Larger Than Life

We went from "Dad, can you give the elephant this banana for me?" while Sennen stood about 10 feet beyond the elephant's nasal reach to "I'm an expert elephant feeder!" in about 90 minutes. 

Given it's not often one finds oneself literally surrounded by elephants – let alone with giant trunks hoping to cajole a banana or piece of sugar cane out of you – Sennen's reticence was understandable. In fact, there were adults we were slow to begin feeding and getting to know the very elephants they came to see. Sennen reassured himself by saying his dinosaur swim outfit would scare the elephants into leaving him alone. But after watching me only hand food to elephants, but literally pop bananas into their open mouths, Sennen decided to inch his way closer and make an attempt – at first with me – and then on his own. After a couple of bananas shared, Sennen picked up steam and became the expert elephant feeder he is today.

Ailyn on the other hand never quite warmed to the idea of feeding elephants. She went from wanting to be far away, to tolerating being closer to them – all except the baby elephant, Jackie Chan. "Hi Jackie!" she yelled over and over at the little elephant who she shared a bond with for being the same age as her. Jackie never quite got a banana directly from Ailyn's hand, but she was comfortable being held by Arielle or Emily while they fed Jackie – and that was good enough for everyone.

Because the elephant preserve we visited – only an hour outside Chiang Mai, and a world away – advised everyone to wear clothing for getting wet when helping bathe elephants, Emily changed Ailyn into her swimsuit. This ruined Ailyn's plans to prove her assertion that the elephants would just love the jumpsuit she wore that morning and might even kiss it. In the end, she didn't seem to want any elephant kisses and felt herself so cute in her swimsuit that she didn't want to change back into the jumpsuit once thought to be so fashionable in the elephant world.

In the course of our half-day trip, we befriended elephants, walked with them through the fields and streams where they graze and learned a little but about their stories. All of them were victims of abuse – which is classified broadly from being used by the Burmese military to forced labor falling teak trees to being used for entertainment – such as taking photos with tourists in the streets of Bangkok.

We also learned that elephants can eat most any vegetable or dairy-based food a human can and that baby elephants particularly like sweet things. Jackie Chan likes chocolate ice cream, watermelons, yogurt, mangos and coconut sticky rice (which Sennen and I appreciated).

Throughout the entire experience, Emily worked the camera in her phone, treating it like a professional photo shoot – afterward proclaiming she had never shot so many pictures in one day before.

In the end, nothing specifically shocking or momentous occurred except that it felt like it had. This highly touristy activity had some real spark and uniqueness and will be something all of us will remember, especially our expert elephant feeder who declined a job offer to work at the preserve when he becomes old enough. Sennen made it clear that just because he is an expert, doesn't mean he needs to dedicate his life to the elephants. It's just a hobby.

Meanwhile, on the shuttle bus ride to and from the elephant preserve we had our first real opportunity to connect with other western travelers – in particular a 30ish couple from New Zealand who are both teachers enjoying their summer/Christmas break undertaking a whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia. The van was filled with talk of education, sociological observations and travel stories – especially as Arielle related some of her recent experiences in Thailand, Southeast Asia in general, South America and Israel. 

After we returned home at about 2pm, attention turned to two important matters: 1. Swimming and 2. locating laundry services. Emily and Arielle took charge of the former and I the latter. One major reveal on the way to the elephant preserve is that our gated community has a back entrance which leads to a real, old fashioned gritty soi. Exactly the kind of soi I've been craving and the kind likely to have the resources for real Thai life. 

So I went out to chart new territory and report back my findings, like Magellan and Vespucci before me  - only with a backpack full of dirty laundry in case my adventures in the back-soi were successful, which they overwhelmingly were. Within 200 feet of the back gate I found a cheap full-service neighborhood laundry and a small Southern Thai food stall that also specialized in making Thai iced tea to order. And so it was that my mission was accomplished without even having fully explored the full yield of the soi.

But while awaiting the three Thai iced teas I ordered, I continued forward scouting the grounds – and have solid reason to believe this soi goes through to the New World – also known as Thanon Changklan, the major street behind our area filled with treasure such as street food, 7-Elevens, massage parlors, more Thai iced tea stands and all the comforts and resources needed for a rich and full Thai life. The first days in a new Thai neighborhood are inevitably an Age of Discovery and our Chiang Mai empire has grown leaps and bounds.

Of course then I was sad. We have only four more days in Chiang Mai. While finding our resources in our first three days here, we have only a little while to enjoy them before we make the leap to beach life on Ko Chang. This was exactly why Emily and I were so happy with all the time we spent in Bangkok in 2011. Once you get the hang of it and forge the relationships with the vendors in your neighborhood, that's when life gets good – why not enjoy it?

Despite our past three days having been so full and enjoyable, four seems like too little. So, we have begun planning to tackle what remains on our list. Some time for Emily and I to walk and explore Chiang Mai together, a trip to one of the large weekend markets with the kids as well as some time at the night markets without them – and a return to the local mall for Sennen and Ailyn to again enjoy the playground they find so inexplicably fantastic. You never know what the highlights will be for them.