ELEPHANTS’ Happy Room in Chiang Mai
 

My family was in Chiang Mai for eight days during the June school holidays. It would be nice to say that we were an outdoor-loving and ‘back to nature’ sort of family – but we were not. Although we had not avoided and sometimes even enjoyed outdoor sports like whitewater rafting and mountain biking, we were more a ‘back to hotel’ type of family, preferring a hotel’s cable television, pool and restaurants most of the time. However, my wife and I believe in having some outdoor activities in our lives and Chiang Mai had been an outdoor activities destination on our list for some time. We had never been to Chiang Mai before but had heard many good things from friends and relatives. June was actually during the rainy season in Chiang Mai and the cool season from November to February is really the best time to go. Still, it was hard to resist the bargain airfares that were offered by Tiger Airways. So, for the grand total of S$554.80, I got five adult return fares from Singapore to Chiang Mai (since airlines now consider my three boys adults for ticketing purposes).

Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 as the capital of the Lanna Thai kingdom and became the cultural centre of migrants from southern China. Through a period of Burmese rule came Burmese influence on its religion, culture and cuisine which still remains strong till today. Although some say it is becoming more commercialised like Bangkok, once you venture outside the city limits, it has many rural charms and attractions like mountains, forests, rivers, waterfalls and sleepy villages. A little like Ubud in Bali. Although we were there for some adventure, we were also there because of Chiang Mai’s reputation for Northern style or Lanna Thai cooking and its wide range of good eating places. In fact, while we were there, we tried their famous khao soi (curry noodles), khao miao (sticky rice) and sai-ua (sausage). We also tried a number of Chiang Mai’s highly recommended restaurants including The Gallery, The Riverside, Aroon (Rai) Restaurant and Le Coq d’Or (billed as one of South East Asia’s finest restaurants). However, it was elephant riding that was to be the highlight of the trip.

Most people like elephants, having been acquainted at a young age with the likes of Dumbo and Barbar. But not many know that elephants were actually early model war machines and apparently had been used in battle as early as 1,100 BC. The elephant found in Thailand is the Asian elephant or Elephas Maximus and it can grow up to a (shoulder) height of three metres and weigh up to six tons. It is a very intelligent animal and can live up to 60 years. Elephants are vegetarians and feed for about 18 hours in a day, consuming up to 200 kilograms of food and drinking up to 60 gallons of water in the process. Therefore, it is no surprise that it produces about 50 kilograms of dung a day. Apparently, quite a lot can be discovered from an examination of elephant dung, including its gender and health. Although there are about 2,500 elephants left in Thailand, it seems that only ten or so are born each year, making the elephant population a shrinking one. By one estimate, about a third of them are employed in the tourist industry. Its image seems to appear everywhere in Thailand (including on the Jim Thompson T-shirt and handbag we bought) and it is the unofficial national symbol of the country.

After arriving at the Chiang Mai Orchid Hotel, we spent a couple of days wandering around the city and the Gad Suan Kaew Shopping Complex next to our hotel before I signed us up for a one-day hill tribe trek cum elephant riding cum bamboo rafting package. It was sufficiently adventurous and would end before nightfall so that we could go to a nice place for dinner. To be frank, my three sons were not exactly thrilled with that one-day adventure package. Eldest son Mark, who had been to Chiang Mai last year with his school said that he had been elephant riding before and it was not that fun and lasted only for a few minutes. Second son David said he is likely to go with the school next year and so we should not waste money on him going elephant riding. Youngest son Michael was in an ambivalent mood and left it to us. My wife and I insist on doing some things together as a family and this was to be one of them. Of course, this was after giving the boys suitable amounts of time for LAN gaming to soften them up first.

Our guide picked us up from our hotel in a mini-van right after an early breakfast. His name was ‘Thommeemoonchatchon’or something that sounded similar but thankfully, he told us to call him ‘Tom’. Along the way, we picked up two Canadian brothers, John and Dave McKenna, who would be leaving Chiang Mai that night to make their way down south to the beaches of the Andaman Sea. John was an executive with an association of aircraft companies whilst Dave was between jobs.

