Riding Elephants

After floating down the river on bamboo rafts went to ride elephants. Definitely a once-in-a-life time experience (and I mean once). It was pretty bumpy, but it was fun. Our ride was about 1/2 hour. The elephants stopped to munch on vegetation and other stuff. The one I was riding decided that it wanted a drink of water so it went down a steep hill into the river for a bit. THe kid driving it spoke to it frequently (I don't know if he was speaking Thai or Elephantish) and occasionally hit it lightly with his wand to influence its direction. He hopped off to take some pictures of the two of us - fortunately the elephant didn't have a mind of its own and just stayed more-or-less in one place.

Click for slide show

OK, the last one in this set is a different kind of elephant.

Three short videos:

Riding Elephants

After floating down the river on bamboo rafts went to ride elephants. Definitely a once-in-a-life time experience (and I mean once). It was pretty bumpy, but it was fun. Our ride was about 1/2 hour. The elephants stopped to munch on vegetation and other stuff. The one I was riding decided that it wanted a drink of water so it went down a steep hill into the river for a bit. THe kid driving it spoke to it frequently (I don't know if he was speaking Thai or Elephantish) and occasionally hit it lightly with his wand to influence its direction. He hopped off to take some pictures of the two of us - fortunately the elephant didn't have a mind of its own and just stayed more-or-less in one place.

Click for slide show

OK, the last one in this set is a different kind of elephant.

Three short videos: