Everything looked cloudy, as if in a haze. Cataract's? 
 
As I opened my eyes in the village hut, where I spent a peaceful night, the room looked unclear . Then, a little more awake, I realized I was looking at the mosquito net that surrounded my bed.

The quiet of the hills, and new environment I was in, made me want to get the day started. It's amazing when you wake up and can't wait to see what the day is like.
 
After a quick, cold, shower, and putting on my Mahout Clothes, I hurried down to the camp area to see what exciting thing was on my schedule for today. As it turned out, it was a broom. A BROOM was first on my schedule for today. Work? This is what I hurried to camp for? Mahouts in training have to do the Mahout camp work also, they say.
 
We (Lucy and I) are given brooms and told to join two Thai women that are sweeping the grounds. Using our Thai brooms (and wearing our Mahout outfits) we head out to do our morning chores. 

The women do not speak English, but point and laugh as they direct us what to do. We sweep to the wrong places and they laugh and try to make us understand what we should be doing . It lasted not more than 20 minutes and turned out to be a lot of fun with the women laughing and making fun of us the whole time in Thai. 

We washed up and were served a breakfast of sticky rice with scrambled eggs and some kind of vegetables mixed in.
 
After mounting our elephants, the first thing we do is ride them to the lake. Before taking them out on a ride, they always get a bath. They lay down in the pond as we scrub them. We climb back on (both the elephants and us soaking wet) and give the command for them to get up. 

Today we ride into the jungle!
 
With a small day pack filled with water (and something the kitchen put in it for our lunch) we headed out on our all day ride though the jungle. We would both ride the same elephant and the Mahout would walk along beside, or ahead.
 
We came to the place where an elephant had been staked out in solitary, right beside a creek. She could not get along with the elephant herd in camp and so has been put here to be separated from the herd for a while . After a period of time alone, she will be re-introduced to the herd, and should get along better. Elephants are herd animals and do not like solitude.
 
About a quarter of a mile from camp we went down an embankment to the stream. This was where the elephant in solitude was staked out. The elephant we were riding kept stopping to eat from the vegetation we were passing. We kept trying to get her to move along as we slowly wandered down the stream, but the trees and shrubs just looked too good not to eat, I guess.
 
Then, all of a sudden, standing in the middle of the stream, she raised her trunk into the air and let out one of those piercing yells you hear elephants do in African movies. It's called trumpeting when they do that. That lasted for long enough for you to know she was serious. Then she lowered her trunk and started growling. I didn't know elephants growled. It was like a dogs' angry growl, but much, much louder and deeper. It went on for several minutes.
 
I feel her body reverberate under me as she growls. Her ears are back, tight against her body . They taught us yesterday in training camp that this is the worst sign. Flapping ears mean a happy elephant. Ears laid back and head shaking sideways mean an angry one. She is one angry elephant, and there is nothing I can do but sit there and wait for her next move. You can't just jump off, you are too far from the ground.
 
We wait maybe 5 or 10 minutes, the elephant is standing in the middle of the creek, not moving. We need to let the animal calm down before moving on. Then the Mahout said this elephant was too angry and we would have to find another one to ride today.
 
So, we started back to camp to change rides. The Mahout chose another one that should be more agreeable for our ride today. (I guess that would be about any of the elephants instead of the one we had started out on.) Little did I know that before the day was over, this new one would be an angry, charging elephant.
 
The elephant the mahout decided to take had a calf. The calf followed along all day long, never getting far from the mother. It takes 22-24 months for an elephant to have a calf . This calf is 9 months 20 days old and weighs 550 pounds. They can live to be 90 years old. When the calf is 3 years old, the mother and calf will be taken to another camp for the baby to be weaned. It will take three months in the camp before the two can return to this camp.
 
Here is a little story I just have to tell:
  Yesterday, when we got to camp, I asked the mahout what the baby elephant was called. I was sure it was called a calf, but wanted to make sure. The Mahout said, "baby elephant". This surprised me because these are supposed to be very experienced and knowledgable Mahouts. Then, I thought I would try something else. I asked him what a baby chicken was called. "Baby chicken" he said. Dog? "Baby dog". Then I understood that he didn't know the english words for calf or chick or puppy. His english vocabulary was just not that extensive. So, everything was just 'baby'.
 
The route we took this time was different from the route we started on with the other elephant, not more than an hour earlier. It was in the same direction, but a different route . There is not really a path to follow. The Mahout walks ahead and uses his machete to chop limbs away if needed, making a way through the jungle.
 
At times I cannot see him in the jungle growth as he walks ahead. Even though I am sitting on top the elephant, often the mahout is hid from view as he leads the way through the undergrowth.

