The novelty of seeing an elephant (or chang) around Bangkok wore off after the first week or so of living here. On any given night, you can spot one on the sidewalks with its owners selling photo opportunities. They are still impressive to see in person, but not actually what I'd call a rare occurence.
The kids have ridden elephants a few times at various zoos and resorts since we relocated to Thailand, but Joanna and I haven't. A few weeks ago we had some friends visiting from out of town, so we made a trip to the Taweechai Elephant Camp in Kanchanaburi (see related blog entries from March, 2007) to cross this experience off of our list.
At first, the elephant handlers take you through a sparsely wooded area and up some hills and other inclines. If you've never ridden an elephant, prepare yourself for a bumpy ride.
Then we went through a small river (the staff at the camp were nice enough to take most of photos for us).
The elephant that Max and I got to ride on was a bit on the small side...
Afterwards, we got to hang around with this baby elephant. I wonder how long it will be before he (or she) has to start carting people around...
For the most part, this was a nice way to spend an afternoon and it was nice to get away from crazy, congested and smoggy Bangkok for a few hours (please note the brand of beer I'm drinking: Chang!)
1 comment:
Matt, (and family),
I stumbled across your blog tonight while hunting for disgusting photographs from the Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum. I had to stop looking at the pictures before I became sick, but then became fascinated by your and your family's journey. Your last post was in May, though, and I'm concerned. Have you lost interest in posting your blog? Are you still in Thailand?
Leigh Hamrick
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