Mahout training at Thai Elephant Conservation Centre
It makes sense when you find out that the organisation that runs the park is the Forestry Organization- they can't log with elephants anymore so they employed the mahouts that worked the elephants in the camps as 'mahout trainers'. These guys are pretty good considering they were loggers and are now tourist trainers. A bit like asking logging workers in Tasmania to stop cutting old growth forests and show japanese tourists how to use a forklift.
The place has 70 elephants and employs four vets who work at the centre, in the mobile clinic and in rotation looking after the Kings elephants. They provide health care free of charge to elephants, even privately owned ones. Mostly the elephants were treated for eye/ear problems and emaciation.
When we arrived we were asigned an elephant and a mahout and after saying hello he directed me to get onto the elephant's neck. We then proceeded to get on and off a few times (either from the side or off the head as the elephant leaned down) before being participants in the twice daily bathing show. There is a command for spraying water at someone (boon bong?maybe) which they used as liberally as possible. I think Jono ended up half submerged on this first bathing trip. This was followed by the first of three shows in which it has to be said Jono was the star attraction. All the elephants line up and show the basics command, on and off on the side.
When Em says star attraction, I say child actor with poor working conditions. Seriously I was the schmuck who had to stand in the middle of the arena while my very cool elephant Luc Khan walked over to me and put a Mahout hat on my head. If that wasn't enough embarassment, another elephant walked over to me and sprayed a trunk full of water on me after the hat was placed on my head.
For those interested:
Soong Song - get on the elephant. It helps you up with it's leg. Very, very cool.
Hap Song - get off the elephant from the side.
Tak Long - get off the elephant by sliding off the front. You then jump over the elephant's head back onto it.
Nan Long - Sit
Map Long - Lie down
Non Long - Lie down on side
Look- Get up
Gep Bon - Pick up whatever it is.
Bon - raise your trunk.
Getting to work with an elephant was very cool and also a little sad as well. Thailand unfortunately doesn't understand animal welfare, environmental enrichment, behaviour and learning theory behaviour and training. It's not like the western world is a long way ahead in this regard. They are and they aren't. Unfortunately most of the elephants at this park had no environmental enrichment, had very few opportunities to exhibit normal behaviours and quite a few exhibited stereotypic behaviours (ie behaviours that have no point or benefit). I was able to take some videos of the sterotypic behaviours and the enclosures they were in and some of it was poor to say the least. The explanation I got from the co-ordinator was that it was the elephant's personality. So after a few hundred and more years of training elephants they still don't realise that it has a high likelihood of being an induced state brought on by stress of some kind. The mahouts are actually quite good trainers and do care for their elephants. Some are far better than others, unfortunately not even the two Veterinary schools in Thailand have assited them with improving the elephant's welfare. As Em put it, sheep get better yards in Australia and they don't weigh 3-5 tonnes. And remember we're talking about an endangered species!
There is such a wonderful opportunity in this country to develop areas for ecotourism that encompasses the native animals of the region, while still maintaining the traditional skills of the mahout/tribal people, with a modern understanding of training. A scientific approach to behaviour and learning theory persay. Elephants don't need to be chained with heavy iron/steel links. If you can find a way that they want to work a theoretical piece of string would hold them or better yet a fenced enclosure where they could be housed with combatible elephants (Some elephants like to kill other elephants if given the chance). Unfortunately many citizens of Thailand live in conditions no better than the elephants. Until then not a lots going to change unless some NGO's step in and fund it.
On another note the two other people we did the elephant training course were AUSTRALIAN. Read sigh of relief. Intelligent Australians to boot. One is working for DFA in Thailand and spoke Thai which made life a lot easier and the other was a bookie from the Gold Coast with a law degree. Jono's tips later on in the year. And the best bit was they gave us a lift back to Chang Mai, not before we stopped off at the Mandarin Orient and bought the second best cheesecake in the world (according to Em). First was New York Cheesecake in NY.
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Friday, 27 March 2009
Day 15
Toured the temples in town today. Jono will elaborate....
So our tour today took in a few of the temples within the old city moat in Chang Mai and ended with the Monk Chat at one of the larger and more beautiful temples in Chang Mai city. One of the temples we visited was made almost entirely of Teak back when the stuff was plentiful and Kings/Rulers wanted a legacy to be remembered. Some of the later century temples were funded by British teak companies, whether or not they built them with teak or not.