The elephant and calf walk along, eating as they go. They will break off bushes or limbs or clumps of grass or whatever with their trunks as they walk and eat it. We were told in training yesterday that they eat 20 hours of the day. They sleep, laying on their sides, for 4 hours a day. They also snore sometimes when sleeping. They usually sleep between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Only sick elephants sleep standing up. 

The elephant walks at a slow but steady pace (except for stopping to eat). If she stops too long to eat, I say "Phai" which means "Go". She really doesn't respond when I say it, though. I nudge her with my knees (which are behind her ears) and this seems to work some better .
 
We ride through some jungle undergrowth. Eventually we come to a paved road. We go a little ways down it before crossing over and starting the climb up the mountain.
 
Around noon we stop for a break. We dismount the elephant and follow the Mahout as he walks up the mountain, ignoring the elephants. It feels good to stretch our legs. The elephants don't follow. We reach a spot where we stop for a water break. 

We chat and I leave the Mahout (I never did understand his name) and Lucy. I walk back down to where we left the elephants. They are not there! I wonder if the Mahout knows this?
 
I return and tell our guide there are no elephants. "Not worry. They go down valley." I think to myself, "Great, do we have to walk back?"
 
We hike around the mountain a little and see what's there. Then, after about a half hour, the guide takes us walking through some very dense jungle. Using his machete he cuts away a path of sorts for us to walk through. He says the elephants are up ahead. We cannot see them, so how does he know this? And, how can you not see an elephant?
 
He stops us and cuts some banana leaves and lays them down on the ground . This will be the table we sit on to eat lunch in the middle of the jungle. Awesome!
 
I still don't see the elephants. He points... and barely ... though the banana leaves ... I see an ear move. 

We sit on the mat and unwrap our lunch. It is the same sticky rice meal we had at breakfast. It is wrapped in a banana leaf and held together with two rubber bands. It makes a very filling and good meal. This would be excellent to take on hikes or long bike rides. It doesn't weigh much or take up much room and won't spoil before time to eat it.
 
As we sit on the banana leaf mat he made for us, he goes down the hill a little and makes one for himself. He does not want to eat his sticky rice lunch. He prefers to sleep instead. 

Lucy and I are hungry and enjoy sitting on this banana leaf pad, talking about what an experience this is. We look toward the jungle where the elephants are. It is all quiet except for the rustle of banana leaves the elephants are eating . What a memorable time. You can't take a photo or write words to express this, it just has to be experienced and remembered.
 
Soon the elephants make their way to us, all the time breaking down huge banana trees and eating them. We flinch often when they tear one down. It is large and if it came down on us it could do some serious damage. Fortunately, they all fall in the opposite direction. The Mahout sleeps soundly on his pad right below.
 
The elephants eat, the Mahout sleeps and Lucy and I talk ... and drink in the wonder of this special day.
 
Eventually, we mount the elephants and start our return trip to camp. There are deep valleys to cross as we head down the mountain. We start a steep decline. I expect the Mahout to ask us to dismount until the elephant is down the mountain. He doesn't.
 
It's obvious we will ride down. It's steep and rugged. I picture the elephant slipping and all of us rolling into the first tree down the hillside. I picture the elephant on top of us. 

The elephants' steps are deliberate and slow, but about a normal pace for an elephant . The soles of her feet are so large, and her weight so great, that she never once stumbles or slips. Her huge body pushes the tree limbs aside as she walks. This is an amazing animal.
 
As we go down, I am leaning far forward over the elephant's head. Lucy, riding behind, is thrown into my daybag on my back. She apologizes, but I know there is nothing she can do. All she has to hold onto the elephant with is whatever skin she can grab. 

We ride down the mountain with me leaning over the elephant's head and Lucy shoving me from behind. It is so steep going down, I don't see the elephants trunk now, just the ground below. I have my two hands pressed firmly on the elephants' huge head. I have nothing to hold on to. My legs wrapped around the ears and my open palm hands placed on her head to brace myself is all I have. This is a time I will never forget.
 
The journey is amazing and takes the rest of the afternoon. We climb and descend the hills in the jungle. We walk through valleys and cross streams . We ride up in tree level. Riding through a Thailand jungle on an Asian elephant is one thrilling day, for sure.
 
Late in the day, we go through the village I mentioned earlier. We travel through the small roads. The elephant takes up the entire road. There are some tourists that want to take pictures of us and the 'baby'. They are the first tourist I have seen here, other than the ones in the elephant camp. There are just three of them, maybe they drove up?
 
As we continue through the village, on the way back to camp, a large dog comes running out from a house. He is barking and running toward the elephant. There is a large block wall but the gate is open. The elephant lowers it's head and trumpets a charge. With lowered head and loud trumpeting, she charges the dog, through the gate and into the yard.
 
I yell "Yoot, Yoot". It means stop. At least it does to me. But, the elephant pays no attention as it heads through the gate toward the dog and house.
 
