Elephants, Tigers and Scooters Oh My!!!!!

Our family of Pachyderm riders.

  This week's blog is dedicated to the men and women who take care of the elephants at Ran-Tong Elephant Training and Rescue in Chiang Mai.  We also want to thank Bridgitte and Solke, our new friends from Germany for helping to make the day very special.  Also, I have to give credit to Taylor for picking the title of this week's blog.  One last note, the elephant pictures were taken by the staff at Ran-Tong.  When I edit the pictures, the program I use puts my watermark on them.  Also, most of the Tiger pictures were taken by yours truly, except a few taken by Cecelia and a couple of staff members at Tiger Kingdom.  So without further ado, here is the blog for this week.

SCHOOL:  SORRY NO SCHOOL STORIES, STILL ON VACATION.  DARN CHINESE NEW YEAR AND SPRING FESTIVAL ARE KEEPING ME FROM GETTING BACK TO WORK.  IT REALLY STINKS, NOT!!!!!!!  HA,HA,HA,HA,HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ADVENTURES:  I want to start this week's adventure off with a little preface.  I am a strong believer in the presence of God all around us.  I try to appreciate it as much as possible and to thank him for the opportunity to experience the beauty he has created in all things.  I spent the entire day, thanking him continually.  So, with that being said I want to share with you up front how much of an awe inspiring and emotional experience it was to share the day with an animal that could crush me without even giving it a second thought.  And, yet as I stared into the chestnut eyes of one of these magnificent creatures I got the feeling of what it is to have true peace.  When an elephant looks into your eyes and sees your soul as good, and then gives you a bit of a hug or pat of the trunk you can't help but get emotionally stirred up on the inside. Indian elephants have the second largest brain of all creatures, next to whales. Their brains also have two hemispheres, just like ours, so that probably means that they are better judges of character than us humans.

Adding gas to the car

  I wanted to share with you a bit about Ran-Tong Elephant Rescue.  They are a privately run organization that has made it their goal to rescue and rehabilitate over worked and abused elephants.  At Ran-Tong, once the elephants have been rehabilitated and become comfortable around humans that care and love them 24 hours a day, they are free to roam the ranch.  Our elephants liked hanging around humans so much that when they were free to eat, they would often hang out to be loved upon.  They love to have the back of their ears rubbed and to have their trunks itched.  There are 13 elephants at Ran-Tong and their numbers are growing. They have a mother elephant that just had a baby.  Unfortunately we were not able to see the baby, but maybe another time.  While in the water the elephants are scrubbed with brushes and then rinsed off.  They absolutely love it.  The humans don't think it is too bad as either.  The video and pictures will show you how much fun all of us had.
  On top of the feelings I was having about the elephants, I couldn't help but have a little bit of fatherly pride while watching my two daughters share an experience that was life changing for all of us.  Of course they wanted to bring one home with them, but I don't believe five acres is a big enough space for an elephant.  I kept asking Cecelia as we rode back to camp, "How did we get here?".  When we got married almost 18 years ago, this type of thing was definitely not in our conversations.