In Thailand temples are much more casual affairs in terms of visits and gathering than the average church. This has its good and bad aspects. Great for community gatherings not so good for being hassled by tuk tuk and taxi drivers annoying you as soon as you put your shoes back on. One 0f the more clever scams that goes on up here are the so called teachers/bankers who are hanging about the temples during the weekdays to befriend tourists. They don't try to get you to go anywhere intially, they just, piece by piece, temple by temple work you over to get you to go to a certain tailor or attraction.
One guy we met was a 'teacher' (it was Friday, so you do the maths where his class was) who spoke very good English but I think I hijacked him with so many questions that he wasn't able to give his speil. (For those of you going he probably was a teacher you're just being cynical, I've seen him three times around the temples since then. That's a lot of school excursions for one week, especially seeing most kids are on school holidays.) The othey guy we met was a banker from Bangkok who had a friend working for the Commonwealth Bank in Adelaide (a double strike) who had come to Chang Mai to shop for a new suit for work (hint hint he was waiting for us to say we were looking for a tailor). And then he royaly stuffed up because he told us it was a Buddhist holiday (hence why he wasn't at work on a Friday). Now for most tourists that wouldn't ring any bells except that as you may remember we were heading back down the road to go do the Monk Chat for the afternoon and the Lonely Planet says it doesn't run on holidays. So as we head to the Monk Chat I'm going this will be interesting, a scammer telling the truth but alas he wasn't.
So anyway we get to the Monk Chat and met a Buddhist Monk of 25yrs old, name Phra Tea who we discussed Buddhism and meditation with. We also discussed kangaroos and my shoes and freckles but you've heard that all before. Monks in Thailand are Theravada Buddhists which essentially means they practice meditation as compared to Mahayana Buddhists elsewhere eg China who practice Kung Fu. Other differences but you get the drift. The central meditation they practise is Vipassana (a type of insight meditation), which is known to be the meditation Buddha used to reach enlightenment under the Boddhi tree. The middle way as such. We also got to find out that they also practice a range of meditations. The most interesting one for me was the meditation that allowed the monk to 'leave their body' to assist people 'in heaven or hell' especially those who could not enter a temple. So the Monk would go to assist them in the inbetween stage before they reincarnate. Sounds a lot like astral projection. Apparently takes about 2 years to develop the skill and meditative skills that extend to about 2 hours straight, such is the concentration required to achieve this 'out of body' state. Fascinating to say the least.
Em was like a posion chalice while we were there, because Monks aren't allowed to touch females even accidentally so she had to be very careful, so were they.
So after a good hour of talking we went over to hear the monk chanting but it wasn't on because of the novice monk ordination happening over the weekend. Not all was lost. There were a bunch of kids playing badminton, along with shooting each other with BB handguns (yes they're legal in Tland; they hurt too. A lot.) So I invited myself into the games, I haven't played Badminton for a long time, especially without a net and certainly not in 35degrees, but it was great fun especially seeing we understood very little except pure silliness.
So our tour today took in a few of the temples within the old city moat in Chang Mai and ended with the Monk Chat at one of the larger and more beautiful temples in Chang Mai city. One of the temples we visited was made almost entirely of Teak back when the stuff was plentiful and Kings/Rulers wanted a legacy to be remembered. Some of the later century temples were funded by British teak companies, whether or not they built them with teak or not.
In Thailand temples are much more casual affairs in terms of visits and gathering than the average church. This has its good and bad aspects. Great for community gatherings not so good for being hassled by tuk tuk and taxi drivers annoying you as soon as you put your shoes back on. One 0f the more clever scams that goes on up here are the so called teachers/bankers who are hanging about the temples during the weekdays to befriend tourists. They don't try to get you to go anywhere intially, they just, piece by piece, temple by temple work you over to get you to go to a certain tailor or attraction.
One guy we met was a 'teacher' (it was Friday, so you do the maths where his class was) who spoke very good English but I think I hijacked him with so many questions that he wasn't able to give his speil. (For those of you going he probably was a teacher you're just being cynical, I've seen him three times around the temples since then. That's a lot of school excursions for one week, especially seeing most kids are on school holidays.) The othey guy we met was a banker from Bangkok who had a friend working for the Commonwealth Bank in Adelaide (a double strike) who had come to Chang Mai to shop for a new suit for work (hint hint he was waiting for us to say we were looking for a tailor). And then he royaly stuffed up because he told us it was a Buddhist holiday (hence why he wasn't at work on a Friday). Now for most tourists that wouldn't ring any bells except that as you may remember we were heading back down the road to go do the Monk Chat for the afternoon and the Lonely Planet says it doesn't run on holidays. So as we head to the Monk Chat I'm going this will be interesting, a scammer telling the truth but alas he wasn't.
So anyway we get to the Monk Chat and met a Buddhist Monk of 25yrs old, name Phra Tea who we discussed Buddhism and meditation with. We also discussed kangaroos and my shoes and freckles but you've heard that all before. Monks in Thailand are Theravada Buddhists which essentially means they practice meditation as compared to Mahayana Buddhists elsewhere eg China who practice Kung Fu. Other differences but you get the drift. The central meditation they practise is Vipassana (a type of insight meditation), which is known to be the meditation Buddha used to reach enlightenment under the Boddhi tree. The middle way as such. We also got to find out that they also practice a range of meditations. The most interesting one for me was the meditation that allowed the monk to 'leave their body' to assist people 'in heaven or hell' especially those who could not enter a temple. So the Monk would go to assist them in the inbetween stage before they reincarnate. Sounds a lot like astral projection. Apparently takes about 2 years to develop the skill and meditative skills that extend to about 2 hours straight, such is the concentration required to achieve this 'out of body' state. Fascinating to say the least.
Em was like a posion chalice while we were there, because Monks aren't allowed to touch females even accidentally so she had to be very careful, so were they.
So after a good hour of talking we went over to hear the monk chanting but it wasn't on because of the novice monk ordination happening over the weekend. Not all was lost. There were a bunch of kids playing badminton, along with shooting each other with BB handguns (yes they're legal in Tland; they hurt too. A lot.) So I invited myself into the games, I haven't played Badminton for a long time, especially without a net and certainly not in 35degrees, but it was great fun especially seeing we understood very little except pure silliness.
Day 14
Today we did a cooking course at Baan Cookery School.
Thailand has at least 4 types of eggplant, the only one of which I have seen in Oz is the purple lady finger like ones- I think there Italian. In Thailand they had pea sized ones, baby tomato sized ones some of which are sweet and some not and then larger ones that look like a gourd. The mushrooms come in lots of varieties and there are about 10 different green and leafy things that I have forgotten names of.
We cooked 5 dishes and ate them all so we could hardly move by the end of the day, swearing we wouldn't eat for a day we went to one of the larger plaza shops and had popcorn while watching The Knowing.. (do not see this film it was 3 hours of my life I will never get back material).
Actually Em ordered the popcorn and the drinks; the girl doesn't understand calorie restriction. And yes the Knowing had the potential to be just another bad Nic Cage film. It was far worse than that. Think Battlefield Earth and add in some Christology. Unfortunately Gone in 60 Seconds was his last good film. The highlight of the film was standing up for the salute to the King, which is the second time on this trip I've unexpectedly had to stand to attention. The seats in Thailand cinemas are great they recline like Gold Class but at about AUS$4.50 for a ticket their a bargain bonanza except that you have to look through subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Thai script is not always discrete with its accents.
Thailand has at least 4 types of eggplant, the only one of which I have seen in Oz is the purple lady finger like ones- I think there Italian. In Thailand they had pea sized ones, baby tomato sized ones some of which are sweet and some not and then larger ones that look like a gourd. The mushrooms come in lots of varieties and there are about 10 different green and leafy things that I have forgotten names of.
We cooked 5 dishes and ate them all so we could hardly move by the end of the day, swearing we wouldn't eat for a day we went to one of the larger plaza shops and had popcorn while watching The Knowing.. (do not see this film it was 3 hours of my life I will never get back material).
Actually Em ordered the popcorn and the drinks; the girl doesn't understand calorie restriction. And yes the Knowing had the potential to be just another bad Nic Cage film. It was far worse than that. Think Battlefield Earth and add in some Christology. Unfortunately Gone in 60 Seconds was his last good film. The highlight of the film was standing up for the salute to the King, which is the second time on this trip I've unexpectedly had to stand to attention. The seats in Thailand cinemas are great they recline like Gold Class but at about AUS$4.50 for a ticket their a bargain bonanza except that you have to look through subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Thai script is not always discrete with its accents.
Day 13
Our first attempts at navigating were amusing (Jono took a while to work out the east west direction issue he was having) and we got to see a fair amount of the city on our way to the women's prison at which we had a traditional thai full body massage. I will let Jono explain how he managed to head butt the poor lady trying to massage him.
I was massaged by a convicted felon...whooo! And not just your run of the mill felon, a amphetamine dealer...Ben Cousins eat your heart out...hang on he probably did when he was you know. And the fact she was due for release in 6 months made it all the more entertaining.
Thai massage for those who haven't experienced it is a bit like being thrown about a room by a woman and walking out feeling way better than when you went in. In reality it's a combo of massage as we know it, stretching and some outdated chiropractic manoeuvres. And pain is not an optional extra. So during this event one calls Thai massage my masseuse was trying to stretch my torso out with said pseudo chiropractic manoeuvre and I may or may not have resisted a little bit as she moved her head forward, mine may have moved backwards a little bit and possibly thwacked into her cranium. She spent a long time laughing about it and saying things in Thai and basically the jist of the matter is I won't be visiting Chang Mai in 6 months.
Dinner we had at a vegetarian restaurant in town. It was the best meal we have had so far (Jono even agreed). Really tasty (and really spicy) food that didn't taste like it was missing something. The restaurant was in this lovely garden with a Japanese style lawn and pebbled area and arching trees over a tropical garden bed. The dishes were about 50B each and the banana in caramel/coconut sauce was delicious.
I was massaged by a convicted felon...whooo! And not just your run of the mill felon, a amphetamine dealer...Ben Cousins eat your heart out...hang on he probably did when he was you know. And the fact she was due for release in 6 months made it all the more entertaining.
Thai massage for those who haven't experienced it is a bit like being thrown about a room by a woman and walking out feeling way better than when you went in. In reality it's a combo of massage as we know it, stretching and some outdated chiropractic manoeuvres. And pain is not an optional extra. So during this event one calls Thai massage my masseuse was trying to stretch my torso out with said pseudo chiropractic manoeuvre and I may or may not have resisted a little bit as she moved her head forward, mine may have moved backwards a little bit and possibly thwacked into her cranium. She spent a long time laughing about it and saying things in Thai and basically the jist of the matter is I won't be visiting Chang Mai in 6 months.
Dinner we had at a vegetarian restaurant in town. It was the best meal we have had so far (Jono even agreed). Really tasty (and really spicy) food that didn't taste like it was missing something. The restaurant was in this lovely garden with a Japanese style lawn and pebbled area and arching trees over a tropical garden bed. The dishes were about 50B each and the banana in caramel/coconut sauce was delicious.
Day 12
Arrived in Chang Mai to find it wasnt as horrible as the guide warned but quite mild at night (to a level were you stop sweating) and the guesthouse is clean and the owner a very good host.
The fact is for the first time in 3 1/2 weeks I stopped sweating and the temp must have been close to a balmy 20C with very low humidity. To say I was a little releived is an understatement. At one stage on out journey I thought I was going to have be fitted for a bra or halter top such was the development in my sweat glands.
The guesthouse is run by a Thai guy called Adam. His guesthouse is #2 on tripadvisor for places to stay in Chang Mai and about 1/3rd the price of the #1 place to stay. Rightly so he actually cares about you enjoying your stay and has done everything we couldn't do to make sure everything went smoothly.
The fact is for the first time in 3 1/2 weeks I stopped sweating and the temp must have been close to a balmy 20C with very low humidity. To say I was a little releived is an understatement. At one stage on out journey I thought I was going to have be fitted for a bra or halter top such was the development in my sweat glands.
The guesthouse is run by a Thai guy called Adam. His guesthouse is #2 on tripadvisor for places to stay in Chang Mai and about 1/3rd the price of the #1 place to stay. Rightly so he actually cares about you enjoying your stay and has done everything we couldn't do to make sure everything went smoothly.
