Pai: Elephant Rodeo

Prior to today's jungle expedition, I had always thought of elephants as I would have any other large herbivore. That is to say, they’re big, dumb and smelly. Well, they certainly are big.

My rather negative opinion of the animal evaporated almost instantly when Phanom, my elephant for the afternoon, considerately helped me up onto his back by lifting up his foot as a stepladder. He had noticed I was having difficulty climbing up. I also watched his colleague “Ot” pick up a dropped hat and return it to its rightful owner.

I got to ride shotgun.

A little advice to anyone considering riding an elephant bareback: wear long pants. Elephants are really bristly and my legs were chafed after the 2 hour ride.

Halfway through, we were given the opportunity to stop in the nearby river to bathe the elephants (I’m not really sure who was bathing who because they kept spraying us with their trunks) and take turns getting thrown off rodeo style. It’s strange that even though they weigh two to three tons, I never felt that I was in any danger.

Phanom trying to pick me up. Actually, I was just hiding a banana behind my back.
Following too close for comfort: