An elephant never forgets (and neither will I).

After packing up our lives in New Hampshire, we took off to Southeast Asia with a robust itinerary: city exploring in Bangkok, tomb raindering in Cambodia, gallivanting in the rural/northern Thai province of Chiang Mai, beachtime on an island, then hobnobbing in the bustling metropolitan of Hong Kong. 

Our Southeast Asia portion of the summer looked something like this:

I moved Hudson to AZ before meeting Jamie in CA for our flight out of the country.
Thanks, Lucy & Jerry for taking Hudson for so long!

While the whole trip was much to behold and  I'm SO glad we got over there, I'm first going to post about the portion of our trip that has had the longest lasting (physical) impact. Some of y'all have heard details, but for posterity...

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On July 20th, we were picked up from our hotel for a program called "Elephant Trainer for a Day" at the Patara Elephant Farm about 45 minutes outside of the city of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. I had done a ton of online research on elephant facilities in this part of Thailand; well-known for its conservation efforts, but also notorious for eco-tourism fads, mistreatment of animals, etc. This place was written up in reputable places, continuously highly reviewed, and had stamps of approval from various types of people (travelers and experts in the field). While I was still slightly torn about whether or not this was a humane activity to partake in, we decided to go for it with the contingency plan of bailing if it got weird.

Apprehension!!
also, probably the best photo of myself i've ever taken (sarcasm).

Once we arrived, however, my apprehensions completely dissolved.

Apparently, Jamie took a little a second longer to get used to the concept.

These animals looked healthy (eating, playing, making eye contact with people), the trainers appeared super bonded to them, and after ten minutes with the owner himself, all concerns about the established business were squashed. Pat, the owner, was immediately kind, had great delivery of his perspective on animal conservation efforts and with a Thai/Australian accent took us through the schedule of the day:

• Coo at and admire the three 16month old baby elephants playing with each other. They were all born in the same month, were being raised together by their three moms (exchanging daycare, etc), and were so dang cute together. Don't get me wrong, they were total tanks and it was easy to see how strong even the little "babies" were compared to humans (video here + my maniacal laughter).

That little guy weighs about 1500lbs.

• Get dressed in traditional Thai fishermen outfits that the elephants are accustomed to seeing. I was glad for the covering once we mounted the scratchy elephant backs and were plunging into the sharp branches in the rainforest a few minutes later.

what ridiculous costume?

• Familiarize yourself with the elephant paired to you aka feed it. 

Jamie bonded instantaneously with his super sweet elephant, Mekwon.

These guys were AMAZING.

• Complete their daily skin check (look for any wounds, sores, etc.) and brush dirt off their backs to prepare for bathing.

The trainers initially giggled at how gentle Jamie was being, but he got a hold of it quickly.

I was a little overwhelmed with the task. 

• Point and giggle at elephants with itchy butts (took liberty to add to the agenda).

"i've got an itch i can't scratch!"

• Walk them down to a small brook, hop into the knee deep water, and bathe them (sure, totally normal).

Walking my elephant.

Washing elephant butt...heh heh.

Kinda looks like I'm taking a toothbrush to a statue.

• Back at the starting point, learn simple commands and mount the elephant, bareback style.

Success!

My approach was not as smooth.

• Ride the gigantic animal up to the top of a rainforest-like mountain. Plod through 3ft deep muddy trails on the edge of cliffs, marvel at the dexterity of the animal while simultaneously peeing pants in fear.

our whole group minus one baby elephant.

The steepness is dramatic whilst perched up on an ~8ft tall slip-sliding animal. 

It was unreal.

• Eat the most delicious Thai-style picnic in a serene clearing at the top of the mountain ... complete with fried chicken (huh?). It hadn't felt like a particularly long morning, but by the time food was presented, I was famished. Adrenaline has funny effects, I guess. Also, who knew instant coffee was delicious when brewed in a bamboo pole?

our little group.

"plates" = leaves

Ron Weasley and his blonde girlfriend were teachers from Australia.
Dad + daughter were moving from Miami to Brazil.

Clean-up crew.

• Ride the elephant back down the mountain to a waterfall area and go swimming with them and the three elephant babies.

I'm realizing now that I constantly have my mouth open.

Mouth open + swimming with an elephant.

• Get caught trying to access Facebook in the wilderness...

Just kidding, I was just using the camera on my phone. 

• Walk the elephants back to the main entrance and tearfully say goodbye.

Oh, it was so amazing. The whole day we kept looking at each other and grinning at our luck. Well, I guess there was this one weird moment while we were swimming when a baby elephant swam quickly to purposefully pin Jamie against Mekwon (his mother) - like being pinned between a Volkswagen beetle and a huge truck. It was the first rapid movement any of the animals had displayed and, therefore, a little shocking/scary, but the trainers were right there and Jamie came out unscathed. 

So, all in all, everything went according to plan.......right up until.......