Day 11
Today we headed into town yet again to head to Chang Mai. Had great roast duck noodles (minus roast duck for me) and sticky rice with mango. They serve the rice and mango in a styrofoam box and the sauce comes in a little plastic bag tied with an elastic band. In fact lots of things come in plastic bags tied with elastic when you take away.. drinks with undefined chunky bits in the bottle and a straw in the top, soups and curries and also the fish cakes I bought at the train station.
The next 24 hrs were unpleasant, not horrible but just unpleasant- being on a bus all night sitting at a train station for 5 hours then sitting on a bus all day. All worth it to get to the lovely Chang Mai.
Em says unpleasant I say hell on earth. In fact other than being locked up that would be close. Boats and Buses are now on my list of machinery that shouldn't have been invested in for the masses. They really have should been confined to the super rich and travelling rock bands. We travelled on VIP buses. Now the only difference between VIP and 1st Class buses are that the A/C works all the time versus randomly and you get your hostess who gets to wear a uniform that General Gadafi(?) would have been proud to design (or wear).
On intersting part of the journey was the stop for dinner and lunch. The bus pulled into this station were we all got off (we only knew this thanks to a kind english speaking thai fellow traveler- the bus hostess in a short skirt, little hat and high heels didnt speak any english) and were herded into a cafeteria where everyone sits at communal tables and share the 6 dishes on offer. 15 mins to eat use a toilet more user friendly only as it does sway under your feet like the ones on the bus and get back on the bus.
Oh the toilets. Now a double reason buses get on the list of being misused by the general public is the concept that it is possible to use a toilet hygenically while moving at high speed on uneven ground. My one and only trip to the toilet on this 24hr bus trip that involved the bus toileting system was late at night. It was dark and the roads were country style were a 6 foot pot hole is a smooth bit of bitumen in this country. Now for those of you who may have forgotten toilet paper is not in common use in this country, replacing it is a bucket of water or a handheld spray gun. On the VIP bus you don't have a spray gun just bottles of 'toilet water' which must be a primary school skills class here because I don't know how you are supposed to be able to functionally create a clean, baby bottom fresh feeling from a 1.5L water bottle. Let's just say I walked out of that toilet wetter than I went in and less clean than I'd hoped. (Note to self: Pre-bus trip enemas are a legitimate medical procedure.)
The next 24 hrs were unpleasant, not horrible but just unpleasant- being on a bus all night sitting at a train station for 5 hours then sitting on a bus all day. All worth it to get to the lovely Chang Mai.
Em says unpleasant I say hell on earth. In fact other than being locked up that would be close. Boats and Buses are now on my list of machinery that shouldn't have been invested in for the masses. They really have should been confined to the super rich and travelling rock bands. We travelled on VIP buses. Now the only difference between VIP and 1st Class buses are that the A/C works all the time versus randomly and you get your hostess who gets to wear a uniform that General Gadafi(?) would have been proud to design (or wear).
On intersting part of the journey was the stop for dinner and lunch. The bus pulled into this station were we all got off (we only knew this thanks to a kind english speaking thai fellow traveler- the bus hostess in a short skirt, little hat and high heels didnt speak any english) and were herded into a cafeteria where everyone sits at communal tables and share the 6 dishes on offer. 15 mins to eat use a toilet more user friendly only as it does sway under your feet like the ones on the bus and get back on the bus.
Oh the toilets. Now a double reason buses get on the list of being misused by the general public is the concept that it is possible to use a toilet hygenically while moving at high speed on uneven ground. My one and only trip to the toilet on this 24hr bus trip that involved the bus toileting system was late at night. It was dark and the roads were country style were a 6 foot pot hole is a smooth bit of bitumen in this country. Now for those of you who may have forgotten toilet paper is not in common use in this country, replacing it is a bucket of water or a handheld spray gun. On the VIP bus you don't have a spray gun just bottles of 'toilet water' which must be a primary school skills class here because I don't know how you are supposed to be able to functionally create a clean, baby bottom fresh feeling from a 1.5L water bottle. Let's just say I walked out of that toilet wetter than I went in and less clean than I'd hoped. (Note to self: Pre-bus trip enemas are a legitimate medical procedure.)
