Well that visit to the elephant conservation park was one of the most amazing experiences we have ever had!

This wasn't even in our plans, we just thought that a visit to an elephant park would be a good thing to do on one of our days while in Chiang Mai. Then Catherine researched it a bit more and found out that we could spend 3 days learning how to become a "mahout", or an elephant trainer. We decided that we weren't going to get many opportunities like this again, so we headed out on Saturday morning not really knowing just what to expect...

We arrived at the preserve at 0830 and were rushed into our "Mahout suits" and taken directly to our elephants, and introduced to the trainers. The spent a few minutes teaching us a few simple commands and how to mount our elephants, and the next thing you know, they had us headed out into the jungle for the morning baths. It was a little tricky to get used to because there are no reins or saddles, so you just clamp your knees behind the big ears and hang on. We both got the hang of it pretty quick, and then headed into the water.

The twice daily baths turned out to be the highlights of our days. The elephants absolutely loved being in the water and having us strangers scrubbing them clean. Once we finished getting them all cleaned up, we would then walk them to a secluded spot in the jungle and "park" them for the evening so they could eat and sleep. Then we were taken back to our cabin and had meals made for us on the deck while we scrubbed ourselves clean. By the end of the day, we were pretty much wiped and rested up to do it all again the next day.

We managed to take a ton of pictures there, and here are a few...

Here is a great shot of Cat and Tantawan

A walk through a beautiful jungle

Relaxing during bath time

Why are we laughing? Because Cat's elephant liked putting her head under the water and leaving her bum wagging around on the surface

All in all it was an amazing 3 days, and we are so glad we decided to do it. Now we are back in Chiang Mai for a couple of nights before we head out on Wednesday to the southern gulf island of Koh Tao for our last week of sun and diving before heading back.