As if this day wasn’t enough, on our way back to Bangkok we head over to an elephant sanctuary. The place is crawling with Russians. Something about Russians and Thailand…

We arrive and wait for our guide to get things straightened away with our ride. We watch a baby elephant, who I promptly name Rosie, do all sorts of clever tricks. I am first to volunteer and slide under her big foot and she presses it down on my back. Then I see all the Russians scrambling to feed her a bottle. Our ride is all set and we decide to feed her on our return.

Tap, Tap, Tap

The elephant we are about to ride approaches. I can’t believe our day. There is a baby elephant tied to his mother. This must not be possible.

I climb onto the seat that serves as a saddle on the great elephant’s back and Marc joins me. All I can think about is the baby who keeps passing under her mother’s legs and is continually on different sides.

Happy Couple

We ride around a loop through a forest and are floating. We are high as kites on all this animal love.

When the ride is close to being over, the guide ‘driving’ the elephant hops down with our camera. He instructs Marc to assume his position right behind the elephant’s head, his feet behind her ears. The next thing I know, Marc is the one in charge. He is riding me around like a queen.

Baby Elephant Is Thirsty

Professional Elephant Guide

Baby And Mom

Nothing To It

After an amazing photo shoot and yet again another unbelievable experience, Marc takes the seat beside me, and the guide takes us back.

I dismount the elephant and can’t stop thinking about baby Rosie. I am SO EXCITED to feed her a bottle. We approach the cashier and ask where she is. Sorry–you’ve missed her. She’s gone back. Her day is over. WHAT? This can’t be! I know that money talks in this country and smile at the lady. Please? We REALLY wanted to give her a bottle. We’ll pay extra. Enough said. Next thing I know we are getting walked to staff quarters to give Rosie a bottle. Marc has a bunch of potatoes (they were peeled and hard to distinguish, probably tapioca). We find Rosie and her handler. I love her. She is so lovely with her long glamorous eyelashes and eyes that reveal profound thought and intellect. I want to be best friends with her.

Rosie

I feed her a bottle of soy milk that she just loves. I ask if it would be alright if I blow in her trunk. That is the thing with elephants. If you blow in their trunks once, they will know you forever. They never forget. Ever. I blow into Rosie’s trunk and give her a big kiss–a few actually. The only sad part is that Marc wasn’t ready for the perfect picture. We don’t have the moment properly captured on film, but it is captured in my heart.

Thirsty?

Blowing Into Rosie’s Trunk

I move to the side and let Marc have a turn with Rosie. He feeds Rosie the tapioca and she has her mouth wide open. She loves it. We are beyond happy–the day is surreal. Did all of that just happen?

Hungry?

We say a fond farewell to Miss Rosie. We blow her kisses and are happy clams.

More Elephants

We exit the sanctuary. Our driver slows down so we can see the monkeys hanging out on the side of the road. Our guide advises us that most of the monkeys in Thailand have rabies so it is advisable to not get out of the car and definitely do not feed them by hand. According to him, only the Russians do that…

Monkeys

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