Day 10
Slept in and had four more showers before heading out to Phuket town. Had one of the those annoying waste 1/2 and hour of our time sitting where the helpful reception desk lady told us the bus was before finding out it was 50m down the road and we had missd two buses while we were sitting there moments. The bus ambled its way into town (there are no bus stops, the driver just honks regularly to let people know where he is- this confuses most tourists who have no idea what he is on about) and dropped us outisde a school. At this point I felt a bit like a dying rat being circled by vultures as the 6 tuk tuk drivers proceeded to get in our face offering us a lift. Applause for Jono's resolve to just walk away.
In reality I would have liked to do something else but there are laws in this country. Since Phuket but not in Chang Mai I have decided that anyone that gets in my face when its hot is going to end up more confused. It's a bit like Weekend at Bernie's at the start of the film when the guy is walking over a bridge in the park and a guy pulls a gun on him and he just looks at him and says "not today it's too hot". I've decided to just stare them down and say leave me alone. My other option is much more fun and I'm opening this to all readers to chip in with suggestions. The competition is called Where do I want to go in a Tuk Tuk? Recently I've been asking to go to the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Dandenong, the MCG and Broken Hill. I haven't been quoted a price yet or punched which is good too. So any suggestions would be great.
We booked our 24hr bus ride and crossed our fingers the buses really existed and headed back to the hotel (detour of getting lost for about 40mins).
We had dinner at one of the many scandinavian resturants which have an english/thai menu and then a danish/italian/thai menu. Every table was full of regulars who knew the staff (one table was sharing photos with one of the waiters using bluetooth on their mobiles). Great thai food.
But the best part of the meal was the five year old boy who went flying past me to the kitchen with his mother behind him as he projectile vomitted into the owners open arms with the most fortunate plastic bag in the history of plastic bags that was already in her hands. We already had received our food at this stage. Nothing fills you with confidence at a restaurant when another customer throws-up in front of you...Needless to say I walked out satisfied that my last 24 hours on this planet were upon me. I also feel for the person that ordered Pad Thai as we were leaving...could you really tell the difference?
Oh and tim we bought mangosteens (Jono hasn't had them before) which I agree are the best fruit on the planet- though did you know that the skin can be used as a textile dye- works even when you just drop some on your clothes!
Mangosteens are the best fruit except could someone send Em a bib cause she gets them everywhere...even places where she's not even eating them...I don't know how she does it...I had to clean the bath on my holidays, who does that!
In reality I would have liked to do something else but there are laws in this country. Since Phuket but not in Chang Mai I have decided that anyone that gets in my face when its hot is going to end up more confused. It's a bit like Weekend at Bernie's at the start of the film when the guy is walking over a bridge in the park and a guy pulls a gun on him and he just looks at him and says "not today it's too hot". I've decided to just stare them down and say leave me alone. My other option is much more fun and I'm opening this to all readers to chip in with suggestions. The competition is called Where do I want to go in a Tuk Tuk? Recently I've been asking to go to the Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Dandenong, the MCG and Broken Hill. I haven't been quoted a price yet or punched which is good too. So any suggestions would be great.
We booked our 24hr bus ride and crossed our fingers the buses really existed and headed back to the hotel (detour of getting lost for about 40mins).
We had dinner at one of the many scandinavian resturants which have an english/thai menu and then a danish/italian/thai menu. Every table was full of regulars who knew the staff (one table was sharing photos with one of the waiters using bluetooth on their mobiles). Great thai food.
But the best part of the meal was the five year old boy who went flying past me to the kitchen with his mother behind him as he projectile vomitted into the owners open arms with the most fortunate plastic bag in the history of plastic bags that was already in her hands. We already had received our food at this stage. Nothing fills you with confidence at a restaurant when another customer throws-up in front of you...Needless to say I walked out satisfied that my last 24 hours on this planet were upon me. I also feel for the person that ordered Pad Thai as we were leaving...could you really tell the difference?
Oh and tim we bought mangosteens (Jono hasn't had them before) which I agree are the best fruit on the planet- though did you know that the skin can be used as a textile dye- works even when you just drop some on your clothes!
Mangosteens are the best fruit except could someone send Em a bib cause she gets them everywhere...even places where she's not even eating them...I don't know how she does it...I had to clean the bath on my holidays, who does that!
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