Fate brought me to discover K.T.T. - Kanchanaburi Transport Tours - K. E. P. Kanchanaburi Elephant Program.
In June, the government raided the Tiger Temple, permanently closing the controversial site - and forcing me to come up with Plan B.
Although Thailand was once populated with 100,000 elephants, now it is unlikely you will run into one of the 3,000 wild elephants. They are worth $50,000 dead. You are more likely to see one of the 3,000 kept safely "in captivity".
There are only five elephant organizations in Kanchanaburi, and K. E. P. is the smallest. It was the only one I could find that offered a day trip from Bangkok that also includes Erawan Falls - for a premium price. John Pierre runs the program. Tired of living the corporate lifestyle and jet-setting around the world, he has settled down with his Thai wife to live his dream life in Kanchanaburi. With no need to further line his pockets with gold, rather than exploit the cheap, local lifestyle, he has created a small-scale program for tourists to be exposed to the good Thai life, and gives all the profits to provide medical care for the locals.
Bordering the country of Myanmar (next on my bucket list), Kanchanaburi is a three hour drive from Bangkok. We were picked up by our private, luxury van on the dot at 6am to avoid Bangkok traffic. Upon arrival, I discovered that this was a completely private program; Greg and I would spend the morning alone with our guide, Bayetong the elephant, and her mahout (elephant trainer).
It's not easy to describe what it is like to spend a few hours in such close proximity with an elephant. Obviously they are enormous creatures with the ability to crush you in a matter of moments. To form a bond with Bayetong, we started by feeding her what seemed like an endless supply of bananas. She anxiously grabbed each bunch, cramming them into her mouth as if she were starving. Just like our dog Kiara, she was won-over by food, and let us climb up onto her back - the natural way to ride an elephant.
Riding an elephant bareback is unlike anything I've ever experienced. You feel like you are 15 feet high, which offers an incredible vantage point of the surrounding, heavenly scenery. Up close you realize their head is covered with coarse, thick, wiry hair. The sound of air rushing through her trunk, like a wind tunnel, sounds almost like a purr.
Bayetong kept grabbing food every chance she got
We spent the next hour riding to the river, unsure if our legs could hold on and if we could keep our delicate perch. Bayetong had one goal: to eat everything along the way. Her treat was a huge durian fruit (size of a large watermelon) - a gift from a local farmer. She took forever to eat it. Since it was on the ground, she had to slightly bend down for each piece; if she dipped a fraction further, surely we both would have toppled off. When she was finished, she twisted her trunk up to me, and sneezed chewed durian on me. If you've eaten durian before, then you know it smells like baby poop ... disgusting!
When you are sitting on an elephant and they bite into a papaya, you can feel and hear the explosion from their crushing teeth
The river is Bayetong's happy place, and she splashed around in it like a playful dolphin. She disappeared under the water, occasionally surfacing her trunk to breathe. We played with her for almost an hour: going under with her, toppling off of her, climbing back on, and jumping off.
Elephants live as long as humans
There is only one mahout for an elephant; there is only one elephant for a mahout
Playing in the river with Bayetong. Greg kept falling off!
Getting kissed by an elephant - it's more like a hickey
After our time with Bayetong came to an end, we spent the next hour floating down the river, where we ended with lunch.
As soon as the raft brought us to the center, we jumped in
We floated and laughed down the river on our backs, just the two of us
Our chosen afternoon activity was a trip to nearby Erawan Falls. Although there are officially seven tiers of falls, we discovered there to be many more and decided they just chose to identify an odd, lucky number. Although I keep claiming each country so far is even more lush and beautiful, this remarkable landscape surely wins the award. Since we started at 2pm, it wasn't very crowded - except for the "Russian explosion" JP warned us about. Oddly, in the middle of Asia, you don't expect to run into a sea of Russians - who disregard the signed, modest bathing customs and stomp around flaunting skin in every direction.
Tier 2 of Erawan Falls is the prettiest, and has the biggest pool to swim in
There are many mini falls all the way up
Simply beautiful
After the 3rd or 4th tier, the concrete trail disappears and the rock climbing begins. They don't allow any food past that point, and if you want to bring your water, you have to pay a deposit. (We didn't bring any money so couldn't bring any water.)
Thai people believe that spirits live in old, big trees and therefore surround them with great offerings
No comments:
Post a Comment