thailand........day seven

today we went elephant trekking at a local elephant sanctuary for former working elephants......on arrival we were greeted with drinks and lots of smiles and our elephant with its driver was brought along for us...we climbed about ten steps bringing us level with the elephants back and we had to step over and climp onto the seat on its back....slightly nervous i must admit..and i am the one happy galloping around on horseback..so i was thinking if i am a little nervous ..Stuart must be petrified....as here we are on a 15 foot elephant sitting on a chair thats a further couple of feet above its back..


and when it started walking its gait was so slow and its whole back rocks from side to side...giving the impression your seat could come flying off.....anyway after a bit of white knuckle time we began to relax and enjoy the journey...the driver had little english but we made a little conversation..our elephant was 50 years old and she had been riding elephants for 10 years....i happened to mention that i ride horses in ireland trying to connect with her...after about 15 minutes she stopped the elephant and climbed down its raised leg...and offered to take pics..i nervously asked would it take off at all....thinking that the news would report two very white irish people last seen taking off through the jungle on top of an elephant..she confirmed it wouldn't ......so we handed over the camera.......then she offered that i climb down onto its neck for a turn...i thought why not ..i wont get to do this in ireland......so i clambered down thinking this would be a good photo op...but she just started walking off and left me driving the elephant for about 30 mins......ahhhhhhhhh......



































i told stuart i couldn't hear him praying out loud...as i had absolutely nothing to hold onto...just my balance to rely on ...on its ever twisting lilting neck.....


the elephant has such thick hairs all over it was like sitting on Velcro in my shorts...long trousers would have been good........up steep hills we climbed and down steep slopes.....and i must admit i loved it...she was so beautiful....so obedient for such a vast beast...............when the driver finally took over again and i climbed back up to my seat...suddenly the seat that had once felt insecure suddenly felt luxurious.....................