So, I am yelling "Yoot, Yoot" in english with my american accent. Lucy is yelling "Yoot, Yoot" in english with her french accent . The Mahout is yelling "Yoot, Yoot" in Thai. The elephant ignores it all.
 
By this time the dog is in full retreat. I see a shed-looking part on the house. It's just a metal roof extending from one side of the house. I am thinking, "If the elephant follows the dog under that, Lucy and I are done for." The elephant is taller than the shed part and it would just rake Lucy and I right off her back. There is nothing to do, though. We cannot jump off. It's a long way to the ground and we might end up under her feet.
 
All this time the Mahout is running and yelling at the elephant and grabbing its' ear. The edge of the ear is one of the thinnest parts of skin on the elephant.
 
The dog runs under the shed- looking thing and disappears around the back of the house. 

Finally, with the dog out of sight, the elephant stops. She is trumpeting and standing her ground. But, she is not moving forward, at least.
 
It takes a few minutes for the Mahout to get the elephant to back out through the gate. Its' ears are laid back . You know what that means. But ... it walks down the street ... still growling. The baby follows along.
 
The Mahout explains , "Protecting baby". Lucy says, "But the baby is way bigger than the dog." "Not matter", says the Mahout. "Protect baby".
 
I guess the elephant didn't think about Lucy and I.

In the village we stop at a fruit stand. The lady has a large barrel full of water and the elephant drinks about all of it, using it's trunk of course. They not only drink through the trunk, but use it to spray themselves with. I knew it would happen. She got a trunk full or water and curled her trunk over her head to spray her back. The only problem with that was, Lucy and I was sitting there. So, we got sprayed.

The lady running the fruit stand wanted us to have some bananas. She handed two to me. "These are for you", she said, "not for elephant".

As soon as they were in my hand, though, the elephant curled it's trunk back and grabbed them from my hand . They have such a keen sense of smell with those trunks.
 
Back at camp we ride the elephant to the pond for her bath. I tell her,"Norn Long". It means "lay down". The only time you use the command is when in the water for a bath. The elephant actually does not respond much to me. The Mahout says it and she does. Elephants usually obey their one mahout best.
 
We scrub her with the tree scrubs and pour water all over her and the baby. Then, after we all finish our bath, we ride her down the stream and through the woods. A treat is waiting (for her that is) down the stream. 

After a 10 minute ride, we come to the 'mud pool'. The elephant and baby lay down and we cover them with mud. Then all three of us, the Mahout, Lucy and I, get into a mud fight. Before we leave the mud pool we all have to be completely covered with mud. Only the eyes and nose are clear. I don't have pictures of this because we were all in the mud pool and no one to shoot pictures. 

We walk along with the elephants back to camp this time . No riding. They like the mud and will keep it on. We will all go to the outside showers and rinse off, then change into dry Mahout clothes. Then, back to our huts to take a real shower with soap.
 
After we change into our "civilian" clothes, the Mahouts line up and present us with our "Certified Mahout Trainer" certificates. So, if any of you have an elephant you need trained, you can call on me now!
 
When riding the elephant, the legs are wrapped around the back of the ears. My knees rested at the top of the ear. There feels like there is a little pocket for my knees to sit in. You can then push the front of your feet up agains the back of the ears, or rest the soles of your feet against the elephants front legs. You feel the elephants steps if you rest them against the legs. Mostly I liked having the top of my feet agains the ears. It was warm there. But, for a rest sometimes I would put them against the legs for a while. I can still feel my feet move with each step the elephant took.
 
The Asian elephants' skin is wrinkled, and moves as the elephant walks. The folds in the skin help to get rid of heat. If you ride behind someone on the elephant (like Lucy did with me) you can grab a handful of skin to hold onto as you ride.
 
The skin is over 1 inch thick, except for some thin skin in a few places like around the ears and eyes and tip of the ears. The hair on them helps keep mosquitos away. The baby elephant has thinner skin but more hair to help. They can feel flies or mosquitos that land on them though, as the skin is very sensitive . Elephants have a very high tolerance for pain, though, and will rub up against a tree scratching, until they bleed.
 
The reason I mention this is that by the end of the day my legs from the knees down started feeling raw. The next day my legs, where they fit against the elephants ears, had rash bumps all over them. I think the wrinkled moving skin and coarse hair of the elephant constantly rubbing my legs all day caused it.
 
Summary: With open hands placed on her massive head and my knees locked around her neck, I have moved up and down the mountains in this Thailand jungle, for an entire day. Feeling this massive giant of an animal move beneath me seems almost unreal. Yet, she moved with such stability and sure-footedness that I rode without fear.
 
Never would I have dreamed of writing a scene like this in "Act III".
 
During the trip back to Chiang Mai, we stopped for gas and I saw two old cars parked. One is a fiat, but I'm not sure of the other one. I took pictures for you car buffs!.