Our elephant sanctuary for lunch

  So picture the scene 20 years ago, while we were dating.  The setting is having coffee while sitting at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach during a perfect North County spring day waiting for the sunset.  Very romantic right?  
  "Cecelia, I really love you and want to have many adventures  together."
  Cecelia would then say, "Oh, I love adventures, how about a trip up the coast of California and back?"
  "Well, I had something a little more adventurous than that in mind."
  "Oh really, how adventurous?"
  I then said "Well, I was thinking that maybe we should go to Thailand and ride elephants with our future daughters."
  After an awkward pause, Cecelia would say "Sure why not. Even though you are crazy, you're a lot more exciting than all the other boyfriends that I have had."
  I would answer "Honey, only the wild and craziest for you."
  As much as I would love to think the story would go like that, she probably would have thought I was too crazy and that would have been the end of the story.
  I probably would have lost the romantic moment as well.  I don't know, elephants, coffee, sunset, it doesn't seem to go together for some reason.
  As we rode together on our elephant, watching our girls giggle and laugh with joy, the only answer we could come up with for the question I asked earlier was, "The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways".
  I will definitely tell you that there is nothing like taking care of and then riding an elephant for the day.  It is very manly, kind of like an Old Spice commercial.  If you don't know about Old Spice commercials they go something like this.
  I am sitting astride my magnificent Pachyderm with a beautiful woman (my wife of course).  The sun is setting and and her blonde hair is glimmering as the sun casts the final rays of day on her.  There I am a thin, fit 50 year old guy (of course they have airbrushed in a little bit more hair,  a slightly bigger chest, and a six pack stomach on me).
  I then say into the television camera. "Look at Me."
  "Now look at your man."
  "Now look at Me again."
  "Now look at your man sitting on the sectional sofa with the beer and Nacho residue dribbling down his chin while watching the Super Bowl."
  "Now look at Me again astride my majestic Elephant with a beautiful woman."
  "Now look at your man again, with the pot belly and elastic waiste pants that he wears to hide his gut."
  "Now look at me and my wife again."
  "Don't you wish you could be doing what we are doing?"
  "Go buy some Old Spice at half time, it may not change your husband, but at least he will smell good."
  By the way, I wear Axe anyway.
  Anyway, the day was outstanding and unforgettable.  The video and pictures will continue to fill in the rest of the story.
  The next day we rented some scooters from The Secret Garden and went on another adventure.  Yes, I did say scooter adventure.  Uncle Paul would have loved this one.
  The first stop on our adventure was to The Tiger Kingdom.  The place was very professional and had some pretty rigorous standards.  The first thing that we were told was that Taylor was only allowed to go in with the six to eight week old Tigers.  Apparently, she looks too much like a small goat to the big cats.  The little ones are so cute and cuddly.  By the way, the girls want to have a pet tiger now too (5 acres definitely isn't big enough for that).  We were not allowed to play with them, and we could only pet them on the tummy and back.  After one of the trainers showed me the claws of an eight week old, I was glad that we could not play with them.  While showing me he commented and said, "Their claws are long enough to reach bone".  That was enough information for me.  The trainer also told us that they did not encourage playing with humans because when they get older it becomes a problem.  It is all fun and games when the six to eight week old tigers want to play, but it is a totally different  situation when the two year old tigers that are 400 lbs want to play.  They encourage the tigers to play with each other, rather than with the human visitors.
  Claire and Cecelia then went into the cage with the small tigers which were almost as big as Claire. Apparently Claire looks too much like a small Impala so she cannot go in with the big cats.  The two of them had a good time rubbing the tigers bellies and Claire even petted a tiger that was getting a little playful.
  Finally, Cecelia went in with the big tigers.  I sacrificed her to the tigers, I mean sacrificed myself because somebody had to supervise the girls outside of the cage.  Cecelia had a good time with the big cats and got to experience a little bit of tiger agitation.  One of the tigers was watching another tiger in an opposite cage and became agitated because the other tiger was stalking something.  The trainer had Cecelia walk calmly away.  He then took her over to the biggest tiger in the compound and had her pet and lay on top of it.  The tiger sure seemed to appreciate her affection, because he rolled over on her.  I was a little concerned that my wife was being squished by a 400 pound tiger.  She managed to escape without any major scratches and really enjoyed the experience.
  After the tiger experience we headed on our scooters to see the highest temple in Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep. To get to Doi Suthep you have to navigate a winding mountain road to get to the parking area.  The road is one of those cool mountain roads that Mercedes or BMW uses in their commercials.  Ours was actually a lot more fun, because we got to weave in and out of the slower cars on the way to the temple.  When you get to the top of the mountain you still have to walk the 309 steps to the temple.  The steps are lined on both sides with giant dragons that have bright green ceramic scales the entire length of the stairs.  For those of you that are a little less hearty, there is a tram to the top as well.  When you arrive at the top the temple is laid out before you.  The first thing that you must do is to remove your shoes.  You have to walk around with bare feet throughout the temple.  The amazing thing about this temple, unlike any others is that all of your senses except for taste are heightened.  The first thing you notice is the feel of the smooth and cool marble under your bare feet.  Then as you walk into the main temple courtyard you are overwhelmed by the colors that hit your eyes.

At one of the many Buddha enclosures at Doi Suthep

  There is so much gold that it is like being on the sun, without the heat of course.  The next thing you notice is the intoxicating smell of incense as you pass by each Buddha enclosure.  Finally you notice the tinkling of small bells combined with the sweet baritone sounds of the bells being rung for prayers to loved ones that have passed away.  All of this put together creates an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.  You can see why a monk can sit for hours in this type of environment meditating.

We all rang a bell and did a little sitting to enjoy the environment while we were there.  The other cool thing about the temple is that it has an amazing look out that gives a great view of old Chiang Mai and the surrounding area.

Monks enjoying the view

  After our experience at the temple, we then rode our scooters down into old Chiang Mai to have dinner.  I learned a valuable lesson.  Do, not and I repeat do not ask a Thai waitress to give you food like the Thai locals eat.  My food was so spicy that even though I ate most of it, I didn't finish.  Even when I went to Starbucks afterward, my mouth was still numb from dinner.
  We then made our way back to The Secret Garden for the evening.  We wanted to make sure we got a good night's sleep, because we were heading for Ko Samui the next day.