Pai and Elephants

Well, my traveling time in Thailand is coming to an end in the little mountain town of Pai. It's nice here except for the fact that the farmers are still burning there crops and it's very smokey / hazie (spelling???). Not many blue skys but friendly faces, backpackers, green mountains and yummy food all around. I came with my friend Elenza but will be on my own (solo Jenna) again starting tomorrow. I'm ready to be a solo butterfly again and have my wings take me wherever...................:)but have enjoyed my time with my new lovely friends.

I found a quiet and cute little bungalow. It has the perfect little deck with windchimes, a hammock to enjoy mid afternoon naps and reading, a bamboo interior, a bathroom sink made out of a tin bowl that is a little Wabbie Sabbie (spelling and meaning is not perfect which I live...:)) and a pet Gheko to sing me asleep at night. It's really hot here but the nights are a lot like the mountains in Colorado which I love.................I'm actually using my blanket and wakeing up with a chill. Across the street is an artsy fartsy little cafe that does wheat grass shots and wonderful chai tea. I love the interior of the cafe with swinging chairs made out of wood, carved tables out of trees, wheat grass all around you and old books to fill the shelves. Oh and yes you are surrounded by wonderful teas, YUM!

Yesterday Elenza, Lauryn and I treated ourselves to an amazing life experience, the elephant named "Joy". WOW........................I'm not quite sure how to take you all there with words but I will give it a go. There are a few elephant camps in Pai but finding the one that was a true fit and a camp that really treated there elephants with love and care was important! I have come across an older man named Peter at the wheat grass cafe and happened to ask if he knew where to go. Once again, I love how people can flow into your life at the perfect moment or for a reason......I had a funny feeling he would direct us on the elephant path....:) So, a woman name "Chitty" and her gardens is what he spoke of and then he talked about "Joy" the elephant. So away we go ................the 3 "farangs" on the scooter driving off in to the mountains to find Chitty and Joy the elephant. We take the curvy roads and finally find the peaceful gardens, Chitty and Joy.................everything seems gooooooooood and we are all both excited and nervous to start our journey of riding on Joy and trusting that we will stay on top rather than falling to the ground...:) I mean elephants are insanely large creatures..............nothing like a horse.....:) There was NOT a basket on top to sit in or a chair, it was bareback on a blanket holding on the enormous ears or holding onto a rope and off we went. The ride and "play time" was for an hour because Joy had already taken 2 other groups. Chitty will only allow her to go our 3-4 hrs a day to keep her healthy and safe which I love. So.......................after going down the trail and Joy trying to eat large leaves off the bananna trees or anything else that looked good she slowly walked into the river..................hmmmmmmmm what is going to happen next................Holly Shitake!!!!!! Joy sits down in the water and please note we are still high off the ground / water. She dips her grand trunk into the water and lifts it up in air to spraty cold river water all over us, we are soaked. Then, she starts to rock back and fourth as we hold on for dear life and then throws all of us off into the river..................oh my god!!!!! What else can I really say. Joy loved the river and she loved playing with us. We would all attempt to climb back on determined to hold on and not fall off again but she was determined with a grin (I know) to throw us back off. This went on for at least 1/2 hour and it was a different kind of cardio workout but one I would highly suggest. You can look in these creatures eyes with their long eye lashes and see such gentle souls...truly!!!! I am happy to report she is a happy elephant and is loved very much by Chitty.

I hope many of you (I know some of you have) will have the chance to embrace the elephant with this kind of experience and if not, I hope I took you there for a while.

Elephants and love!
Jenna