Our first activity for the day was a trek to a Hmong hill tribe that was about one kilometre from the carpark of a hilly area more than an hour outside Chiang Mai. What Tom described as a relaxing walk was a misnomer. The one-kilometre trek was mostly uphill and through fairly rugged terrain. At one point, we had to cross a flimsy looking bamboo bridge that strained with each step. My wife was seriously stressed and I had never seen her like this except perhaps when she was in labour. Halfway, she joined an old Chinese lady and her daughter from an earlier group who had abandoned the trek to rest under some shady trees and told us to carry on. She would wait for us there on our way down. The Hmong village near the top of the hill was quite interesting with traditional wooden housing and mountain people in colourful tribal costumes waiting to sell us handmade souvenirs and soft drinks. We also saw a cool-looking car battery powered television set. However, I was more interested in finding a toilet that I could use. I asked Tom where I could find one. He said the ‘happy room’ was behind the wooden houses at the back of where he was sitting. Throughout that day, Tom would be giving us directions to happy rooms all over.

There was noticeable excitement when the mini-van arrived at the elephant camp where we were to go elephant riding. Even Mark who had done it before, was excited. Somehow, seeing the largest land animal in real life is an awesome experience. As we left the mini-van, we could see a group of people making their way back to the camp on their elephants and some mahouts (elephant handlers) getting our elephants ready for us. The elephants were led to a tower cum staircase structure and we climbed up to get onto our elephants. We were grouped two or three to an elephant depending on our sizes before moving off.

Well actually, we did not move off straight away. Before the first elephant started to move, it began to pass urine. That sounded like a running tap and we all began to laugh. After taking a couple of steps, it broke wind and we all laughed again. Those with boys in the family will probably know that such bodily emissions form the basis of engrossing conversation and are measured competitively. In this case, my boys were watching a world class performance.

The first elephant then started to pass motion and football-sized globs of brown coloured dung started to litter the path. The whole situation was hilarious and we exploded into laughter again till our stomachs ached. When the first elephant was done passing motion, it started to move. The second elephant then took a couple of steps and smelled the dung from the first elephant and began its own process of passing urine and motion. The entire place was an elephants’ happy room and it was very funny. In fact, all along the way the elephants would take turns to pee, pass motion, break wind and smell each other’s handiwork and sometimes another’s backside. The elephants would also stop to eat the leaves and fruits from the longan and other trees that appeared along the way. At one point, the elephants climbed up a very steep and narrow path and caused us to fear that they might fall and crush us. Fortunately, that did not happen.

The entire elephant ride took close to two hours but it seemed like only a few minutes. We did not really cover much distance because the elephants were extremely slow. However, that meant we had time to enjoy the lovely countryside scenery and make lots of conversation. The boys also grabbed all the bunches of longans and berries that they could get their hands on along the way to throw at each other and the rest of us. Save for the smell, it was a very enjoyable experience. At the end of the ride, we bought some bunches of bananas as a treat for our elephants. One of the elephants even did a curtsey to express its gratitude for the bananas.

Lunch was a simple affair at a wooden roadside restaurant half an hour away. It consisted of steamed rice, chicken and lettuce soup, stir-fried sweet and sour peppers, onions and tomatoes, and mineral water. Yet, it was extremely delicious and was easily one of our best meals in Chiang Mai. After lunch, we visited a Karen village and the Maewang waterfall before going bamboo rafting.

Unlike whitewater rafting, bamboo rafting is a less heart pumping experience but no less enjoyable. At the start point, we were grouped two or three to a bamboo raft and pushed off. There were a number of mild rapids over the stretch of river where we rafted but it was generally a relaxing and peaceful experience. We passed by farms, temples, bridges, small waterfalls and swamps, and even saw some elephants along the way. After bamboo rafting, we were dropped back at our hotel. We all bathed before realising how smelly we were when we packed our dirty clothes for the laundry. The smell was like something from the elephants’ happy room and in fact, one pair of shoes had to be thrown away before we returned to Singapore. The smell could not be washed off that pair of shoes.

After dinner, we sat down to discuss how to spend our remaining free day in Chiang Mai. We gave the boys the choice of climbing Doi Inthanon (Thailand’s highest mountain) or a Thai cooking course at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School (the most famous cookery school in Chiang Mai). The boys unanimously chose the Thai cooking course.

Richard Tan Ming Kirk

Shook Lin & Bok