying a beautiful waterfalls and food. After lunch, whatever we did not finish (rice, fruit, the banana leaves everything was wrapped in, etc) was put together to feed to the elephants, which they loved. Several, and then all of the elephants eventually entered the water and submerged themselves, every so often raising their trunks out of the water to breathe. We jumped in for photos. It looked like I was sitting on rocks, but they were submerged elephants! The kinda gross part was they kept pooping in the water, and it floated around before the guys scooped it out.

After swimming, we got back on our elephants. One woman from our group had a sore arm and couldn't return on the elephant, so Travel Boy got to ride his own elephant back to the farm! He did great, as the path was very steep up and down, and very muddy. Poor Buhni struggled quite a bit. Just before getting back, Buhni was hungry so Mehma stopped to nurse her. I just sat there in wonder.
We returned to the camp where we were given a DVD of photos and video from our day. We said goodbye to our elephants. What an incredible once in a lifetime experience. Something we will always remember.
Last night, we enjoyed a great northern Thai dinner.
Just an amazing day, and the best birthday ever!
We fly to Laos this afternoon.